Poster #3 - Preschoolers’ self-regulatory behaviors during a language task mediate the relationship between self-regulation and language

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Attention, Learning, Memory

Integrative Statement

Preschoolers’ language ability varies widely and is associated with vocabulary learning and grammatical development (Hoff, 2006) as well as processing skills (Marchman & Fernald, 2008). Children’s own cognitive capacities may contribute to children’s language knowledge (Adams & Gathercole, 2009). Specially, individual differences in language development may be in part explained by self-regulation or the ability to manage one’s behaviors, thoughts, and emotions in response to situational demands. Numerous studies have shown that children who have stronger language skills tend to also have better self-regulation (Matt-Gagne & Bernier, 2011). However, little is known about the mechanism through which self-regulation relates to children’s language skills. One mechanism for the association between language and self-regulation is the behaviors that children engage during the assessments that measure these abilities. The current study examines whether the self-regulatory behaviors that children display during a semi-structured language task mediates the relationship between self-regulation and performance on the language task.
Research assistants administered the semi-structured language task and video-recorded children participating in the task. Eighty preschoolers (Mean age=4.5 years; 39 males) were asked to retell a story using a wordless picture book (Justice et al., 2010) and their self-regulatory behaviors were coded using ELAN (Lausberg & Sloetjes, 2009). We first identified all possible repeated off-task behaviors or behaviors that are not directly related to the language task. Examples of off-task behaviors include rocking, standing up, hand fidgeting, and touching equipment. We then determined the most frequently occurring off task behavior and used the onset of that off-task behavior (M=16.49, SD=22.73; Inter-rater 97% reliability). We captured complex expressive language which included sentences that contain two verbs and may include infinitives, coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, or elaborated noun phrases. We also used the Head Toes Knees and Shoulders (HTKS) task as a direct measure of three components of self-regulation: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control (Range=0 to 38; Cameron Ponitz, McClelland, et al., 2009).
To examine the role of onset of off-task behaviors on the relationship between self-regulation and complex language knowledge, we utilized a mediation analysis within structural equation modeling with bootstrapped direct and indirect effects (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). We found that onset of off-task behaviors significantly mediated the relationship between self-regulation and complex language skills (b=.013, β = .07, 95% CI95 = 0.001, 0.038). The total effect of HTKS performance on complex language was ab+c’= (.25 *.29+.23)=.30 and the direct effect of HTKS on complex language was (b=.043, β = .23, p=.05). Onset of off-task behaviors (i.e., indirect effect) accounted for .30-.23/.30=23% of the relationship between self-regulation and language (Figure 1). As one of the few studies to examine mechanisms through which self-regulation is associated with children’s academic performance, our findings show that self-regulation predicts children’s behaviors when being assessed, which then predicts children’s performance on a language task. Self-regulation may not only be important for how it directly relates to producing complex language but also because of the ways in which it inhibits off-task behaviors early on during academic activities.

Authors

• Haruka Konishi, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Lori Skibbe, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ryan P. Bowles, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author