Early childhood educators’ verbal interactions With preschoolers during group chat, snack time, and shared book reading

Gingras, M. P., Rezzonico, S. et Duchesne, L. (2026). Early childhood educators’ verbal interactions With preschoolers during group chat, snack time, and shared book reading. Journal of Research in Childhood Education . ISSN 0256-8543 DOI 10.1080/02568543.2026.2625921

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Résumé

This study investigates the quality of verbal interactions between early childhood educators (ECEs) and preschoolers across three activity settings: group chat, snack time, and shared book reading. We collected data from 16 ECEs and their preschool groups through video recordings. We analyzed verbal interactions between ECEs and preschoolers on eight measures covering the three dimensions of interaction proposed by Rowe and Snow: linguistic, conceptual, and interactive dimensions. Compared to shared book reading, statistical analysis showed that both snack time and group chat had similar results: more extended conversations, a higher percentage of utterances within decontextualized conversations (i.e., conversations about absent objects, persons, or events), and a higher rate of ECEs’ utterances per minute. ECEs’ vocabulary diversity was higher during shared book reading than during group chat and snack time. The activity setting did not influence syntactic complexity, but the type of conversation did. Decontextualized conversation was associated with ECEs’ use of more complex syntax. These findings suggest that diverse activities offer unique opportunities for language learning. Activity settings and conversation topics must be considered when designing effective professional development that targets ECEs’ use of language-supporting practices with preschoolers.

Type de document:	Article
Mots-clés libres:	Activity settings Early childhood teachers Language development Preschool education Verbal interaction
Date de dépôt:	25 mai 2026 19:39
Dernière modification:	25 mai 2026 19:39
Version du document déposé:	Post-print (version corrigée et acceptée)
URI:	https://depot-e.uqtr.ca/id/eprint/12900

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