RESUMEN
The study adopts a naturalistic perspective, looking at the relationship between socio-economic status (SES), activities and variation sets in child-directed speech (CDS) to Spanish-speaking Argentinian toddlers. It aims to determine the effect of SES and type of activity on the proportion of words and utterances in variation sets and on the pragmatic function they serve in interaction. Thirty two children (mean: 14.3 months) and their families were audio-recorded for four hours and the middle two hours were analyzed using CLAN. We developed an automatic algorithm for variation sets extraction that compares noun, verb and adjective lexemes in successive utterances. Mixed-effects beta regression showed SES and activity type effects on the proportion of variation sets and on the pragmatic function served by variation sets. Findings revealed that the contextual variables considered impact on how interlocutors organize the information to young children at the local level of natural at home interactions.
Asunto(s)
Desarrollo del Lenguaje , Habla , Preescolar , Composición Familiar , Humanos , Lenguaje , Clase SocialRESUMEN
Se presenta un estudio longitudinal del desempeño de niños que participaron de un programa de promoción del desarrollo lingüístico en el jardín de infantes y en 1º grado del nivel primario. Un grupo de niños participantes (198) fue evaluado en vocabulario pasivo y productivo, escritura y lectura; su desempeño fue comparado con el de un grupo control (43). Se observó un mejor desempeño de los niños participantes, tanto en el jardín de infantes como en 1°grado. El análisis de regresión múltiple mostró que algunas de las habilidades evaluadas en el Nivel Inicial predicen el desempeño de los niños en 1º grado. Los resultados destacan la relevancia de una intervención planificada y sistemática en el Nivel Inicial con el fin de conseguir logros observables en el desempeño de los niños.
The study presents the results of a longitudinal study focused on the performance of a group of children that participated in an educational program aimed to promote linguistic development among students in kindergarten and 1st Grade of primary school. A group of children that participated in the program (198) were tested to assess their receptive and expressive vocabulary and reading and writing skills. Their performance was compared to a control group (43). Results showed a better performance in the children who participated in the program both in kindergarten as well as in 1st Grade. The multiple regression analysis showed that some of the abilities tested in kindergarten can predict childrens academic performance in 1st Grade. The results outline the importance of carrying out planned and systematic interventions in kindergarten that contribute to observable achievements in children ́s performance.
Apresenta-se um estudo longitudinal do desempenho de crianças que participaram de um programa de promoção do desenvolvimento linguístico na escola de Educação Infantil e na 1ª série do Ensino Fundamental: um grupo de crianças participantes (198) foi avaliado em vocabulário receptivo e produtivo, escrita e leitura; seu desempenho foi comparado com o de um grupo de controle (43). Observou-se um melhor desempenho das crianças participantes, tanto na escola infantil quanto no ensino fundamental. A análise de regressão múltipla mostrou que algumas das habilidades avaliadas na Educação Infantil predizem o desempenho das crianças na 1ª série. Os resultados destacam a importância de uma intervenção planejada e sistemática na escola infantil de forma a atingir resultados observáveis no desempenho das crianças.
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Masculino , Femenino , Preescolar , Niño , Desarrollo Infantil/fisiología , Lingüística/educación , Vocabulario , Desarrollo de la PersonalidadRESUMEN
El trabajo que se informa tuvo por objeto estudiar las propiedades léxicas del entorno lingüístico (cantidad, diversidad, abstracción y grado de familiaridad del vocabulario) que se generan en las situaciones de enseñanza de Ciencias Sociales en la escuela primaria. Por medio de un procedimiento cuantitativo se analizó comparativamente la cantidad, la diversidad y la abstracción del vocabulario que configuraba el discurso de las maestras durante las situaciones de enseñanza en primer, tercer y quinto grado de escuelas primarias urbanas y rurales. Asimismo, se elaboró una escala para medir el grado de familiaridad que las palabras empleadas en las clases tenían para los niños. Los resultados de este estudio mostraron que las diferencias más importantes en las propiedades léxicas del entorno lingüístico a que se hallan expuestos los niños a lo largo de la escuela primaria no se encontraron entre primer y tercer grado, sino entre estos grados y quinto grado. Estos resultados no mostraron que los contextos de tercer grado conlleven más oportunidades de aprendizaje de vocabulario que los entornos de primer grado. Esto podría atribuirse a que en los intercambios en las clases de Ciencias Sociales en tercer grado no se observó una descontextualización progresiva de los conocimientos con respecto a primer grado. Los intercambios se centraron, en cambio, en conceptos muy cercanos al entorno de los niños y en vocabulario familiar. Por su parte, no se observaron diferencias entre las escuelas rurales y las escuelas urbanas.
