Infant educators' beliefs about infant language development in long day care settings

Sheila Degotardi*, Amy Gill

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This study examined infant educators’ beliefs about infant language development in the context of early childhood classrooms. Participants were 59 educators who were employed to work directly with under-two-year-old children. Educators were interviewed to determine their understandings of infant language development and Grounded Theory qualitative techniques were used to develop a conceptual model which illustrates their perceptions of the relationships between contextual, personal and teaching and learning components of their classroom contexts. The model provides a means of conceptualising ‘insider’ practitioner voices on how, as a dynamic system, contextual, individual and pedagogical components mutually interact to bring about the kinds of experiences and interactions that can shape language development. Findings have implications for understanding educators’ perspectives on infant room quality, suggesting that issues related to educator-infant ratios, staff consistency, qualifications and professional knowledge about language development processes may impact efforts to provide intentional language development support.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)97-113
    Number of pages17
    JournalEarly Years
    Volume39
    Issue number1
    Early online date14 Jul 2017
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Keywords

    • infants
    • language development
    • educators' beliefs
    • infant development
    • quality

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