Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T01:55:06.147Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Instructional strategies and linguistic features of kindergarten teachers’ shared book reading: The case of Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

He Sun Open the ORCID record for He Sun [Opens in a new window] ,
Weimin Toh  and
Rasmus Steinkrauss
He Sun*
Affiliation:
Nanyang Technological University
Weimin Toh
Affiliation:
Nanyang Technological University
Rasmus Steinkrauss
Affiliation:
University of Groningen
*
*Corresponding author. Email: he.sun@nie.edu.sg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Teachers’ language practice during shared book reading may significantly affect the rate and outcome of early language proficiency. The current study has focused on 37 kindergarten teachers and 440 4- to 5-year-old kindergartners during their shared book reading sessions in Singapore, exploring teachers’ variation in instructional strategies and linguistic features, and its relations with children’s language development and teacher’s background. Results demonstrated that teacher’s language strategies and linguistic features varied considerably. Instructional strategies with a medium level of cognitive load were found to be positively related to children’s growth in receptive vocabulary and word reading skills. Teacher’s lexical sophistication was found to be positively associated with children’s vocabulary size. Years of teaching experience was revealed to predict teacher’s variation in medium-level instructions.

Keywords

cognitive loadsdistancing modellexical complexityquestioning and commentingshared book readingsyntactic complexityteacher’s qualification
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 2020 , pp. 427 - 456
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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

Aman, N. (2016). “I believe, therefore I practice”: Teachers’ beliefs on literacy acquisition and their classroom practices. In Elaine, S. R. & Bokhorst-Heng, W. (Eds.), Quadrilingual education in Singapore (pp. 39–56). Education Innovation Series. Singapore: Springer, Singapore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, R. H. (2008). Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, E. M. (2013). Head Start preschool teachers’ commenting practices during shared book reading sessions: Describing learning opportunities for children with varying vocabulary abilities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.Google Scholar
Barnes, E. M., & Dickinson, D. K. (2017). The impact of teachers’ commenting strategies on children’s vocabulary growth. Exceptionality, 25, 186–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48. doi:10.18637/jss.v067.i01CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bautista, A., Moreno-Núñez, A., Bull, R., Amsah, F., & Koh, S-F. (2018). Arts-related pedagogies in preschool education: An Asian perspective. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 277–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berk, L. E., & Winsler, A. (1999). Scaffolding children’s learning: Vygotsky and early childhood education. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.Google Scholar
Blewitt, P., & Langan, R. (2016). Learning words during shared book reading: The role of extratextual talk designed to increase child engagement. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150, 404–410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boblett, N. (2012). Scaffolding: Defining the metaphor. Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 12, 1–16.Google Scholar
Bowers, E. P., & Vasilyeva, M. (2011). The relation between teacher input and lexical growth of pre-schoolers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 221–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2012). Defining and operationalizing L2 complexity. In Housen, A., Kuiken, F., & Vedder, I. (Eds.), Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency (pp. 21–46). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bus, A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabell, S. Q., DeCoster, J., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2013). Variation in the effectiveness of instructional interactions across preschool classroom settings and learning activities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28, 820–830.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christenson, L. A. (2016). Class interactive reading aloud (CIRA): A holistic lens on interactive reading aloud sessions in kindergarten. Educational Research and Reviews, 11, 2138–2145.Google Scholar
Chua, S. K. C. (2011). Singapore’s language policy and its globalised concept of bi(tri)lingualism. Current Issues in Language Planning, 11, 413–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, C. M., Morrison, F. J., Schatschneider, C., Toste, J. R., Lundblom, E., Crowe, E. C., & Fishman, B. (2011). Effective classroom instruction: Implications of child characteristics by reading instruction interactions on first graders’ word reading achievement. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 4, 173–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connor, C. M., Morrison, F. J., & Slominski, L. (2006). Preschool instruction and children’s emergent literacy growth. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 665–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L., & Silver, R. (2012). Educational reforms, cultural clashes and classroom practices. Cambridge Journal of Education, 42, 141–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, X. L., & Silver, R. (2013). New wine into old skins: The enactment of literacy policy in Singapore. Language and Education, 27, 246–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curriculum Planning and Development Division. (2010). English Language Syllabus. Singapore: Ministry of Education.Google Scholar
