This is the first international and interdisciplinary handbook to offer a comprehensive and an in-depth overview of findings from contemporary research, theory, and practice in early childhood language education in various parts of the world and with different populations. The contributions by leading scholars and practitioners are structured to…

This brief article describes how Riverheights School teachers invited three to five-year-olds with a parent to attend seven sessions that incorporated multiple intelligences and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies. Each session provided activities for language development, phonological awareness, and literacy and numeracy concepts. The…

The focus of this research was on examining a play-based, child-centered instructional technique known as story telling/story acting (ST/SA) within a Canadian preschool setting. The goal was to examine the changes that occurred in the narrative features of preschool children's stories, and to investigate whether ST/SA fostered emerging literacy…

Given the limited research on preschool teachers' beliefs about teaching language and literacy in the preschool years, as well as on their conceptual understanding of children's language and literacy development, this study examined the beliefs of 79 preschool teachers who had at least a 2-year diploma in early childhood education. All were…

With the increase in research on multiliteracies comes greater interest in exploring multiple pathways of learning for deaf children. Educational media have been increasingly examined as a tool for facilitating the development of deaf children's language and literacy skills. The authors investigated whether preschool deaf children (N = 31)…

The present language study, carried out by the University of Victoria and the Department of Indian Affairs during the summer of 1968, was based on the Deutsch "cumulative deficit hypothesis." (This theory has as one of its bases the idea that the lack of appropriate language stimulation in early home and school life makes success in…

The University of Victoria and the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs sponsored a 4-week prekindergarten, preschool, and orientation program for Indian children living on 4 reserves in the southern region of Vancouver Island. The 3 groups of children served were 4- and 5-year-olds (prekindergarten), 5- and 6-year-olds (preschool), and 7-…

Correlates high incidence of chronic middle ear infection in American Indian children aged 3-16 years with problems of language development, acquisition, and use. (LFL)

This study explored the effects of a full-day preschool program on 4-year-old children. The study compared the development of a group of children (N = 403) who attended the preschool program on a half-day basis during the 1999-2000 school year (the last year the half-day program was in place) with the development of a group of children (N = 418)…

A longitudinal study was conducted of 139 Ontario preschool children with severe and profound hearing losses, to detect potential interactions among communication mode, program type, and degree of hearing loss. The relationship of several background and educational variables with the linguistic, academic, and social development of the children was…

Assessed language quality of 15 four-year olds with three conversational partners: a center-care teacher, an older child, and a younger child. Data coded included number of turns, utterances, gaps, statements versus questions, contingent responses, and amount of self-talk. Found that children take more turns with an adult but produce fewer…

This Canadian study examined the later development (in high school and college) of two groups of children who had received an early enrichment intervention, comparing them with a limited control group and with each other. Experimental subjects were grouped into those (N=40) from families with some college and those (N=14) from families with high…

This document completes a series of four monographs that comprise a framework for describing children's development through the school years. Each monograph incorporates insights gained through research and practice. As a resource designed primarily for teachers, administrators, and curriculum designers, the document looks at the whole child as a…

A two-and-a-half-year study in northern Ontario (Canada) investigated the relationship between characteristics of the minority French-speaking community, home environment, and the school and classroom environments. Focus was on factors affecting the development and maintenance of cultural awareness, ethnic identity, and communicative competence in…