Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools Vol.39 329-341 July 2008. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2008/031)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrowCustom Print
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow My Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pence, K. L.
Right arrow Articles by Wiggins, A. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pence, K. L.
Right arrow Articles by Wiggins, A. K.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Delicious   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Articles

Preschool Teachers' Fidelity in Implementing a Comprehensive Language-Rich Curriculum

Khara L. Pence
Laura M. Justice
Alice K. Wiggins

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Contact author: Khara Pence Turnbull, who is now a research scientist in Washington, DC. E-mail: KharaPence{at}gmail.com.

Purpose: This study examined preschool teachers' fidelity to the language-focused curriculum (LFC; B. Bunce, 1995), a comprehensive classroom curriculum designed to improve at-risk children's language outcomes through targeted improvements to a classroom's activity contexts (e.g., dramatic play, art, storybook reading) and instructional processes (e.g., teacher use of open-ended questions, recasts, and expansions). Specific aims included to (a) examine program differentiation by determining how measures of activity contexts and instructional processes differentiated treatment and comparison teachers, (b) determine treatment teachers' adherence to both activity contexts and instructional processes over an entire academic year, and (c) determine treatment teachers' reported quality of program delivery and comfort with curriculum implementation.

Method: Fourteen preschool teachers were randomly assigned to implement the LFC or to maintain their prevailing curriculum. Fidelity was measured 3 times over an academic year using a curriculum fidelity checklist.

Results: LFC teachers exhibited fidelity to activity contexts more readily than to instructional processes. Teacher use of language-focused instructional processes was relatively low even after a year of LFC implementation.

Conclusion: This study supports the need for speech-language pathologists to work closely with preschool educators to implement the activity contexts and instructional processes associated with high-quality preschool language-learning environments.

KEY WORDS: language curricula, implementation fidelity, instructional processes


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Delicious Delicious   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
AJSLPHome page
L. Girolametto, E. Weitzman, and J. Greenberg
Facilitating Emergent Literacy: Efficacy of a Model That Partners Speech-Language Pathologists and Educators
Am J Speech Lang Pathol, February 1, 2012; 21(1): 47 - 63.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
AJSLPHome page
S. Q. Cabell, L. M. Justice, S. B. Piasta, S. M. Curenton, A. Wiggins, K. P. Turnbull, and Y. Petscher
The Impact of Teacher Responsivity Education on Preschoolers' Language and Literacy Skills
Am J Speech Lang Pathol, November 1, 2011; 20(4): 315 - 330.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Language Learning and EducationHome page
M. J. Moyle and S. S. Berman
Speech-Language Pathologists Collaborating With Head Start To Improve Children's Early Language and Literacy Skills: Efficacy and Intensity Effects
Language Learning and Education, July 1, 2011; 18(2): 53 - 61.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
AJSLPHome page
J. N. Kaderavek and L. M. Justice
Fidelity: An Essential Component of Evidence-Based Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
Am J Speech Lang Pathol, November 1, 2010; 19(4): 369 - 379.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]