Early maternal language input and classroom instructional quality in relation to children’s literacy trajectories from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

Abstract

Both early childhood maternal language input and the quality of classroom instruction in elementary school have been shown to be important environmental supports in predicting children’s literacy skill development. However, no studies have simultaneously examined these two environmental supports in relation to children’s early language skills and later literacy skills across elementary school. The current study examined how multiple years of early maternal language input from 6 to 36 months and later classroom instructional quality from pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through fifth grade were related to children’s early language at 36 months and later literacy trajectories in word recognition and reading comprehension across elementary school. The study included a diverse, population-representative sample of 1,292 children who were born in low-wealth rural communities and followed through fifth grade. Video recordings and subsequent transcripts of mother-child shared picture book tasks in the home at four timepoints during early childhood were used to assess maternal diversity of vocabulary, utterance complexity, and engagement (wh-questions) during book sharing. The quality of instruction in elementary school was assessed using classroom observations from pre-K through fifth grade. Maternal complexity and engagement were indirectly related to children’s literacy trajectories across pre-K to fifth grade through effects on early child language at 36 months. Higher-quality classroom instruction was not reliably related to concurrent literacy skills in pre-K through fifth grade. Findings suggested the enduring importance of early maternal language input in predicting children’s early language and later literacy skill development during elementary school.

Environmental contributions to cognitive development: The role of cognitive stimulation

“…In addition to using questionnaires and interviews, various observational coding systems have been developed to assess the quality and quantity of cognitive stimulation in naturalistic settings. For example, picture book reading tasks involve recording videos of interactions between caregivers and children during shared reading sessions (Price et al, 2009;Ribner et al, 2020;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022). The quality and quantity of cognitive stimulation during these sessions is then assessed by trained staff who code the interactions using standardized frameworks (Brandes-Aitken et al, 2020;Price et al, 2009;Ribner et al, 2020;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022).…”

“…For example, picture book reading tasks involve recording videos of interactions between caregivers and children during shared reading sessions (Price et al, 2009;Ribner et al, 2020;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022). The quality and quantity of cognitive stimulation during these sessions is then assessed by trained staff who code the interactions using standardized frameworks (Brandes-Aitken et al, 2020;Price et al, 2009;Ribner et al, 2020;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022). Using a book-sharing task allows experimenters to standardize the stimuli presented to the caregiver but still measure how each caregiver interacts with their child and the book.…”

Deepening class insight through participatory lesson study: An experience with students specializing in school psychology

“…In school psychology, class phenomena are of primary significance for diagnosis and intervention at both an individual and a whole-class level. Direct, systematic class observation is a resource employed in the evaluation of students' and teachers' behavior (Briesch et al, 2018), as well as in studies on class phenomena across a wide range of the education sciences (e.g., Stodolsky, 1988;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022). This paper describes the evaluation of a learning experience based on an adaptation of Lesson Study, a professional development method for teachers, administered to undergraduate psychology students preparing to work in educational settings.…”

“…In school psychology, class phenomena are of primary significance for diagnosis and intervention at both an individual and a whole‐class level. Direct, systematic class observation is a resource employed in the evaluation of students' and teachers' behavior (Briesch et al, 2018), as well as in studies on class phenomena across a wide range of the education sciences (e.g., Stodolsky, 1988; Vernon‐Feagans et al, 2022).…”

Language exposure and brain myelination in early development

“…Children's early language environment is crucial for their emerging language abilities (Hoff & Naigles, 2002). Children exposed to a large quantity of high-quality language input show better language outcomes, enhanced cognitive abilities, and better academic achievement (Rodriguez & Tamis-LeMonda, 2011;Vernon-Feagans et al, 2022;Weizman & Snow, 2001).For example, children whose parents provide both greater quantity and quality of language input -longer utterances, higher grammatical complexity, more vocabulary diversity and more conversational experience -have larger vocabularies (Huttenlocher et al, 2010;Laing & Bergelson, 2019;Rowe, 2012). In addition, children who are exposed to more child-directed speech show faster language processing abilities, becoming more efficient in processing familiar words .…”