DfES. (2004). Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners. Norwich: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Dickinson, D. K. (2011). Teachers’ language practices and academic outcomes of preschool children. Science, 333, 964–967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, D. K., Freiberg, J. B., & Barnes, E. M. (2011). Why are so few interventions effective? A call for fine-grained research methodology. In Neuman, S. B. & Dickinson, D. K. (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (Vol. 3, pp. 337–357). New York: 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, 231–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., & McCabe, A. (2001). Bringing it all together: The multiple origins, skills, and environmental supports of early literacy. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16, 186–202.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, 870–886.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickinson, D. K., & Smith, M. (1994). Long-term effects of preschool teachers’ book readings on low-income children’s vocabulary and story comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 29, 104–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, L. Q. (2004). Learning to read in a non-native language: The relationship between English oral-language and early literacy skills of kindergarten children in Singapore. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Dixon, L. Q. (2009). Assumptions behind Singapore’s language-in-education policy: Implications for language planning and second language acquisition. Language Policy, 8, 117–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downer, J., Sabol, T. J., & Hamre, B. (2010). Teacher-child interactions in the classroom: Toward a theory of within- and cross-domain links to children’s developmental outcomes. Early Education and Development, 21, 699–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd. ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Durán, P., Malvern, D., Richards, B., & Chipere, N. (2004). Developmental trends in lexical diversity. Applied Linguistics, 25, 220–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Early, D. M., Bryant, D. M., Pianta, R. C., Clifford, R. M., Burchinal, M. R., Ritchie, S., … Barbarin, O. (2006). Are teachers’ education, major, and credentials related to classroom quality and children’s academic gains in pre-kindergarten? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 174–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Early, D. M., Maxwell, K. L., Burchinal, M., Alva, S., Bender, R. H., Bryant, D., … Zill, N. (2007). Teachers’ education, classroom quality, and young children’s academic skills: Results from seven studies of preschool programs. Child Development, 78, 558–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eleni, M., & Meadows, S. (2005a). Young children’s spontaneous participation during classroom book reading: Differences according to various types of books. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 7, 1–21.Google Scholar
Eleni, M., & Meadows, S. (2005b). Young children’s cognitive engagement during classroom book reading: Differences according to book, text genre, and story format. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 7, 1–8.Google Scholar
Elley, W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 174–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N. J. (2014). Afraid to lose out: The impact of kiasuism on practitioner research in Singapore schools. Educational Action Research, 22, 235–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewers, C. A., & Brownson, S. M. (1999). Kindergartners’ vocabulary acquisition as a function of active vs. passive storybook reading, prior vocabulary, and working memory. Journal of Reading Psychology, 20, 11–20.Google Scholar
Falenchuk, O., Perlman, M., McMullen, E., Fletcher, B., & Shah, P. S. (2017). Education of staff in preschool aged classrooms in child care centers and child outcomes: A meta-analysis and systematic review. PLOS ONE, 12, e0183673. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0183673CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, R. F. (1991). Paying for public education: New evidence on how and why money matters. Harvard Journal on Legislation, 28, 465–498.Google Scholar
Gerde, H. K., & Powell, D. R. (2009). Teacher education, book-reading practices, and children’s language growth across one year of head start. Early Education and Development, 20, 211–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillam, S. L., Gillam, R. B., & Reece, K. (2012). Language outcomes of contextualized and decontextualized language intervention: Results of an early efficacy study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 276–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goe, L., & Stickler, L. M. (2008). Teacher quality and student achievement: Making the most of recent research. Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Centre for Teacher Quality.Google Scholar
Grant, L., & Ginther, A. (2000). Using computer-tagged linguistic features to describe L2 writing differences. Journal of Second Language Writing, 9, 123–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haider, S. Z., & Hussain, A. (2014). Relationship between teacher factors and student achievement: A correlational study of secondary schools. US–China Education Review, 4, 465–480.Google Scholar
