The present study explored gender differences in emerging language skills in 13,783 European children from 10 non‐English language communities. It was based on a synthesis of published data assessed ...with adapted versions of the MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) from age 0.08 to 2.06. The results showed that girls are slightly ahead of boys in early communicative gestures, in productive vocabulary, and in combining words. The difference increased with age. Boys were not found to be more variable than girls. Despite extensive variation in language skills between language communities, the difference between girls and boys remained. This suggests that the difference is caused by robust factors that do not change between language communities.
Until their conceptual, systemic and substantive reform in the 1990s, preschool institutions in Slovenia were recognised predominantly as care institutions, on the one hand, and as “preparatory ...institutions” for school or pre-primary school, on the other. This paper presents an analysis of preschool education in Slovenia based on theoretical starting points, international comparative analyses of quality indicators for preschool education and curricular documents, as well as the results of Slovenian and foreign empirical research on early child development and learning. The analysis was conducted from the viewpoint of conceptual, systemic and curricular solutions. In particular, we emphasise the need to update the Curriculum for Preschool and resolve any professional dilemmas related to the efficiency and equity of preschool. In conclusion, we specifically highlight certain possibilities for improvements in Slovenian preschool education. (DIPF/Orig.)
Daylong recordings provide an ecologically valid option for analyzing language input, and have become a central method for studying child language development. However, the vast majority of this work ...has been conducted in North America. We harnessed a unique collection of daylong recordings from Slovenian infants (age: 16–30 months, N = 40, 18 girls), and focus our attention on manually annotated measures of parentese (infant‐directed speech with a higher pitch, slower tempo, and exaggerated intonation), conversational turns, infant words, and word combinations. Measures from daylong recordings showed large variation, but were comparable to previous studies with North American samples. Infants heard almost twice as much speech and parentese from mothers compared to fathers, but there were no differences in language input to boys and girls. Positive associations were found between the social‐interactional features of language input (parentese, turn‐taking) and infants' concurrent language production. Measures of child speech from daylong recordings were positively correlated with measures obtained through the Slovenian MacArthur‐Bates Communicative Development Inventory. These results support the notion that the social‐interactional features of parental language input are the foundation of infants' language skills, even in an environment where infants spend much of their waking hours in childcare settings, as they do in Slovenia.
In our study, we aimed to analyse the effect of child gender on parental and child interactive play behaviour, as well as to determine relations between parental general knowledge of child ...development and parental play behaviour in two developmental periods, namely toddlerhood and early childhood. The sample included 99 children (50 toddlers 1–3 years-old; 49 preschoolers 3–5 years-old) and their parents. Parent–child interactive play with a standard set of toys was observed and assessed in the home setting. We found that parental and child play behaviours were closely related in both age groups. In addition, child’s gender affected child, but not parental, play behaviour such that girls more frequently established the content of play, sustained play frame, and used more symbolic transformations during play than boys did. Parents’ general knowledge of child development was associated with both parental education and parental play behaviour. The findings are applicable to different professionals working with children and their parents in the preschool period.
In the present study, we analysed the relations among the quality of mother-child shared reading, child's storytelling and family literacy environment. The sample included 20 mother-child dyads, with ...5-year-old children, who were recorded during shared reading. The quality of shared reading was assessed with the Scale for Observing Shared Reading while children's storytelling was assessed with the textless book Frog Goes to Dinner. We found that the quality of mother-child shared reading was related to the coherence of children's stories and to the factors of home literacy environment. Child's age when parents started reading to him, the number of all books and children's books in child's home together explained 43.1% of the variance in the quality of shared reading. The findings give an insight into the process of the quality of the interactive reading between a child and an adult and emphasize the importance of shared reading for child's storytelling.
Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts ...to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and 2009. The authors point to the danger of such omissions for possible evidence-based education policymaking. With regard to the reproduction of social inequalities through education, we focus on variance in student performance between schools and within schools on the science scale (PISA 2006) and in the mother tongue (PISA 2009). The thesis of the PISA study is that there are countries (Finland, Iceland and Norway) where between only 14 and 29% of the average OECD variance (33%) is attributed to between-school variance - which is good - and there are countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Slovenia, the Netherlands, etc.), where the variance between schools is at least 'one-and-a-half times that of the OECD' - which is bad. For Slovenia, we demonstrate a significantly different share of variance explained by between-school variance of the same or similar cohort if we move the point of research by only nine months. Our main argument is that such a difference in the share of variance is not the result of a substantial change in the results (grooving difference in the performance) but the result of formal organisational change - the transition of the cohort to upper secondary education. The difference in calculations also radically changes policy implications, which is crucial. While PISA data suggest the necessity of policy measures to reduce between-school variance, our calculations suggest the need for reconsideration of policy measures aimed at the reduction of within-school variance, gender differences, and differences in performance between native and immigrant students.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of preschool on children's school readiness in connection with their intellectual abilities, language competence and parents' education. The sample ...included 219 children from 68 to 83 months old attending the first year of primary school, differentiated by whether or not they had attended preschool before starting school. Children's intellectual ability was determined using Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, language competence using the Lestvice splošnega govornega razvoja-LJ (Scales of General Language Development) and school readiness with the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo (Test of School Readiness). The results indicate that children's intellectual ability and language competence have high predictive value for the school readiness because they explain 51% of the variance in children's scores on the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo. Preschool enrollment has a positive effect on school readiness for children whose parents have a low level of education, but not for those whose parents are highly educated. The results obtained indicate that enrollment in preschool is able to compensate for deficiencies in children's development if the parents have a lower level of education. Preschool is not an important factor in school readiness for children whose parents are highly educated. These parents probably already offer their children quality stimulation in the family environment that preschool activities do not surpass.
The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and tablet computers use in the first grade of primary school from the ...perspectives of three groups of evaluators, namely the teachers, the pupils and an independent observer. The sample included three first grade classes with children aged from six to seven years. The educational software used by teachers included the electronic form of textbooks and workbooks for different subjects. These data were collected during the period of six months through the teachers' and an independent observer's observations and the semi-structured interviews with pupils. Based on the content analysis of the teachers' and pupils' answers, several positive and negative aspects of the IWB (positive aspects included a dynamic display of the content, pupils' attention and motivation; negative aspects included technical difficulties, a frontal way of teaching) and tablet computers (positive aspects included pupils' motivation and persistence, the immediate feedback; negative aspects included technical problems, teacher's lesser control over pupils' work) were identified.
Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ...ability. The effect of gender on toddler's, children's and adolescents' language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian studies (nine cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study). The ten studies were published between 2004 and 2016 and included a total of 3,657 toddlers, children and adolescents, aged from 8 months to 15 years. The language outcome measures refer to different aspects of language ability, including vocabulary, mean length of utterance, sentence complexity, language expression and comprehension, storytelling ability and metalinguistic awareness. Across the studies, language ability was assessed using different approaches and instruments, most of which were standardised on samples of Slovenianspeaking children. Based on the reported arithmetic means and standard deviations, the effect sizes of gender for each of the included studies were calculated, as well as the average effect size of gender across the different studies. The findings of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size of gender on toddlers'/children's/adolescents' language largely depended on their age and the aspect of language measured. The effect sizes increased with children's increasing age. All significant effects proved to be in favour of girls. The findings were interpreted in relation to the characteristics of language development and social cultural factors that can contribute to gender differences in language ability. (DIPF/Orig.).
Several studies have demonstrated that children's gender and parental education exert a significant, but not equal, effect on toddler language development at different ages. This study determined the ...effect of children's gender and parental education on the verbal competence of toddlers between 16 and 30 months. The sample included 953 Slovenian toddlers (approximately half boys and half girls) whose parents differed in the level of formal education completed. Their language competence was evaluated using the Inventory of Communicative Competence for Toddlers Aged 16 to 30 Months: Words and Sentences (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al.
2004
). The parents provided an evaluation of the toddlers' use of language. The findings demonstrate that gender has a significant effect on toddlers' language competence, regardless of their age. Parents assessed girls as more verbally competent than boys in all of the language use areas evaluated, regardless of their age. Parental education had a significant effect on certain areas of toddlers' language competence, regardless of their gender. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that at the age of 16 to 30 months important developmental changes occur in the areas of toddler language competence that were evaluated.
