Simone Lehrl

Quality of the home learning environment during preschool age – Domains and contextual conditions

The quality of the home learning environment has been proven to be of major importance for child development, but little is known about the role of domain specificity in promoting early childhood learning at home and its dependence on family background. This article presents a framework of the home learning environment in early childhood that includes three domains of stimulation (i.e. family support, stimulation in literacy and stimulation in numeracy) and their contextual conditions. The study examines the extent to which the structural characteristics and educational beliefs of the family are connected to educational processes taking place in the home learning environment during preschool age. Results show that general educational processes of the home learning environment operate independently of structural characteristics and parental educational beliefs, whereas the domain-specific educational processes of the home learning environment are more strongly related to the structural characteristics and parental educational beliefs. A model of the home learning environment should thus always include different domains of stimulation (general and domain-specific) presented as parallel cases.

Emergent literacy activities in the final preschool year in the German federal states of Bavaria and Hesse

Emergent literacy activities are considered to be important for promoting children’s emergent literacy skills. However, little research exists, especially in Germany, regarding how often such activities occur and in what context. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of emergent literacy activities occurring in the final preschool year, and their dependence on structural characteristics. Ninety-six children (mean age = 5.9) from 50 preschools in two German federal states were observed in their final preschool year. Results show that emergent literacy activities relating to print materials play a minor role, whereas activities involving oral language play a major role, compared with other activities in children’s preschool experience. Results also indicate a significant link between child-related, family and distal characteristics (i.e. geographic location and federal state affiliation) and the frequency of emergent literacy activities.

Patterns of Literacy and Numeracy Activities in Preschool and Their Relation to Structural Characteristics and Children's Home Activities

Early literacy and numeracy activities in family and preschool are considered important for promoting children’s early literacy and numeracy skills. However, little research exists, especially in Germany, on the frequency of such activities in different contexts. The current study identified patterns of literacy and numeracy activities in preschools and their relation to structural preschool characteristics and to attributes of the home learning environment. Four hundred twenty-one children attending 89 preschool classes in two German federal states were examined. The results indicate that preschools fall into three different profiles of literacy and numeracy activities: low levels of engagement in both domains, numeracy-oriented engagement and literacy-oriented engagement. Additionally, structural characteristics of the preschools, family literacy and numeracy activities were found to predict children’s profile membership. The study’s implications for future research and early education are discussed.

Teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms: characteristics, predictivity, dependency and methodological issues

The present special issue ties in with those fundamental questions in educational research by presenting current international research on the characteristics, predictivity, dependency and methodological issues of teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms. Teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms, which are assumed to serve ‘as the primary engines’ (Bronfenbrenner and Morris 2006, 798) of children’s development, have been a focus of theoretical work and empirical research for several decades. To cite just a few prominent examples: theoretical thoughts on the importance of adults for the promotion of young children, which were introduced by the psychologist Lew Semjonowitsch Vygotski (1896–1934), have been considered a crucial basis for the development of concepts such as ‘scaffolding’ (e.g. Berk and Winsler 1995; Bodrova and Leong 2012) and ‘sustained shared thinking’ (e.g. Purdon 2016; Siraj-Blatchford 2009). These concepts play a pivotal role with regard to the determination of developmentally appropriate high-quality teacher–child interactions in preschools and comparable settings (Bredekamp and Copple 2002; Winsler and Carlton 2003). In addition, theoretical approaches that rely on the domain specificity of children’s knowledge acquisition (e.g. Carey and Spelke 1993; Wellman and Gelman 1998), as well as broader theory-based frameworks like the Process-, Person-, Context-, Time-Model (e.g. Bronfenbrenner and Morris 2006; see also Essa and Burnham 2001), also provide an important basis for researchers to investigate the characteristics, predictivity, dependency and methodological issues of teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms. In fact, the theoretical underpinned significance of teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms was validated in numerous quantitative and qualitative empirical studies, which focused on various topics, such as quality characteristics of teacher–child interactions in ECEC classrooms (e.g. Smidt and Rossbach 2016), predictivity of teacher–child interactions for the development of children’s competencies (e.g. Ulferts and Anders 2016), predictors of teacher–child interactions (e.g. Castle et al. 2016) and methodological problems corresponding to teacher– child interactions (e.g. Colwell et al. 2013). Against this background, the purpose of the special issue is to bring international studies from interdisciplinary backgrounds together and present the current results in early teacher–child interaction research. Concretely, the considered studies conducted in Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece and Portugal each aim to enrich the scientific discourse and provide fruitful implications for policy and practice. Seven articles have been considered for this special issue.

Differential effects of preschool quality on children’s emergent literacy skills in the final preschool year in Germany

Abstract The study investigates direct and indirect preschool quality effects on emergent literacy skills (children’s letter knowledge, oral skills, and interests and skills in print and communication) using quality indicators at process (ECERS-R, ECERS-E), structure (e.g. class size) and belief (e.g. support creativity) level. The study included a sample of 547 children from 97 preschools and implemented standardised tests and teacher-ratings in the final preschool year, as well as observations and questionnaires throughout the preschool period. Multiple regression models reveal that ECERS-R was significantly related to children’s teacher rated interest and skills in communication, and that ECERS-E predicted children’s tested letter knowledge. Group size predicted children’s interest and skills in print negatively, revealing lower scores in larger groups. With regard to beliefs, teachers’ creativity and social support beliefs were negatively related with children’s letter knowledge, whereas teachers’ knowledge- and cultural-tools-oriented beliefs were positively related with interest and skills in communication. These effects were partly mediated through ECERS-E. Although the study provides evidence for effects of preschool quality on the development of children’s emergent literacy skills and some evidence that effects of beliefs are partly mediated through process quality, effects are not consistent through the outcome variables and effect sizes are small.

Long-Term Relations between Children's Language, the Home Literacy Environment, and Socioemotional Development from Ages 3 to 8.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study investigated the long-term interrelations among children’s language competencies, their home literacy environment (HLE), and 3 aspects of socioemotional development from ages 3 to 8, controlling for characteristics of the child and family. For this sample of 547 typically developing German children, parents and teachers reported on cooperative behavior, physical aggression, and emotional self-regulation. Language was assessed using established test instruments. HLE was operationalized by the number of books in the household, the frequency of shared book reading, and an observation during shared book reading. Path analyses supported effects of language and HLE at age 3 on all 3 indicators of socioemotional development over the 5-year period. An additional mediational analysis revealed different patterns of results depending on the aspect of socioemotional competency under study. Although the effect of early language and HLE at age 3 on cooperative and (low) aggressive behavior at age 8 was partially mediated by language at age 5, children’s early language at age 3 was the best predictor of the development of emotional self-regulation. Practice or Policy: Findings identify a rich HLE and proper language skills as protective factors for socioemotional development in not-at-risk children; these factors should be further established in social skills training.

Enjoyment of learning and learning effort in primary school: the significance of child individual characteristics and stimulation at home and at preschool

The present paper was written under the auspices of the interdisciplinary research group ‘Educational Processes, Competence Development, and Selection Decisions at Preschool and Primary School Age (BiKS)’ (FOR 543), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The surveys were conceptualised and supervised as part of the developmental psychology sub-project (headed by S. Weinert) and the primary education sub-project (headed by H.-G. Roßbach). We would like to thank the German Research Foundation for funding the research group and the participating children, parents, early years educators, teachers, assistants, and members of staff for their commitment and cooperation.