Archive for June 21, 2011
How Preschool Teachers Help Create Better Talkers and Readers
by Cynthia A. Frosch, Ph.D.
According to the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development, an estimated 25 to 40% of children will experience reading difficulties in school. And reading difficulties are typically persistent across the child’s life. The Centre reports that “among third graders with reading problems, 75% will continue to have difficulty throughout school.”
Given the importance of early language and reading skills for school success, researchers often look at how preschool experiences can help prepare children for later success. From better language to earlier reading, children benefit from high quality preschool environments. Quality learning materials, sensitive and responsive interactions with children, and developmentally appropriate activities can all contribute to lasting cognitive, social, and linguistic benefits for young children.
But what role do preschool teachers’ conversations with children play in the development of children’s language and reading abilities? Does the way that teachers talk to young children make a difference in children’s lives beyond preschool?
According to a new study by David Dickinson (Vanderbilt University) and Michelle Porche (Wellesley College), the answer may be in how preschool teachers talk to children. For example, they found that more sophisticated vocabulary from preschool teachers’ predicted better reading comprehension and word recognition in fourth-grade. And when preschooler teachers corrected children’s language and talked more about books, children had better vocabularies in fourth-grade. Many of the studies’ findings were explained by kindergartener’s language abilities. In other words, the way teachers talked with children predicted children’s language skills in kindergarten which then predicted how those same children did in language and reading 4 years later, attesting to the importance of nurturing these skills early.
These findings, which appear in this months’ issue of the journal Child Development, suggest that preschool language experiences are important for understanding children’s language and reading skills over time. The authors conclude that “there is reason to strive to help teachers adopt instructional strategies that build language skills in ways consistent with our results.” They further emphasize the importance of not only maximizing benefits from storybooks, but also focusing on other group times and settings that support individualized conversations such as centers and meals.
If you are a preschool teacher, consider the many ways and contexts for conversation with young children. By learning which aspects of your talk with children make the most difference for later reading and language, you can refine your skills and instructional approach.
When selecting a preschool, in addition to considering the kinds of materials and learning opportunities in the preschool classroom, parents may want to look closely at how and what teachers talk to children about each day. By creating and selecting preschool environments where teachers effectively engage children’s attention, use more sophisticated vocabulary, and help children to analyze books, we can help children get off to a great start to better language and reading skills later in elementary school.