This study is based on the concern for the differences observed between students in relation to the breadth and diversity of vocabulary that they have. These differences undoubtedly affect the comprehension and production of texts and also the opportunity of learning from them. From the psycholinguistics, sociopragmatic (Tomasello, 2003, 2008) and experiential perspective (Nelson, 2007), which is the frame of this research, it is assumed that vocabulary acquisition occurs in those conversational exchanges in which social support and situational context, nonverbal and linguistic, allows the child to infer the meaning of unknown words. Research focused on pre-school children showed that the type of language used by adults, in particular the use of unknown, abstract and semantically complex vocabulary, affects the development of children's vocabulary (Beals, 1997; Beals & Tabors, 1995; Weizman & Snow, 2001). Moreover, recent studies focused on the school environment have emphasized the important role that vocabulary acquires not only in the first steps of literacy, but also throughout the whole process that leads to the command of comprehension and production of written and verbal texts (Joshi, 2005; Perfetti, 2007; Protopapas, Sideridis, Mouzaki & Simos, 2007; Sénéchal, Ouellette & Rodney, 2006). However, these researches have not explored the opportunities that children have to learn vocabulary during Science classes in elementary school. In this sense, this study aimed at analyzing the lexical properties of the linguistic environment -quantity, diversity, the degree of familiarity and the abstraction of vocabulary- which is generated in teaching situations of Social Science in elementary school. The corpus under analysis is made up of 11,318 interactional turns -children: 6,306; teachers: 5,012- produced in 12 spontaneous teaching situations which took place in Social Science classes. The situations were registered in 12 courses -4 courses of 1st grade, 4 courses of 3rd grade and 4 courses of 5th grade from elementary schools; 2 of them from rural areas and 2 from urban areas located in the Province of Córdoba (Argentina). Through a quantitative procedure, the amount, diversity and the abstraction of vocabulary that shaped the discourse of teachers during the teaching situations in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade from schools in urban and rural areas were analyzed comparatively. Besides, a scale was elaborated to measure the degree of familiarity of words used by teachers during classes. The results of this study showed that the major differences in the lexical properties of the linguistic environment to which children are exposed to all throughout the elementary school, were not found between 1st and 3rd grade, but between these two grades and 5th grade. These results did not show that the contexts of 3rd grade entail more opportunities to learn vocabulary than the environments of 1st grade. This could be attributed to the fact that exchanges in Social Science classes in 3rd grade did not show a progressive decontextualization of knowledge regarding 1st grade. Instead, the exchanges focused on concepts closely related to the children's environment and familiar vocabulary. Moreover no differences between rural and urban schools were observed. The results of this study have important pedagogical implications insofar as they highlight the need to increase opportunities for learning the vocabulary further than preschool age, since the breadth of the child's vocabulary is a predictor of the acquisition of the writing system (Goswami, 2003; Perfetti, 1992, 2007), as well as the comprehension and production of texts (Joshi, 2005; Perfetti, 2007; Protopapas, Sideridis, Mouzaki, & Simos, 2007; Sénéchal, Ouellette, & Rodney, 2006). In this sense, the primary school should be a favorable environment in which all students have during his career in the school increasingly more opportunities to listen to and, therefore, learn different, abstract and unfamiliar words.
