Behavioral Self-Regulation in a Language Enhancement Intervention for the Educators of German 3- to 5-Year-Olds

• In Event: The Development of Self-Regulation Across Cultures and Context: Predictors and Sources of Influence

Abstract

Young children’s language abilities develop rapidly and are intertwined with their self-regulative skills (e.g., Lonigan et al., 2017). Both variables are well known predictors of social and academic success in school, especially among dual language learners (DLL). An intervention was designed that aimed at improving educators’ language-teaching strategies and consequently children’s lexicon, working memory, understanding of grammar, and use of morphological rules in German. In this “Feeling Thinking Talking” (FTT) intervention, preschool and kindergarten teachers were trained for 40 hours.

In order to evaluate the FTT intervention, 280 three- to-five-year-old children from 13 German Kindergarten sites were allocated to the intervention or the control group. They were tested before the FTT intervention with their teachers (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and about three months later in a follow-up (T3). Children were individually tested with measures of behavioral self-regulation (HTKS), receptive vocabulary (PPVT), production of morphological rules (SETK-MR), understanding of syntax (SETK-VS), and working memory for words (SETK-PGN) and word strings (SETK-GW).

After a multiple imputation procedure, a multilevel model of children’s language scores at T1, T2, and T3 was estimated with children’s behavioral self-regulation and their status as DLL as covariates. DLL and behavioral self-regulation were significant predictors of T1 vocabulary, syntax, and working memory but not of morphological rules. These results confirm the role of regulatory skills in developing most language systems in German. The significant group x time interaction demonstrated that the FTT teacher-led intervention was successful in enhancing children’s language skills. There was no interaction of behavioral self-regulation with change over time in the intervention group on any of the language scores. Results point to earlier influences of behavioral self-regulation on language acquisition, but not to faster language learning due to better self-regulation, neither in the intervention group nor in the control group.

Authors

• Katharina Voltmer, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  Presenting Author

• Maria von Salisch, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  Non-Presenting Author