Scaffolding Emergent Academic Language with ELL Children: Multi-Touch Tables in Preschool

Exposure to academic language in preschool classrooms has the potential to provide English language learners valuable practice in academic language registers, a precursor to later success in literacy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of a multi-touch table app as a setting for a teacher delivered conversational prompts for preschool students. In this study, forty-two preschool students participated in an experiment in which ELL oral language production was measured while at they were playing with a multi-touch table. The research design was a multiple baseline single-case design (SCD) with pre-post assessments. Proximal measures of change in the quality and quantity of case-study student language were measured through a qualitative analysis of transcribed video sessions and continuous vocabulary assessments. Distal measures of language change were measured pre- and post-intervention with The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-3 Preschool, and the Preschool Emergent Literacy Indicators test (PELI)./nVisual analysis of the SCD graph and proximal vocabulary measures provides reasonable evidence that the intervention likely accounted for the positive changes in the quality and quantity of student utterances. These changes in student language behavior did not transfer to the distal measures of general language skills./nThe data corroborate previous research describing the generally non-verbal nature of student interaction with screen-based tools, like the touch-table, in a business as usual condition. Productive talk is apparent mainly when a skilled adult was present and active in encouraging student interaction. Data show that in the treatment phase, ELL student academic language production mirrored the baseline phase data of their high-language peers. In addition, ELL tier 3 vocabulary acquisition was strong into the maintenance phase of the study. Implications are that multi-touch tables have the potential to become a valuable setting for activities designed to scaffold emergent academic registers for ELL students./nExposure to academic language in preschool classrooms has the potential to provide English language learners valuable practice in academic language registers, a precursor to later success in literacy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of a multi-touch table app as a setting for a teacher delivered conversational prompts for preschool students. In this study, forty-two preschool students participated in an experiment in which ELL oral language production was measured while at they were playing with a multi-touch table. The research design was a multiple baseline single-case design (SCD) with pre-post assessments. Proximal measures of change in the quality and quantity of case-study student language were measured through a qualitative analysis of transcribed video sessions and continuous vocabulary assessments. Distal measures of language change were measured pre- and post-intervention with The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-3 Preschool, and the Preschool Emergent Literacy Indicators test (PELI)./nVisual analysis of the SCD graph and proximal vocabulary measures provides reasonable evidence that the intervention likely accounted for the positive changes in the quality and quantity of student utterances. These changes in student language behavior did not transfer to the distal measures of general language skills./nThe data corroborate previous research describing the generally non-verbal nature of student interaction with screen-based tools, like the touch-table, in a business as usual condition. Productive talk is apparent mainly when a skilled adult was present and active in encouraging student interaction. Data show that in the treatment phase, ELL student academic language production mirrored the baseline phase data of their high-language peers. In addition, ELL tier 3 vocabulary acquisition was strong into the maintenance phase of the study. Implications are that multi-touch tables have the potential to become a valuable setting for activities designed to scaffold emergent academic registers for ELL students.

Advisor: Pearson, P. David