Kindergarten Year Research Articles

Code-switching in the narratives of dual-language Latino preschoolers

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the use of code-switching in the narratives of dual-language Latino preschoolers, specifically by examining its incidence, types, functions, and grammaticality. Previous work has investigated code-switching in younger children and in older children and adults, but relatively little work has investigated code-switching during the preschool years, an important time for dual-language development. This study tracked the code-switching of 39 Latino DLL preschoolers over three time points: the end of each of their two preschool years, and the beginning of their kindergarten year. At each time point, children shared a wordless picture book narrative. Code-switching in their narratives was coded for incidence, type, function, and grammaticality. Results showed that the number of children who code-switched was relatively small and stable over time, and that most code-switches occurred from Spanish to English. One-word switches, mostly nouns, were the predominant type of code-switching across years. Children used code-switching to serve a variety of functions, and almost all switches adhered to grammatical rules. Results suggest that the preschool age is an important developmental period for code-switching, in which children’s code-switches are simultaneously reflective of those of younger children and associated with more complexity in function and grammaticality.

Validación del Instrumento de Evaluación de la Conciencia Morfológica Oral (IECMO)

La conciencia morfológica puede jugar un papel relevante en lo que al proceso de alfabetización se refiere. Se presenta un estudio de validación experimental con una muestra de alumnos pre-lectores de Educación Infantil y alumnos de primero de Educación Primaria del Instrumento de Evaluación de la Conciencia Morfológica Oral (IECMO) diseñado para su estudio en español y centrada en la evaluación de las tres dimensiones de la conciencia morfológica: a) la morfología inflexional; b) la morfología derivacional y, c) las palabras compuestas. Participaron un total de cincuenta alumnos y alumnas pertenecientes al último curso de Educación Infantil y primero de Educación Primaria. Sus edades estaban comprendidas entre los 5 y los 7 años. En relación con el estudio experimental de validación se presentan los resultados iniciales de fiabilidad de la prueba por consistencia interna, análisis de ítems y estabilidad temporal análisis test-retest; y la validez de la prueba, tanto de contenido o aparente y de constructo o teórica. Los resultados obtenidos en el análisis de las propiedades psicométricas del instrumento permiten verificar tanto la validez, de contenido y de constructo, como la fiabilidad del IECMO. Este instrumento puede ser de gran utilidad, ya que el profesorado debería tener en cuenta el papel que juega la conciencia morfológica en el aprendizaje y dominio de diferentes habilidades metalingüísticas.

DAMPAK GADGET TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN BAHASA ANAK USIA 3-6 TAHUN DI TK.KARTIKA TEBING TINGGI

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of gadgets on language development of children aged 3-6 years in kindergarten. Kartika Tebing Tinggi. This type of research is a quantitative descriptive study. Data analysis techniques used were observation and interview sheets. The results of the study can be seen from the percentage of each child including the percentage of each child including KAZ of 46.87%, AV of 68.75%, SA 93.75%, AA 46.87%, KA 71.87%, GR 43.75%, RB 50%, 46.25%, F 40.62 %, RA 37.50%. Thus the overall average impact of gadgets on language development of children aged 3-6 years obtains a percentage of 54.06%. This can also be seen from the number of children who are considered poor, consisting of 7 out of 10 children with a percentage of 70%. As much as 1 child out of 10 reaches the criteria sufficient with a percentage of 10%, as many as 1 child out of 10 reaches the good criteria with a percentage of 10%, 1 child out of 10 achieves very good criteria with a percentage of 10. Because children are too focused on gadgets and parents do not limit the use of gadgets.

Informant-specific reports of peer and teacher relationships buffer the effects of harsh parenting on children's oppositional defiant disorder during kindergarten.

Harsh and restrictive parenting are well-established contributors to the development of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) among children. However, few studies have explored whether interpersonal relationships that develop outside the family environment attenuate the risk for ODD that is associated with harsh parenting. The current study tested multireporter measures of teacher-child closeness and peer acceptance as moderators of the association between harsh parenting and children's ODD as children's social worlds widen during the kindergarten year (N = 338 children, 48% girls, M age = 5.32 years). Harsh parenting interacted with peer nominations of peer acceptance and children's report of teacher-child closeness to predict children's ODD symptoms in the spring, adjusting for fall symptoms. Children exposed to harsh parenting exhibited greater symptom increases when they were less liked/accepted playmates and in the context of lower teacher-child closeness. However, harsh parenting was not associated with symptom change among children with higher levels of peer-nominated acceptance and those who reported closer relationships with teachers. There were no significant interactions using teacher's report of peer acceptance or teacher's report of teacher-child closeness. Findings highlight positive peer and teacher relationships as promising targets of intervention among children exposed to harsh parenting and support the importance of assessing multiple perspectives of children's social functioning.

MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN MOTORIK KASAR ANAK USIA 5-6 TAHUN MELALUI PERMAINAN BOLA BESAR DI TK ISLAM NUSANTARA

Rough motor skills are the ability of the body to use large muscles, which involves the whole body such as the muscle activity of the hands and feet in locomotor, non locomotor and manipulative action. One of the activities that can be used is through big ball game.Based on the result of pre-research analysis, the percentage of gross motor ability of children is 27%, cycle 1 is 41%, while at the end of cycle 2 the percentage of gross motor ability improvement of children is 97%. This research is shown to be seen from the change of motor ability of roughly very good class in cycle 2. It can be seen that children are already able to develop rough motor movement through various media with balance, flexibility, children able to train the muscles of the hands and feet, the coordination of foot and eyes, and hand and eye coordination. In the process of learning, children now look very enthusiastic. As has been stated in the interpretation of the results of analysis that this research is said to succeed if there is a minimum increase of 75%. So at the end of this 2nd cycle of research is said to be very successful because the percentage of increase obtained to 97%. This exceeds the minimum limit set by researchers and collaborators. Based on these data, it can be concluded that the rough motor skills of children aged 5-6 years in Islamic Nursery Kindergarten by using a large ball game increased and the results of the process of great ball game improvement is very good.

The Dimensionality of Oral Language in Kindergarten Spanish-English Dual Language Learners.

The purpose of this study was to examine the latent dimensionality of language in dual language learners (DLLs) who spoke Spanish as their native language and were learning English as their second language. Participants included 259 Spanish-English DLLs attending kindergarten. In the spring of their kindergarten year, children completed vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension, and higher level language measures (comprehension monitoring and inferencing) in Spanish and English. Two models with similar fits best describe the data. The first was a bifactor model with a single general language factor "l," plus 2 additional language factors, 1 for Spanish and 1 for English. The second model was a 4-factor model, 1 for English that included all English language measures and 3 additional factors that included Spanish vocabulary, Spanish grammar, and Spanish higher level language. These results indicate that a general language ability may underlie development in both Spanish and English. In contrast to a unidimensional structure found for monolingual English-speaking kindergarteners, oral language appears to be multidimensional in Spanish-English DLL kindergarteners, but multidimensionality is reflected in Spanish, not English.

Sociocultural Contexts of Reading Development in Young English Language Learners

This study explored reading development in young English language learners (ELL) during the kindergarten year. Data used in this study came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K: 2011). A total sample of 15,042 students who attended kindergarten the first time was included. The independent variables were the indicators of the home language, family income level, and gender. The two dependent variables were students’ reading item response theory (IRT) scale scores in the fall and spring semester of the kindergarten year. Two full three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) models were used for the statistical analyses. The results found there is a gender difference in children’s reading performance, with female students doing slightly better than male. The family income levels also show differences in children’s reading performance. The higher the family income was, the better students showed in their mean reading scores. English Only Learners (EOL) had the highest mean scores, followed by the group of multilingual learners (ML), English language learners (ELL) group had the lowest scores for both semesters. Among the 18 subgroups, the highest group was ELL-high-income-family-females in the fall semester and ML-middle-income-family-males in the spring semester. The lowest group was ELL-low-income-males for both semesters.

Promoting narrative competence in kindergarten: An intervention study

Oral narratives are an early and pervasive aspect of children’s life in both, family and educational contexts, and children’s narrative competence should be recognised as an aspect to be promoted through targeted interventions. This study analyses the efficacy of an original narrative competence intervention for kindergarten children, based on an embedded-explicit approach. The participants in this study were 470 children attending the last year of kindergarten, assigned to two groups. Children’s narrative competence (structure, coherence and cohesion) were assessed twice, at the pre- and post-test stage. Children’s conceptual knowledge of the writing system was also assessed and included as a covariate. The experimental group received a 3-month narrative competence intervention targeting genre awareness, and both macro-structural and micro-structural components of narrative competence. According to the results of the complex samples GLMs conducted on 376 children, the experimental group displayed a higher improvement in narrative competence, in all three components, structure, coherence and cohesion. Overall, the study confirms the beneficial impact of a multi-componential intervention on narrative competence that targets both, macro- and micro-structural components, and improves children's knowledge of the conventional rules that characterise the specific genre.

