The present study explored the relationship between indirect and direct assessment of preschoolers' emergent literacy skills. Subjects were 207 preschool-aged children, ranging in age from three to five years old who attended either the Mailman Segal Institute (MSI) Family Center, a private preschool comprised of children from primarily upper middle-class homes, or Jack and Jill Children's Center, a publicly subsidized preschool. Indirect assessment of the children's emergent literacy skills was gathered through the completion of the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL) and a modified version of the Pupil Rating Scale (PRS). Direct measurement of the children's emergent literacy skills was obtained through multiple assessments including the Get Ready to Read! (GRTR!),the standardization version of the Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Pre-CTOPP), and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IIII COG) and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH). Overall, results revealed a moderate positive correlation between indirect assessments and direct assessment of emergent literacy with higher teacher ratings on the TROLL and modified PRS correlated with higher scores on the direct assessment measures. When comparing the two preschools, results revealed inconsistent relationships between direct and indirect assessment of emergent literacy skills depending on which assessment measure was utilized.

Limited studies have focused on using popular culture environmental print in the literacy curriculum to teach early literacy skills to prekindergarten students. This study examined whether using popular culture environmental print to explicitly teach alphabet knowledge and print concepts increased the achievement of these skills. After a nine week intervention was implemented, data were collected from 56 urban prekindergarten children in a control and experimental group. The use of popular culture environmental print appeared to increase the achievement of print concepts and alphabet knowledge in prekindergarten children from one urban high-poverty school district. Data revealed an increase in the mean rank of the experimental group on the post-test of alphabet knowledge. Additionally, English as a second language learners expanded their knowledge of alphabet letters after the popular culture environmental print intervention. Also, a statistically significant difference appeared to exist between the control and experimental groups’ means on the knowledge of print concepts. Descriptive statistics revealed increases in print concept means of the control and experimental groups from the time of the pre-test to the posttest as tested by the Preschool Word and Print Awareness Assessment (PWPA). A statistical significant difference between the groups the children were in and the early literacy skills of alphabet knowledge and print concepts were determined at the end of the popular culture environmental print intervention. The increase in print concepts and alphabet knowledge appeared to be due to utilizing popular culture characters children observed at home. The popular culture characters garnered the attention of the children and became a source of motivation for increasing emergent literacy skills. Also, through explicit teaching of print concepts and alphabet knowledge with the popular culture environmental print, the children expanded their knowledge of these emergent literacy skills.

While many researchers have explored the benefits of literacy-enriched play for monolingual English-speaking children, few have investigated English language learners’ (ELL) responses to this type of play. This thesis presents three groups of case studies documenting the writing behaviors of ELLs in their Kindergarten classrooms’ literacy-enriched block centers. The first and second studies detailed the writing behaviors of high-SES (at a private school) and low-SES (at a Title I public school) ELL students, while the third study compared and contrasted the actions of the high- and low- income students during literacy-enriched play. The types and frequencies of writing behaviors demonstrated by the participants were analyzed to determine how learning an additional language and socioeconomic status might have affected the participants’ responses to this type of literacy learning intervention. After examining field notes and photographs documenting the participants’ actions, writing samples they created, and frequencies of writing behaviors, it was determined that most of the high- and low-income ELL students benefited from literacy- enriched play, in that they engaged in writing behaviors and therefore were able to practice and experiment with writing in an informal, child-centered setting. However, the low-income participants engaged in writing behaviors much less frequently than the high-income students, and they also demonstrated less advanced writing behaviors. These results seemed to indicate the effects of poverty on young ELLs’ emergent writing development.

Common wiki applications lack possibilities to structure the relationships between wiki pages. This paper presents a semantic wiki prototype named SHAWN that allows modelling concepts and their relationships within a wiki environment. One goal of this prototype is to keep concept creation very simple. Yet, entering relationship data instantaneously gratifies the user with enhanced navigational means on the wiki. The engine supports simple semantic queries upon the emergent model. A challenge is to accommodate a self-explaining query interface for these ontologies.

