Work

Does Teacher Talk During Shared Reading Predict Child Oral Language Development in Diverse ECEC Settings?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study investigated whether features of teacher talk predicted children’s oral language development in diverse early childhood education and care settings, and whether the potential effects differed due to children’s age or dual language learner (DLL) status. The study included 203 classrooms with 734 children aged between 25 and 59 months at onset, 56.6% of whom were DLLs. Teacher talk during small-group shared readings was recorded in the fall and coded for question types (advanced and referential wh-questions) and linguistic features (vocabulary quantity, vocabulary diversity, and utterance length), and children’s vocabulary and syntactic comprehension were assessed in the fall and spring. Our findings suggest that teachers’ advanced wh-questions can significantly promote children’s development of syntactic comprehension, regardless of their age and DLL status. Furthermore, teachers’ utterance length and diverse vocabulary use predicted children’s development of syntactic comprehension, and teacher’s diverse vocabulary use predicted children’s vocabulary development, with some of these relationships being moderated by children’s age and DLL status. These findings emphasize the importance of teachers employing strategies that elicit children’s participation and activate thinking from a young age and irrespective of their language background.

Source: First Language

DOI: 10.1177/01427237251377897

Authors: Tone Sofie Røsholt Ovati, Veslemøy Rydland, Ratib Lekhal, Stian Lydersen, Vibeke Grøver

Institutions: University of Oslo, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Language Development and Disorders

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650