Harris, Y. R., & Almutairi, S. (2016). A commentary on parent-child cognitive learning interaction research: What have we learned from two decades of research? Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayes, D. P., & Ahrens, M. (1988). Vocabulary simplification for children: A special case of “motherese.” Child Language, 15, 135–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, M., & Lian, K. F. (1995). The politics of nation building and citizenship in Singapore. Politics in Asia series. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hindman, A., Connor, C., Jewkes, A., & Morrison, F. (2008). Untangling the effects of shared book reading: Multiple factors and their associations with preschool literacy outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 330–350. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2008.01.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockenberger, E., Goldstein, H., & Haas, L. S. (1999). Effects of commenting during joint book reading by mothers with low SES. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19, 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hojnoski, R., Polignano, J., & Columba, H. L. (2015). Increasing teacher mathematical talk during shared book reading in the preschool classroom: A pilot study. Early Education and Development, 27, 1–16.Google Scholar
Hsu, P. L., & Roth, W. M. (2009). Lab technicians and high school student interns—Who is scaffolding whom? On forms of emergent expertise. Science Education, 93, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudspeth, W. J., & Pribram, K. H. (1990). Stages of brain and cognitive maturation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 881–884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E., & Levine, S. (2002). Language input at home and at school: Relation to child syntax. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 337–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishikawa, S. (2015). Lexical development in L2 English learners’ speeches and writings. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 198, 202–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Justice, L., Meier, J., & Walpole, S. (2005). Learning new words from storybooks: An efficacy study with at-risk kindergartners. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 17–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendeou, P., van den Broek, P., White, M. J., & Lynch, J. S. (2009). Predicting reading comprehension in early elementary school: The independent contributions of oral language and decoding skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 765–778. doi:10.1037/a0015956CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koh, K. H., Tan, C., & Ng, P. T. (2012). Creating thinking schools through authentic assessment: The case in Singapore. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 24, 135–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, B. H. (2015). Teacher professional development in Hong Kong compared to anglosphere: The role of Confucian philosophy. Psychology, Society and Education, 7, 295–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landry, S. H., Zucker, T. A., Williams, J. M., Merz, E. C., Guttentag, C. L., & Taylor, H. B. (2017). Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 40, 38–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1995). Vocabulary size and use: Lexical richness in L2 written production. Applied Linguistics, 16, 307–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H., Rao, N., & Tse, S. (2012). Adapting Western pedagogies for Chinese literacy instruction: Case studies of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Singapore preschools. Early Education & Development, 23(4), 603–621. doi:10.1080/10409289.2010.536441CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim-Ratnam, C. (2013). Tensions in defining quality pre-school education: The Singapore context. Educational Review, 65, 416–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liow, R., Sze, S. J., & Lee, L. C. (2013). Bilingual Language Assessment Battery (BLAB) manual (Unpublished measure). Singapore: National University of Singapore, Department of Psychology and Division of Graduate Medical Studies.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Marulis, L. M., & Neuman, S. B. (2010). The effects of vocabulary intervention on young children’s word learning: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 80, 300–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, S. L, Pence, K. L., Justice, L. M., & Bowles, R. P. (2008). Educators’ use of cognitively challenging questions in economically disadvantaged preschool classroom contexts. Early Education and Development, 19, 340–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Education, Singapore. (2013). Nurturing early learners—A curriculum for kindergartens in Singapore. Retrieved from https://www.moe.gov.sg/docs/default-source/document/education/preschool/files/nel-edu-guide-overview.pdfGoogle Scholar
Mol, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011). To read or not to read: A meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 267–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., & de Jong, M. T. (2009). Interactive book reading in early education: A tool to stimulate print knowledge as well as oral language. Review of Educational Research, 79, 979–1007. doi:10.3102/0034654309332561CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montag, J. L., Jones, M. N., & Smith, L. B. (2015). The words children hear: Picture books and the statistics for language learning. Psychological Science, 26, 1489–1496. doi:10.1177/0956797615594361CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrow, L. M. (2007). Developing literacy in preschool. New York: Guildford Press.Google Scholar
Neuman, S., Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2000). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.Google Scholar
