The Power of Language: Does the Quality of Preschool Teacher Language Translate to Children's Executive Functions?

项目摘要 儿童早期语言和执行功能（EF）的共同发展 这是认知发展的关键部分，对成功过渡到 学校和后来的学术成果。许多研究已经确定了 儿童的语言和EF，无论是在并发和时间协会（库恩等人， 2014; 2016）。此外，有新的证据表明，儿童的语言是一种 过程机制连接照顾者的语言和儿童随后的EF（Daneri等 例如，2018年）。这些发现还有待于在儿童保育环境中进行调查， 在美国，大多数学龄前儿童花了很大一部分时间。令人惊奇的是， 关于幼儿教师语言如何独特地支持儿童的EF，我们知之甚少。 随着新的研究表明，教师的语言支持幼儿的 广泛的认知（Leyva等人，2015年），重要的是要确定是否具体 幼儿教师语言的各个方面与幼儿的EF有关， 语言是这种联系的中介。这一点对于低... 收入家庭儿童更有可能以较低的教育系数开始开始正规教育， 赤字有助于解释成就差距（Willoughby，et al.，2015）。 使用两个纵向数据集的次级数据分析，以复制 调查结果，我们将测试是否在农村幼儿教师语言素质的前瞻性 通过儿童语言直接或间接预测儿童的EF。我们将研究是否 特定类型的教师语言差异预测学龄前儿童的语言， 后续EF确定特定教师谈话的预测能力，例如 使用简单或复杂的语言，允许识别语言实践， 可以干预。分析还将确定教师语言的两种衡量标准 差异预测儿童的结果，对比课堂和个人的语言 评估。利用入学EF的新预测因子，拟议的研究 强调了在学前阶段以教师为基础的语言干预的潜力 这些年是有益的、有效的，可以广泛实施。

Project Summary The co-development of language and executive functions (EFs) in early childhood is a critical part of cognitive development that has implications for a successful transition to school and later academic outcomes. Numerous studies have identified a link between children's language and EFs, both in concurrent and temporal associations (Kuhn et al., 2014; 2016). Moreover, there is emerging evidence that children's language serves as a process mechanism linking caregiver language and children's subsequent EFs (Daneri et al., 2018). These findings have yet to be investigated in childcare environments, where most preschool-aged children in the US spend a significant portion of time. Surprisingly, little is known about how preschool teacher language uniquely supports children's EFs. With nascent research indicating that teacher language supports young children's cognition broadly (Leyva et al., 2015), it is important to establish whether specific aspects of preschool teachers' language is related to children's EFs, and whether child language mediates this association. This knowledge is particularly significant for low- income children, who are more likely to begin formal schooling with lower EFs and this deficit helps to explain the achievement gap (Willoughby, et al., 2015). Using secondary data analysis of two longitudinal datasets, for purposes of replicating findings, we will test if preschool teacher language quality in rural settings prospectively predicts children's EFs directly or indirectly through child language. We will examine if specific types of teacher language differentially predict preschoolers' language and subsequent EFs. Determining the predictive power of specific teacher talk, such as the use of simple or complex language, allows for identification of language practices that can be intervene upon. Analyses will also determine if two measures of teacher language differentially predict child outcomes, contrasting classroom and individual language assessments. Leveraging novel predictors of school-entry EFs, the proposed study highlights the potential for teacher-based language interventions during the preschool years that are beneficial, effective and could be widely implemented.