Associations Between Teachers’ Feedback and Children’s Inhibition Development in Chinese and American Kindergartners

• In Event: Assessing Kindergarten Readiness and Development

Abstract

Executive functions, particularly inhibition, underlie children’s abilities to function in a classroom and succeed academically. The current study examined 231 children in 23 kindergarten classrooms (14 in China, 9 in the U.S.) in order to (1) compare Chinese and American children’s inhibition skills in kindergarten, (2) compare Chinese and American teachers’ rates of positive and negative feedback to children, and (3) explore associations between teachers’ feedback and children’s inhibition development. Chinese children substantially outscored American children at both the beginning and end of kindergarten. Chinese and American teachers gave similar rates of feedback, but higher rates of positive feedback predicted greater inhibition development in the U.S., whereas higher rates of negative feedback predicted greater inhibition development in China.

Authors

• Lindsay H. Bell, University of Michigan

• Neo W.L. Ngan, University of Washington - Seattle

• Su Li, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Frederick J. Morrison, University of Michigan