Oral language proficiency in kindergarten can facilitate the acquisition of reading and writing. However, in diglossic languages, like Arabic, the large gap between the spoken and the formal, modern standard (MSA) varieties of the language may restrict the benefits of oral language proficiency to subsequent literacy skills. Here, we tested, in a…

Against the backdrop of the worldwide spread of COVID-19, this study aims to validate a model for coping with psychological distress and examine the effect of music listening, as a coping strategy, in moderating and lessening the effects of stressors on psychological distress. Based on 198 returned questionnaires from preservice kindergarten…

This article draws from a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative research project that aimed to explore how three early childhood centres support children to experience and learn about their local area, including its stories, geology, biodiversity, and cultural meanings. The project helps children envision socioecological futures. This article…

Grade retention, the practice of holding a student back in the same grade, has been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. English learners, a growing population in US schools, are consistently identified for grade retention more often than their English-only counterparts. The purpose of this study is to test the impact of grade…

Shared-book reading is a well-established intervention to foster vocabulary development. Factors influencing its effectiveness are, however, less well studied, particularly with regard to story-delivery. We contrasted a read-aloud with a free storytelling approach and tested effects on vocabulary learning. In the first study, 83 preschoolers aged…

Based on an experiment with 5452 kindergarten school children from 15 cities, this article examines the effect of a customised spiritual education programme (SEP) on their quality of life. Results showed that treatment group kindergarteners who participated in the SEP had higher scores on the Pictured Child Quality of Life Self-Questionnaire in…

This article evidences the existing inter-relations between the rights perspective, the listening approach and participatory research with children, emphasising its contributions to the ECEC research field. Specifically, the contributions of visual participatory research in the field of early years transitions are discussed to illustrate the…

In this research article, Haeny Yoon and Tran Nguyen Templeton explore the challenges of listening to children in both classrooms and research that purports to center young children. Through two stories from their respective studies, Yoon and Templeton highlight the complexities of following children's leads given the competing agendas situating…

In kindergarten classrooms (5 to 6 year olds) in the United States, interactive reading aloud has long been considered an important part of a comprehensive emergent literacy program. However, while individual components of interactive reading aloud (for example, teacher activity, student activity and text) have been studied, researchers have…

Children with higher working memory or updating (WMU) capacity perform better in math. What is less clear is whether and how this relation varies with grade. Children (N = 673, kindergarten to Grade 9) participated in a 4-year cross-sequential study. Data from 3 WMU (Listening Recall, Mr. X, and an updating task) and a standardized math task…

The teaching approach described in this article was originally designed for kindergarten students who are at risk for reading disorders. In a 30-minute session, students practiced attending to and identifying the spelling patterns, pronunciations, and meanings of common morphological suffixes through listening activities, interactive book reading,…

Close listening and observation of children as an alternative assessment is a powerful approach that can help balance an emphasis on standardized measurement. The tool of Reggio-inspired documentation is described for families with suggestions on how to advocate and support teachers who want to tell a story about children's learning that…

The "School Leader's Literacy Walkthrough" is designed to assist school leaders in observing specific research-based practices during literacy instruction (or students' independent use or application of those practices). This tool is based on rigorous research that indicates the most effective way to teach reading (see Foorman &…

The research questions of the article are: What takes place in the professional cooperative work of including children with special needs in kindergartens and in counteracting exclusive process? How are views on children and ethics expressed through practice and in reflections on practice among the staff in kindergarten? What constitutes…

The emotional side of the mind, which expresses itself through emotions, sentiments and moods, plays an important role in human existence because it conditions our own way of being in the world. On this premise, a qualitative research with children was undertaken in order to facilitate the expression of the emotions. The participants were children…