| The present dissertation takes a transactional systems perspective on examining preschoolers' school readiness, focusing on the child and contextual factors that contribute to preparing children for success in school. Central to this dissertation is the consideration of language as both an aspect of and contributor to school readiness. Study 1 established the reliability and validity of a new measure of language skills (the Narrative Assessment Protocol; NAP) for examining expressive narrative microstructure. Study 2, which examined language as an aspect of school readiness, investigated the extent to which preschool classroom supports were associated with children's language development and whether these associations varied as a function of children's own language ability. Findings indicated a main effect of Instructional Support (IS), but not Relational Support (RS), on preschoolers' development of expressive language skills. The association between IS and language development was stronger for children with stronger expressive language skills, and the association between RS and language development was stronger for children with weaker expressive language skills. Language was investigated as a contributor to school readiness in Study 3 which examined the extent to which children's language skills and preschool classroom supports were associated with children's school readiness and whether language skills moderated this association. Results indicated that language skills are associated with increases in print, phonological awareness, and self-regulation skills. Findings related to classroom supports (IS and Organizational Support [OS]) indicated associations with children's skills in aligned domains; IS was linked to children's print outcomes and OS was linked to self-regulation outcomes. Language skills did not appear to moderate this association. Collectively, these studies all bear on the important goal of identifying factors operating during the preschool year that contribute to children's success in school and understanding the role that language plays in school readiness. |