RÉSUMÉ: Des études ont démontré que le sexe de l'enfant et le niveau de formation des parents jouent un rôle significatif dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge, mais que leur importance varie en fonction des différentes tranches d'âge. La présente étude se propose d'étudier l'influence exercée par le sexe de l'enfant et par le niveau de formation des parents sur la compétence langagière des enfants âgés de seize à trente mois. Nous avons inclus dans notre étude 953 enfants slovènes en bas âge (avec environ une part égale de filles et de garçons), dont les parents avaient des niveaux de formation différents. La compétence langagière des enfants a été évaluée à l'aide de l'Inventaire du développement des compétences communicatives pour enfants en bas âge, âgés de 16 à 30 mois: mots et phrases (Liste razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti za malčke, stare od 16 do 30 mesecev: besede in stavki), (Marjanovič Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja et Bajc,
2004
). Ce sont les parents qui ont évalué la compétence langagière de leurs enfants. Il en résulte que le sexe de l'enfant joue un rôle important quant à la compétence langagière de l'enfant en bas âge, quel que soit son âge. Les parents ont évalué les filles comme étant plus compétentes à l'oral que les garçons, à tous les niveaux d'évaluation de l'usage de l'oral, quelle que soit la tranche d'âge observée. Le niveau de formation des parents joue un rôle important sur certains segments de la compétence langagière des enfants en bas âge. Les résultats obtenus nous permettent de conclure que la période de seize à trente mois apporte des changements significatifs dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Aus mehreren Studien geht hervor, dass das Geschlecht des Kindes und die Ausbildung seiner Eltern einen bedeutenden, jedoch nicht gleich großen Einfluss auf die Sprachentwicklung des Kindes in verschiedenen Altersphasen haben. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden der Einfluss des Geschlechts des Kindes und die Ausbildung der Eltern auf die Sprachkompetenz von Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten hin untersucht. Insgesamt 953 slowenische Kleinkinder (etwa zur Hälfte Mädchen und Jungen) wurden als Testpersonen in die Studie aufgenommen, deren Eltern sich im erreichten Ausbildungsabschluss unterschieden. Die Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder wurde mit Hilfe des Verzeichnisses der Kommunikationsfähigkeiten für Kleinkinder im Alter von 16 bis 30 Monaten: Wörter und Sätze (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al.
2004
) bewertet. Der Gebrauch der Sprache des Kindes wurde von seinen Eltern beurteilt. Die Resultate ergaben, dass das Geschlecht der Kinder, ungeachtet ihres Alters, einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf ihre Sprachkompetenz hat. Mädchen wurden unabhängig von ihrem Alter von ihren Eltern auf allen Bewertungsebenen als kompetenter in der Sprache im Vergleich zu Jungen bewertet. Die Ausbildungsstufe der Eltern hatte wesentlichen Einfluss in einigen Bereichen der Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder, ungeachtet deren Geschlechts. Den Resultaten zufolge kann festgestellt werden, dass in den bewerteten Bereichen bei Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten wichtige Veränderungen auf dem Gebiet der Sprachkompetenzentwicklung eintreten.
RESUMEN: Los resultados de diversas investigaciones demuestran que el sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres tienen un efecto importante, pero no en el mismo grado en diferentes edades, sobre el desarrollo del habla infantil. La presente investigación establece el efecto del sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres sobre la competencia verbal de niños pequeños entre 16 y 30 meses. La muestra abarcó 953 niños pequeños eslovenos (aproximadamente la mitad eran niños y la otra mitad niñas) cuyos padres tenían diferentes niveles de educación formal. Para evaluar la competencia verbal de los niños se empleó el Inventario de competencia comunicativa para niños pequeños de 16 a 30 meses de edad: palabras y frases (Marjanović Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja y Bajc,
2004
). Los padres evaluaron el uso de la lengua de los pequeños. Los resultados comprueban que el sexo tiene un efecto significativo sobre la competencia verbal de los niños independientemente de su edad. Los padres evaluaron a las niñas como más competentes verbalmente que los niños en todos los campos de uso del lenguaje evaluados, independientemente de la edad. La educación de los padres tuvo un efecto significativo sobre ciertos campos de la competencia verbal de los niños independientemente del sexo de los niños. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados obtenidos se puede concluir también que en la edad entre 16 y 30 meses se realizan importantes cambios en el desarrollo de la competenecia verbal de los niños en los campos evaluados.
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