Educators’ Perspectives on Instructional Conversations in Preschool Settings

• Published in: Early childhood education journal 2012-10, Vol.40 (5), p.305-314
• Main Authors: Goh, Siang Sin, Yamauchi, Lois A., Ratliffe, Katherine T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child development; Classroom Communication; Cognitive Development; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Research; Educational Strategies; Focus Groups; Group Discussion; Interviews; Language Acquisition; Learning and Instruction; Literacy; Nonverbal Communication; Preschool Children; Preschool Education; Preschool teachers; Prior Learning; Sociology; Sociology of Education; Speech Communication; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Student Relationship; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Verbal Communication; Video Technology; Young Children
• ISSN: 1082-3301; 1573-1707
• DOI: 10.1007/s10643-012-0518-9

Although conversations have been identified as an important means to promote young learners’ language development, preschool children often have limited opportunities to be involved in complex conversations. This study examined preschool adaptations of Instructional Conversation, a small group discussion between teachers and children in which prior knowledge is integrated with new information to build higher understandings. As Instructional Conversation was originally developed for use with older children, this study investigated preschool educators’ perceptions of the strategy and about how it could be applied to young learners. Participants included 14 educators at a university-based preschool who worked with children ages 2 to 5 years-old. Data sources included participant observations and focus-group interviews. For the latter, educators were interviewed after watching video recordings of teachers at their school conversing with children. Results indicated that the teachers understood the strategy and suggested specific criteria for adapting its use with young children. They suggested that Instructional Conversation for preschoolers needs to include both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication. The educators also believed that the goals of the conversations should include social, personal, and cognitive development, and that teachers can use the strategy to build relationships with children. An existing rubric to measure the use of Instructional Conversation with school-aged children was modified to meet these developmental expectations.