Syftet med denna forskningsstudie var att undersöka hur högläsning används enligt lärare i lågstadiet samt vilka uppfattningar de har om dess nytta och effektiva sätt att arbeta med den. Metoden som användes var semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta lärare i år 1–3. Vårt resultat visar att lärare i stor omfattning använder högläsning i undervisningen. Även om lärarna inte hade god kunskap om effektiva modeller för högläsning använde de sådana omedvetet, då spår av dessa kan synas i deras arbetssätt. Det har också visat sig att lärare hade kunskap om flera fördelar som högläsningen bidrog med, dock var det många aspekter som inte nämndes. Lärarnas huvudsyfte med högläsningen var att skapa en mysig stund för eleverna vilket de menade skulle resultera i att det ökade elevers läslust och deras ordförråd. Då deras arbetssätt gav resultat gällande detta samt att de använde högläsning som en metod i den övriga undervisningen, kan det ge skäl för att göra högläsningen till en mysig stund. Att lärarna inte arbetade med högläsningen kan också bero på att, högläsning inte nämns i läroplanen. Detta verkar då ha resulterat i att lärare använder högläsningen skiljt från ämnesundervisningen, som en ”vid sidan av-praktik”. Dock är denna studies slutsats att lärare skulle kunna utnyttja högläsningen ännu mer i undervisningen för att mer effektivt stimulera elevers läsutveckling.

Inference generation is a process that is key to successful reading (e.g., Bowyer- Crane and Snowling, 2005; Oakhill and Cain, 2012) and that begins to develop early in the reading acquisition process, through listening comprehension (e.g., Kendeou et al., 2009). Despite being able to generate inferences, such as cause and effect, as early as four years old (Lynch and van den Broek, 2007) inference generation is a skill not explicitly taught to many emergent readers. This study looked at wordless picturebooks and how they could be used with linguistic prompting to develop inferential thinking in young readers, building on the work of Grolig et al. (2020). The study involved a a quasi-experimental, 2-between subjects (wordless/worded picturebooks) and 2-within subjects (pre/post-assessment) design examining the impact of a reading intervention on emergent readers' inferential narrative comprehension. One group's intervention utilized wordless picturebooks, while the second group used a worded picturebook. The gains from pre- to post-assessment suggested that wordless picturebooks, alongside the planned prompts, did have an impact on the inferential narrative comprehension of the students (t (35) = 4.99, d = 1.63, p<.001) and that the intervention as a whole positively impacts members of both groups. / Doctor of Philosophy / As teachers, we want the children in our care to become strong readers. A part of this challenging task involves helping our students understand what they read. Wordless picturebooks, in combination with prompts for reading them, may be just the tool to help build comprehension through building inference making skills. This study looked at the impact of a wordless picturebook intervention on the inference generation abilities of young readers and found that wordless picturebooks, along with intentionally planned prompts to support readers, positively impacts a child's ability to make inferences.

Preschool children with Specific Language Impairment are at an increased risk for later reading difficulties (Watson, Layton, & Pierce, 1994; Catts et al., 1999; Johnston et al., 1999; Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999). Current emergent literacy intervention approaches have been discussed regarding typically developing children and children from lower incomes, but they lack efficacy data for preschoolers with SLI. The purpose of this article is to describe the current literature regarding emergent literacy intervention in preschoolers with SLI and reach an evidence-base decision as to the most effective intervention techniques to utilize in order to prevent later reading difficulties. / text

