HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal My Folders Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Justice, L. M. Articles by Wiggins, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Justice, L. M. Articles by Wiggins, A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Experimental Evaluation of a Preschool Language Curriculum: Influence on Children's Expressive Language Skills

Contact author: Laura M. Justice, who is now at the School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, 1945 North High Street, 231 Arps Hall, Columbus OH 43210. E-mail: justice.57{at}osu.edu.

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate child impacts following implementation of a comprehensive language curriculum, the Language-Focused Curriculum (LFC; Bunce, 1995), within their preschool classrooms. As part of this larger purpose, this study identified child-level predictors of expressive language outcomes for children attending at-risk preschool programs as well as main effects for children's exposure to the language curriculum and its active ingredients—namely, teacher use of language stimulation techniques (LSTs; e.g., open questions, recasts, models).

Method: Fourteen preschool teachers were randomly assigned to 2 conditions. Treatment teachers implemented the experimental curriculum for an academic year; a total of 100 children were enrolled in their classrooms. Comparison teachers maintained their prevailing curriculum; a total of 96 children were enrolled in these classrooms. Teachers' fidelity of implementation was monitored using structured observations conducted 3 times during the academic year. Children's growth in expressive language was assessed using measures derived from language samples in the fall and spring, specifically percent complex utterances, rate of noun use, number of different words, and upper bound index.

Results: Children's language skill in the fall, socioeconomic status (household income), and daily attendance served as significant, positive predictors of their language skill in the spring. The impact of the language curriculum and LST exposure was moderated by children's classroom attendance, in that the language curriculum accelerated language growth for children who attended preschool regularly; a similar effect was seen for LST exposure.

Conclusions: Adoption of a comprehensive language curriculum may provide a value-added benefit only under highly specific circumstances. Findings suggest that at-risk children who receive relatively large doses of a curriculum (as measured in days of attendance during the academic year) that emphasizes quality language instruction may experience accelerated expressive language growth during pre-kindergarten.

KEY WORDS: preschool curriculum, poverty, language acquisition

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. E O'Hare Wayward words and watchful waiting: should clinicians be more proactive for the preschooler with uncomplicated expressive language delay? Arch. Dis. Child., February 1, 2009; 94(2): 80 - 82. [Full Text] [PDF]