Preschool instruction and children's emergent literacy growth.

Abstract

Preschoolers' (N ϭ 156) classroom language and literacy experiences, defined across multiple dimensions, and their vocabulary and emergent literacy development were investigated. Videotaped classroom observations revealed substantial variability in amount and types of language and emergent literacy activities, across classrooms and for individual children within classrooms. Generally, more time in emergent code-focused activities was associated with preschoolers' alphabet and letter-word recognition growth, whereas more time in meaning-focused activities (e.g., book reading) was related to vocabulary growth. Only teacher-and teacher-child-managed activities were associated with alphabet and letterword growth, whereas child-managed experiences, including play, were also associated with vocabulary growth. Overall, the effect size for student-level, code-focused instruction (small group) was about 10 times greater than was its classroom-level (whole-class) counterpart. There were Child ϫ Instruction interactions, with the impact of different activities varying with preschoolers' incoming vocabulary and emergent literacy.

A Second Chance in Second Grade: The Independent and Cumulative Impact of First- and Second-Grade Reading Instruction and Students' Letter-Word Reading Skill Growth

“…It also employs multiple strategies including systematic teacher-directed instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000;Rayner et al, 2001) and child-focused strategies (Snow, 2001), such as peer-assisted tutoring (D. Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005) and reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). In this study we use a framework that views instruction multi-dimensionally (Connor et al, in review;Connor, Morrison, & Katch, 2004;Connor, Morrison, & Petrella, 2004;Connor et al, 2006;. Viewing instruction multi-dimensionally, we elucidate the nature and content of instruction, as well as complex child-by-instruction interactions in multiple samples from preschool through third grade.…”

“…The extant literature on learning disabilities underscores these findings (Torgesen et al, 2001;Torgesen et al, 1999). Meaning-focused activities-such as reading aloud, teaching comprehension strategies, repeated reading, and vocabulary-predict student outcomes as well (Al'Otaiba et al, in review;Connor, Morrison, & Petrella, 2004;Connor, Morrison, & Slominski, 2006;National Reading Panel, 2000;Snow, 2001).…”

Relationship between Literacy Experiences and Emergent Literacy Skills

“…Ha sido revelador el identificar que estas diferencias permanecen estables en su vida escolar (Connor, Morrison y Slominsky, 2006;Muter y Snowling, 2009). Las habilidades de alfabetización que los niños presentan a temprana edad están ligadas al desarrollo del lenguaje oral y escrito, como es el vocabulario (Mol, Bus, Jong y Smeets, 2008), la conciencia fonológica (Bus, van Ijzendoorn y Pellegrini, 1995), la identificación de letras (Martini y Sénéchal, 2012), así como el conocimiento y manejo de diferentes conceptos de texto impreso (Mol y Bus, 2011).…”

A Descriptive Case Analysis of Instructional Teaching Practices in Finnish Preschool Classrooms

“…When it comes to teachers' self-reported educational goals, it has been suggested that a high extent of enriching literacy activities can provide a high quality classroom environment supporting children's academic development. For example, Connor, Morrison and Slominski (2006) found that the amount and type of language and literacy activities observed in classrooms consisting of four-year-olds had a significant and systematic relation to the children's growth in their knowledge of the alphabet, letterword recognition and vocabulary skills.…”