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Early Childhood Educators’ Use of Language-Support Practices with 4-Year-Old Children in Child Care Centers

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Abstract

The importance of encouraging language skills in early childhood has been well documented. Educators who are responsible for children in daycare services have many opportunities to use rich and stimulating educational practices that support language acquisition. The purpose of this study was to assess the language-support practices used by 22 educators in ECE centers with 174 children (87 girls and 87 boys) aged 55.7 months on average (SD = 4.2). The Teacher Interaction and Language Rating Scale developed by Girolametto et al. (Teacher interaction and language rating scale, Hanen Centre, Toronto, 2000) was translated and adapted for use in French. Analyses reveal the heterogeneity of language support provided to 4-year-old children attending early childhood education centers in Québec (Canada). Results are discussed in relation to the importance of the educational setting and specific training on language skill development provided to educators around promoting language skills in children, a fundamental prerequisite for educational success.

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Notes

  1. Inspired by Girolametto and Weitzman (2002), a questionnaire assesses the educator’s perception of how representative (e.g., in terms of amount of talking, comfort level) the observed situation was compared to the typical experiences of the educator and the children. Educators completed the questionnaire immediately after filmed situations (snack time) by using a 5-point Liker-type scale (atypical to typical): 1 = completely unrepresentative; 2 = slightly representative; 3 = averagely representative; 4 = fairly representative; 5 = highly representative.

  2. As the representativeness of the observed situations (snack time) (see footnote 1) was high, the data on this variable were not considered for further analysis. In fact, the average score on the overall representativeness of observed situations compared to routine was 4.3/5 (SD = 0.64), i.e., 4.1/5 (SD = 0.76) for educators and 4.4/5 (SD = 0.76) for children.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants awarded by the Fonds de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) and the Programme d’aide financière à la recherche et à la création (PAFARC) (Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada). The authors would like to thank Ms. Margaret McKyes, Certified Translator, for the English traduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département d’éducation et pédagogie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Succursale Centre-Ville, C.P. 8888, Montréal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Caroline Bouchard, Nathalie Bigras, Gilles Cantin, Joell Eryasa & Annie Charron

  2. Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, QC, Canada

    Sylvain Coutu

  3. Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Succursale Centre-Ville, C.P. 8888, Montréal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada

    Bénédicte Blain-Brière & Liesette Brunson

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  1. Caroline Bouchard
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Correspondence to Caroline Bouchard.

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Bouchard, C., Bigras, N., Cantin, G. et al. Early Childhood Educators’ Use of Language-Support Practices with 4-Year-Old Children in Child Care Centers. Early Childhood Educ J 37, 371–379 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-009-0355-7

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