<p> According to the National Center for Child Poverty, in 2011 nearly half of the 72 million children in the U.S. were living in low-income families. Through this study, the author examined the effect that student poverty has on teachers&rsquo; beliefs about student print knowledge including school readiness and print literacy. Teachers&rsquo; beliefs were explored using a social justice framework that surrounds an explanatory sequential design. This mixed methods research helped me to identify whether or not teachers&rsquo; beliefs about students differ based on family socio-economic status (SES). The author of this study worked with a large urban school district located in the California Central Valley. The school district administers a Head Start preschool program and a California State preschool program. A total of 89 preschool teachers from these preschool programs participated in a Likert-style questionnaire. Participants were asked to share their beliefs about student print knowledge, school readiness, and parental involvement based on their 2016-2017 students. After collecting all questionnaires, 10 participants were interviewed to further investigate the effect of poverty on teacher&rsquo;s beliefs about students and families. The overall findings of this study showed that poverty level thresholds between the two preschool programs did not appear to have an effect on participant&rsquo;s beliefs regarding student print literacy, school readiness, and parental involvement. Participants were consistent in beliefs across both programs. Overall, participants were more positive in the areas of school readiness and parent involvement. Participants in both preschool programs were less positive in regards to student print literacy. </p>

The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a difference in parental perceptions of four-year-old children who have been cared for in home care or day care, and in child-rearing practices of parents who enrolled their children in day care or cared for them at home. / The 51 children were 46-60 months old and came from intact, middle-class, Caucasian families. The day care children were enrolled in commercial day care centers. The Perception of Parents interview schedule and the Child-Rearing Practices Questionnaire were used to gather the data. / "Mother" was the parent who was nicer, kissed, tucked children in bed, and cared for sick children. "Father" was the parent who yelled, punished, was smarter, and was the object of child's anger. Day care daughters named "mother" as the parent who gave ice cream cones, and to whom the child would go for help more often than home care daughters. Day care sons named "father" as the parent who played outside with the child more often than home care sons. / Daughters of employed mothers stated that "mother" was smarter, played outside with the child, and gave ice cream cones more often than daughters with nonemployed mothers. Sons of employed mothers gave "father" as the parent who played outside with the child more often than sons of nonemployed mothers. / Fathers of home care sons used fewer behavioral rules than fathers of day care sons. Fathers of home care daughters used more rewards with children than fathers of day care daughters. Fathers of day care children preferred schoolage children over younger children more often than fathers of home care children. / Fathers of sons with employed mothers used fewer behavioral rules than fathers of sons with employed mothers. Fathers of daughters with nonemployed mothers rewarded children more often than fathers of daughters with employed mothers. Fathers of children with employed mothers preferred schoolage children over younger children more often than fathers of children with nonemployed mothers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4287. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children in a day care setting increase in their development of listening vocabulary, concepts about print, and oral language proficiency when exposed to a daily read-aloud program with language interaction, to a greater extent than those exposed to (1) a read-aloud program without language interaction, (2) no planned read-aloud program or (3) from interaction with an adult in a setting other than story time. / Thirty-six children, ages three to five, attending a day care center serving a minority, racial group in a low-economic area were randomly placed into three treatment groups and one control group. All of the subjects were administered three pre-tests and three post-tests. For ten weeks the researcher met with the three treatment groups on a daily basis. Groups One and Two heard the same stories, the difference between the groups being the amount of language interaction initiated by the researcher. Group Three worked freely with art materials. / The effect of the reading aloud, language interaction and the interaction of the two were each addressed by the three post-tests. Analysis of covariance was used to measure differences, the covariates being the three pre-tests and ages of the subjects. There were no statistically significant results from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test or Development of Oral Language test. The results from the Concepts About Print test did show a statistically significant effect from reading aloud. Results from the Concepts About Print test did not show statistically significant effects for language interaction or the combination of reading aloud and language interaction, however. / Subsequent analysis of the means and standard deviations for each of the four groups, on each of the post-tests, plus a look at the gains and losses made by the subjects from the pre-tests to the post-tests did provide some interesting insight into possible reasons for the lack of significance in this study. Some possible variables examined were: group dynamics, actual language interaction occurrences, size of groups, age variations in groups, length of study, and physical setting and situation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1598. