This study examined the early writing beliefs, ideas, and practices of 54 early childhood teachers. Teachers completed a survey designed to examine their early writing beliefs and provided definitions about early writing development... more
This study examined the early writing beliefs, ideas, and practices of 54 early childhood teachers. Teachers completed a survey designed to examine their early writing beliefs and provided definitions about early writing development through a written response. Teachers were also observed in their classrooms and writing practices were coded for instructional strategy employed by the teacher (i.e., modeling and scaffolding approaches) and the instructional focus of these interactions with attention to early writing skill. Teachers’ definitions of writing often emphasized specific writing skills, with most teachers emphasizing handwriting. Teachers were observed enacting a range of modeling and scaffolding practices to support early writing, but the majority of interactions focused on handwriting supports. Teachers’ definitions of writing and their responses to the teacher belief survey were unrelated to each other, but differentially related to writing skills emphasized in interaction...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Domke, L.M., May, L., Kung, M., Coleman, L., Vo, M., & Bingham, G. (2022). Preservice teachers learning to integrate language within content instruction in dual language classrooms. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural... more
Domke, L.M., May, L., Kung, M., Coleman, L., Vo, M., & Bingham, G. (2022). Preservice teachers learning to integrate language within content instruction in dual language classrooms. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2117817 Having a dual focus on teaching content information and language is important in language-learning contexts and is a defining feature of dual language bilingual education (DLBE). However, systematically teaching both language and content is challenging for DLBE teachers. This exploratory mixed methods study of nine Spanish-English bilingual Latinx preservice teachers (PSTs) placed in United States DLBE primary classrooms sought to determine how PSTs attended to language acquisition and development during content instruction. Seventy videos of PSTs teaching content-area lessons were analyzed quantitatively using a researcher-created rubric for Integrated Language and Content and Attention to Language. Forty of these relatively high-scoring videos and transcripts were analyzed qualitatively by coding linguistic and multimodal communication to further describe PSTs’ instructional moves. Findings indicate that throughout their preparation programme, PSTs improved their integration of language and content and attention to language, but their linguistic focus remained limited to vocabulary instruction. PSTs also focused more on students’ receptive than expressive language development. Understanding PSTs’ developing abilities to integrate content and language has implications for teacher education to support DLBE PSTs’ emerging pedagogy.
Research Interests:
This inquiry examined the pedagogical practices in mathematics of elementary teachers (N=27) who had been identified as experienced and successful and were working in an urban school district with underserved student populations. Also... more
This inquiry examined the pedagogical practices in mathematics of elementary teachers (N=27) who had been identified as experienced and successful and were working in an urban school district with underserved student populations. Also investigated were relationships between their instructional practices and other elements of proficient teaching of mathematics, including specialized content knowledge and beliefs. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a knowledge assessment, belief surveys, classroom observations, and individual interviews. The findings related to learner-centered, equitable mathematics instruction reveal a mixed picture of understanding and enactment by the participants, illuminating variability and complexity, especially within the context of a standardized model for instructional delivery. Participants expressed constraints in implementing learner-centered, equitable mathematics instruction, particularly: prescribed, scripted lesson plans; teaching roles that involved instruction of many students thus contributing to lack of familiarity; and a mix of learners who were in-class and remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results also demonstrate that pedagogical practices were shaped by participants’ specialized content knowledge and to a more limited extent their beliefs. These data further reveal mixed endorsement of the different belief constructs. Considerations for teacher development are discussed.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This 5-year mathematics professional development project involves 27 elementary teachers prepared and supported as Elementary Mathematics Specialists (EMSs) in high-need, urban schools. The EMSs are a distinctive population as informal... more
This 5-year mathematics professional development project involves 27 elementary teachers prepared and supported as Elementary Mathematics Specialists (EMSs) in high-need, urban schools. The EMSs are a distinctive population as informal teacher leaders, with a primary responsibility of teaching students. Described here are data collected at the end of Year 1 via a survey of coaching practices, a teacher leader record, and individual and focus group interviews. The findings illuminate the variety of ways they were serving as a more knowledgeable other and practicing agency in this teacher leadership. They were agentic in their teacher leader efforts by navigating constraints through: focusing on incremental changes; developing collegial, trusting relationships with peers; and leaning into the network of teacher support in the project. The findings also provide insights into how their primary and concurrent role as teacher of students provided credibility and understanding with fellow teachers, contributing to affordances in their informal teacher leader capacity.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice for preschool children who are typically developing or at-risk; yet there is limited research to evaluate if it has similar positive effects on the language and preliteracy skills of children... more
