Relative heritage language and majority language use before school start explains variance in 2nd grade majority language but not reading skills

The present study examined whether parents’ and bilingual children’s own relative use of the heritage language vs. the majority language in the homes of bilingual children in Denmark before school start explains variance in 2nd grade majority language skills and reading skills. The study included two groups of children: the Mixed bilinguals group (defined by having a native Danish and a nonnative parent, N = 376) and the Heritage bilinguals group (defined by having parents who were both speakers of a Heritage language, N = 276). Four-stage hierarchical regression analyses showed that, after accounting for type of bilingualism, socioeconomic status (SES) and home literacy environment quality, relative use of the heritage vs. the majority language explained variance in 2nd grade Danish language comprehension scores, but did not explain variance in two reading scores, namely decoding and reading comprehension. In addition, a home literacy factor denoting book exposure (number of books, frequency of reading, library visits, and age of beginning shared book reading) was a significant predictor of both 2nd grade language and reading outcomes, whereas SES became a nonsignificant predictor when adding home literacy and language use predictors. We interpret the results to mean that parents’ and the child’s own relative use of the heritage language vs. the majority language before school start does not influence bilingual children’s early reading skills, whereas a supportive early home literacy environment is a positive predictor of reading skills independently of SES and parental majority language use and skill

INDIVIDUELLE FORSKELLE I DANSKE BØRNS TIDLIGE SPROGTILEGNELSE - Hvad kan børne- og forældrerelaterede baggrundsfaktorer forklare?

Baseret på et tværsnitligt forældrerapportstudie af 6.112 danske børn i alderen 8-36 måneder præsenterer artiklen analyser af tilegnelsen af nogle centrale sproglige dimensioner. Analyserne viser, at langsomme og hurtige børn når milepælene i den samme rækkefølge, men at der er meget stor tidsmæssig spredning blandt børnene. Dernæst vises analyser af sammenhængen mellem faktorerne køn, antal søskende, dagtilbud, forældres uddannelse og beskæftigelse samt omfang af højtlæsning/sang og børns tilegnelse af det receptive og produktive ordforråd mhp. at undersøge, om sådanne baggrundsvariable kan forklare de store individuelle forskelle blandt børn. Det var kun muligt at påvise direkte effekt af køn, højtlæsning/sang samt antal timer i dagtilbud, og samlet set kunne baggrundsfaktorerne kun forklare mellem 3.2-8.7% af variationen blandt børnene afhængigt af alder. Artiklen indledes og afrundes med en introduktion til og diskussion af international forskning på området

Individual toddlers' interactions with teachers, peers, and the classroom environment in Danish and Dutch childcare: First validation of the inCLASS Toddler

Toddlers' interactions with teachers, peers and the classroom environment are critical for their academic and social development. The newly developed measure – Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System for Toddlers (inCLASS Toddler) – evaluated the quality of toddlers' interactions in two European countries. This first validation study examined the structural, construct and criterion validity of the inCLASS Toddler. Using observational data of Danish and Dutch toddlers (N = 211) across 58 classrooms, the hypothesized four-domain structure showed an adequate and marginal fit to the Danish and Dutch data, respectively. Construct validity indicated within-country differences for children's age, but not for gender. Criterion validity was evidenced by small to large relations with children's social-emotional, language, and math skills. These results support the applicability of the inCLASS Toddler for observing toddlers' situated skills in interacting with their environment, which can be useful for practitioners and researchers to evaluate toddlers' interactions in an ecologically valid way

Examining the effects of an infant-toddler school readiness intervention in center- and family-based programs: Are results generalizable?

Infants and toddlers frequently participate in either center- or family-based childcare programs. However, little is known about the efficacy of early learning interventions introduced in these two types of programs, in particular family-based programs. The present work builds upon findings of a recent experimental trial demonstrating that a 20-week infant-toddler intervention supporting center- and family-based teachers to be more explicit and intentional in their interactions had a significantly positive effect on targeted child outcomes. In this follow-up paper, we conducted secondary analyses exploring effects of the intervention across the two contexts, center- and family-based programs. Analyses showed that the social validity of the intervention was generally high in both settings, but even higher in family-based than center-based programs. Findings also showed that teachers in both types of programs implemented the intervention at a satisfactory level, but family-based teachers tended to implement more small-group activities and had more conversations with individual children. There were no differential impacts on child outcomes across the two contexts, except for an overall significant spill-over effect on the outcome of empathy within center-based care. Finally, we found that the intervention had positive effects on teachers’ use of counting and math activities in both types of programs

Early childhood educator's implementation readiness and intervention fidelity: Findings from a person-centered study

Research has indicated that early educators’ intervention fidelity is a significant predictor of children's responsiveness to classroom interventions. To improve understanding of predictors of intervention fidelity in early childhood settings, this study adopted a person-centered approach to identify profiles of “implementation readiness” in 1,192 Danish educators, and to examine relations with implementation fidelity. Multilevel latent profile analyses including setting-level characteristics as well as characteristics particular to the individual educator, showed reliable profiles of general and intervention-specific implementation readiness, which were associated with proportion of fulltime educators, employees with a teaching-related pre-service education, and investment in professional development. Higher and more positive implementation readiness predicted implementation dosage and adherence to early childhood interventions

Transparens og produktivitet i danske børns tilegnelse af verbers præteritum

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Infants’ and Toddlers’ Language, Math and Socio-Emotional Development: Evidence for Reciprocal Relations and Differential Gender and Age Effects

Toddlerhood is characterized by rapid development in several domains, such as language, socio-emotional behavior and emerging math skills all of which are important precursors of school readiness. However, little is known about how these skills develop over time and how they may be interrelated. The current study investigates young children’s development at two time points, with about 7 months in between, assessing their language, socio-emotional and math language and numeracy skills with teacher ratings. The sample includes 577 children from 18 until 36 months of age of 86 childcare classrooms. The results of the autoregressive path analyses showed moderate to strong stability of language, socio-emotional and math language and numeracy skills, although the magnitude of associations was smaller for the latter. The cross-lagged path analyses highlighted the importance of language and socio-emotional skills for development in the other domains. Differential relations were found for the autoregressive and cross-lagged paths depending on gender and age. Language skills appeared a stronger predictor of boys’ socio-emotional and math language and numeracy skill development compared to girls. Girls’ socio-emotional skills predicted growth in math. For boys, socio-emotional and math language and numeracy skills appeared to be unrelated. Language skills showed stronger relations with the development of math language and numeracy skills for younger children as compared to older children. Also, for older children math language and numeracy skills negatively predicted growth in their socio-emotional skills. The findings provide more insights in how language, math language and numeracy skills and socio-emotional skills co-develop in the early years and as such have important implications for interventions aimed to support children’s development