RESUMEN
El trabajo que se informa tuvo por objeto estudiar las propiedades léxicas del entorno ling³ístico (cantidad, diversidad, abstracción y grado de familiaridad del vocabulario) que se generan en las situaciones de enseñanza de Ciencias Sociales en la escuela primaria. Por medio de un procedimiento cuantitativo se analizó comparativamente la cantidad, la diversidad y la abstracción del vocabulario que configuraba el discurso de las maestras durante las situaciones de enseñanza en primer, tercer y quinto grado de escuelas primarias urbanas y rurales. Asimismo, se elaboró una escala para medir el grado de familiaridad que las palabras empleadas en las clases tenían para los niños. Los resultados de este estudio mostraron que las diferencias más importantes en las propiedades léxicas del entorno ling³ístico a que se hallan expuestos los niños a lo largo de la escuela primaria no se encontraron entre primer y tercer grado, sino entre estos grados y quinto grado. Estos resultados no mostraron que los contextos de tercer grado conlleven más oportunidades de aprendizaje de vocabulario que los entornos de primer grado. Esto podría atribuirse a que en los intercambios en las clases de Ciencias Sociales en tercer grado no se observó una descontextualización progresiva de los conocimientos con respecto a primer grado. Los intercambios se centraron, en cambio, en conceptos muy cercanos al entorno de los niños y en vocabulario familiar. Por su parte, no se observaron diferencias entre las escuelas rurales y las escuelas urbanas.(AU)
This study is based on the concern for the differences observed between students in relation to the breadth and diversity of vocabulary that they have. These differences undoubtedly affect the comprehension and production of texts and also the opportunity of learning from them. From the psycholinguistics, sociopragmatic (Tomasello, 2003, 2008) and experiential perspective (Nelson, 2007), which is the frame of this research, it is assumed that vocabulary acquisition occurs in those conversational exchanges in which social support and situational context, nonverbal and linguistic, allows the child to infer the meaning of unknown words. Research focused on pre-school children showed that the type of language used by adults, in particular the use of unknown, abstract and semantically complex vocabulary, affects the development of childrens vocabulary (Beals, 1997; Beals & Tabors, 1995; Weizman & Snow, 2001). Moreover, recent studies focused on the school environment have emphasized the important role that vocabulary acquires not only in the first steps of literacy, but also throughout the whole process that leads to the command of comprehension and production of written and verbal texts (Joshi, 2005; Perfetti, 2007; Protopapas, Sideridis, Mouzaki & Simos, 2007; Sénéchal, Ouellette & Rodney, 2006). However, these researches have not explored the opportunities that children have to learn vocabulary during Science classes in elementary school. In this sense, this study aimed at analyzing the lexical properties of the linguistic environment -quantity, diversity, the degree of familiarity and the abstraction of vocabulary- which is generated in teaching situations of Social Science in elementary school. The corpus under analysis is made up of 11,318 interactional turns -children: 6,306; teachers: 5,012- produced in 12 spontaneous teaching situations which took place in Social Science classes. The situations were registered in 12 courses -4 courses of 1st grade, 4 courses of 3rd grade and 4 courses of 5th grade from elementary schools; 2 of them from rural areas and 2 from urban areas located in the Province of Córdoba (Argentina). Through a quantitative procedure, the amount, diversity and the abstraction of vocabulary that shaped the discourse of teachers during the teaching situations in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade from schools in urban and rural areas were analyzed comparatively. Besides, a scale was elaborated to measure the degree of familiarity of words used by teachers during classes. The results of this study showed that the major differences in the lexical properties of the linguistic environment to which children are exposed to all throughout the elementary school, were not found between 1st and 3rd grade, but between these two grades and 5th grade. These results did not show that the contexts of 3rd grade entail more opportunities to learn vocabulary than the environments of 1st grade. This could be attributed to the fact that exchanges in Social Science classes in 3rd grade did not show a progressive decontextualization of knowledge regarding 1st grade. Instead, the exchanges focused on concepts closely related to the childrens environment and familiar vocabulary. Moreover no differences between rural and urban schools were observed. The results of this study have important pedagogical implications insofar as they highlight the need to increase opportunities for learning the vocabulary further than preschool age, since the breadth of the childs vocabulary is a predictor of the acquisition of the writing system (Goswami, 2003; Perfetti, 1992, 2007), as well as the comprehension and production of texts (Joshi, 2005; Perfetti, 2007; Protopapas, Sideridis, Mouzaki, & Simos, 2007; Sénéchal, Ouellette, & Rodney, 2006). In this sense, the primary school should be a favorable environment in which all students have during his career in the school increasingly more opportunities to listen to and, therefore, learn different, abstract and unfamiliar words.(AU)
RESUMEN
