| Popis: |
The present study aimed to examine the quality of the classroom literacy environment in early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms, as well as the relations between the classroom literacy environment and children’s gains in print knowledge. To address these aims, the present study described the classroom literacy environments of 28 ECSE teachers and the print knowledge of 108 children within these classrooms. In particular, the present study observed the ECSE classrooms as well as examined videotaped observations and shared book-reading sessions. These observations and shared book reading sessions were used to describe the classroom literacy environment. Descriptive analyses presented the quality of the physical literacy environment, instructional support, and shared book reading; whereas hierarchical linear modeling was utilized to investigate the associations between the measures of quality and children’s gains in print knowledge. Results indicated that in regard to the classroom literacy environment, teachers were (a) highly variable in regard to the quality of the physical literacy environment, (b) utilized a low amount of instructional support, and (c) highly variable in their use of questions and comments about print and phonological skills during shared book reading. For the final analyses, psychometric analyses were completed for the measure of the physical literacy environment (i.e., Classroom Literacy Observation Profile [CLOP]). First, a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measure included several different constructs. The construct of most interest to the current study, print environment, was extracted and used in the final analyses. Results for the reliability and validity of the CLOP print environment subscale indicated moderate reliability and validity. Correlational analyses were examined to investigate the relation between teachers’ perceptions and beliefs and the measures of quality. Results indicated that there were no significant relations between teachers’ perceptions and beliefs and the measures of quality. Finally, HLM models revealed that there was a positive significant relation between the quality of shared book reading and children’s gains in print concept knowledge. Additionally, there was a negative trend between the physical literacy environment and children’s gains in alphabet knowledge. This association did not remain significant after the Bonferroni correction was applied. Overall, the results of this study suggest that teachers would benefit from educational experiences focusing on how to increase the quality of the classroom literacy environment. Moreover, teachers would benefit from professional development focusing on how to increase instructional support to help facilitate the use of literacy materials. Further, results suggest that teachers’ use of questions and comments about print and phonological skills, or print referencing, during shared book reading may be beneficial for children’s emergent literacy skills. |