Purpose: The primary aim of this thesis was to examine two aspects of early child development, namely emergent literacy skills and social-behavioural development. An examination of these two aspects of development occurs at the within child-level factor and the within-family level factor. Specifically, we seek to examine the effects of the family literacy environment in predicting 4-year-old children’s emergent literacy skills at entry to Junior Kindergarten. Additionally we seek to examine the interrelationships between children’s social behaviours and phonological awareness skills across the academic year. The final aim was to examine the relationship between teacher report and direct observations of children’s social behaviours. Method: One hundred and two children (52 boys, 50 girls) were recruited from 11 schools serving low-income neighbourhoods in a large metropolitan city and were assessed at the beginning and end of the Junior Kindergarten year. Family literacy questionnaires were collected at the beginning of the year. All children completed standardized assessments of their expressive vocabulary, non-verbal IQ, and phonological awareness skills. In addition, teachers completed behavioral ratings for all children. Results: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that direct teaching of letters/sounds in the home contributed 8% of the variance in children’s alphabet knowledge. The results also revealed that being excluded by peers at entry to Junior Kindergarten contributed up to 3% of the variance in negatively predicting phonological awareness outcomes at the end of the year. Further, the results revealed that poorer phonological awareness skills at the beginning of the year contributed up to 5% of the variance in predicting children’s preference for solitary behaviours at the end of the year. Finally, significant relationships were found between teacher report and direct observations for certain classroom behaviours. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the family literacy environment can play a positive role in children’s acquisition of emergent literacy skills prior to entry into formal schooling. The results also suggest that exclusion by peers may play a negative role in children’s ease of academic skill attainment. Conversely, the results suggest that the academic skill level that children enter into formal schooling with may play a role in their social behavioural competency in a classroom setting.

Purpose: The primary aim of this thesis was to examine two aspects of early child development, namely emergent literacy skills and social-behavioural development. An examination of these two aspects of development occurs at the within child-level factor and the within-family level factor. Specifically, we seek to examine the effects of the family literacy environment in predicting 4-year-old children’s emergent literacy skills at entry to Junior Kindergarten. Additionally we seek to examine the interrelationships between children’s social behaviours and phonological awareness skills across the academic year. The final aim was to examine the relationship between teacher report and direct observations of children’s social behaviours. Method: One hundred and two children (52 boys, 50 girls) were recruited from 11 schools serving low-income neighbourhoods in a large metropolitan city and were assessed at the beginning and end of the Junior Kindergarten year. Family literacy questionnaires were collected at the beginning of the year. All children completed standardized assessments of their expressive vocabulary, non-verbal IQ, and phonological awareness skills. In addition, teachers completed behavioral ratings for all children. Results: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that direct teaching of letters/sounds in the home contributed 8% of the variance in children’s alphabet knowledge. The results also revealed that being excluded by peers at entry to Junior Kindergarten contributed up to 3% of the variance in negatively predicting phonological awareness outcomes at the end of the year. Further, the results revealed that poorer phonological awareness skills at the beginning of the year contributed up to 5% of the variance in predicting children’s preference for solitary behaviours at the end of the year. Finally, significant relationships were found between teacher report and direct observations for certain classroom behaviours. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the family literacy environment can play a positive role in children’s acquisition of emergent literacy skills prior to entry into formal schooling. The results also suggest that exclusion by peers may play a negative role in children’s ease of academic skill attainment. Conversely, the results suggest that the academic skill level that children enter into formal schooling with may play a role in their social behavioural competency in a classroom setting.

Weed control is essential in managing high quality turfgrasses. Some preemergent (PRE) herbicides may pose a negative effect on rooting architecture (total length, surface area, diameter, and mass) of desirable species. Several PRE herbicides work by negatively affecting normal cell division and development. Evaluations were performed to determine the effects of four PRE herbicides (dithiopyr, oxadiazon, pendimethalin, and quinclorac) on hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L. X C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) (BG) root architecture. Herbicide treatments were applied to field grown dormant BG in Mid-March of 2008 and 2009. A decrease in root length, and in surface area, was observed at 8 WAT by pendimethalin (55% of control). Twelve WAT the greatest decrease occurred in dithiopyr (40%) and pendimethalin (20%). Sixteen WAT, the greatest decrease was observed by dithiopyr (50%). The results indicate that the PRE’s tested can have a negative influence on BG root parameters and possibly water use efficiency.