Effects of extreme prematurity and kindergarten neuropsychological skills on early academic progress.

The study was designed to investigate the effect of extreme prematurity on growth in academic achievement across the early school years and the validity of kindergarten neuropsychological skills as predictors of achievement. A 2001-2003 birth cohort of 145 extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight (EPT/ELBW) children from a single medical center, along with 111 normal birth weight (NBW) classmate controls, were recruited during their first year in kindergarten and followed annually across the next 2 years in school. Mixed model analysis was conducted to compare the groups on growth in achievement across years and examine kindergarten neuropsychological skills as predictors of growth. The EPT/ELBW group scored significantly below NBW controls on all achievement tests across years and had higher rates of special education placement and grade repetition. Despite limited catch-up of the EPT/ELBW group to the NBW controls in spelling, group differences were generally stable. Differences in spelling and mathematics achievement remained significant when controlling for global intelligence or excluding children who had intellectual or neurosensory impairments or repeated a grade. Higher scores on kindergarten tests of multiple neuropsychological ability domains predicted higher achievement levels and steeper growth in achievement. The findings document persistent academic weaknesses in EPT/ELBW children across the early school years. Results point to the need for preschool interventions to enhance academic readiness and suggest that neuropsychological skills assessed in kindergarten are useful in identifying individual differences in early learning progress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Differences in Febrile and Respiratory Illnesses in Minority Children: The Sociodemographic Context of Restrictive Parenting

ObjectiveTo examine the moderating role of restrictive parenting on the relation of socioeconomic status (SES) to febrile illnesses (FIs) and upper respiratory illnesses (URIs) among ethnic minority and non-minority children. MethodsChildren from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Caucasian, African American, Asian, Latino, other, or multiethnic) were followed across the course of the kindergarten year. Parents reported on SES and parenting. A nurse completed 13 physical exams per child over the year to assess FIs and URIs. ResultsDuring the school year, 28% of children (n = 199, 56% ethnic minority) exhibited one or more FIs (range, 0–6) and 90% exhibited one or more URIs (range, 0–10). No main or moderating effects of SES or restrictive parenting on FIs or URIs were found among Caucasian children; however, among ethnic minority children, the relation of SES to FIs was conditional upon restrictive parenting (β = .66; P = .02), as the fewest FIs were found for lower SES minority children whose parents reported more restrictive practices. Additionally, among minority children, more restrictive parenting was marginally associated with fewer URIs (β = –.21; P = .05). ConclusionsUnexpectedly, among minority children the fewest illnesses occurred among lower SES children whose parents endorsed more restrictive parenting. This may be due to unique appraisals of this rearing style among minority children in lower SES environments and its potential to influence immune functioning. Results suggest variability in the effects of parenting on offspring health and support context-specific evaluations of parenting in efforts to ameliorate early health disparities.

Screening Out Chinese–English Biliterate Kindergarten Children with Handwriting Difficulties

ABSTRACTAims: This study aimed to (1) develop and validate the Chinese and English Handwriting Screening Test for Kindergarten Children (CHEST) to screen children for handwriting difficulties in their final year of kindergarten education in Hong Kong, and to (2) identify common types of problems encountered by those children before their formal primary education.Method: One-hundred and fifty-one K3 (final year of kindergarten) children were recruited. The CHEST demonstrated good to excellent content validity, and test–retest and inter-rater reliabilities.Results: The CHEST scores for typically developing children were skewed to the higher endtypically developing, whereas those for children identified with handwriting difficulties were significantly lower, in Chinese and/or in English. The latter group of children showed difficulty reproducing the correct strokes and maintaining the appropriate proportions of Chinese characters, and they demonstrated difficulty maintaining the appropriate proportions of strokes within letters and along the lines in English.Conclusions: The CHEST is the first screening test developed for evaluating kindergarten children’s handwriting performance in both Chinese and English through having them copy a group of familiar words. It provides an objective measure to identify and describe children’s problems in their copying performance.

