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ERIC Number: ED566376
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Jun
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1053-1890
EISSN: N/A
Improving the Language Skills of Pre-Kindergarten Students: Preliminary Impacts of the "Let's Know!" Experimental Curriculum
Johanson, Megan; Arthur, Ann M.
Grantee Submission, Child and Youth Care Forum v45 n3 p367-392 Jun 2016
Background: Improving children's oral language skills is an important focus of educational research and practice; however, relatively few interventions have demonstrated impacts on these skills. This work makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the effects of language-focused interventions in pre-kindergarten settings by examining impacts on both lower- and higher-level language skills as well as overall language comprehension. Objective: The goal is to assess the impacts of business-as-usual pre-kindergarten with implementation of two versions of an experimental curriculum supplement, Let's Know!, designed to enhance three component language skills (vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and text-structure knowledge) and overall language comprehension in prekindergarteners. Methods: Eleven pre-kindergarten teachers and 49 low socioeconomic-status students participated. Teachers were randomly assigned to either business-as-usual, Let's Know! Broad, or Let's Know! Deep, unless they participated in a previous pilot study, in which case they were randomly assigned to either Let's Know! Broad or Deep. The Broad version included five different lesson types, whereas the Deep version included three lesson types with additional practice. Children's gains were assessed proximally with measures of vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and text-structure knowledge and distally with a measure of language comprehension. Results: Children in both experimental versions significantly improved their vocabulary skills relative to children who received business-as-usual instruction. For comprehension monitoring, children who received the Deep and Broad versions improved their scores relative to BAU children for Units 1 and 3, respectively. Improvement in language comprehension was only found for children who received Let's Know! Deep compared with business-as-usual. Conclusion: This study provides initial evidence that the Let's Know! curricula may serve to foster young children's vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and language comprehension skills. [Additional assistance in the writing of this article was provided by the Language and Reading Research Consortium (LARRC).] [This article was published in "Child and Youth Care Forum," v45 n3 p367-392 Jun 2016 (see EJ1099507).]
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305F100002; R305B120008
What Works Clearinghouse Reviewed: Does Not Meet Evidence Standards