Teacher-Child Interactions Around Errors in Preschool: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: 67.067 - MTCC Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 67.067-9 - Promoting Language, Literacy, and School Readiness

Abstract

How students experience and interpret making errors in the classroom, such as not knowing or giving a wrong answer, is crucial to their motivation and learning. Yet, very little is known about the nature of young children’s academic errors and the way teachers respond to them. Therefore, the current study focuses on teacher-student interactions around errors in the preschool classroom. A total of 18 preschool teachers participated in classroom observations of whole class book-reading and small group center time as well as follow-up interviews to discuss error interactions. Qualitative deductive and inductive coding alongside symbolic analysis illuminated specific patterns across error and response types that provides important insights into the importance of acknowledging errors and probing students’ thinking process.

Authors

• Carly Champagne, Temple University

• Annemarie H. Hindman, Temple University

• Avi Kaplan, Temple University