Longitudinal relationship between early academic achievement and executive function: Mediating role of approaches to learning

For effective promotion of children’s learning and academic achievement, it is important to understand the role of and relationship between children’s cognitive and affective characteristics in their learning and academic achievement. The current study applied latent growth curve modeling to examine trajectories of children’s reading and math achievement, executive function (EF), and approaches to learning (ATLs) from kindergarten year to first grade. We also examined whether and the extent to which the initial levels and growth rate of EF and ATLs independently predicted the initial level and growth rate of reading and math achievement and whether the initial level and the growth rate of ATLs mediate in the relationships between EF and academic achievement. Results from a nationally representative and longitudinal sample of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 2011 indicated that children’s levels of reading and math achievement, EF, and ATLs significantly differ in the fall of kindergarten. Significant variances in rates of change of main variables over time suggest that some children showed faster increases than others in some variables, while others may have even shown decreases over time. Children with a higher level and faster growth rate in EF and ATLs showed a faster rate of change in reading and math achievement. Last, EF trajectories influence academic achievement trajectories directly and indirectly through ATL trajectories. Given that this study found an important role of children’s ATLs in academic achievement, we need to promote effective teaching practices and curricula to support students’ ATLs at each grade level in classrooms and schools, with particular attention to at-risk children.

Developing Readers: Understanding Concept of Word in Text Development in Emergent Readers

A child’s ability to fingerpoint accurately to words while reading aloud a memorized text showcases his/her development of concept of word in text. This ability demonstrates the extent to which key early literacy skills are integrated (e.g., alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness). Research indicates that attaining a concept of word in text is a watershed literacy event that allows a reader to more readily acquire a store of sight words. Concept of word in text develops in a predictable fashion, progressing in three stages: developing, rudimentary, and firm. During the kindergarten year, teachers can foster children’s development of concept of word in text in order to accelerate children’s literacy learning. This article provides instructional suggestions that teachers can use to support this development.

How Do Children Organize Their Speech in the First Years of Life? Insight From Ultrasound Imaging.

This study reports on a cross-sectional investigation of lingual coarticulation in 57 typically developing German children (4 cohorts from 3.5 to 7 years of age) as compared with 12 adults. It examines whether the organization of lingual gestures for intrasyllabic coarticulation differs as a function of age and consonantal context. Using the technique of ultrasound imaging, we recorded movement of the tongue articulator during the production of pseudowords, including various vocalic and consonantal contexts. Results from linear mixed-effects models show greater lingual coarticulation in all groups of children as compared with adults with a significant decrease from the kindergarten years (at ages 3, 4, and 5 years) to the end of the 1st year into primary school (at age 7 years). Additional differences in coarticulation degree were found across and within age groups as a function of the onset consonant identity (/b/, /d/, and /g/). Results support the view that, although coarticulation degree decreases with age, children do not organize consecutive articulatory gestures with a uniform organizational scheme (e.g., segmental or syllabic). Instead, results suggest that coarticulatory organization is sensitive to the underlying articulatory properties of the segments combined.

Letter-name knowledge longitudinally predicts young Chinese children's Chinese word reading and number competencies in a multilingual context

Drawing on theories of cross-language transfer (Cummins, 1979; Weinreich, 1953), this study examines the longitudinal relations between young Chinese children's letter-name knowledge and their Chinese word reading and number competencies in a multilingual context. A total of 109 young Hong Kong Chinese children were assessed first at the end of their nursery year (Time 1; approximately 3 years of age) and then during the first semester of their kindergarten year (Time 2). The results show that letter-name knowledge measured at Time 1 was significantly predictive of Chinese word reading and number competencies at Time 2. Moreover, these relations remained significant after controlling for a large pool of child- and family-level variables. The findings underscore the role of letter-name knowledge in explaining young Hong Kong Chinese children's shared development of Chinese reading and mathematics skills.

What happened in kindergarten? Mother-child conversations about life story chapters

ABSTRACTResearch indicates that adults form life story chapters, representations of extended time periods that include people, places and activities. Life chapter memories are distinct from episodic memories and have implications for behaviour, self and mental health, yet little is known about their development during childhood. Two exploratory studies examined parent–child conversations about life chapters. In Study 1, mothers recorded naturalistic conversations with their 5–6 year old children about two chapters in the child’s life. In Study 2, mothers recorded conversations with their 6–7 year old children about a particular life chapter—the child’s kindergarten year—and also about a specific episode of their choice. The results indicated that young children are able to recall and discuss information about life chapters and that parents actively scaffold children’s discussion of general information in chapters as well as specific events. Mothers’ conversational style when discussing chapters (e.g., elaborativeness) predicted children’s memory contributions, and was also positively correlated with their style when discussing specific events. The results suggest new avenues for research on the ontogeny of life chapters, the factors that shape them, and their role in development.

