How Preschool Teachers Use Book Sharing Strategies to Build Academic Language Skills

AbstractMeiners-Lovel, Lorraine A. PhD. The University of Memphis. Preschool Teachers Use of Book Sharing Strategies to Build Academic Language Skills. May, 2020. Emily Thrush, PhD. ArrayIt is essential to understand the role of preschool teachers in the linguistic preparation of young children for kindergarten and elementary school. This understanding becomes even more important as more American preschoolers attend group care and public universal pre-kindergarten becomes more common. Children must master the variety of language known as the academic register, academic language, or school language in order to be academically successful. Preschool teachers need to understand the features of academic language and how to communicate them to young children. This mixed methods comparative study looked at whether or not preschool teachers used various linguistic behaviors that are known to help children learn academic language during large group book sharing. It compared various teacher and child care center characteristics to see which if any produced better pedagogical methods. None of the characteristics studied produced statistically significant results. Four teachers in the study were also interviewed. These qualitative results provided a number of interesting insights into preschool teachers linguistic knowledge and how it might inform their pedagogical practice regarding teaching academic language. The results of this study could be used to help preschool teachers and administrators understand certain linguistic concepts and how to use them during story time to help children learn academic language. They might also help preschool teacher preparation programs design academic programs that teach these preliteracy pedagogical practices