Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:09:57.487Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mealtimes in Head Start pre-k classrooms: examining language-promoting opportunities in a hybrid space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2019

Erica M. BARNES ,
Jill F. GRIFENHAGEN  and
David K. DICKINSON
Erica M. BARNES*
Affiliation:
University of Albany, USA
Jill F. GRIFENHAGEN
Affiliation:
North Caroline State University, USA
David K. DICKINSON
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, USA
*
*Corresponding author: 1400 Washington Ave., EDU 329, Albany, NY, 12222. Tel: 518-442-3958. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this study we sought to identify profiles of talk during Head Start preschool mealtime conversations involving teachers and students. Videos of 44 Head Start classrooms’ lunch interactions were analyzed for the ratio of teacher–child talk and amount of academic vocabulary, and then coded for instances of academic/food, social/personal, and management talk to highlight the degree of hybridity of talk within this unique setting. Cluster analysis revealed four distinct patterns of teacher–child mealtime interactions in 44 Head Start preschool classrooms: classroom discourse, home discourse, hybrid-low, and hybrid-high. Multilevel models further demonstrated a relationship among these clusters of teacher–child interactions and children's end-of-year expressive vocabulary scores controlling for ratio of teacher–child talk and pre-test scores. Children in classrooms displaying a hybrid style of mealtime discourse made the greatest gains on measures of expressive vocabulary in contrast to their peers in classrooms displaying other discourse styles.

