Connecting Home to School: Parents' Use of Evaluative Devices and Transitional Kindergarteners' Social-Emotional Competence at School

• In Event: Child and Parent Discourse for Cognitive and Social-Emotional Learning

Abstract

Children’s social-emotional development is crucial for their lifelong success. Less research has linked parents’ language use at home and children’s social-emotional competence at school. Drawing from a larger longitudinal Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) and guided by a linguistic ecocultural-systems theoretical model, this study investigates the associations between parents’ use of evaluative devices in parent-child co-constructed narratives and transitional kindergarteners’ social-emotional competence at school. 35 parent-child narratives were recorded and coded for parent-child evaluative device use; child social-emotional competencies were assessed by teacher-reported child-teacher and child-peer relationships. Results indicated that parents’ use of evaluative devices varied by families’ demographics and children with parents who used causal explanations had better relationships with teachers and peers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Yan Jiang, University of California - San Diego
  Presenting Author

• Alison G. Wishard Guerra, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shana R. Cohen, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naomi T. Lin, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Monica N. Molgaard, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author