ERIC Number: EJ747229
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Feb
Pages: 7
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1082-3301
EISSN: N/A
Effects of Junior Kindergarten on Emerging Literacy in Children from Low-Income and Linguistic-Minority Families
Pagani, Linda S.; Jalbert, Julie; Lapointe, Pierre; Hebert, Martine
Early Childhood Education Journal, v33 n4 p209-215 Feb 2006
We study the benefits of junior kindergarten for linguistic-minority 4-year-olds compared to their linguistic-majority classmates from the same low-income neighborhoods. At the end of the school year, linguistic-minority children made significantly greater improvements in language skills than their host society classmates. At the mid-year point, junior kindergarten teachers made efforts to help linguistic-minority children overcome the challenges of the school environment of their new host society by adapting their pedagogical strategies to those showing difficulty in their receptive vocabulary skills. They also offered greater means of contact to parents of linguistic-minority children having difficulty attaining language proficiency than to parents of children showing better improvements. Parents of linguistic-minority students showing smaller gains were more likely to use a larger proportion of the communication methods offered by teachers and participate in the parent-school relationship for the well-being of their children. Long-term results suggest that linguistic-minority children continued to make significant improvements.
Descriptors: Kindergarten, Emergent Literacy, Young Children, Poverty, Language Minorities, Comparative Analysis, Language Skills, Preschool Teachers, Parent School Relationship, Second Language Learning, Outcomes of Education, Low Income Groups, Educational Environment, Student Adjustment, Adjustment (to Environment), Teaching Methods, Vocabulary Skills, Language Proficiency, Parent Teacher Cooperation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A