En el presente trabajo se informan los resultados de un estudio focalizado en el análisis cualitativo (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) de las características particulares que adoptan las situaciones de alfabetización familiar en el que participaron 30 niños de 4 años de barrios urbano-marginados de Argentina. Se atendió específicamente a la estructura de relaciones y de mediaciones sociales que durante la consecución de las situaciones configuran oportunidades para la participación del niño pequeño. El corpus estuvo conformado por 124 situaciones de alfabetización registradas por medio de audio, generadas a partir de la implementación de un programa de alfabetización temprana y familiar. Los resultados mostraron que en estos hogares en los que el bajo nivel de escolaridad de los adultos podía inhibir la consecución de la actividad de alfabetización, la composición extendida de las familias y la participación de los niños en amplias redes sociales facilita la realización de las actividades. En efecto, se observó que las situaciones de alfabetización se desarrollan en el marco de la interacción entre el niño y múltiples y diversos participantes que conforman distintas redes de colaboración en las que los niños pequeños, los niños mayores y los adultos desempeñan distintos roles. Estos resultados tienen fuertes implicancias pedagógicas, en tanto advierten sobre la importancia de entrelazar toda intervención educativa en los primeros años con los conocimientos y los patrones de interacción que caracterizan a la cultura de los niños, tanto en el contexto escolar de la educación inicial como en el familiar.
This study follows current psycholinguistic models (Nelson, 1996, 2007; Snow, 1972; Tomasello, 2003) that subscribe to the central premises of sociocultural theories of human development (Vygotsky, 1964). The authors aim to present a qualitative analysis of the particular characteristics of the family literacy situations that took place in the homes of 30 children from Argentina's urban poor population. The psycholinguistic models discussed in this study take the close link between the development of language and cognitive development into account and assume that both types of development occur in social interaction. In addition, they emphasize the subjective, experiential component of the child's interactions with the world. Children construct meaning by experimenting with the objects, knowledge, and tools that they come into contact with in the activities in which they participate. Children's experiences also depend on the people they interact with, whose verbal and non-verbal presentations and scaffolding the child uses in a process of collaborative construction of structures of meaning (Nelson, 2007). Analysis in the present study is focused specifically on the structure and social mediations that shape children's opportunities to participate in literacy situations. The corpus consists of 124 audio-recorded literacy situations that were generated by the introduction of children's books that contained stories and literacy activities. Differently from major previous studies regarding family literacy (Bus, Leseman & Keultjes, 2000; Delgado-Gaitan, 1990; Hammer, 2001; Heath, 1983; Leseman & Van Tuijl, 2006; McNaughton, 2006; Reyes, Alexandra & Azuara, 2007; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988, among others), the unit of analysis was the situation as it naturally occurred in the home, considering all the participants and not just the mother-child dyad. The ecological approach adopted in this study allowed identifying the particular characteristics of the early literacy situations that took place in the homes of children from Argentina's urban poor. Results showed that in these homes, where the low education level of adults might have inhibited the consecution of literacy activities, the extended composition of the families and the fact that children participate in extended social networks facilitated the activities' development. The literacy situations took place within the framework of the interaction between the child and the diverse and multiple participants that comprise the collaboration networks where children and adults assume different roles. These results showed that the children's books are used in situations that capitalize on several characteristics of the sociocultural setting. The books' introduction in the homes created situations that took advantage of certain characteristics of these populations' natural contexts, such as the variety of interlocutors, and transformed other characteristics by sustaining the interaction over an extended period of time. This highlights the linguistic and cognitive potential that interaction with a written text implies. The study's results also corroborate and exemplify in the field of early literacy acquisition the findings of previous research done in within the framework of the sociocultural perspective with children in black communities (Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993), as well as with children from indigenous Hawaiian populations (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993), and from the indigenous Colla community (Rosemberg & Borzone, 1998). Although the aforementioned studies didn't seek to study the literacy processes they too showed the inclusion of small children in wide collaboration networks, as well as the differentiation and division of roles in order to complete various activities performed in collaboration (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993; Rogoff, 1993; Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993). These findings have strong pedagogical implications: they show that it is important to interweave early educational interventions with the funds of knowledge and interactional patterns that characterize children's culture.
