The Effects of Childrens` Vocabulary Abilities and Print Concepts in the Classroom Environment in Terms of Literacy Development
Myoung Soon Kim , Hye Jin Kim
Abstract
This study was conducted to better understand the effect of the classroom literacy environment on the young children`s vocabulary abilities, and the concepts of print matter. The subjects consisted of 276 children aged 3 to 5 enrolled in 93 classrooms in child-care centers and kindergartens. The Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Pre-K (Smith, Brady, & Anastasopoulos, 2008), the Picture Vocabulary Test (Kim, Jang, Yim, & Bae, 1995) and the Concepts About Print (Kim & Kim, 2004) were used for the purposes of this study. The data collected were analyzed by means of ANOVA, and regression analysis. The results indicated that the vocabulary abilities and print-concepts of children aged 3-5 were more likely to increase when a rich classroom environment was provided for the children`s literacy development. In particular, it was found to be important for children`s language and Literacy development to provide them with an enriched ``language environment`` within the classroom, the quality of ``books and book reading``, and the active utilization of ``print and early writing`` all being important elements of this.
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