Head Start Teachers' Language Use in Classroom

• In Event: Preparing Educators to Serve Dual Language Learners in Early Care and Education Settings: Existing Practices and Promising Solutions

Abstract

Head Start Teachers’ Language Use in Classroom

Objectives
Rich language exposure is crucial for the development of language and literacy skills especially for Dual Language Learners (DLLs) attending Head Start centers as many do not have access to adequate English exposure at home. However, little is known about teachers’ language backgrounds and classroom language use. The goal of this study is to address these gaps.

Perspectives
DLLs are dependent on preschools to enhance their early literacy experience. Consequently, teachers play a very crucial role in helping DLLs in poverty to succeed. In order to facilitate better teacher professional development, it is critical to understand teachers’ backgrounds and language use in Head Start programs serving large proportions of DLLs.

Methods
A total of 32 teachers from 20 Head Start Centers serving large proportions of DLLs in Northern California were given a self-reported questionnaire (Bilingual Input-Output Survey; Peña et al., 2014), and asked to detail their classroom language use during a typical school day on an hour-by-hour basis. Additionally, teachers provided basic demographics, rated their own language proficiency, and outlined their classroom language use. Teachers also filled out a survey on their beliefs about emotions.

Results
The majority of teachers were female. Out of the 32 teachers, 16 were of Chinese descent, 4 Hmong, 2 Filipino, 2 from India, 1 from the Middle East, 2 were African American, and 5 were White-Hispanics. Teachers were generally highly educated, with an average of 15.83 years of education. All but two were bilingual. Within the bilingual teacher sample, 53% spoke some variant of Chinese and 23% spoke Spanish. The remaining 7 were bilingual but spoke neither Chinese nor Spanish.

The majority of Chinese-speaking teachers were comfortable in both English and Chinese. All Spanish-speaking teachers were confident in their English ability, but 3 out of the 7 teachers rated their Spanish skills as low or average.

When talking to DLL’s, 56% of bilingual teachers reported using both languages, 20% mostly English, and 23% purely English. During large group activities, 30% of bilingual teachers used both languages, 33% mostly English, and 37% only English. In small group activities, 46.67% of teachers used both languages, 16.67% mostly English, and 36.67% only English. During outdoor activities, 40% of teachers used both languages, 33% mostly English, and 27% only English. Teachers appear to use both languages more often when speaking face-to-face with DLLs. However, in group settings the teachers used a more varied combination of English and the children’s home language.


Scientific or scholarly significance of the study
Results suggest use of home language supports should be more integral in Head Start teacher training and professional development (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Encouraging bilingual teachers to use Spanish or Chinese to supplement may be another pathway towards effective development of language and literacy abilities in young DLLs.


References

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https:// doi.org/10.17226/24677.

Authors

• Megan Chan, University of California - Berkeley

• Francis Yang, University of California - Berkeley

• Qing Zhou, University of California - Berkeley

• Yuuko Uchikoshi, University of California - Davis