Abstract
Research Findings: The quantity and especially the quality of language that children are exposed to in early childhood (e.g. decontextualised and conversation-eliciting language) is linked to important developmental outcomes such as later school success. When caregivers refer to past or future events, they extend the conversation beyond the present context. When caregivers ask elaborative questions (yes-no or open-ended) and reinforce children's responses, they elicit (rather than direct) children's conversations. The current study investigated the quality of educators' talk in early childhood centres and, more specifically, how educators' language quality with toddlers varies based on activity setting. Toddlers (n = 94; M = 20.8 months) and their educators (n = 64) from 24 early childhood centres across Aotearoa New Zealand were filmed across 5 settings: diapering, book-reading, group, play, and mealtime. Overall, educators used low rates of past and future talk and used a mix of conversation-directing and conversation-eliciting utterances. Setting mattered, with book-reading higher in educators' past talk and open-ended questions, and diapering highest in conversation-directing talk. Practice or Policy: Results indicating differences in quality of educator talk across activity settings can be used to inform educator professional development programmes.