Bidirectionality in Teacher Discourse Strategies among Preschool Dual Language Learners

该奖项是美国国家科学基金会社会、行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行为期两年的培训，并鼓励博士后进行独立研究。美国国家科学基金会寻求促进科学界各阶层的科学家，包括那些未被充分代表的群体的科学家，参与其研究项目和活动；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的一个重要的专业发展阶段。每个博士后必须解决各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在纽约大学医学院劳里·布罗特曼博士的赞助下，该博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家，研究教师使用话语策略与双语学习者（DLL）词汇和社会能力发展之间的关系，整个幼儿教育（ECE）年-这是一个特别快速增长的时期。研究结果将进一步从双语而非单语的角度理解DLL儿童词汇和社会能力技能与教师话语策略之间的复杂关系。这项工作的长期意义是通过提高教师实践的质量来减少不公平的ECE经验，这些实践支持dll独特的发展轨迹。在学习母语的同时也把英语作为第二语言来学习的dl儿童，是美国儿童人口中增长最快的部分，他们的发展技能历来落后于只说一种语言的同龄人。外语教学的教师是否正在加强他们的语篇策略（这是影响儿童发展的最接近的因素之一），以满足外语学习者独特的语言和发展需求，这一点我们知之甚少。话语过程可能是双向的；教师的话语策略塑造了DLL儿童的发展特征（词汇和社会能力），同时也被其塑造。然而，我们对教师如何调整他们对DLL儿童的话语策略，以及随着DLL儿童词汇量和社交能力技能的提高，他们对DLL儿童的话语策略如何在整个ECE年发生变化的理解很少。本研究将利用在纽约市进行的一项大型研究的数据，评估教师话语策略的使用与其在欧洲经委会年度三个时间点上与DLLs词汇和社会能力发展的关联之间的同步和双向关系。通过探索教师使用话语策略和DLL儿童技能发展的动态本质，本研究从课堂实践的领域扩展开来，试图解开语言、实践和学习之间的复杂关系，这些关系只是部分被理解。本研究通过使用一种新颖的儿童水平观察工具，解决了观察工具在方法上的局限性，该工具将发展视角应用于质量测量，而这在不断增长的人口中是非常缺乏的。最后，阐明话语策略与儿童词汇和社会能力发展在多个时间点上的轨迹将提供更细致的理解，为未来的研究和干预提供证据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Laurie Brotman at New York University School of Medicine, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating relationship between teachers' use of discourse strategies and dual language learners (DLL) vocabulary and social competence development throughout the early childhood education (ECE) year - a time of, particularly rapid growth. The findings will further the fields' understanding of the complex relationship between DLL children's vocabulary and social competence skills and teachers' discourse strategies specifically from a bilingual rather than monolingual perspective. The long-term implication of this work is to reduce inequitable ECE experiences by improving the quality of teachers' practices that support DLLs unique developmental trajectories.DLLs, children who are acquiring their home language as they also learn English as a second language, are the fastest-growing segment of the child population in the United States, and their developmental skills have historically lagged behind monolingual English-speaking peers. Very little is known about whether teachers of DLLs are enhancing their discourse strategies (one of the more proximal determinants of children's development) to meet the unique linguistic and developmental needs of DLLs. Discourse processes may be bidirectional; with teachers' discourse strategies shaping as well as being shaped by the DLL children's developmental (vocabulary and social competence) characteristics. Yet, our understanding of the ways that teachers are adapting their discourse strategies with DLL children and how their discourse strategies with DLLs may shift throughout the ECE year, as DLL children improve in their vocabulary and social competence skills, is scarce. Using data from a larger study taking place in New York City, the present study will evaluate the simultaneous and bidirectional relationship between teachers' use of discourse strategies and its associations with DLLs' vocabulary and social competence development across three time points during an ECE year. By exploring the dynamic nature of teachers' use of discourse strategies and DLL children's skills development, the present work expands from the focus of the field on classroom practices, to try to unpack the complex relationship between language, practices, and learning, which is only partially understood. This study addresses methodological limitations of observational tools through the use of a novel child-level observational tool, which applies a developmental perspective to quality measurement that is sorely lacking for this growing population. Finally, elucidating the trajectory of discourse strategies and children's vocabulary and social competence development across multiple time points will provide a more nuanced understanding that can bear evidence for future research and interventions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.