Instructional quality in school entrance phase and its influence on students’ vocabulary development: empirical findings from the German longitudinal study BiKS

ABSTRACT

Based on a theoretical model of instructional quality this study investigates the influence of different dimensions of instructional quality in the school entrance phase on students’ language development taking into account child and family background factors as well as structural characteristics of the classroom and teacher’s educational beliefs. The vocabulary skills of a German sample of 554 children in grade 2 was analysed using multivariate regression models to test the extent to which instructional quality is related to the development of vocabulary in grade 2. Additionally, we examined whether structural characteristics and teachers’ educational beliefs were related to vocabulary development. Results show positive relationships between global dimensions of instructional quality and students’ vocabulary development. Furthermore, teachers’ educational beliefs are also relevant for vocabulary development, whereas structural characteristics are subordinated. Thus, attention should be paid to the role of high-quality teaching practices and teacher beliefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Instructional quality
• school entrance phase
• language development
• educational beliefs

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank all participating children, their parents, and their teachers, as well as all students engaged in data collection for their most active cooperation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Christiane Grosse is a research assistant at the University of Bamberg’s Chair of Early Childhood Education. Her main research interests are the influences of quality in preschool and primary school classes on children’s competencies as well as promoting language skills and mathematical skills in preschools.

Katharina Kluczniok is a senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Bamberg’s Chair of Early Childhood Education. Her primary research interest is the impact of educational quality in family, preschool, and primary school on children’s development as well as the transition from preschool to primary school.

Hans-Guenther Rossbach is a professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Bamberg. His main research interests are the longitudinal effects of quality of stimulation in family, preschool, and primary school on early childhood competence development as well as the development of curricula for preschools.

Notes

1 Other possibilities for the measurement of instructional quality are questionnaires (e.g. Fauth, Decristan, Rieser, Klieme, & Büttner, 2014) or diaries (e.g. teacher logs see Kammermeyer & Martschinke, 2009; Rowan & Correnti, 2009). These instruments reflect instructional quality as seen from the perspective of teachers or students.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [RO 820/11-1, RO 820/11-2, RO 820/11-3, RO 820/11-4].