Relations Between Teacher Talk Characteristics and Child Language in Spoken Language, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing Classrooms

Purpose

The aim of this study was to examine relations between teachers' conversational techniques and language gains made by their deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Specifically, we considered teachers' reformulations of child utterances, language elicitations, explicit vocabulary and syntax instruction, and wait time.

Method

This was an observational, longitudinal study that examined the characteristics of teacher talk in 25 kindergarten through second-grade classrooms of 68 deaf and hard-of-hearing children who used spoken English. Standardized assessments provided measures of child vocabulary and morphosyntax in the fall and spring of a school year. Characteristics of teacher talk were coded from classroom video recordings during the winter of that year.

Results

Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that reformulating child statements and explicitly teaching vocabulary were significant predictors of child vocabulary gains across a school year. Explicitly teaching vocabulary also significantly predicted gains in morphosyntax abilities. There were wide individual differences in the teachers' use of these conversational techniques.

Conclusion

Reformulation and explicit vocabulary instruction may be areas where training can help teachers improve, and improvements in the teachers' talk may benefit their students.

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