Language Use in Indoor and Outdoor Settings Among Children in a Nature-Based Preschool

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Promoting Literacy in Early Childhood Settings (Table 5)

Abstract

Experiences with nature have positive direct and indirect effects on multiple domains of child development, including language learning. However, few studies have examined the relationship between children’s language and outdoor nature settings. This study examined and compared children’s language use in an indoor classroom and an outdoor nature setting. Language samples from 16 preschoolers (including seven Dual Language Learners) collected in indoor and outdoor nature-based preschool were analyzed using the CLAN (Computerized Language ANalysis) program. Findings showed that for both the entire sample and the sample of Dual Language Learners, children’s language had higher syntactic complexity measured by Mean Length of Three or Five Longest Utterances in the outdoor nature setting. Implications of the study results are discussed.

Authors

• Ekaterina Novikova, University of Delaware

• Annette Pic, University of Delaware

• Myae Han, University of Delaware