Barbara A. Wasik

Story Talk is an evidence‐based language intervention that has produced significant increases in children's vocabulary (Wasik & Hindman, 2020). This paper begins with a discussion of the importance of language development in learning to read, which is the basis for Story Talk. Next, a description of Story Talk components and the strategies that teachers are trained to implement in this program are presented. Five language strategies, with particular emphasis on developing vocabulary, are discussed in detail. Finally, a description of how Story Talk can look in classrooms is provided so that teachers can visualize how these strategies might work in their own settings during book reading and throughout the day.

Teaching science can provide opportunities for young children to explore and learn about the world around them and, equally important, to support children's language development. Yet, recent research suggests that children's access to science education is limited, especially in early and elementary education. Since language is critical to children's success in learning to read, teachers need access to a variety of venues to develop these foundational literacy skills. This paper provides evidence of the importance of teaching science in an effort to teach science ideas and develop children's language. In addition, this paper describes a range of approaches teachers can use to facilitate inquiry‐based science education and oral language development simultaneously. When educators engage children in high‐quality science experiences, they present children with the opportunity to develop both science ideas and language.

With the advance of technology, additional opportunities for professional development are available through nontraditional means. In this review, we examine the effectiveness of technology-mediated language and literacy professional development (Tech PD) programs for teachers and students in early childhood settings. We review Tech PD interventions that have been evaluated using random or quasi-random assignment, peer-reviewed studies. Two questions about this corpus of research were examined: 1) how technology is being used in the programs and 2) whether Tech PD is effective for supporting teachers’ enhanced language and literacy instruction and children’s learning. Examining the past 16 years of published works (2001–2017), 11 studies were identified. We identify five different types of Tech PD: remote coaching over live video, remote coaching via recorded video or e-mail, online courses, group courses over satellite or video, and online curricula, with results suggesting that impacts on teachers’ language and literacy practices and student learning can be comparable to in-person equivalents.

Research Findings: This study examined how teacher–child conversations unfold during shared book reading in Head Start classrooms as well as the relations between that talk and children’s vocabulary learning. Book reading experiences in 27 Head Start classrooms were videotaped and coded for teacher talk, child responses, teacher follow-up remarks, and teacher wait time; we also assessed children’s vocabulary learning. Findings indicated that Head Start teachers infrequently asked open prompts or provided book-related comments; the predominant tool used in shared reading was the closed prompt. Teachers generally accepted 1 answer per question, and children’s answers were nearly always correct. Wait time was rarely observed. Across the sample, more child talk was predictive of stronger child vocabulary learning. For children with low initial vocabulary skills, learning was also linked to more expository comments by teachers. Practice or Policy: Findings help to map out the sequence of instructional events that make up preschool classroom conversations and provide insight into potential levers for improvement.

Developing young students’ language and vocabulary is critical in laying the foundation for learning to read. Asking open‐ended questions, which require more than a one‐word response, is an effective strategy that teachers can use to elicit students’ comments and engage students in extended conversations. However, to facilitate students’ responses, teachers need to not only ask questions but also, equally importantly, provide wait time for students to respond. Students need to think about the question, think about their answer, and think about and select the words that they would like to use to communicate their answer. Typically, this takes longer than the second or less that students are given to respond to a question. Although limited, research on wait time has suggested that students provide more high‐quality responses when they are given wait time. Suggestions for implementing wait time in early childhood classrooms are discussed.

Circle time is a near universally used preschool activity; however, little research has explored its nature, content, and quality. This study examined activity types, teacher and child talk, child engagement, and classroom quality in a sample of public preschool classrooms in an urban, high-poverty school district. Results demonstrated that teacher talk was twice as prevalent as child talk, and there was a lack of back-and-forth exchanges and open-ended questions. Quality of instruction was low on all dimensions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, and child engagement dropped to low levels in about 40% of classrooms. Finally, classroom quality predicted child-to-teacher talk ratio and child engagement. Evidence calls into question the richness and quality of circle time and suggests that even modest improvements in quality and an increased focus on child participation could ensure that educators are not squandering valuable learning time and depleting children’s behavioral self-regulation during the first activity of the day.

New technologies offer exciting opportunities for improving home-school communication, family engagement, and children’s learning in early childhood. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study focused on understanding how texting might enhance family-school engagement in early childhood settings. Using focus groups and surveys of teachers (n = 20) and family members (n = 30) in an urban early childhood programme in the eastern United States, we examined the nature of current communication (including texting) between school and home, openness among teachers and families to the idea of sending or receiving home-school communication via text, and beliefs among teachers and families about how texting can support various aspects of family-school engagement. Results suggest that many teachers and families are enthusiastic about using texting and view texting as a tool to further family-school engagement and communication and to enhance child outcomes.