Research Findings: Shared-picture book reading can stimulate children's mathematical development. Evidence of learning-supportive characteristics in picture books is limited in this domain. A first step is systematically analyzing the occurrence of domain-specific features in publicly available picture books. We analyzed the occurrence of general…

Research Findings: This study examined the relation between early childhood education (ECE) participation and early child development in Myanmar. It considered whether this relation varied by ethnic group, language(s) spoken at home, and language(s) of ECE instruction. Participants were 1,494 children (759 girls) from Myanmar, aged between 36 and…

Research Findings: Emotion talk (ET) is an emotion socialization practice theorized to promote children's socioemotional competence. The present study examined parent and child ET in two subgroups of Chinese-heritage families in low-income communities: Chinese immigrant families in U.S. (CA) and Taiwanese families in Taiwan (TW). In a sample of 75…

Research findings: This study examined the dual language development and experience of the understudied Chinese dual language learners (DLLs). Twice in the preschool/pre-k year (about 4 months apart), we assessed 39 Chinese 3- and 4-year-old DLLs' receptive vocabularies in English and Chinese, interviewed 37 parents about the language use and…

Research Findings: This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the relationship between the home environment and the development of English as a second/foreign language for young Asian children. A systematic search of relevant databases generated 22 eligible studies published between 2001 and 2020 (N[subscript…

Research Findings: This study examines the frequency of reasoning talk used by 56 educators during their naturally occurring play interactions with infants in their early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers. Using Hasan's semantic framework, reasons were coded as social (based on social rules) or logical (based on rules of nature). The…

Research findings: No research to date has compared mental state language (MSL) in conversations between children and different adult talk partners, such as mothers and educators. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of MSL (verbalization of mental states such as remembering, knowing and thinking) by children, educators, and mothers…

Across the world, people form folkbiological categories to capture their commonsense organization of the natural world. Structured in accordance with universal principles, folkbiological categories are also shaped by experience. Here we provide new evidence from the Wichi--an understudied indigenous community who live in the Chaco rainforest and…

Research Findings: This study examines the association between preschool classroom activity and the quality of the language spoken by teachers and children. Eighteen classrooms serving low-income children between the ages of 3 and 4 in Santiago de Chile were audio-recorded during one morning shift. Recordings were transcribed and segmented into…

Research Findings: Pretend play is an important context that supports young children's developing social-cognitive and creative abilities. The play behaviors of 70 sibling dyads in early and middle childhood were examined for the following indices of creativity in play: (a) play themes (set-up/organization, expected, creative), (b) object use…

This study investigates social and ethnic differences in the use of early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers with different learning environments in an ECEC system with universal state-subsidized provision and low fees. Based on the German National Educational Panel Study-Kindergarten Cohort from 2011, we matched data on 587 groups in 253…

The study focuses on the mental state language kindergarten teachers use when narrating picture stories. The aims were to examine (a) individual differences in the frequency with which kindergarten teachers use mental state terms, (b) the types of mental state terms (e.g., emotion, desire, belief terms) teachers use most frequently, and (c) the…

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impact of a self-monitoring intervention on preschool teachers' use of language and on children's language growth. Nineteen classrooms from Santiago de Chile participated (10 intervention, 9 control). Twice a week, intervention teachers filled out a checklist to monitor the language stimulation they…

Research Findings: Sibling pretend play, collaboration, and creativity during maternal presence and absence were investigated in 24 dyads in early and middle childhood (younger siblings' M age = 5.3 years; older siblings' M age = 8.2 years). Associations between sibling behavior and maternal interaction (e.g., guidance, positive responses) were…

Research Findings: This paper considers the position of tamariki Maori, the indigenous children of Aotearoa (a Maori name for New Zealand), in relation to the impact of colonization on their rights, including a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the current educational policy arena. It then provides an…