Keywords

Head Start pre-kindergartenexpressive vocabularymealtimes
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Special Issue 2: The Influence of Input Quality and Communicative Interaction on Language Development Part 2 , March 2020 , pp. 337 - 357
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ACF (Administration for Children and Families) (2007). Head Start Act. US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Program. Online <https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/HS_Act_2007.pdf> (last accessed 21 May 2018).+(last+accessed+21+May+2018).>Google Scholar
Aldenderfer, M. S., & Blashfield, R. K. (1984). Cluster analysis. Newbury, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansari, A., & Purtell, K. M. (2017). Activity settings in full-day kindergarten classrooms and children's early learning. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 38, 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, E. M., & Dickinson, D. K. (2017). The relationship of Head Start teachers’ academic language use and children's receptive vocabulary. Early Education and Development, 28(7), 794–809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, E. M., Dickinson, D. K., & Grifenhagen, J. F. (2017). The role of teachers’ comments during book reading in children's vocabulary growth. Journal of Educational Research, 110(5), 515–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beals, D. E. (1993). Explanations in low-income families’ mealtime conversations. Applied Psycholinguistics, 14, 489–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beals, D. E. (1997). Sources of support for learning words in conversation: evidence from mealtimes. Journal of Child Language, 14, 673–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S. (1993). ‘You got to know how to tell a story’: telling, tales, and tellers in American and Israeli narrative events at dinner. Language in Society, 22, 361–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breckenridge, J. N. (2000). Validating cluster analysis: consistent replication and symmetry. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 35, 261–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cabell, S. Q., Justice, L. M., Logan, J. A., & Konold, T. R. (2013). Emergent literacy profiles among prekindergarten children from low-SES backgrounds: longitudinal considerations. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(3), 608–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabrese-Barton, A., Koch, P. D., Contento, I. R., & Hagiwara, S. (2005). From global sustainability to inclusive education: understanding urban children's ideas about the food system. International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1163–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cazden, C. (1988). Classroom discourse. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Chall, J. S., & Dale, E. (1995). Readability revisited: the new Dale–Chall readability formula. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.Google Scholar
Chien, N. C., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., Pianta, R., Ritchie, S., Bryant, D., … Barbarin, O. (2010). Children's classroom engagement and school readiness gains in prekindergarten. Child Development, 81(5), 1534–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christ, T., Wang, X. C., & Chu, M. M. (2011). Using story dictation to support young children's vocabulary development: outcomes and process. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26, 30–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cote, L. R. (2001). Language opportunities during mealtimes in preschool classrooms. In Dickinson, D. K. & Tabors, P. O. (Eds.) Beginning literacy with language: young children learning at home and school (pp. 205–22). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Darrow, C. (2010). Making sense of preschool research: a multi-paper dissertation on the implementation and effectiveness of preschool curriculum interventions. Doctoral Dissertation, Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Davies, M. (2009). The 385+ million word Corpus of Contemporary American English (1990–2008+). International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 14(2), 159–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeTemple, J. M., & Beals, D. E. (1991). Family talk: sources of support for the development of decontextualized language skills. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 6, 11–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., Freiberg, J. B., & Barnes, E. M. (2011). Why are so few interventions really effective? A call for fine-grained research methodology. In Neuman, S. B. & Dickinson, D. K. (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research: Vol. III (pp. 337–57). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., Hofer, K. G., Barnes, E. M., & Grifenhagen, J. F. (2014). Examining teachers’ language in Head Start classrooms from a Systemic Linguistics approach. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(3), 231–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., & Porche, M. V. (2011). Relation between language experiences in preschool classrooms and children's kindergarten and fourth-grade language and reading abilities. Child Development, 82(3), 870–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, D. K., & Smith, M. W. (1994). Long-term effects of preschool teachers’ book readings on low-income children's vocabulary and story comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 29(2), 104–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L., Williams, K. T., Wang, J. J., & Booklets, N. (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-(PPVT-III) Form IIIA: Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Early, D., Iruka, I. U., Ritchie, S., Barbarin, O., Winn, D. C., & Crawford, G. M. (2010). How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25, 177–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser-Abder, P., Doria, J. A., Yang, J., & De Jesus, A. (2010). Using funds of knowledge in an ethnically concentrated classroom environment to teach nutrition. Science Activities, 47, 141–50.Google Scholar
Gest, S. D., Holland-Coviello, R., Welsh, J. A., Eicher-Catt, D., & Gill, S. (2006). Language development subcontexts in Head Start classrooms: distinctive patterns of teacher talk during free play, mealtime, and book reading. Early Education and Development, 17, 293–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girolametto, L., & Weitzman, E. (2002). Responsiveness of child care providers in interactions with toddlers and preschoolers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33(4), 268–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golinkoff, R. M., Mervis, C. B., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (1994). Early object labels: the case for a developmental lexical principles framework. Journal of Child Language, 21, 125–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutierrez, K. D., Baquedano-Lopez, P., & Tejada, C. (1999). Rethinking diversity: hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space. Mind, Culture, and Activity: An International Journal, 6(4), 286–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, W. S., Nagy, W., & Linn, R. (1984). Spoken words: effects of situation and social group on oral word usage and frequency. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Harris, J., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2011). Lessons from the crib for the classroom: how children really learn vocabulary. In Neuman, S. B. & Dickinson, D. K. (eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (Vol. 3, pp. 49–65). New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (2012). Words at work and play: three decades in family and community life. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26(1), 55–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoff, E., & Laursen, B. P. (2006). Person-centered and variable-centered approaches to longitudinal data. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 377–89.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E., & Levine, S. (2002). Language input and child syntax. Cognitive Psychology, 45(3), 337–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Justice, L., Jiang, J., & Strasser, K. (2018). Linguistic environment of preschool classrooms: What dimensions support children's language growth? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 79–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karrebaek, M. S. (2012). ‘What's in your lunch box today?’ Health, respectability, and ethnicity in the primary classroom. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 22(1), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanza, S. T., & Cooper, B. R. (2016). Latent class analysis for developmental research. Child Development Perspectives, 10, 59–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: tools for analyzing talk, Vol. II: the database (Vol. 2). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Magnuson, D. (2003). The person approach: concepts, measurement models, and research strategy. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2003, 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaels, S. (1981). ‘Sharing time’: children's narrative styles and differential access to literacy. Language in Society, 10(3), 423–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mita, S. C., Gray, S. A., & Goodell, L. S. (2015). An explanatory framework of teachers’ perceptions of a positive mealtime environment in a preschool setting. Appetite, 90, 37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, L., & Greenberg, J. (1990). Creating zones of possibilities: combining social contexts for instruction. In Moll, L. C. (Ed.), Vygotsky and education (pp. 319–48). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W., & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 91–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuman, S. B. (2010). Lessons from my mother reflections on the National Early Literacy Panel Report. Educational Researcher, 39(4), 301–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NGSS Lead States (2013). Next generation science standards: for states, by states. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, E., Pontecorvo, C., & Fasulo, A. (1996). Socializing taste. Ethnos, 61, 7–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paugh, A., & Izquierdo, C. (2009). Why is this a battle everynight? Negotiating food and eating in American dinnertime interaction. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 19, 185–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, M. L. (2013). Decontextualized language input and preschoolers' language development. Seminars in Speech and Language, 34(4), 260–266.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: a functional linguistics perspective. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweizer, K. (1994). Validity and stability of partitions with different sample sizes and classification methods: an empirical example. Diagnostica, 40, 305–19.Google Scholar
Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (1981). Narrative, literacy, and face in interethnic communication. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., & Beals, D. E. (2006). Mealtime talk that supports literacy development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 111, 51–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Kuchirko, Y., & Song, L. (2014). Why is infant language learning facilitated by parental responsiveness? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 121–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2000). First steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition Cognitive Linguistics, 11(1/2), 61–82.Google Scholar
Townsend, D., Filippini, A., Collins, P., & Biancarosa, G. (2012). Evidence for the importance of academic word knowledge for the academic achievement of diverse middle school students. Elementary School Journal, 112, 497–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Kleeck, A. (2015). The academic talk register: a critical preschool oral language foundation for later reading comprehension. In DeBruin-Parecki, A., Kleeck, A. v., & Gear, S. B. (Eds.), Developing early comprehension: laying the foundation for reading success (pp. 52–76). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Wasik, B. A., Bond, M. A., & Hindman, A. (2006). The effects of a language and literacy intervention on Head Start children and teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 63–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, R. (1996). Talk about text: literate discourse and metaliterate knowledge. In Reeder, K., Shapiro, J., Watson, R., & Goelman, H. (Eds.), Literate apprenticeships: the emergence of language and literacy in the preschool years (pp. 81–101). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.Google Scholar
Weizman, Z. O., & Snow, C. E. (2001). Lexical input as related to children's vocabulary acquisition: effects of sophisticated exposure and support for meaning. Developmental Psychology, 37, 265–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, K. (1997). Expressive Vocabulary Test. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Zill, N., Resnick, G., Kim, K., O'Donnell, K., Sorongon, A., McKey, R. H., … D'Elio, M. A. (2003). Head Start FACES 2000: a whole-child perspective on program performance. Fourth progress report. Washington, DC.Google Scholar