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The purpose of this study was to test the proposition that children of kindergarten age who had planned opportunities for enriched sociodramatic play would demonstrate increased levels of language performance. A 35 day study employing an Applied Behavior Analysis repeated measure multiple baseline design across subjects was undertaken to experimentally determine if there was a functional relationship between enriched sociodramatic play and an increase in levels of language performance. / Treatment conditions were enriched sociodramatic play which included (a) a shared background of information, (b) ample time, space, and realistic props, and (c) play tutoring by an adult; baseline conditions were unstructured free play. Forty-eight 15 minute language samples were collected and analyzed from three subjects matched for age, I.Q., ethnic background, and economic status, Major findings were as follows: (1) Use of words which were specifically related to a theme increased for all subjects during enriched sociodramatic play. (2) Mean length of T-unit increased for all subjects during enriched sociodramatic play. (3) Use of all words increased for two out of three subjects during enriched sociodramatic play. (4) Use of words for concepts of color, shape, number, quantity, space, and time increased for two out of three subjects during enriched sociodramatic play. (5) Two subjects increased performance on measures of specific vocabulary words, mean length of T-unit, all words and concept words during enriched sociodramatic play. (6) One subject increased performance on measures of specific vocabulary words and mean length of T-unit during sociodramatic play; performance on measures of all words and concept words was inconclusive. (7) All subjects frequently used all seven functions of language during samples taken from both unstructured free play and enriched sociodramatic play; mean number of functions increased slightly for one subject and decreased slightly for two subjects during the treatment conditions. / Based on these findings, it was concluded that a functional relationship existed between sociodramatic play and language performance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0079. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The present study investigated whether the spontaneous play of young children reveals levels of precursory classificatory behavior that correspond with the range of chronological ages reported by Sugarman (1983). With the purpose of documenting the conditions and variables that may contribute to the identification of classificatory patterns as children play, the study also investigated whether play maturity (Hulme & Lunzer, 1966) correlated with a child's highest observed phase of classificatory behavior. / Twenty subjects (2 girls and 2 boys at 12, 18, 24, 30 & 36 months) individually were exposed to two settings: play and non-play. Children engaged in a minimum of 10 minutes of unstructured play in an indoor preschool play setting. They also were brought to a lab-like setting, devoid of toys, and exposed to four arrays of objects, each comprised of four items of one kind and four items of another kind. / Patterns of classificatory behavior used by the subjects as they arranged stimulus objects in the non-play setting and play materials in the play setting were identified. Ratings of each child's highest phase of classificatory behavior exhibited in each setting were derived by applying the Classificatory Behavior Inventory record form. Each child's highest level of play maturity then was correlated with his or her highest phase of classificatory behavior. / The study found that not only were the same classificatory patterns observed in the two settings, play and non-play, but these behaviors occurred at substantially the same age levels as indicated by Sugarman. A direct and positive correlation existed between highest phase of classificatory behavior and the child's level of play maturity. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: A, page: 0555. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

"To err is human. To self-repair fortunately is also." (Postma, 2000, p. 98) The overarching purpose of this research is to explore whether second language (L2) learners can identify speech errors in a digital recording of their own oral effort and can correct those errors in subsequent oral efforts. Contemporary psycholinguistic speech production models posit that self-monitoring is an integral and automatic function of online (real time) speech production. Pedagogical research has demonstrated that learners can utilize this self-monitoring/self-analysis mechanism in a post-hoc self-assessment, particularly insofar as writing is concerned, to identify and correct production errors. The current research proposes that in the same way that learners err while writing, they err while speaking and, further, that such errors are not a valid representation of their internal language systems. Hypothetically, therefore, L2 learners can identify their own speech errors via audio playback (AP) given time and opportunity, and providing they have a rudimentary knowledge of the target forms to begin with. To test this assumption, learners were provided a series of monologic Spot the Difference tasks designed to elicit agreement of gender and number in adjective forms. Participants in the experimental procedure group listened to their oral product immediately after task completion while participants in the control group listened to linguistically sterile musical selections. Results of the experiment support the hypothesis that second language learners can identify speech errors in their own oral text, that self-correction efforts do increase and improve, and that acquisition does improve over repeated trials. Interestingly, however, a main effect was noted for post-positional adjectives and not for pre-nominals. A second important aspect of this study involved testing whether lack of developmental readiness (DR) was a constraining factor for AP. Findings revealed that participants who were developmentally unready also improved in self-monitoring and accuracy in subsequent trials. The implications of these findings on current psycholinguistic speech production/perception models as well as their pedagogical implications are discussed at the conclusion of the study. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern Language and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: April 23, 2008. / Language Learning, Speech Production, Speech Perception, Oral Production, Psycholinguistic Speech Models, Linguistics, Audio Playback, Listening Skills / Includes bibliographical references. / Gretchen Sunderman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Leigh Edwards, Outside Committee Member; Michael Leeser, Committee Member; Lara Reglero, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the language-aggression hypothesis which suggests that high language development is associated with low observable aggression. This theory is based on Pavlov's second signalling system theory in which language is said to have regulatory capabilities in human behavior. / The main focus of this study was to examine aggressive expression in light of language maturity as opposed to language development assessed by language measures currently on the testing market. Subjects were 108 Black, White, Latin, and Oriental second and third grade children from Tallahassee, Florida. These subjects were matched for sex and social class. / A new device was developed to measure aggressive expression in both the verbal and physical mode in order to determine aggressive preference. Paradigmatic or syntagmatic response to a word association test was used as an indicator of language maturity. / The language-aggression hypothesis holds true for low language mature subjects. These subjects tended to select the physical mode of expression, but the opposite was not true for high language mature children. While these language mature children tended to use verbal aggression, the relationship was not as strong as language immaturity and the physical aggressive expression. / When explaining a child's preference for physical aggression in this model language maturity appears to be the best predictor. Sex appears to be the best predictor when examining a subject's preference for verbal aggressive expression. / The results suggest that aggressive expression is a function of language maturity for physical aggression but not so for verbal aggression. Further examination of verbal aggressive expression appears to be necessary in order to indicate underlying motivation for the selection of this mode. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-10, Section: A, page: 4277. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Nondisabled children's attitudes toward orthopedic and sensory disabilities were examined in relation to chronological and mental age. Knowledge of these disabilities was also studied in relation to the visual perceptibility of disability. Sixty-four Caucasian children, ages 38 to 82 months, participated in the study. Subjects were individually administered the Test of Early Attitudes toward Disability (TEAD) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The TEAD, developed by this investigator, consists of four parts which measure knowledge of, evaluative beliefs about, and expressed preferences toward orthopedic and sensory disabilities. Stimulus materials for the TEAD are puppets with and without visual cues to disability. Children's expressed preferences revealed bias against orthopedic and sensory disabilities increases with age but is not present among 3 year olds. Knowledge of disability was also found to increase with age; knowledge of orthopedic disability is acquired earlier than knowledge of sensory disability. Most of the children (64%) had mixed evaluative beliefs about disability. Finally, mental age was not found to be a better predictor of early attitude toward disability than chronological age. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 0997. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of center sponsorship, center size, director training, and director salary on the tasks performed by a day care center director. In addition, director training was examined in relation to center sponsorship and center size while director salary was investigated in relation to director training, center sponsorship and center size. Finally, the task performance of day care center directors was compared with the task performance of preschool directors. / The study consisted of 67 directors administering day care centers and preschools in Leon County, Florida. Instruments used in the study were: a questionnaire designed by the researcher and a task analysis developed in 1977 as part of a needs assessment of Texas child care administrators. / One-way analysis of variance, the Pearson product moment correlation, and the student t test were used to analyze the data at the .05 level of significance. / Ten hypotheses were tested. Hypotheses 1 through 4 examined the variable of tasks with the variables of center sponsorship and size, and director training and salary. None of the results from the analyses of variance achieved the .05 level of significance. Hypotheses 5 and 6 referred to the relationship between the variable of director training and the variables of center sponsorship and size. The relationship between director training and center size was significant. Hypotheses 7, 8, and 9 examined the relationship between the variable of director salary and the variables of director training, center sponsorship, and size. The relationship between director salary and training and between director salary and center sponsorship was significant at the .05 level using the Pearson product moment correlation. The final hypothesis, Hypothesis 10, sought to differentiate between task performance of directors of day care centers and directors of preschools. Based on director perception, which was analyzed using the student t test, there was no significant difference. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2483. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4882. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.