Early Language Skills Research Articles

The Role of Folklore in Building Character and Early Childhood Language Skills

This study explores the role of folklore in shaping the character and language skills of early childhood learners. Folklore, rich in cultural values and moral lessons, serves as an effective medium for instilling virtues such as empathy, respect, and responsibility in young children. Through storytelling, children not only engage with the narratives but also enhance their linguistic abilities, including vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, and narrative skills. The research employs a qualitative approach, gathering data through observations, interviews with educators, and analyses of children's responses during storytelling sessions. The findings indicate that incorporating folklore into early education significantly promotes moral development and language proficiency among children. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity of integrating cultural narratives into educational practices to foster a holistic learning environment. The study underscores the importance of folklore as a vital tool for educators in nurturing the character and language skills of young learners, ultimately contributing to their overall development

Igniting Curiosity: The Role of STEAMEducation in Enhancing Early Academic,Language Skills and Motivation for Science

Igniting Curiosity: The Role of STEAMEducation in Enhancing Early Academic,Language Skills and Motivation for Science

Narrative Retelling Abilities of Kindergarteners Considering Early Literacy and Language Skills

Objectives: This study investigated the narrative retelling abilities of 5-year-old children at risk of narrative development, early literacy, and language skills focusing on story grammar, linguistic cohesive devices, and semantic-grammatical index.Methods: Narrative Retelling production using KONA was conducted on a total of fifty kindergarten children, 10 typically developing children (TD), 10 at risk of developmental dyslexia (DD), 10 at risk of narrative discourse (ND), 10 at risk of narrative discourse and early literacy (ND·DD), and 10 at risk of early literacy and language as well as narrative discourse to compare the production of story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, and use of linguistic indicators total number of words (NTW), number of grammatical morphemes, mean length of T-units in morpheme (MLT-m), grammatical morpheme error rate (GME) between groups.Results: ND, ND·DD and ND·DD·SLI groups showed lower performance in producing story grammars, linguistic cohesive markers, NTW, and number of grammatical morphemes compared to the TD and DD groups. There were no significant differences between groups in the number of inappropriate uses of linguistic cohesive devices, MLT-m, and grammatical morpheme error rate.Conclusion: The ND·DD·SLI group with poor semantics and grammar showed significantly lower narrative retelling ability. This suggests that early intervention may be beneficial for children at risk for difficulties in language and narrative development. The ND group with good semantics and grammar was identified with their low narrative retelling abilities. In addition to typical development in semantics and grammar, there were children at risk of narratives with low abilities in early literacy. In addition to language skills, we need to screen and identity narrative abilities considering early literacy skills during the kindergarten period.

Prenatal tobacco and alcohol exposure, white matter microstructure, and early language skills in toddlers from a South African birth cohort.

Tobacco and alcohol are the two most common substances used during pregnancy, and both can disrupt neurodevelopment, resulting in cognitive and behavioral deficits including language difficulties. Previous studies show that children with prenatal substance exposure exhibit microstructural alterations in major white matter pathways, though few studies have investigated the impact of prenatal substance exposure on white matter microstructure and language skills during the toddler years. In this study, 93 children (34 exposed to alcohol and/or tobacco) aged 23 years from the Drakenstein Child Health Study, South Africa, completed Expressive and Receptive Communication assessments from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III) and underwent diffusion MRI scans. Diffusion images were preprocessed, and 11 major white matter tracts were isolated. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were extracted for each white matter tract. Linear regression was used to examine differences between the tobacco/alcohol exposed group and unexposed controls for FA, MD, and language scores, as well as relationships between brain metrics and language. There were no significant group differences in language scores or FA. Children with alcohol or tobacco exposure had lower average MD in the splenium of the corpus callosum compared to unexposed controls. Significant interactions between prenatal substance exposure and language scores were seen in 7 tracts but did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Our findings show that prenatal alcohol and/or tobacco exposure appear to alter the relationship between white matter microstructure and early language skills in this population of toddlers, potentially laying the basis of language deficits observed later in older children with prenatal substance exposure, which may have implications for learning and interventions.

The Effect of Wordwall Media on Early Childhood Language Skills at TKIT Al-Kaukaba

The purpose of the research is to determine the influence of wordwall media on early childhood language skills in TKIT Al-Kaukaba. This study uses a quantitative approach using a quasi-experimental method using a Nonequivalent control group design. In this study, the population taken was all children of group B TKIT Al-Kaukaba totaling 30 students. The sampling technique in this study is total sampling, while the samples taken are TKIT Al-Kaukaba students with B1 group students of 15 children as the experimental group and B2 group of 15 children as the control class. The instrument in this study is an observation sheet of children's language skills. The data analysis technique using the mean difference test for two paired samples (unpaired sample t-test) was carried out to assess the data using SPSS software. The results of the study showed that there was a difference in the level of children's language proficiency between children who obtained the wordwall method compared to students who did not obtain the wordwall method

