Academic Language Comes to Preschool: A Practice-Based Definition for Early Childhood

• In Event: 63.085 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: 63.085-6 - Early Education and Child Development SIG Poster Session

Abstract

Academic Language has changed kindergarten and Pre-school. A misinterpretation of Common Core State Standards has created a ‘lethal mutation’ (Snow & O’Connor, 2013) of best practice in early childhood by privileging reading and writing over oral/aural academic language. Drawing from a 24-month ethnographic study of a kindergarten and a four-year old kindergarten, this paper defines a practice-based understanding of early childhood academic language by answering the questions: (1) How is academic language in early childhood different from academic language used by older children or English language learners? (2) What are the characteristic ways children and teachers use academic language in early childhood settings? (3) What special considerations do early childhood educators need to have when scaffolding academic language?

Author

• Sara C. Michael-Luna, Queens College - CUNY