Abstract
The Observing Language Pedagogy (OLP) tool uses videos of authentic classroom interactions to elicit the procedural knowledge which pre-school teachers can access, activate and use to support classroom decision-making. Three facets are captured: perceiving (the ability to identify salient language-supporting strategies); naming (the use of specific professional vocabulary to describe interactions); and interpreting (the ability to interpret the interactions observed). Prior research has shown that the OLP predicts classroom quality; with naming and interpreting proving the strongest predictors. This study examines OLP responses from 104 teachers to consider the nature of their pedagogical knowledge (perceiving, naming, interpreting), and describe differences between expert teachers (those leading language-supporting classrooms) and non-expert teachers (those leading lower quality classrooms). It offers insight into the nature of language-related expertise and to guide design of teacher professional development, suggesting a tri-fold focus on knowledge of linguistic input, relational pedagogy and cognitive challenging interactions.
Highlights
Pre-school oral language skills predict literacy and broader outcomes at school entry (Morgan et al, 2015; Roulstone et al, 2011), which in turn predict later school achievement (Duncan et al, 2007)
The current sample comprised 104 teachers who responded to an online survey at the post-test stage of the RCT, which assessed procedural pedagogical knowledge using the Observing Language Pedagogy (OLP)
While it cannot claim to assess all aspects of knowledge needed for classroom practice, it offers important insight into the nature of expert knowledge in relation to oral language pedagogy
Summary
Pre-school oral language skills predict literacy and broader outcomes at school entry (Morgan et al, 2015; Roulstone et al, 2011), which in turn predict later school achievement (Duncan et al, 2007). Many children, those from disadvantaged households, start school without the language skills they need (Waldfogel and Washbrook, 2010). While attending high-quality preschool can help children catch up with their peers (Sylva et al, 2010), not all early education providers offer language-rich environments for children, in the disadvantaged areas where this is most needed (Mathers and Smees, 2014). The in-service professional development which might strengthen practice is often inconsistent in quality (Cordingley et al, 2015) and in its impact on teaching quality or child outcomes (Markussen-Brown et al, 2017). There is empirical evidence that pre-school teachers language-and-literacy content knowledge predicts classroom quality and child outcomes (Piasta et al, 2009; Schachter et al, 2016). Equivalent evidence does not exist for pedagogical knowledge: studies are scarcer and have identified small or null effects (Phillips et al, 2020; Spear et al, 2018; Schachter et al, 2016)
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