Responsiveness of Child Care Providers in Interactions With Toddlers and Preschoolers

Abstract

The results of this study suggest that caregivers' responsiveness in group interactions is highly dependent on the context of the interaction and, to a lesser extent, on the language abilities of the children. Future research is required to determine if inservice training can enhance levels of responsiveness and accelerate language learning in young children in group care.

Quality of language and literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils

“…Likewise, few teachers provided literacy instruction that was explicit, systematic, and purposeful. This finding is of concern as children's exposure to instruction characterized by high quality ratings -including abstract vocabulary (van Kleeck, Gillam, Hamilton, & McGrath, 1997;van Kleeck, Vander Woude, & Hammett, 2006), open-ended questions (Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Whitehurst et al, 1988), and explicit description of phonological structures and print concepts Justice & Ezell, 2002;van Kleeck et al, 1998) -have been linked to accelerated performance on measures of language comprehension and expression, alphabet knowledge, and phonological awareness. Although this study did not use experimental methods and consequently cannot study the linkages between teachers' participation in professional development in the fall of the year and instructional quality, it is disturbing that quality was low even after workshop training.…”

“…Studies that have examined the quality of language and literacy activities in preschool classrooms have shown these to be quite variable, including characteristics of teacher-child conversations and the way in which teachers read books with children during small-and large-group sessions (Dickinson & Sprague, 2002;Girolametto, Hoaken, Weitzman, & van Lieshout, 2000;Graue, Clements, Reynolds, & Niles, 2004;La Paro et al, 2004;McGill-Franzen, Lanford, & Adams, 2002). In general, ratings of preschool instruction are moderate to high when they focus on the general climate of the classroom or teacher sensitivity to students, but are low to mid range when looking at teachers' use of more explicit techniques that may promote children's concept and language development (Girolametto et al, 2000;Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;La Paro et al, 2004). Meisels (2006) suggests that this variability results in part from the lack of a common metric for characterizing acceptable expertise in instruction among early childhood professionals (in contrast to, say, the medical profession) to which early childhood training programs would adhere.…”

“…In these interventions, preschool educators are trained to utilize specific language-facilitation techniques in their formal and informal interactions with children to provide frequent exemplars of language forms and functions that are slightly advanced of (and thus responsive to) children's linguistic abilities. and meal time (e.g., Bunce, 1995;Dickinson, 2006;Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, Cymerman, & Levine, 2002;McKeown & Beck, 2006;Wasik et al, 2006), and have been causally associated with accelerated language outcomes in preschool children.The defining characteristics of high-quality literacy instruction in the preschool classroom must be differentiated from the responsive and conversationally-oriented features of highquality language instruction. High-quality literacy instruction features systematic and explicit direct instruction that teaches children about the code-based characteristics of written language, to include both phonological and print structures.…”

“…In these interventions, preschool educators are trained to utilize specific language-facilitation techniques in their formal and informal interactions with children to provide frequent exemplars of language forms and functions that are slightly advanced of (and thus responsive to) children's linguistic abilities. These techniques, such as open-ended questions, expansions, and recasts, are applied across a variety of classroom contexts, such as center time, storybook reading, and meal time (e.g., Bunce, 1995;Dickinson, 2006;Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, Cymerman, & Levine, 2002;McKeown & Beck, 2006;Wasik et al, 2006), and have been causally associated with accelerated language outcomes in preschool children.…”

“…Thus, the original CLASS scales and the two new scales focus almost exclusively on dynamic aspects of the classroom, particularly the interactions between teachers and students. For each scale, observers assign a single score from 1 to 7, spanning a continuum of quality that encompasses low (1, 2 points), mid (3, 4, 5 points), and high (6, 7 points) quality.The Language Modeling and Literacy Focus scales, new additions to the CLASS tool, were developed through careful analysis of the empirical and theoretical literature describing the types of teacher-child interaction that promote positive language and literacy development in young children (e.g., Bunce, 1995;Dickinson & Sprague, 2002;Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Justice & Ezell, 2002;Roberts et al, 1989;Smith & Dickinson, 1994). The Language Modeling scale focused specifically on teacher use of techniques during instruction known to accelerate language growth in children, such as asking open-ended questions; repeating, extending, and recasting children's utterances; using advanced vocabulary; and engaging in extended conversations with children.…”