Supporting Early Language by Supporting Systemic Solutions

A large body of research shows connections between infants’ and toddlers’ home language input and a wide range of receptive and expressive early language skills. Some facets of caretaker input and early language skills are associated with socioeconomic status (SES), though not all. Given the complexity of language learning, language use, and its many pathways of connection to SES, testing causal links between these dimensions is difficult at best. Interventions aimed at changing parent language use have seen mixed success, in part because “language infusions” generally fail to target underlying challenges facing underresourced families, and perhaps because parent language is the wrong target. System-level interventions such as paid parental leave and expansion and enrichment of childcare and early education options hold greater promise for improving families’ lives, with positive repercussions for a broad range of family and child outcomes, including linguistic ones.

Early Language Literacy and Numeracy Skills of Kindergarten Learners in Talakag Bukidnon

In the contemporary context, young Filipinos from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are encountering challenges in mastering fundamental language and numeracy skills, impeding their educational advancement. To address this issue, a study was conducted in Talakag District 1, Bukidnon during the 2022-2023 academic year, focusing on kindergarten learners aged 4-5. The study aimed to outline the participants’ characteristics, evaluate their proficiency in early language literacy and numeracy during the 1st and 2nd Quarters of the school year, and establish links between their learning skills and backgrounds. With 154 kindergarten learners involved, the study employed a descriptive correlational research approach, analyzing data using descriptive statistics and Spearman Correlation to identify significant relationships between language and math skills and participants’ profiles. The findings indicated a predominance of female participants with parents engaged in farming, holding a high school education, and earning a household income of P 9,999 or less. Moreover, the study revealed that the learners’ performance in early language literacy and numeracy neared proficiency levels in the specified quarters, emphasizing a noteworthy connection between their skills and background factors, particularly the mothers’ educational attainment. Recommendations included a focus on enhancing early language and math skills by the Department of Education and encouraging teachers and parents to allocate more time to enrichment activities.

Declared Practices of Language Facilitation in Early Childhood Education and Care with Children Younger than Two Years

AbstractEarly reciprocal language experiences are crucial for children’s language development. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has the potential to facilitate language development. However, knowledge on ECEC educators’ actions in implementing early language facilitation is scarce. This study surveyed educators’ declared practices of early language facilitation and its relationship with their educational background. Open-ended responses gathered from 644 Finnish ECEC educators were categorized by content and analyzed in relation to the educators’ qualifications and work experience. The findings showed that when reporting on their practices, the educators typically did not focus on the child’s communicative initiatives and reciprocal language. However, the responses of educators with a qualification in ECEC special education contained more focused content on child-led reciprocity. Moreover, both ECEC special education teachers and educators with experience in infant-toddler ECEC underlined the importance of interaction. The findings indicate a need to increase educators’ awareness of their actions in facilitating children’s early language skills. To achieve the educational and preventive rehabilitative potential of ECEC, it is crucial that centers both include ECEC special educators in their teaching staff and invest in educator training.

KACA: Educational Tutorial Video-Based Games to Stimulate Early Childhood Language Skills

KACA: Educational Tutorial Video-Based Games to Stimulate Early Childhood Language Skills

Hubungan Keterampilan Literasi Awal dengan Kemampuan Bahasa Ekspresif Tingkat Kata pada Anak Usia Prasekolah di RA Sunan Ampel Al-Jauhar Ngawi

Abstract Background: The education of children of preschool age is closely related to the development of children's literacy skills. The lack of readiness of early literacy skills will affect the child's success in communicating and speaking with their environment. Based on a survey conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2019. Indonesia ranks 62nd out of 70 countries related to literacy rate, or is in the bottom 10 countries that have low literacy levels. Objectives: analyze the Corellation of Early Literacy Skills with Word-Level Expressive Language Skills in Preschool-Age Children at RA Sunan Ampel Al-Jauhar Ngawi. Methods: This study was a quantitative study using an observational analytic research design with a cross sectional approach. The sample size of this study was 32 respondents aged 3–6 years (preschool). The statistical test used in this study was the Kendall Tau test. Results: The Kendall's tau test results revealed that a significance value of 0.000 was obtained with corellation coefficient or a r value of 0.603 which means that the correlation value is strong and positive, so Alternative hypotheses is accepted. This means that there is a strong relationship between early literacy skills and word-level expressive language skills. The better the early literacy skills, the better the expressive language skills of children is, and vice versa. Conclusion: There is a strong and positive correlation between early literacy skills and expressive language skills in preschool children. Keywords: Early literacy skills, expressive language skills, preschoolers

Peningkatan Kemampuan Berbahasa Anak Usia 4-5 Tahun Menggunakan Media Video Animasi di Kelompok Bermain Sriwijaya Sadar Sriwijaya

