ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Talking about emotions with their caregivers help young children develop emotional competence, and is particularly beneficial for children who display elevated externalizing behaviors. However, prior descriptive work has shown that teacher-child emotion talk in preschool classrooms is scarce. As children are spending increasing amounts of time in preschool programs, there is value in understanding the factors associated with teacher-child emotion talk for supporting these types of interactions. In this study, child and teacher factors associated with teacher-child emotion talk frequency were examined. Participants included 183 preschool teachers and 470 children rated by their teachers as displaying elevated externalizing behaviors in a mix of federally funded (Head Start), state funded, and private preschool programs within two eastern states in the United States. Emotion talk frequency was observed in the context of a standardized, dyadic teacher-child storybook reading task. Results from a multilevel model showed that emotion talk frequency was primarily explained by differences between teachers. Particularly, teachers talked with children about emotions more often when they (1) held an early childhood major and (2) were observed to engage in more responsive teaching. Policy or Practice: Results identify malleable teacher factors linked to teacher-child emotion talk frequency. Findings also highlight the role of preschool teachers as socializers of young children’s emotions and suggest the need for future research to understand how the quality of emotion talk varies between and within teachers.

摘要

研究成果：与照顾者谈论情绪有助于幼儿发展情绪能力，对于表现出较高外化行为的儿童尤其有益。然而，先前的描述性工作表明，学前班课堂上的师生情感对话很少。随着孩子们在学前教育项目上花费的时间越来越多，了解与师生情感谈话相关的因素对于支持这些类型的互动是有价值的。在这项研究中，研究了与师生情感谈话频率相关的儿童和教师因素。参与者包括 183 名学前班教师和 470 名儿童，他们的老师评价为在联邦资助（Head Start）、州资助、以及美国东部两个州的私立学前教育项目。在标准化的、二元的教师-儿童故事书阅读任务的背景下观察情感谈话的频率。多层次模型的结果表明，情绪谈话频率主要是由教师之间的差异来解释的。特别是，当教师（1）从事幼儿专业并且（2）被观察到从事更具反应性的教学时，他们会更频繁地与孩子谈论情绪。政策或实践：结果确定了与师生情感谈话频率相关的可塑性教师因素。研究结果还强调了学前班教师作为幼儿情绪社交者的作用，并表明未来需要进行研究以了解教师之间和内部情绪谈话的质量如何变化。