Dialogic reading is an evidence-based practice for preschool children who are typically developing or at-risk; yet there is limited research to evaluate if it has similar positive effects on the language and preliteracy skills of children with disabilities. This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of dialogic reading, with the incorporation of pause time, on the language and preliteracy skills of 42 preschool children with disabilities. Following random assignment of students at the classroom level, participants were equally distributed into an intervention ( n = 21) and a comparison group ( n = 21). Children received either dialogic reading or typical storybook reading for 10 to 15 min per day, 3 days per week, for 6 weeks. Children in the intervention group scored significantly higher on receptive and expressive near-transfer vocabulary assessments. This occurred both for words that were specifically targeted during dialogic reading, and for additional vocabulary words i...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology and Narrative
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Conceptual models of early writing suggest multiple component skills support children’s early writing development. Although research interest in early writing skills has grown in recent years, the majority of studies focus narrowly on... more
Conceptual models of early writing suggest multiple component skills support children’s early writing development. Although research interest in early writing skills has grown in recent years, the majority of studies focus narrowly on procedural knowledge or transcription skills (i.e., handwriting and spelling) to the relative exclusion of how children develop early composing skills, such as: children’s idea generation, adherence to the task, and translation of ideas into some form of writing. This study describes children’s composing skills in preschool and examines factors associated with children’s performance on a scaffolded writing task. Preschool-aged children ( N = 245) from a variety of early childhood settings were assessed on a number of early literacy, language, and writing measures in the spring of the school year. Children’s written compositions were coded for features that captured both transcription (spelling and letter formation) and composing skills (translation and task adherence). Findings reveal that children’s composing skills fall into four distinct categories varying in sophistication of writing and connection to task. Although most children were able to orally communicate a response that related to the writing task, few were able to demonstrate communication that related to the task both orally and in writing. Composing group membership was related to prereading and cognitive skills, as well as other writing measures. Findings present an important step forward in understanding children’s composing skills and demonstrate how composing is concurrently related to other early literacy skills.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Word reading fluency and word reading accuracy play a critical role in reading development (Perfetti, 1985; Stanovich, 1986) and are related to multiple language components such as phonological, morphological, and vocabulary skills in... more
Word reading fluency and word reading accuracy play a critical role in reading development (Perfetti, 1985; Stanovich, 1986) and are related to multiple language components such as phonological, morphological, and vocabulary skills in monolingual children. Our knowledge about this relation remains limited in bilingual children, however. This study investigates language predictors of word reading fluency and word reading accuracy in bilingual English-Arabic children. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to examine the relation among phonology, morphology, vocabulary, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency. Results revealed that Arabic language components differentially predicted Arabic word reading accuracy and Arabic word reading fluency. These findings lend support for the extended triangle model of reading (Bishop & Snowling, 2004), which highlights the paramount role of multiple components of language in reading development. Implications for research and pedagog...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Counseling and Psychological... more
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Counseling and Psychological Services Dissertations by an authorized administrator of
Using data from a large study of 78 high-quality Head Start classrooms in 12 sites across the U.S., this study examined whether peers' receptive vocabulary skills and teacher-reported social-emotional (S-E) functioning (i.e., behavior... more
Using data from a large study of 78 high-quality Head Start classrooms in 12 sites across the U.S., this study examined whether peers' receptive vocabulary skills and teacher-reported social-emotional (S-E) functioning (i.e., behavior problems and self-regulation) measured at the beginning of the preschool year were related to children's gains in these three domains over a school year. Analyses included over 75% of the children in each classroom and produced three noteworthy findings. First, children in classrooms where average peers had higher behavior problems demonstrated increased teacher-reported behavior problems themselves at the end of the year. Second, children in classrooms where average peers had higher self-regulation skills demonstrated larger gains in teacher-reported self-regulation skills at the end of the school year. Third, peers' higher baseline self-regulation skills were found to be associated with children's higher self-regulation in spring, especially when children began the school year with higher levels of self-regulation. This finding indicates that children who have higher baseline self-regulation may be better positioned to benefit from their peers' high self-regulation in developing their own self-regulation skills. In contrast, no evidence was found that peers' baseline receptive vocabulary skills were related to children's receptive vocabulary gains over a school year. Additionally, no significant cross-domain peer effects were found between peers' baseline S-E functioning and children's receptive vocabulary gains nor peers' baseline receptive vocabulary skills and children's S-E development over a school year. Implications of these findings for classroom practice and further research are discussed.
