Abstract
Language acquisition disparities as a function of socioeconomic status have made it apparent that early intervention for children is necessary. The aim of this study was to observe whether serve-and-return interactions between teachers and toddlers, could increase oral language skills, particularly for low-SES children, to narrow the vocabulary gap. This research is part of a longitudinal intervention, Kia Tīmata Pai (The Best Start Study), which is assessing a new professional development program for teachers called ENRICH (ENnhancing RICH conversations) compared to an Active Control condition. From the main trial, 24 centres were randomly selected for in-depth observation: 12 centres in each of the two conditions (ENRICH and Active Control). At wave 1 (baseline), 94 children were involved, while 130 children were present during wave 2 (one-year-follow-up). Across the 24 centres, there were 63 teachers involved at both time points. Video data was collected from all centres, across five routines, Book Time, Small Group, Kai Time, Play Time and Nappy Change. Video data was analysed for the frequency and quality of teachers’ serve-and-return. The main findings indicate that we have successfully adapted a parent-child dyadic serve-and-return coding scheme for teachers and children in a group setting. The findings revealed no significant increase in serve-and-return interactions as a function of condition. Additionally, no significant change was observed in children’s language development as a function of condition. The findings of this study demonstrated that for this small subset of centres in the Kia Tīmata Pai longitudinal study, it was too soon to see any significant change in either teachers’ talk or children’s talk as a function of ENRICH. We expect that future waves of the intervention with the full sample will see a stronger effect of the ENRICH professional development.