Understanding the relations between dimensions of literacy teaching and preschool children's literacy skills
Abstract
Preschool teachers' literacy instruction during classroom activity is important to young children's early development of literacy skills. The present study employed repeated measure ANOVAs to examine the dimensions of 42 Head Start teachers' literacy instruction (i.e., literacy content, teaching process, and lexical characteristics) during large group activity across a fall semester within two large group activity contexts (book-reading, and non-book-reading). Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the pathways between teachers' literacy instruction and children's literacy skills (e.g., letter-sound and vocabulary knowledge, N = 291). The moderation effect of children's initial literacy skills at the beginning of the semester on the relation between teachers' fall and winter literacy instruction was also tested. The results indicated that teachers provided more explicit delivery of literacy content during book-reading than non-book-reading. Vocabulary teaching occurred more frequently than code-related instruction during book-reading but not during non-book-reading. Teachers used decontextualized instruction to mainly support vocabulary teaching. The lexical characteristics of teachers' talk remained stable across the semester and between the two activity contexts. While no direct pathway was detected between teachers' literacy teaching and children's literacy skills, children's initial literacy skill was found influencing teachers' delivery of literacy content and lexical characteristics over the semester. Findings reveal the structure of teachers' literacy instruction, indicate teachers' different focus within two large group time activity contexts, and provide insight for further research on teachers' literacy teaching and literacy intervention design.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Diamond, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Early childhood education|Educational psychology|Literacy|Reading instruction
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