Research Interests:
Concerns about preschool effectiveness have increasingly led to early childhood education policy changes focused on teacher quality. While these reforms intend to ensure children’s educational well-being, they rarely consider the impact... more
Concerns about preschool effectiveness have increasingly led to early childhood education policy changes focused on teacher quality. While these reforms intend to ensure children’s educational well-being, they rarely consider the impact policies have on teachers. Additionally, child care work is a feminized profession with distinct social experiences along lines of race and class. Black women who are early child care teachers live in poverty at rates disproportionate to their white counterparts. Through Black feminist focus group research, this paper documents perceptions of early childhood education quality mandates in Georgia and their impact on the well-being of 44 Black women teachers of infants, toddlers, and preschool age children. Findings suggest that the call for quality complicates Black teachers’ work, adds undue financial and emotional stress that takes a toll on their well-being, and interrupts personal dynamics with their loved ones. The paper calls for antiracist and ...
Research Interests:
Abstract This study presents an initial investigation of a professional development intervention model for promoting preschool teachers’ high-leverage writing instruction through a modification of the “Morning Meeting Time” (MMT)... more
Abstract This study presents an initial investigation of a professional development intervention model for promoting preschool teachers’ high-leverage writing instruction through a modification of the “Morning Meeting Time” (MMT) classroom routine. Using a quasi-experimental design, 14 teachers and 112 children were assigned to intervention and comparison conditions. Intervention group teachers received a four-hour workshop and one in-classroom coaching session focused on modifying existing MMT routine activities to implement interactive writing instruction. Results indicate that intervention group teachers achieved high intervention implementation fidelity and significantly improved the quality of their writing instruction ( Cohen’s d ranges from 1.22 to 2.36). Further, despite a relatively brief intervention phrase (three months), intervention group children showed greater gains in name writing, letter writing, and letter naming skills than comparison group children ( Cohen’s d ranges from 1.28 to 1.59). Findings provide initial evidence for the merit of utilizing typically occurring classroom routines, such as Morning Meeting, for embedding explicit teaching and writing opportunities for young children.
Research Interests:
Despite the importance of early writing development to children’s school success, research documents that early childhood teachers spend little time actively supporting children’s writing development in preschool classrooms. This article... more
Despite the importance of early writing development to children’s school success, research documents that early childhood teachers spend little time actively supporting children’s writing development in preschool classrooms. This article provides a framework for integrating writing experiences across the early childhood curriculum. Practical examples are given regarding how writing opportunities can be incorporated into existing activities and play settings. The metaphor of backgrounding and foregrounding writing experiences is used to illustrate ways that teachers can set writing rich environments and activities in a manner that makes it easier for teachers to bring these experiences into everyday learning opportunities. Attention is given to how teachers can bring writing to the foreground of the curriculum by drawing attention to writing materials, making natural connections with children’s interest and play, and scaffolding children’s early writing attempts and experiences.
