Notwithstanding their relevance to children's cognitive development, home literacy activities of preschool children with migration backgrounds have only been partly explored. Therefore, the current understanding of this topic, particularly in a German setting remains incomplete. This study aimed to evaluate the differences between preschool…

The relation between nonword repetition and vocabulary has been the focus of a theoretical controversy for several decades. The point of contention is whether the ability underlying nonword repetition drives vocabulary growth or vice versa. The present study examines longitudinal interrelations between nonword repetition and vocabulary from age 3…

Describing events may be challenging for any child, but children who use communication aids may face unique linguistic, pragmatic, and strategic challenges in conveying information with the communication means they have available. This study explores strategies used by young, aided communicators when describing the content of a video unknown to…

Can early childhood education (ECE) support the societal language development of children from linguistically diverse backgrounds? This study examined how existing variation in classroom interaction quality (CLASS Pre-K), classroom composition (percentages of children from low-income backgrounds and dual language learners [DLLs]), and duration of…

This article examines factors that promote active multilingualism. For this purpose, the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test" was used with 48 children. Their results were linked to a parental questionnaire designed to evaluate the children's linguistic input in their immediate environment. The study shows that, besides a minimum amount of…

This paper focuses on the influence of socio-economic risk factors and different aspects of the home learning environment in early childhood on children's language competencies (vocabulary and grammar skills). The assumption is that children with more risk factors have lower competencies, but the home learning environment (measured by everyday…

Cooperation between preschools and parents is one key dimension of pedagogical quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). We examined the structural characteristics of ECEC that predict preschool cooperation activities and how they are associated with children's language and social-emotional skills at the age of 3. The results are based…

We examined independent and interactive links among three central characteristics of children's experiences in early childhood education and care and the German receptive vocabulary of single language learners and dual language learners (DLLs). We allowed for possible differential effects depending on children's language background. Our sample…

Children's fine motor skills (FMS) are being increasingly recognized as an important aspect of preschool development; yet, we know very little about the experiences that foster their development. We utilized a parent-administered children's fine and gross motor activities questionnaire (MAQ) to investigate links with FMS. We recruited a sample of…

Shared-book reading is a well-established intervention to foster vocabulary development. Factors influencing its effectiveness are, however, less well studied, particularly with regard to story-delivery. We contrasted a read-aloud with a free storytelling approach and tested effects on vocabulary learning. In the first study, 83 preschoolers aged…

Theories and research in embodied cognition postulate that cognition grounded in action enjoys a processing advantage. Extending this theory to the study of how fine motor skills (FMS) link to vocabulary development in preschool children, the authors investigated FMS and vocabulary in 76 preschoolers. Building on previous research, they…

Research Findings: This study investigated the long-term interrelations among children's language competencies, their home literacy environment (HLE), and 3 aspects of socioemotional development from ages 3 to 8, controlling for characteristics of the child and family. For this sample of 547 typically developing German children, parents and…

Although the simple view of reading and other theories suggest that listening comprehension is an important determinant of reading comprehension, previous research on linguistic transfer has mainly focused on the role of first language (L1) decoding skills in second language (L2) reading. The present study tested the assumption that listening…

A randomized control intervention study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the highly structured Heidelberg Parent-Based Language Intervention (HPLI). The outcomes of 43 children (n = 23 intervention, n = 20 control) who had been identified as late talkers during routine developmental check-ups carried out in pediatric practices at the age…

The present paper was written under the auspices of the interdisciplinary research group "Educational Processes, Competence Development, and Selection Decisions at Preschool and Primary School Age (BiKS)" (FOR 543), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The surveys were conceptualised and supervised as part of the developmental…