Teachers’ Extended Discourse Interactions with Black and Latinx Children in the Early Childhood Classroom

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

During early childhood, teachers play a pivotal role in supporting children’s development through the opportunities for extended discourse within the classroom setting. The extent to which teachers provide children with opportunities to listen to and practice using sophisticated language during classroom routines and activities can impact children’s development of early language and literacy skills and socioemotional skills. For teachers working with Black and Latinx children, there is also the need to consider the cultural and linguistic diversity that children bring to the classroom to best provide extended discourse opportunities. There is little known, however, about how teachers interact with young Black and Latinx children through extended discourse in the classroom context.
To address this gap in the literature, the symposium presents three studies focused on Black and/or Latinx children and the role of teacher beliefs and practices related to extended discourse in early childhood. The first paper presents the effects of professional development on changes in the quality of teachers’ classroom discourse and children’s subsequent language use. The second paper examines how teachers share oral stories in the classroom and the ways in which teachers’ strategies support children’s development. The third paper presents an experimental study of hypothetical Black and White children to assess the extent to which children’s race and/or gender play a role in teachers’ evaluations of children’s oral narrative skills. Together these papers offer a varied perspective on how teachers use classroom discourse opportunities to support Black and Latinx children’s development.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Nicole Gardner-Neblett, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Discussant

• Rachel Schachter, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Individual Presentations

• Discourse Analysis in an Urban Head Start Serving Latinx and Black Preschoolers: Results from a Conversation-Based Professional Development for Teachers - Presenting Author: Jacqueline P. Sims, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Michelle Curenton, Boston University

• The Stories Teachers Tell:Incorporating Oral Storytelling into Early Childhood Classrooms - Presenting Author: Cassie Wuest, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Adina Schick, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Gigliana Melzi, New York University

• Teachers’ Perceptions of Young Children’s Oral Narrative Skills: The Role of Children’s Race and Gender and Teachers’ Race - Presenting Author: Nicole Gardner-Neblett, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Blake Douglas Ebright, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor