Dialogic classroom talk in early childhood education: The effect on language skills and social competence

Femke van der Wilt, Renske Bouwer, Chiel van der Veen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The first purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of dialogic classroom talk on children's language skills (i.e. oral communicative competence and receptive vocabulary knowledge). The second purpose was to examine the effect of this type of classroom talk on children's social competence (i.e. theory of mind and social acceptance). A total of 17 teachers and 311 children (aged 4–7 years) participated in this study. Eight teachers participated in an 8-week intervention directed at dialogic classroom talk. Multilevel analyses revealed that the intervention had a significant effect on children's oral communicative competence. No significant effects were found on children's receptive vocabulary knowledge, theory of mind, and social acceptance. The results of this study indicate that dialogic classroom talk is beneficial for children's oral communicative competence. Further research is required in order to investigate how dialogic classroom talk might affect receptive vocabulary knowledge and social competence as well.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101522
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalLearning and Instruction
Volume77
Early online dateFeb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

Keywords

  • Dialogic classroom talk
  • Early childhood education
  • Language skills
  • Oral communicative competence
  • Social competence

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dialogic classroom talk in early childhood education: The effect on language skills and social competence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this