RESUMEN
En el presente trabajo se informan los resultados de un estudio focalizado en el análisis cualitativo (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) de las características particulares que adoptan las situaciones de alfabetización familiar en el que participaron 30 niños de 4 años de barrios urbano-marginados de Argentina. Se atendió específicamente a la estructura de relaciones y de mediaciones sociales que durante la consecución de las situaciones configuran oportunidades para la participación del niño pequeño. El corpus estuvo conformado por 124 situaciones de alfabetización registradas por medio de audio, generadas a partir de la implementación de un programa de alfabetización temprana y familiar. Los resultados mostraron que en estos hogares en los que el bajo nivel de escolaridad de los adultos podía inhibir la consecución de la actividad de alfabetización, la composición extendida de las familias y la participación de los niños en amplias redes sociales facilita la realización de las actividades. En efecto, se observó que las situaciones de alfabetización se desarrollan en el marco de la interacción entre el niño y múltiples y diversos participantes que conforman distintas redes de colaboración en las que los niños pequeños, los niños mayores y los adultos desempeñan distintos roles. Estos resultados tienen fuertes implicancias pedagógicas, en tanto advierten sobre la importancia de entrelazar toda intervención educativa en los primeros años con los conocimientos y los patrones de interacción que caracterizan a la cultura de los niños, tanto en el contexto escolar de la educación inicial como en el familiar.(AU)
This study follows current psycholinguistic models (Nelson, 1996, 2007; Snow, 1972; Tomasello, 2003) that subscribe to the central premises of sociocultural theories of human development (Vygotsky, 1964). The authors aim to present a qualitative analysis of the particular characteristics of the family literacy situations that took place in the homes of 30 children from Argentinas urban poor population. The psycholinguistic models discussed in this study take the close link between the development of language and cognitive development into account and assume that both types of development occur in social interaction. In addition, they emphasize the subjective, experiential component of the childs interactions with the world. Children construct meaning by experimenting with the objects, knowledge, and tools that they come into contact with in the activities in which they participate. Childrens experiences also depend on the people they interact with, whose verbal and non-verbal presentations and scaffolding the child uses in a process of collaborative construction of structures of meaning (Nelson, 2007). Analysis in the present study is focused specifically on the structure and social mediations that shape childrens opportunities to participate in literacy situations. The corpus consists of 124 audio-recorded literacy situations that were generated by the introduction of childrens books that contained stories and literacy activities. Differently from major previous studies regarding family literacy (Bus, Leseman & Keultjes, 2000; Delgado-Gaitan, 1990; Hammer, 2001; Heath, 1983; Leseman & Van Tuijl, 2006; McNaughton, 2006; Reyes, Alexandra & Azuara, 2007; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988, among others), the unit of analysis was the situation as it naturally occurred in the home, considering all the participants and not just the mother-child dyad. The ecological approach adopted in this study allowed identifying the particular characteristics of the early literacy situations that took place in the homes of children from Argentinas urban poor. Results showed that in these homes, where the low education level of adults might have inhibited the consecution of literacy activities, the extended composition of the families and the fact that children participate in extended social networks facilitated the activities development. The literacy situations took place within the framework of the interaction between the child and the diverse and multiple participants that comprise the collaboration networks where children and adults assume different roles. These results showed that the childrens books are used in situations that capitalize on several characteristics of the sociocultural setting. The books introduction in the homes created situations that took advantage of certain characteristics of these populations natural contexts, such as the variety of interlocutors, and transformed other characteristics by sustaining the interaction over an extended period of time. This highlights the linguistic and cognitive potential that interaction with a written text implies. The studys results also corroborate and exemplify in the field of early literacy acquisition the findings of previous research done in within the framework of the sociocultural perspective with children in black communities (Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993), as well as with children from indigenous Hawaiian populations (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993), and from the indigenous Colla community (Rosemberg & Borzone, 1998). Although the aforementioned studies didnt seek to study the literacy processes they too showed the inclusion of small children in wide collaboration networks, as well as the differentiation and division of roles in order to complete various activities performed in collaboration (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993; Rogoff, 1993; Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993). These findings have strong pedagogical implications: they show that it is important to interweave early educational interventions with the funds of knowledge and interactional patterns that characterize childrens culture.(AU)
