Learning Language and Loving It

About the program

Learning language and loving it is a professional development program that equips early childhood educators/teachers with practical, interactive strategies for building the social, language and early literacy skills of preschool children. 

Program structure

The program provides participants with 3 categories of practical, research-based strategies for promoting every child’s social, language and emergent literacy development using natural everyday activities, routines and play:

1. Child-oriented strategies encourage children to initiate so educators can attune to their interests and follow their lead.  
2. Interaction-promoting strategies encourage extended back-and-forth individual and group conversations between adults and children.
3. Language-modelling strategies develop children’s language skills by providing developmentally appropriate language that expands what children say, adds new vocabulary and promotes decontextualized (or abstract) language.

There is a specific focus on fostering peer interaction and the connections between language and literacy development. 

Evaluation and effectiveness

Several evaluations of the program have been undertaken with mixed results. An evaluation conducted in Canada (Girolametto et al., 2003) showed significant positive outcomes for participants – and it is on this basis that we have included the program in these profiles. However, a larger Australian multisite RCT (Eadie, 2019) did not establish positive outcomes for children in the program. Further details are given below.

An Australian study conducted in 2019 (Eadier, 2019) examined practitioner and child outcomes in 19 centres that participated in the LLLI program (intervention) and 19 centres that did not (comparison). Results showed that educators in the intervention group had improved their practices, however there were no observable changes in children’s vocabulary. Significant variability in scores for children within and across groups were also reported.

The program was also evaluated in Canada (Girolametto et al., 2003) using a quasi-experimental design. The results, as measured through validated tools and video observations, showed that compared to a matched control group, the children in the intervention made significant improvements in language and used more words in more combinations. 

References

Eadie, P., Stark, H., & Niklas, F. (2019). Quality of interactions by early childhood educators following a language-specific professional learning program. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(3), 251-263. 

Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E.. & Greenberg, J. (2003). Training day care staff to facilitate children’s language. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12(3), 299-311.