Use of Connectives: Exploring the Development of An Early Emerging Academic Language Feature among Preschool Children

• In Event: Academic Language of PreK to 5th Grade Students: Innovative Measurement and Broad Conceptualization

Abstract

As children develop proficiency in language use across time, the form (e.g., sentence structures) and content (e.g., word choices) become increasingly sophisticated and better mirror the way language is used in academic oral and written discourse. One aspect of such academic language that can be observed in children’s spoken language as early as the preschool period is the use of connectives such as coordinating conjunctions (e.g., or, but, and) and subordinating conjunctions (e.g., because, although, when) to connect sentence elements. Whereas prior research indicates that some of these connectives begin appearing in language earlier than others, we have quite limited understanding of the pace at which use of connectives may change across time in young children’s language and of what child characteristics might predict use. Thus, this study aimed to explore these phenomena within the naturally occurring conversational language of a sample of young children within their preschool classroom contexts.

The current sample includes 276 children representing 81 classrooms in 55 preschool centers or public schools. Most (56%) schools were private child care sites, whereas 31% were Head Start centers and 13% were public schools. Classrooms included 37% serving four-year-olds, 10% serving three-year-olds, and 53% serving a mix of both. Child participants include 51% girls, 14% identified as Hispanic/Latine, and represent 40% White, 46% African American, 8% Multiracial, and 6% other racial groups. In the fall children ranged in age from 36 to 62 months old (M = 49.48, SD = 6.98). We audio-recorded child language during classroom activities three times (i.e., fall, winter, spring) during the school year and transcribed and coded samples from each wave for the presence of connectives using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts system. To evaluate validity for the language sampling, we collected standardized language measures (i.e., subscales from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Proficiency-Preschool and the Receptive and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary tests) commensurate with the language sampling waves.

Descriptive results demonstrate the predominance of earlier-appearing connectives in the language samples but also evidence of more advanced elements and, on average, increases in use of both across the school year. Concurrent and cross-time analyses indicated significant associations with standardized language measures. Regression models for each wave indicated that whereas both child age and gender (with the advantage for older children and girls) predicted fall connectives use, only age predicted winter and spring use. Growth modeling analyses conformed with regression results in that child age and gender predicted initial status, but also indicated that no child characteristics were significant predictors of change across time. Additional analyses are planned to explore whether classroom-level characteristics predict growth in use of connectives across the year and whether unique patterns emerge for individual exemplars of simpler and more advanced connectives.

Authors

• Beth M Phillips, Florida State Univeristy
  Presenting Author

• Carla Wood, Florida State University