Poster #181 - Preschool Classroom’s Linguistic Environment From the Child’s First-Person Experience

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - School Readiness/Childcare

Integrative Statement

This study explored the individual differences in children’s linguistic experiences in the preschool classroom from a first-person perspective, testing the theory that children’s classroom experiences would be highly individualized. Although numerous prior studies have explored the linguistic environment of the preschool classroom, these have largely focused on teachers as the primary source of language in the classroom, and suggest that children are homogeneously exposed to the same input. However, children also interact with their peers, and build different bonds with peers and teachers, suggesting more dynamic and diverse linguistic experiences than that reported in literature.
This study is the first of which we are aware to use head-mounted cameras worn by preschool children to examine their linguistic experiences in the classroom and provide the children’s point of view. Fourteen children in one preschool classroom participated (10 males and 5 females) and each child wore a wireless head-mounted camera for 51 minutes, on average (range: 29-59 min), during the morning; approximately four children wore a camera each day over one week in the fall of the year. We explored individual differences in (a) the frequency and duration of child-peer and child-teacher interactions and (b) the properties of linguistic input to the child (number of utterances, lexical diversity, and complex sentences). Child-peer interactions were defined as any type of reciprocal interaction between the target child and one or more peers. Child-teacher interactions were operationalized as instances when teachers disciplined, comforted, played, conversed or provided directions to the target child, alone or in a group. Input to the child was transcribed verbatim using the SALT software, and utterances were coded as simple or grammatically complex. Direct, rather than overheard, input was our focus due to the difficulty of transcribing the enormous volume of overheard talk.
A visual depiction of data concerning who children interacted with for seven children appears in Figure 1. As these data show, children interacted more frequently with, and received more input from, their teachers compared to peers; however, from children’s point of view there were important individual differences among them. For instance, children 1, 4 and 16 interacted more constantly with their teachers than did 19 and 5. Children like 4 and 5 interacted more constantly with their peers across time, and others like 3 and 2 engaged in interaction with peers that lasted as long as the majority of their interactions with teachers. Children’s linguistic environment mirrored these differences. For example, Child 4’s linguistic input was characterized by more utterances, lexical diversity, and complex sentences. For children like 5, her peers were an important source of language (see Figure 2).
Together these results suggest that from the child’s first-person perspective, there are significant variations in the linguistic environment. Some children (e.g., Child 3) received far less input from her teacher as compared to others (e.g., Child 4). This work points to the importance of viewing children’s interactions in preschool settings from the lens of the child, understanding that each child is experiencing a unique interactive environment.

Authors

• Leydi Johana Chaparro-Moreno, The Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Laura Justice, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author