Efficacy of a Self-Monitoring Tool for Improving the Quality of the Language Environment in the Preschool Classroom

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impact of a self-monitoring intervention on preschool teachers’ use of language and on children’s language growth. Nineteen classrooms from Santiago de Chile participated (10 intervention, 9 control). Twice a week, intervention teachers filled out a checklist to monitor the language stimulation they offered children. Research personnel used the checklists to elaborate a monthly summary of the language opportunities offered to each child in that month and discussed this information with teachers. Results revealed a significant advantage for intervention teachers in frequency of book readings and word discussions but not on children’s language growth. Dosage analyses showed that children identified by the self-monitoring device as receiving more language-learning opportunities improved significantly more from beginning to end of the school year in receptive vocabulary. Practice or Policy: Contextual barriers such as large numbers of children and unawareness of the impact of some language interactions can prevent teachers from engaging in important practices. Reminding teachers of the importance of those practices and helping them monitor their frequency may be a low-cost way of improving language opportunities for children in contexts where more intensive professional development is not possible.

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the Chilean National Fund for Research in Education through Grant No. F811340.

Notes

^1. In Chile, head teachers in preschool center classrooms have a 4-year degree from either a university or a technical institute. University degrees are of higher quality, and universities recruit students from higher socioeconomic groups. In contrast, aides come from very similar technical 2-year programs that recruit students from low educational backgrounds.

^2. We excluded oral storytelling events because they were not on the checklist. Events on the checklist were limited to those that have ample evidence supporting their association with children’s language growth in classroom settings. Although there have been studies of parent–child oral narratives in Chile (Leyva, Berrocal, & Nolivos, 2014; Leyva & Nolivos, 2015; Nolivos & Leyva, 2013), they did not attempt to identify whether the frequency of oral storytelling was related to children’s gains in language and therefore do not provide such evidence. There is no Chilean or international evidence that oral storytelling in the preschool classroom influences children’s language growth. Therefore, we did not include this practice as one of the events to self-monitor, and consequently it was not included in the measures of classroom language either.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the Chilean National Fund for Research in Education through Grant No. F811340.