Bidirectionality in Teacher Discourse Strategies among Preschool Dual Language Learners

该奖项是作为NSF社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金(SPRF)计划的一部分提供的。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职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在纽约大学医学院Laurie Brotman博士的赞助下，这一博士后奖学金奖项支持一位早期职业科学家，他研究了教师在整个幼儿教育年中使用的话语策略与双语学习者(DLL)词汇和社交能力发展之间的关系，这一年是特别快速增长的时期。这一发现将进一步加深研究者从双语而不是单语的角度来理解学习障碍儿童的词汇、社交能力技能和教师话语策略之间的复杂关系。这项工作的长期影响是通过改善教师实践的质量来减少不公平的欧洲经委会经历，以支持DLLS独特的发展轨迹。DLLs是指在学习英语作为第二语言的同时获得母语的儿童，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说单一语言的同龄人。我们很少知道对外汉语教师是否加强了他们的语篇策略(这是儿童发展的最直接的决定因素之一)，以满足外汉语教师独特的语言和发展需求。话语过程可能是双向的；教师的话语策略塑造了学习障碍儿童的发展特点(词汇和社交能力)。然而，我们对教师如何调整他们的话语策略以适应DLL儿童，以及随着DLL儿童的词汇和社交能力技能的提高，他们的DLL话语策略在整个幼儿教育年中可能如何变化的了解很少。本研究将利用在纽约市进行的一项更大规模的研究数据，评估教师在一年中的三个时间点上使用的语篇策略及其与二语习得词汇和社会能力发展之间的关系。通过探索教师使用话语策略和动态学习语言儿童技能发展的动态本质，本研究从课堂实践这一领域的焦点扩展，试图解开语言、实践和学习之间的复杂关系，这一点还只被部分理解。这项研究通过使用一种新的儿童水平的观察工具，解决了观察工具的方法论局限性，该工具将发展的视角应用于质量测量，而这是日益增长的人口所严重缺乏的。最后，阐明话语策略以及儿童词汇和社交能力在多个时间点上的发展轨迹将提供更微妙的理解，为未来的研究和干预提供证据。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.