The preschool classroom linguistic environment: Children's first-person experiences
Leydi Johana Chaparro-Moreno1,2, Laura M Justice1,2, Jessica A R Logan2,3
1Educational Psychology Program, Department of Educational Studies, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
Plos One
|August 8, 2019
Summary
Young children
Area of Science:
- Child Development
- Educational Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Classroom linguistic environments significantly impact early language development.
- Previous research often overlooked children's individual experiences within the classroom.
- Focus has been on teacher practices or aggregate environmental factors, not the child's perspective.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the child's first-person linguistic experiences in a preschool setting.
- To explore the dynamic nature of the classroom linguistic environment from the child's viewpoint.
- To identify variability in language exposure and child-directed speech (CDS) among peers and teachers.
Main Methods:
- Utilized head-mounted cameras to capture children's first-person perspectives.
- Recorded one morning session with thirteen preschool children.
- Analyzed interactions and child-directed speech (CDS) from the child's point of view.
Main Results:
- The classroom linguistic environment is more dynamic than previously reported.
- Children had longer interactions and heard more child-directed speech (CDS) from teachers than peers.
- Peers were a significant source of language input for some children, highlighting within-classroom variability.
Conclusions:
- Children's language experiences within the classroom are highly individualized.
- Peer interactions represent an important, yet variable, source of language input.
- Understanding this variability is crucial for addressing heterogeneous learning opportunities and optimizing language development.
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