Neuman, S. B., & Kaefer, T. (2018). Developing low-income children’s vocabulary and content knowledge through a shared book reading program. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 52, 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, S. M., & Sullivan, C. (2001). Chapter 3: The Singapore Reading and English Acquisition program. International Journal of Educational Research, 35, 157–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2009). Towards an organic approach to investigating CAF in instructed SLA: The case of complexity. Applied Linguistics, 30, 555–578. doi:10.1093/applin/amp044CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otaiba, S. A., Folsom, J. S., Wanzek, J., Greulich, L., Wasche, J., Schatschneider, C., & Connor, C. (2016). Professional development to differentiate kindergarten Tier 1 instruction: Can already effective teachers improve student outcomes by differentiating Tier 1 instruction? Reading and Writing Quarterly, 32, 454–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ouellette, G. P. (2006). What’s meaning got to do with it: The role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 554–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pakir, A. (1991). The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore. World Englishes, 10, 167–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pea, R. D. (2004). The social and technological dimensions of scaffolding and related theoretical concepts for learning, education, and human activity. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13, 423–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellegrini, A. D., Perlmutter, J. C., Galda, L., & Brody, G. H. (1990). Joint reading between black Head Start children and their mothers. Child Development, 61, 443–453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pressley, M., Hogan, K., Wharton-McDonald, R., Mistretta, J., & Ettenberger, S. (1996). The challenges of instructional scaffolding: The challenges of instruction that supports student thinking. Constructivism and Students With Special Needs: Issues in the Classroom, 11, 138–146.Google Scholar
Price, L. H., van Kleeck, A., & Huberty, C. J. (2009). Talk during book sharing between parents and preschool children: A comparison between storybook and expository book conditions. Reading Research Quarterly, 44, 171–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reese, E. (2015). What good is a picturebook? Developing children’s oral language and literacy through shared picturebook reading. In Kümmerling-Meibauer, B., Meibauer, J., Nachtigäller, K., & Rohlfing, K. J. (Eds.), Learning from picturebooks—Perspectives from child development and literacy studies (pp. 194–208). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reese, E., & Cox, A. (1999). Quality of adult book reading affects children’s emergent literacy. Developmental Psychology, 35, 20–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richards, B., & Malvern, D. (2000). Measuring vocabulary richness in teenage learners of French. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference, London.Google Scholar
Robertson, S.-J. L., & Reese, E. (2017). The very hungry caterpillar turned into a butterfly: Children’s and parents’ enjoyment of different book genres. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 17(1), 3–25. doi:10.1177/1468798415598354CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rockoff, J. E. (2004). The impact of individual teachers on student achievement: Evidence from panel data. American Economic Review, 94, 247–252. doi:10.1257/0002828041302244CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarborough, H. S., & Dobrich, W. (1994). On the efficacy of reading to preschoolers. Developmental Review, 14, 245–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schachter, R. E., Spear, C. F., Piasta, S. B., Justice, L. M., & Logan, J. A. R. (2016). Early childhood educators’ knowledge, beliefs, education, experiences, and children’s language- and literacy-learning opportunities: What is the connection? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 281–294. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigel, I. E. (1986). Early social experience and the development of representational competence. New Directions for Child Development, 32, 49–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigel, I. E. (2002). The psychological distancing model: A study of the socialization of cognition. Culture & Psychology, 8, 189–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, C. E. (1983). Literacy and language: Relationships during the preschool years. Harvard Education Review, 53, 165–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sripathy, M. (1998). Language teaching pedagogies and cultural scripts: The Singapore primary classroom. In Gopinathan, S., Pakir, A., Kam, H.-W., & Saravanan, V. (Eds.), Language, society and education in Singapore (pp. 269–280). Singapore: Times Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sripathy, M. (2007). Cultural scripts and literacy pedagogy. In Vaish, V., Gopinathan, S., & Liu, Y. (Eds.), Language, capital, culture: Critical studies of language and education in Singapore (pp. 73–102). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.Google Scholar
Storch, A. S., & Whitehurst, J. G. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: Evidence from a longitudinal structural model. Developmental Psychology, 38, 934–947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strauss, U., Grzybek, P., & Altmann, G. (2007). Word length and word frequency. In Grzybek, P. (Ed.), Contributions to the science of text and language. Text, speech and language technology (Vol. 31). Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Sun, H. (2019). Bilingual children’s Mandarin language and literacy environment at home and their Mandarin language and social-emotional skills: One stone for two birds? Frontier in Psychology, 16, 1–13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01640Google Scholar
