Preschool teachers' language and vocabulary knowledge: Development and predictive associations for a new measure

Abstract

The present study reports on the development, structure, and associations with practice for a new measure of preschool teachers' knowledge about language and vocabulary development and how to support this development in the classroom. Results from item response theory models with responses from a sample of 248 preschool teachers indicated that four scales measuring pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge for vocabulary and language, respectively, had adequate psychometric characteristics. Confirmatory factor analyses further supported a fourfactor structure, although all scales were correlated. In an overlapping sample of 94 preschool teachers, preliminary investigation of associations between knowledge and teachers' self-reported practices, observed instructional time allocation, and the quality of classroom language environments were mixed. Results indicate promise for the measure yet add to prior research suggesting that connections between knowledge and practice are highly complex and likely interwoven with many other influences on instructional decision-making in early childhood classrooms.

Exploring Features Within Organizational and Cognitive Factors That Predict Variability in Estimates of Classwide Active Engagement

“…In our work, by defining engagement as the active behaviors children may perform to show evidence of their ability to participate in and learn from the instructional context created by adults, we see an opportunity to elevate the importance of each adult in the classroom taking an active role in facilitating meaningful learning opportunities for each child within a classroom. Future research that examines this premise and extends findings of other researchers exploring how different adults within educational teams contribute to the frequency (Phillips et al, 2020), as well as quality and form (Kook & Greenfield, 2020), of adult–child interactions is necessary to create actionable knowledge on a pathway to improved outcomes for children.…”

“…In exploring the causal pathway presented in Figure 1 (top panel), we first conceptualize cognitive factors, such as the classroom pedagogy or predominant instructional philosophy, which may influence educator teams as they make decisions about how to arrange their instruction and what specific practices to use as part of a learning process (Phillips et al, 2020). Those decisions manifest in the observable forms that learning opportunities take as a mechanism for promoting children’s engagement.…”

Mathers (in press) Using video to assess preschool teachers’ pedagogical knowledge

“…Much is inferred, for example, in studies of professional development which aim to improve knowledge and have subsequently identified effects on practice (Dickinson & Caswell, 2007;Wasik, Bond & Hindman, 2006). Studies which explicitly assess pedagogical language-andliteracy knowledge have identified small or null effects (Piasta, Park, Farley, Justice & O'Connell, 2020;Phillips, Oliver, Tabulda, Wood & Funari, 2020;Spear et al, 2018;Schachter et al, 2016). Such equivocality is puzzling, given the theoretical value of domain-specific pedagogical knowledge and evidence of its importance in later education phases, for example, in the domain of mathematics teaching (Baumert et al, 2010;McCray, 2008).…”

Researching Pre-school Teachers’ Knowledge of Oral Language Pedagogy Using Video

“…There is empirical evidence that pre-school teachers language-and-literacy content knowledge predicts classroom quality and child outcomes (Piasta et al, 2009;Schachter et al, 2016). However, equivalent evidence does not exist for pedagogical knowledge: studies are scarcer and have identified small or null effects (Phillips et al, 2020;Spear et al, 2018;Schachter et al, 2016). This is puzzling, given evidence from later educational phases that pedagogical knowledge does matter (Baumert et al, 2010).…”