In an increasingly diverse society, young children are likely to speak different first languages that are not the majority language of society. Preschool might be one of the first and few environments where they experience the majority language. The present study investigated how preschool teachers communicate with monolingual English preschoolers and preschoolers learning English as an additional language (EAL). We recorded and transcribed four hours of naturalistic preschool classroom activities and observed whether and how preschool teachers tailored their speech to children of different language proficiency levels and linguistic backgrounds (monolingual English: n = 13; EAL: n = 10), using a suite of tools for analysing quantity and quality of speech. We found that teachers used more diverse vocabulary and more complex syntax with the monolingual children and children who were more proficient in English, showing sensitivity to individual children’s language capabilities and adapting their language use accordingly.

在一个日益多样化的社会中，幼儿可能会说不同的第一语言，这些语言不是社会的主流语言。幼儿园可能是他们体验主流语言的第一个也是少数几个环境之一。本研究调查了学前教师如何与单语英语学龄前儿童和学习英语作为附加语言 (EAL) 的学龄前儿童交流。我们记录并转录了四个小时的自然主义学前班课堂活动，并观察了学前班教师是否以及如何针对不同语言能力水平和语言背景的儿童（单语英语：n = 13；EAL：n= 10)，使用一套工具来分析语音的数量和质量。我们发现，教师对单语儿童和英语更熟练的儿童使用更多样化的词汇和更复杂的句法，表现出对个别儿童语言能力的敏感性，并相应地调整他们的语言使用。