Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 1981. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-230).

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between language use and play level of three-, four-, and five-year-old middle socio-economic status children.The subjects were sixteen children who attended preschool programs at a midwestern university. The sixteen subjects were randomly selected from a population of fifty-five children.There were three age groups with approximately one-third of the subjects in each group. Half of the subjects were girls and half of the subjects were boys.It was estimated seventy-five percent of the subjects had above average verbal ability, nineteen percent of the subjects had average verbal ability, and six percent of the subjects had below average verbal ability.The socio-economic status of the subjects was determined through classification of parents' occupations.The Play Observation Instrument (POI), and the Language Observation Instrument (LOI) were developed by the researcher. The POI included four levels of play developed by Smilansky: functional, constructive, dramatic, and socio-dramatic. Fifty play observations were recorded on the POI. The LOI included seven categories of language use developed by Tough: self-maintaining, directing, reporting, logical reasoning, predicting, projecting, and imagining. Fifty utterances were recorded on the LOI during play.The data were analyzed for all subjects, for age groups, and by sex. Further, the data on the LOI were analyzed for language use in play situations. Narrative data were also presented.The subjects engaged in constructive, dramatic, or socio-dramatic play during the free choice play periods observed. Levels of play were not highly related to age. Boys engaged in constructive and dramatic play most often, and girls engaged in socio-dramatic play most often.The subjects used imagining language more than other language during the free choice play periods observed. Imagining language was used most often for reporting, directing, and logical reasoning. No clear sex differences existed for language use.The house, climber, and block situations elicited the most language. Most frequently occurring language uses in these situations were imagining, directing, and reporting.Imagining language during socio-dramatic play was the most frequently occurring relationship between language use and play level. Imagining language during dramatic play-was next most often occurring, and third most often occurring was reporting language during constructive play or directing language during socio-dramatic play.

This multiple case study investigated children's literacy development in the context of current pedagogical practices of their preschools in three selected communities in India. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2009.

This multiple case study investigated children's literacy development in the context of current pedagogical practices of their preschools in three selected communities in India. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2009.

Thesis (Specialist in School Psychology)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-47).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-147). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-136). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rowan University, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation is an investigation of how preschool children understand the meaning of determiner universal quantifiers such as English every and all. Although grasping the distributive force of such words, and generally showing adult-like comprehension of simple universally quantified sentences, the typical four-year-old is seen often to have a strikingly nonadult-like understanding of the meaning of such sentences. This is shown by the child's comprehension performance under certain experimental conditions. The principal claim of this dissertation is that the child comprehension phenomena in question is essentially linguistic in etiology and derives from a preference for quantification over individual events/situations rather individual objects.

Research in the area of early literacy has strongly supported instruction at the phonemic awareness level. In addition, a number of research articles have discussed the importance of involving parents in their children's education through home-based activities. This study examined the effects of a parent-training on early literacy skills in the areas of phonemic awareness and letter-identification. This study utilized a pre-experimental AB design. Thirty-nine kindergarten children from the northeast were administered early literacy measures (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills - DIBELS) ten times during both the base-line phase and treatment phases. Twenty children comprised the treatment group, and their parents participated in five training sessions and 10 weeks of interactive book reading and practice and instruction of specific skills with their children. Results were positive and significant for the three early literacy measures, (Onset Fluency, Letter-Naming Fluency, and Phoneme Segmentation). In addition, treatment integrity and acceptability were measured. Limitations to the study, implications for education and future research are also discussed.