Family Socioeconomic Status, Cortisol, and Physical Health in Early Childhood: The Role of Advantageous Neighborhood Characteristics.

Children from families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) evidence greater physiological dysregulation and poorer health. Despite recognition of environmental contributors, little is known about the influence of neighborhood characteristics. The present study examined the moderating role of community-level risks and resources on the relation of family SES to children's daily cortisol output and physical health during the kindergarten year. In fall and spring of kindergarten, children's (N = 338) daily total cortisol was measured and parents and teachers rated children's global physical health. Parents reported family SES. Neighborhood characteristics were assessed using the Child Opportunity Index, a population-level tool that evaluates the quality of multiple domains of neighborhood attributes. In fall, children reared in lower SES family environments had higher cortisol when residing in lower quality (lower opportunity) neighborhoods (b = -.097, p < .001), but there was no relation between family SES and children's cortisol in more advantaged (higher opportunity) neighborhoods (b = -.023, p = .36). Lower family SES was prospectively associated with poorer physical health in spring (controlling for fall health) only among children living in lower opportunity neighborhoods (b = -.250, p = .018) and was unrelated to physical health among children residing in higher opportunity neighborhoods (b = .042, p = .70). Higher opportunity neighborhoods may protect against the negative consequences of low family SES on children's stress physiology and physical health. Public health interventions that bolster neighborhood opportunities may benefit young children reared in socioeconomically disadvantaged family environments.

Second language learners who are at-risk for reading disabilities: A growth mixture model study

This one-year longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of English reading in Chinese children learning English as a second language (ESL) and identified cognitive profiles of children who are at risk for English reading disability. One hundred and eighty-four Chinese ESL children from eight Hong Kong kindergartens were measured four times during their last year of kindergarten for phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary and English word reading. Growth mixture modeling was applied to classify the children based on their growth trajectories in English word reading. Four subgroups of word reading growth were classified, namely high-achieving, fast-growth, slow-growth and low-achieving groups. The cognitive-linguistic skills were compared across different groups with age, non-verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary in L1 controlled. The results showed that low-achieving groups, who were expected to be at-risk for L2 reading disability, showed deficits in letter-name knowledge, phonemic awareness, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Fast-growth and high-achieving groups were not distinguishable on the measured cognitive-linguistic skills. Children in the low-growth groups were significantly weaker in phonemic awareness, receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary than children in the high-achieving group. Our findings identified specific cognitive-linguistic deficits that were associated with children who are at-risk for reading disability. Implications for the early identification of L2 reading disability were discussed.

PAPAN LOMPAT KELINCI SEBAGAI MEDIA MENGEMBANGKAN KEMAMPUAN MEMAHAMI KONSEP ANGKA 10-20 PADA ANAK USIA 5-6 TAHUN DI TK LABSCHOOL UMC

Problems in this study there are still some children aged 5-6 years in UMC Lab school Kindergarten, experiencing confusion in understanding the concept of numbers 10-20, some children can not mention the symbol of the numbers 10-20 of the largest and the smallest in sequence, and can not mention the number 10-20 symbol with the number of objects randomly. The goal is to improve the ability to recognize the concept of numbers 10-20 in UMC Lab school Kindergarten. Preliminary observations obtained data ability to recognize the concept of numbers 10-20 in children Group B Kindergarten Lab school UMC reaches 20% BSH value. Cycle I is given action with rabbit jump board media, so the ability to understand the concept of 10-20 can increase with the acquisition of 25% BSH value. The second cycle is 80% BSH and 3% BSB. At the end of the third cycle there was a significant increase of 77% BSH value and 8% BSB value. So the average success rate of Group B Labschool UMC Kindergarten students in the ability to recognize the concept of numbers 10-20 is very satisfactory.

Early Childhood Educational Settings and School Absenteeism for Children With Disabilities

Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 were used to examine the implications of preschool and full-day kindergarten enrollment for the subsequent school absences of 2,056 children with disabilities. Results suggest that children with disabilities who went to preschool were absent less frequently in kindergarten, but these benefits did not persist through the end of first grade. Conversely, children with disabilities who attended full-day kindergarten programs were absent more frequently during the kindergarten year as compared with children in part-day programs, but these children experienced a sharper drop in absenteeism throughout the following school year resulting in no differences in school absences in first grade. No multiplicative benefits emerged for attending both preschool and full-day kindergarten. And even though these aforementioned benefits of preschool diminished rapidly, there were lingering academic benefits through the end of first grade because of improvements in earlier school attendance.