Chiel van der Veen

Gender differences in the relationship between oral communicative competence and peer rejection: an explorative study in early childhood education

This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between oral communicative competence and peer rejection in early childhood education. It was hypothesized that children with poorer oral communicative competence would be rejected by their peers more frequently and that the strength of this relationship would differ for boys and girls. A sample of N = 54 children was tested on the Nijmegen Test for Pragmatics (NPT) to measure their oral communicative competence, defined as their ability to use language appropriately in a particular situation. Further, a sociometric method was used to measure the level of peer rejection and peer acceptance. No relationship was found between oral communicative competence and peer rejection. However, a positive relationship was observed between oral communicative competence and peer acceptance. Interestingly, this relationship only applied to boys. It is suggested that early childhood education teachers trying to enhance peer acceptance should take the promotion...This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between oral communicative competence and peer rejection in early childhood education. It was hypothesized that children with poorer oral communicative competence would be rejected by their peers more frequently and that the strength of this relationship would differ for boys and girls. A sample of N = 54 children was tested on the Nijmegen Test for Pragmatics (NPT) to measure their oral communicative competence, defined as their ability to use language appropriately in a particular situation. Further, a sociometric method was used to measure the level of peer rejection and peer acceptance. No relationship was found between oral communicative competence and peer rejection. However, a positive relationship was observed between oral communicative competence and peer acceptance. Interestingly, this relationship only applied to boys. It is suggested that early childhood education teachers trying to enhance peer acceptance should take the promotion of oral communicative competence into account.

Dynamic Assessment of Narrative Competence

In Developmental Education, language plays an essential role as a tool for communication (and thinking). Learning to produce coherent messages (“narratives”) with both cultural and personal value in the context of meaningful socio-cultural practices is considered as an important goal of Developmental Education. Narratives are essential for human action as they function as a tool for giving meaning to reality. Therefore, close observation and assessment of children’s narratives is essential in the context of Developmental Education. Over the past years we have developed a Dynamic Assessment (DA) instrument for assessing children’s narrative competence. This instrument combines two common approaches to DA, namely standardised interventionist DA and interactionist DA. With the help of this instrument, teachers are able to gain insight into children’s actual narrative competence as well as their developmental potential and their receptivity to certain forms of assistance to reach this potential. Our experience up to now shows that it is possible to assess children’s narrative competence in a valid and reliable manner.

Engaging Children in Dialogic Classroom Talk: Does It Contribute to a Dialogical Self?

In this chapter, we aim to show how dialogic classroom talk in early childhood classrooms might contribute to the development of a dialogical self that is capable of dealing with diversity. Reasoning from Vygotsky’s cultural-historical activity theory and Dialogical Self Theory, we will argue that dialogic classroom talk gives children creative spaces of reflection in which different voiced positions can meet, be negotiated, and may become part of a multi-voiced self. Next, we will give an exposition of our research project in which we developed an intervention – the MODEL2TALK intervention – that supports teachers in making their classroom interaction more dialogic. Examples from classrooms that participated in our study show that inducting children into dialogic classroom talk contributes to the development of their communicative and dialogical capacities. Based on the results of our research, we believe dialogic classroom talk to be a fruitful setting in which children are encouraged to meet and explore others’ positions and reflect on their own positions at the same time.

Implementing Dynamic Assessment of Vocabulary Development as a Trialogical Learning Process: A Practice of Teacher Support in Primary Education Schools

ABSTRACT Dynamic Assessment (DA) has received a considerable amount of attention in the educational sciences and beyond. DA combines instruction or feedback with assessment or testing within a single activity. DA has great potential for classroom practices, but has not been implemented in many classrooms yet. In this article, we argue that teacher educators play an important role in implementing DA in classrooms. We describe a specific instrument that can be used for dynamically assessing children’s vocabulary development in primary school classrooms. We give examples and present some preliminary results of the implementation of this DA instrument based on experiences in primary education schools in the Netherlands. Furthermore, we use the notion of a trialogical learning process to highlight that the collaboration and interaction between teachers and teacher educators are mediated through tools (i.e., DA instruments and materials) that are further developed and may in the end lead to changes in teaching and assessment practices.