Research Interests:
This study examined associations among parenting style, home literacy practices, and children's language skills. A total of 181 ethnically diverse parents, primarily African American, and their preschool-aged child participated.... more
This study examined associations among parenting style, home literacy practices, and children's language skills. A total of 181 ethnically diverse parents, primarily African American, and their preschool-aged child participated. Results suggest that an authoritative parenting style was positively associated with informal home literacy (book reading) practices and formal literacy (parental teaching) practices whereas an authoritarian parenting style was negatively associated with informal home literacy practices. Informal home literacy experience was positively and parents' teaching literacy was negatively related to children's oral language scores. In a mediational model, parents who were more likely to have authoritative parenting style provided their children with informal (reading) home literacy experiences, which in turn, was associated with children's oral language skill. Parent education was positively related to home literacy experiences and directly related to children's oral language skill. Findings suggest that researchers should acknowledge multiple aspects of parenting when considering relations among home literacy practices and children's language and literacy development. Highlights Parenting style is associated with parents' engagement in home literacy activities with children. The relation between parenting style and children's oral language skills is mediated by the home literacy environment. Parent education has a strong and direct impact on children's oral language skills.
Research Interests:
The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among children’s emergent literacy (early reading), language, executive function (EF), and invented spelling skills across prekindergarten. Participants included 123, primarily... more
The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among children’s emergent literacy (early reading), language, executive function (EF), and invented spelling skills across prekindergarten. Participants included 123, primarily African American, 4-year-old children enrolled in a variety of prekindergarten settings. In addition to describing the concurrent and longitudinal relations between children’s emergent literacy, EF, and invented spelling skills, this study investigated associations among children’s growth in these targeted skills and explored potential indirect effects from children’s EF to invented writing skill. Multiple regression analyses suggested that although early reading skills were significantly and concurrently associated with invented spelling skills, children’s phonological awareness was the only early reading skill predictive of later invented spelling skills. Children’s EF was not concurrently or longitudinally associated with invented spelling after controlling for early reading skills. However, regression analyses of children’s residual scores suggested that children’s EF skill at the beginning of the semester was predictive of their later invented spelling skills through children’s letter-sound knowledge.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
THE WORLD DEPICTED in children's books is overwhelmingly White. It is also a world that is predominantly upper middle class, heterosexual, nondisabled, English-speaking, and male. In short, it may encompass many different worlds, but... more
THE WORLD DEPICTED in children's books is overwhelmingly White. It is also a world that is predominantly upper middle class, heterosexual, nondisabled, English-speaking, and male. In short, it may encompass many different worlds, but those worlds share familiar limitations: They are generally normative, limited in scope, and exclusionary of those who fall outside "mainstream" cultural identities. This is not to imply that exemplary books that challenge dominant discourses and normative representations do not exist; remarkable work has been done and is available for young readers. However, in 2016, this much we should be able to agree on: We need to do more-a great deal more. After all, for more than 75 years, librarians, scholars, critics, and creators of children's books have documented, described, and problematized the ongoing lack of diversity in children's literature (see, e.g., Crosby, 1963; Larrick, 1965; Rollins, 1967). Although others have attempted to ...
Research Interests:
Learning to write is challenging for young children, as they must integrate their still-developing fine motor skills with an understanding of written language to produce a mark that has meaning. Complicating things more is the fact that... more
Learning to write is challenging for young children, as they must integrate their still-developing fine motor skills with an understanding of written language to produce a mark that has meaning. Complicating things more is the fact that children are often asked to produce a variety of written products with varying task demands (e.g., writing single letters vs. combining these letters to form entire words or sentences). Although theoretical models of writing highlight the importance of both self-regulation and fine motor skills for writing, our current understanding of how these two constructs interact to support writing remains incomplete. Thus, the current study examined the extent to which self-regulation moderates the relation between fine motor skills and early writing development – and whether this relation differs by writing task difficulty. To address this, two diverse cross-sectional samples of 3-5-year-old children from Head Start programs were assessed on fine motor skills...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Most accountability systems fail to highlight the learning that takes place continuously throughout the year. Therefore, many educators call for evaluations to include formative classroom assessments that involve students in critical... more
Most accountability systems fail to highlight the learning that takes place continuously throughout the year. Therefore, many educators call for evaluations to include formative classroom assessments that involve students in critical thinking and problem-solving tasks. However, student self-assessment is one type of formative assessment that is frequently overlooked. When modeled by the teacher in thoughtful ways, self-assessment returns voice and ownership to students. In turn, the teacher is able to better support the changing needs of each student. Students become able to engage in self-assessment as their metacognitive abilities--their awareness of their thought processes, strategies, and skills--develop. Children begin to develop metacognitive awareness at an early age as parents, caregivers, and early childhood teachers provide them with feedback regarding their behavior, intelligence, and abilities. This feedback begins to shape a child's sense of self--both as an individ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract Despite a wide recognition about the importance of young children’s language and literacy environments to later achievement, little is known about teachers’ supportive approaches to early writing in preschool classroom contexts... more
Abstract Despite a wide recognition about the importance of young children’s language and literacy environments to later achievement, little is known about teachers’ supportive approaches to early writing in preschool classroom contexts and the ways in which these supportive approaches relate to children’s writing development. This study examined how teachers support writing in their classrooms and how these supports related to children’s expressions of early writing skill. Forty-one preschool and Pre-K teachers in three US states and their students (N = 488) participated. Teachers were observed in their classrooms and instances of writing support were recorded and qualitatively coded and analyzed. Findings indicated that teachers supported children’s use of writing, however, the scope and focus of the supportive strategies used were limited. Examinations of teachers’ supportive writing practices revealed that teachers were much more likely to focus on children’s handwriting and spelling skills, with less attention to composing. Analyses examining associations between teachers’ pedagogical practice and children’s writing skills indicated that children from classrooms with teachers who supported composing exhibited stronger writing skills. Results are discussed in relation to early childhood curricular and teaching practices as well as to broader policy issues.
Research Interests:
This study examined associations among parenting style, parents’ literacy beliefs, home literacy practices, and children’s emergent writing skills. A total of 190 African American parents with varied educational experiences and their... more
This study examined associations among parenting style, parents’ literacy beliefs, home literacy practices, and children’s emergent writing skills. A total of 190 African American parents with varied educational experiences and their preschool-aged child participated. Parents completed a survey designed to examine their parenting practices and beliefs, while children were assessed directly on name writing and invented spelling skills. Findings suggest that African American parents’ educational backgrounds and parenting styles provide an important context for understanding the nature of their literacy beliefs and formal and informal home literacy practices. Authoritative parenting styles were positively related to both formal (parental teaching of writing and reading skills) and informal (sharing books with children) home literacy experiences. Authoritarian parenting was associated with parental teaching of writing and reading skills in the home. Parent report of teaching of writing ...
Research Interests:
Concerns about preschool effectiveness have increasingly led to early childhood education policy changes focused on teacher quality. While these reforms intend to ensure children's educational well-being, they rarely consider the... more
Concerns about preschool effectiveness have increasingly led to early childhood education policy changes focused on teacher quality. While these reforms intend to ensure children's educational well-being, they rarely consider the impact policies have on teachers. Additionally, child care work is a feminized profession with distinct social experiences along lines of race and class. Black women who are early child care teachers live in poverty at rates disproportionate to their white counterparts. Through Black feminist focus group research, this paper documents perceptions of early childhood education quality mandates in Georgia and their impact on the well-being of 44 Black women teachers of infants, toddlers, and
Research Interests:
Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine narrative language samples of Spanish-speaking preschoolers to analyze changes in microstructural and macrostructural skills in their first language (L1) from fall to spring, relationships... more
Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine narrative language samples of Spanish-speaking preschoolers to analyze changes in microstructural and macrostructural skills in their first language (L1) from fall to spring, relationships between narrative and vocabulary skills in L1, and the extent to which fall skills predict spring performance. Method Participants included 40 Spanish-speaking children who were enrolled in community-based preschool programs. Narrative language retells from the fall and spring were examined, and microstructural and macrostructural components were analyzed using the Narrative Assessment Protocol–Spanish and the Narrative Scoring Scheme, respectively. Participants also completed an assessment of expressive vocabulary in Spanish. Results The results indicated different degrees of change in microstructural and macrostructural elements, change from fall to spring in some but not all elements measured, shifting patterns of association between L1 vocabular...