Sun, H., Steinkrauss, R., Wieling, M., & de Bot, K. (2018). Individual differences in very young Chinese children’s English vocabulary breadth and semantic depth: Internal and external factors. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21, 405–425. doi:10.1080/13670050.2016.1178706CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, H., Yin, B., Amsah, F., & O’Brien, B. A. (2018). Differential effects of internal and external factors in early bilingual vocabulary learning: The case of Singapore. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39, 383–411. doi:10.1017/S014271641700039XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, H., Yussof, N., Mohamed, M., Rahim, A., Cheung, W. L., Cheong, S. A., & Bull, R. (2018). Bilingual language experience and social-emotional wellbeing: A cross-sectional study of Singapore pre-schoolers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/13670050.2018.1461802CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, C. (2006). Creating thinking schools through “knowledge and inquiry”: The curriculum challenges for Singapore. Curriculum Journal, 17, 89–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, C. T. (2017). Enhancing the quality of kindergarten education in Singapore: Policies and strategies in the 21st century. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 11. doi:10.1186/s40723-017-0033-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tang, A. (2015). The use of literacy materials in early childhood English language and literacy programs in Singapore: Local responses to global trends. Education Research & Perspectives, 42, 65–90.Google Scholar
Torr, J., & Clugston, L. (1999). A comparison between informational and narrative picture books as a context for reasoning between caregivers and 4-year-old children. Early Child Development and Care, 159, 25–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treviño, E., Varela, C., Romo, F., & Núñez, V. (2015). Presencia de lenguaje académico en las educadoras de párvulos y su relación con el desarrollo dellenguaje de los niños [Presence of academic language in pre-school educators and its relation to students’ language development]. Calidad En La Educación, 43, 137–168.Google Scholar
Tzuo, P.-W. (2010). The ECE landscape in Singapore: Analysis of current trends, issues, and prospect for a cosmopolitan outlook. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 4, 77–98.Google Scholar
van Kleeck, A., Gillam, R., Hamilton, L., & McGrath, C. (1997). The relationship between middle-class parents’ book-sharing discussion and their preschoolers’ abstract language development. Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Research, 40, 1261–1271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Kleeck, A., Vander Woude, J., & Hammett, L. (2006). Fostering literal and inferential language skills in Head Start pre-schoolers with language impairment using scripted book-sharing discussions. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 15, 85–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasilyeva, M., Huttenlocher, J., & Waterfall, H. (2006). Effects of language intervention on syntactic skill levels in preschoolers. Developmental Psychology, 42, 164–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verspoor, M., Schmid, M. S., & Xu, X. (2012). A dynamic usage based perspective on L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21, 239–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M. H., & van Dijk, M. (2011). Visualizing interaction between variables. In Verspoor, M., de Bot, K., & Lowie, W. (Eds.), A dynamic approach to second language development: Methods and techniques (pp. 85–98). Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, R. L., & Hodge, K. A. (2016). Are we asking the right questions? An analysis of research on the effect of teachers’ questioning on children’s language during shared book reading with young children. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1468798416659124CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wasik, B. A., & Hindman, A. (2009). The quality of teacher language and its impact on children’s vocabulary development. In Leander, K. M., Rowe, D. W., Dickinson, D. K., Hundley, M. K., Jimenez, R. T., & Risko, R. J. (Eds.), 58th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 82–98). Oak Creek, WI: Literacy Research.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, 265–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wesseling, P. B. C., Christmann, C. A., & Lachmann, T. (2017). Shared book reading promotes not only language development, but also grapheme awareness in German kindergarten children. Frontiers in Psychology, 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J., Arnold, D. S., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Smith, M., & Fischel, J. E. (1994). A picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30, 679–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 848–872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, G. S., & Robertson, G. J. (2006). Wide Range Achievement Test (4th ed.). Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Wolfe-Quintero, K., Inagaki, S., & Kim, H.-Y. (1998). Second language development in writing: Measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai‘i, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, F. J., Gilkerson, J., Richards, J. A., Christakis, D. A., Xu, D., Gray, S., & Yapanel, U. (2009). Teaching by listening: The importance of adult-child conversations to language development. Pediatrics, 124, 342–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zucker, T. A., Justice, L. M., & Piasta, S. B. (2009). Prekindergarten teachers’ verbal references to print during classroom-based, large-group shared reading. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40, 376–392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed