Understanding Child-Directed Speech Around Book Reading in Toddler Classrooms: Evidence From Early Head Start Programs

Abstract

Child-directed speech (CDS), which can help children learn new words, has been rigorously studied among infants and parents in home settings. Yet, far less is known about the CDS that teachers use in classrooms with toddlers and children’s responses, an important question because many toddlers, particularly in high-need communities, attend group-care settings. This exploratory study examines the linguistic environment during teacher-led book readings in American Early Head Start classrooms serving 2-year-olds from households in poverty. Seven teachers in four classrooms were trained to emphasize target words while reading story and informational books. We first analyzed the nature and quality of their book readings from a macro-level, exploring global instructional quality [Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)] and linguistic complexity [i.e., diversity of vocabulary (D) and sophistication of syntax (MLU-w)], and we also examined micro-level teacher-child talk strategies and use of target words. Compared to prior research, these classrooms had similar global quality and syntactic complexity, although less lexical diversity. Exploratory results also revealed three distinct teacher talk patterns—teachers who emphasized (1) comments, (2) questions, and (3) a balance of the two. Question-focused teachers had more adult and child talk during reading, as well as more repetitions of target words, and stronger CLASS Engaged Support for Learning. However, comment-focused teachers used more diverse vocabulary and had stronger CLASS Emotional and Behavioral Support. Results illuminate the nature and quality of CDS in toddler classrooms, particularly in the context of an intervention emphasizing target vocabulary words, and highlight applications for professional development and questions for further research.

Classroom conversations: What will it take? A commentary on Abbot-Smith et al., 2023

“…And teachers’ feedback is fairly limited, often featuring a general evaluation (e.g. ‘Good job’) and very simple responses such as repeating children’s remarks; in contrast, feedback that expands children’s ideas or syntax, introduces new words, or poses follow-up questions is relatively rare (Hindman et al, 2021; Hindman, Farrow, & Wasik, 2022).…”

Gestures, objects, and spaces: Exploring teachers’ multimodal communication in nursery schools

“…Although variables such as classroom ratios, child age, and teacher professional development have been identified as some of those that might correlate with teacher language (Degotardi et al, 2018), there are still many unanswered questions about the language environment to which young children are exposed. For instance, it is important to analyze the extent to which objects are part of those interchanges, as well as within-group (Chaparro-Moreno et al, 2019) and between-group variations (Hindman et al, 2021) in the linguistic experiences of the children. The role of space in the use of different communicative behaviors is especially interesting in nursery schools, where teachers simultaneously interact with children whose linguistic abilities usually differ.…”

Story Talk: Using Strategies from an Evidence‐Based Program to Improve Young Children's Vocabulary

“…The preschool version of Story Talk, which is presented in this paper, has been refined through a series of iterative development cycles using teacher feedback and data on child outcomes (presented below) to determine what benefits children's learning and works best in a classroom setting. A Story Talk toddler version (Hindman et al, 2021) and a kindergarten version are also being developed.…”