| Children need adequate language and early literacy skills at school entry to prepare them for the transition to formal reading instruction. Unfortunately, children from low-income and ethnic minority families are at risk for experiencing environments and interactions during the preschool years that are less than optimal for facilitating normative language and literacy development. The purpose of this study was to identify variations within and between preschool classrooms' support for at-risk children's language and literacy development. Children (n = 105) enrolled in 16 preschool classrooms that provided early intervention were involved in the study. Children's language and literacy skills were assessed at the beginning of their preschool and kindergarten years. While children were in preschool, a number of classroom quality assessments were completed. Existing measures of quality in preschool classrooms fall short of comprehensively summarizing features of adult-child interaction and learning environments that research has shown have impacts on children's emergent literacy development. To meet the goals of this study, then, an assessment of language and literacy environment quality was created that expands upon existing tools. This measure was found to be a valid tool for identifying between-class differences in support for emergent literacy learning. Within-class variations in support for children's language development in different classroom learning contexts were also identified using this new tool. Contrary to expectations, global classroom quality was a better predictor of children's language development in kindergarten than were many features of language and literacy environment quality. A structural assessment of available literacy materials in preschool classrooms, however, was also a predictor of children's language and print knowledge abilities in kindergarten. |