The research aims to understand how educators use animation media to improve early childhood language skills and its impact during learning. The research method was carried out using classroom action research techniques at KOBER SRIWIJAYA in Bandar Sribhawono District. The research results showed that instructor training in utilizing animation media was not fully effective in Cycle I, so further action was needed in Cycle II. Cycle I got a score of 3.22 categorized as "Good", then in Cycle II there was an impressive improvement, especially getting a score of 3.66 with a classification of "very good". It is hoped that the animation media chosen as a medium to improve language skills will continue to develop. Based on Cycle I, the criteria score was 52.08% with the statement starting to develop (MB), so efforts are needed in Cycle II. In cycle II, the criteria score increased by 78.75% with the description of very well developed (BSB) and the criteria for using animation media to improve children's language skills were categorized as successful.

Using Empirical Information to Prioritize Early Literacy Assessment and Instruction in Preschool and Kindergarten

Early literacy skill development predicts later reading success, and development of skills in specific domains during the preschool years has been established as both a prerequisite and precursory for reading. Early literacy assessments typically include measures of separate skills across domains, and results can assist with determining where instructions may be most needed. When multiple areas of need are identified, understanding which skills to prioritize can be a challenge. Therefore, empirically identifying the relative contribution of each skill measured in preschool to subsequent reading success can promote more efficient systems of assessment. This study, conducted in the United States, examined the predictive validity of early literacy skills measured in preschool compared to skills measured in kindergarten, with a specific practical focus on identifying the most efficient predictive model for understanding reading readiness. Participants were 119 preschoolers (mean age = 66 months) who mostly spoke English as their primary language (79%). Results indicated early literacy and language skills in preschool are highly predictive of early reading in kindergarten, accounting for 59% of the variance in a reading composite score. The most parsimonious model indicated that first sounds, letter sounds, early comprehension, and expressive vocabulary measures adequately explained 52% of the variance in children’s kindergarten reading performance.

Expressive language variation, growth and predictors in Mandarin-exposed young children with autism spectrum disorder

Utilizing the Putonghua Communicative Development Inventory-Toddler Form, this longitudinal study assessed expressive language development (including lexicon, grammar, and decontextualized language) twice over a year’s span in two subgroups (high verbal, low verbal) of 77 2–6-year-old Mandarin-exposed children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both subgroups showed the steeper increase of structural language (lexicon and grammar) vs. the flatter growth of decontextualized language. Moreover, children’s initial language skills (but not autism severity or language environment) predicted language outcomes one year later in both groups. The use of decontextualized language also predicted structural language development in the low verbal group. These findings confirmed the uneven expressive language growth across multiple language domains in subgroups of children with ASD and underscored the contribution of early language skills to their expressive language development. Moreover, the slow growth and significant predictivity of decontextualized language warrant targeted intervention in promoting children with ASD’s talk beyond the ‘here-and-now’ situation in communication.

Examining the relations between early language skills and environmental variables and literacy skills: A longitudinal study from 2 to 9 years

A 7-year longitudinal study was conducted as part of the French national cohort ELFE ( N = 1095). The aim was to identify how and why early language skills at 2 years might predict later literacy skills assessed successively at 5, 7, and 9 years (LitSk5y; 7y; 9y). Using one and the same model, we also examined the relations between literacy skills in the three sessions and the potential impact of three environmental variables: the home learning environment (HLE) and two variables related to socioeconomic status (SES), namely, parental education level (PEL) and household income (HInc). The main findings reveal that expressive vocabulary at 2 years is a significant predictor of LitSk5y. No significant link was found for HLE. The other significant links reveal that PEL is associated with LitSk5y and LitSk7y, and HInc with LitSk5y and LitSk9y. The differential impact of these two SES variables is discussed. Moreover, the restructuring lexical model is proposed to explain how the development of early expressive vocabulary is linked to the development of literacy skills via an implicit stimulation of phonemic awareness during the acquisition of new words.

Efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language Curriculum With Preschoolers From Low-Income Families.

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language (TELL) curriculum package for improving the early literacy and oral language skills of preschoolers from low-income families. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), TELL was implemented in 30 TELL and 28 business-as-usual classrooms. TELL is a Tier 1 whole-class curriculum package that includes a scope and sequence of instruction, lesson plans and materials, high-quality books, curriculum-based measures (CBMs), and professional development training and coaching. Implementation fidelity was high; however, due to COVID-19 school closures, we did not collect end-of-year data for our third cohort of teachers. Results indicated significant TELL effects on all code-related CBMs and two code-related distal measures as well as receptive and expressive vocabulary CBMs. No significant differences were found on distal measures of oral language/vocabulary or listening comprehension. Results of the present study, paired with findings from an earlier TELL RCT with children with developmental speech and/or language impairments, suggest that children enrolled in TELL classrooms achieve higher outcomes on a variety of code-related and vocabulary measures by the end of their final preschool year. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25345708.

Mean Length of Utterance in Czech Toddlers: Validity Estimates and Comparison of Words, Morphemes, and Syllables.

We examined the properties of mean length of utterance (MLU) in Czech, a morphologically complex Slavic language. We compared the scores of MLU calculated in different units and based on different sample lengths and assessed its validity against another transcript and test-based measures. One hundred nine children were recorded during free-play at 2;6 and 3;11 (years;months). We compared MLU in syllables, morphemes, and words (MLUw) in transcripts of different lengths (50, 75, 100, and all available utterances). For evaluating the validity of MLU, we also calculated Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn) and number of different words (NDW) and used results of receptive vocabulary and grammar comprehension tests. The different MLU measures based on different sample lengths correlated closely with MLU in transcripts of all utterances (all rs > .87). We found mostly strong correlations between MLU, IPSyn, and NDW at both time points and weak or moderate correlations between MLU and grammar and vocabulary. Regression models showed the significant unique effect of MLUw at 2;6 for MLUw (β = .29) and grammar (β = .33) at 3;11 and vocabulary (β = .27) at 3;7. MLUw based on all utterances was confirmed as a valid measure of early language skills in Czech, as it is stable in time and shows concurrent and predictive relations with other transcript-based and test-based measures. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25215203.

Improving Early Childhood Language Skills by Telling Stories Using Finger Puppets: A Classroom Action Research

Improving Early Childhood Language Skills by Telling Stories Using Finger Puppets: A Classroom Action Research

Implementasi Metode Cerita dalam Meningkatkan Kemampuan Berbahasa Anak Usia Dini

This article explores the ways in which teachers develop young children’s language skills. An overview of early childhood language skills, the implementation of the story method in learning and the implication of the story method on children’s language skill are analysed in depth. Using qualitative description, this study obtained data through observation, interviews, and documentation. This is done systematically to allow data collection in this qualitative research could explain what has been observed. The result of this study indicated that the use of the story method or storytelling in improving early childhood language skills in the learning process is carried out by teachers systematically. Therefore, not only early childhood language skills are improved, but also social interaction. The active involvement of early childhood in learning is a benefit that could be perceived by the parents of learners. The consideration of digital media in the story method is a concept that needs to be explored specifically in order to make the implementation of learning methods more diverse and further improve early childhood abilities.

Enhancing early language and literacy skills for racial/ethnic minority children with low incomes through a randomized clinical trial: The mediating role of cognitively stimulating parent-child interactions.

Parenting is a critical mediator of children's school readiness. In line with this theory of change, data from the randomized clinical trial of Smart Beginnings (tiered Video Interaction Project and Family Check-Up; N = 403, treatment arm n = 201) were used to examine treatment impacts on early language and literacy skills at child age 4 years (nLatinx = 168, nBlack = 198, nMale = 203), as well as indirect impacts through parental support of cognitive stimulation at child age 2 years. Although results did not reveal direct effects on children's early skills, there were significant indirect effects for early literacy (β = .03, p = .05) and early language (β = .04, p = .04) via improvements in parental cognitive stimulation. Implications for interventions targeting parenting to improve children's school readiness beginning at birth are discussed.

Measuring Digital Learning Trends and Accessibility Convenience in Enhancing Early Childhood Literacy and Language Proficiency: The Role of Smart Book Media from the Perspective of Banten Javanese Language

This study explores the relationships between digital learning trends, accessibility convenience, smart book media, early childhood literacy, and language proficiency in Banten Javanese Language. Using a quantitative approach with 140 young learners (aged 10-12), we assessed how digital learning trends and accessibility convenience impact smart book media, early childhood literacy, and language proficiency. Results show that digital learning trends notably affect smart book media’s functionality, contributing to developing early childhood literacy and language skills. Additionally, accessibility convenience is crucial in enhancing smart book media’s utility, fostering early childhood literacy and language proficiency. However, while smart book media significantly influence language skills and early childhood literacy, they don’t mediate the connections between digital learning trends, accessibility convenience, and these language-related outcomes. Educators and stakeholders can utilize these findings to shape culturally sensitive language education strategies, incorporating technology and resource accessibility. This research enriches the theoretical understanding of digital learning trends and accessibility convenience’s impact on language outcomes. It highlights the practical potential of smart book media in language education, aiding educators and policymakers in aligning strategies with contemporary trends and cultural nuances. While limited to Banten Javanese Language, the study prompts further exploration through qualitative and longitudinal studies. Future research should explore cultural influences and intervention programs for optimizing language development. By uniquely merging digital learning trends, accessibility convenience, smart book media, and language outcomes, this study contributes valuable insights to the discourse on language education and technology integration within the distinct context of Banten Javanese Language.