Ljubica Marjanovič Umek - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ljubica Marjanovič Umek

Play is considered to be an important context for the development of language, communication skil... more Play is considered to be an important context for the development of language, communication skills and competence, and is often accompanied by complex language interactions. Children use language in their play most of the time, talking to themselves, their toys or their playmates. The purpose of our study was to evaluate children's use of language during three different pre-school activities: free play, routine activity and guided activity. The sample included 60 preschool children, aged 4 to 5 years (30 boys and 30 girls), from families with different educational backgrounds (30 with secondary and 30 with higher parental education). Children's speech was recorded during each of the three activities in the pre-school institution. The results of the structural and functional analysis show significant differences in many of the characteristics of children's speech during each of the three activities. Children spoke significantly more, used more multi-word utterances, inte...

The family literacy environment is reported to be an important predictor of a child's languag... more The family literacy environment is reported to be an important predictor of a child's language and early literacy development. This study examined the relations between various aspects of family literacy environment and different measures of children's language, assessed in three different settings, namely in a structured test situation, at home and in preschool. The sample included 80 preschool children, ran-domly selected from 13 preschools, aged approximately 4 years. The quality of family literacy environment was estimated by mothers, using the Home literacy environment questionnaire. Children's language development and storytelling ability was assessed by a testator, while their spontaneous language was assessed by their mothers and preschool teachers. Family literacy environment was found to be an important factor of the child's storytelling ability and the complexity of his spontaneous language, used at home and in preschool. Maternal education proved to be as...

Early Child Development and Care, 2014

ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of t... more ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and tablet computers use in the first grade of primary school from the perspectives of three groups of evaluators, namely the teachers, the pupils and an independent observer. The sample included three first grade classes with children aged from six to seven years. The educational software used by teachers included the electronic form of textbooks and workbooks for different subjects. These data were collected during the period of six months through the teachers' and an independent observer's observations and the semi-structured interviews with pupils. Based on the content analysis of the teachers' and pupils' answers, several positive and negative aspects of the IWB (positive aspects included a dynamic display of the content, pupils' attention and motivation; negative aspects included technical difficulties, a frontal way of teaching) and tablet computers (positive aspects included pupils' motivation and persistence, the immediate feedback; negative aspects included technical problems, teacher's lesser control over pupils' work) were identified.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2015

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environme... more ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environment on the language of toddlers and children in early childhood. The sample included 86 families with one- to six-year-old children. The data on the social, economic, and cultural factors of the family environment, parental reading literacy, parental knowledge of children's development, children's exposure to shared reading, and child language were obtained in the family environment. Path analysis was used to verify the presumed structural model, which included social and economic factors of the family environment, parental knowledge of children's development, and parental reading literacy as independent variables, activities used by parents to encourage their child's language as mediating variables, and children's early literacy and language as a dependent variable. The analysis results showed that the presumed structural model fitted our data well. Parental education (PE), family financial conditions, parental knowledge of children's development, and parental reading literacy was able to explain 13% of the variance in child language. The obtained results confirm the significant effect of social, economic, and cultural factors of the child's family on language during toddlerhood and early childhood.

Journal of Child Language, 2013

European Journal of Psychological Assessment, Mar 6, 2015

... The Greek authors Apostolos and Napoleon (2001) report that the educational level of children... more ... The Greek authors Apostolos and Napoleon (2001) report that the educational level of children's parents influences their understanding and use of word ... The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (.88) and the result of Bartlett's test of sphericity (χ2 = 4998, df = 528, p = .000) were higher ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2008

Several studies have demonstrated that children’s gender and parental education exert a significa... more Several studies have demonstrated that children’s gender and parental education exert a significant, but not equal, effect on toddler language development at different ages. This study determined the effect of children’s gender and parental education on the verbal competence of toddlers between 16 and 30 months. The sample included 953 Slovenian toddlers (approximately half boys and half girls) whose parents differed in the level of formal education completed. Their language competence was evaluated using the Inventory of Communicative Competence for Toddlers Aged 16 to 30 Months: Words and Sentences (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al. 2004). The parents provided an evaluation of the toddlers’ use of language. The findings demonstrate that gender has a significant effect on toddlers’ language competence, regardless of their age. Parents assessed girls as more verbally competent than boys in all of the language use areas evaluated, regardless of their age. Parental education had a significant effect on certain areas of toddlers’ language competence, regardless of their gender. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that at the age of 16 to 30 months important developmental changes occur in the areas of toddler language competence that were evaluated.RÉSUMÉ: Des études ont démontré que le sexe de l’enfant et le niveau de formation des parents jouent un rôle significatif dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge, mais que leur importance varie en fonction des différentes tranches d’âge. La présente étude se propose d’étudier l’influence exercée par le sexe de l’enfant et par le niveau de formation des parents sur la compétence langagière des enfants âgés de seize à trente mois. Nous avons inclus dans notre étude 953 enfants slovènes en bas âge (avec environ une part égale de filles et de garçons), dont les parents avaient des niveaux de formation différents. La compétence langagière des enfants a été évaluée à l’aide de l’Inventaire du développement des compétences communicatives pour enfants en bas âge, âgés de 16 à 30 mois: mots et phrases (Liste razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti za malčke, stare od 16 do 30 mesecev: besede in stavki), (Marjanovič Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja et Bajc, 2004). Ce sont les parents qui ont évalué la compétence langagière de leurs enfants. Il en résulte que le sexe de l’enfant joue un rôle important quant à la compétence langagière de l’enfant en bas âge, quel que soit son âge. Les parents ont évalué les filles comme étant plus compétentes à l’oral que les garçons, à tous les niveaux d’évaluation de l’usage de l’oral, quelle que soit la tranche d’âge observée. Le niveau de formation des parents joue un rôle important sur certains segments de la compétence langagière des enfants en bas âge. Les résultats obtenus nous permettent de conclure que la période de seize à trente mois apporte des changements significatifs dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge.ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Aus mehreren Studien geht hervor, dass das Geschlecht des Kindes und die Ausbildung seiner Eltern einen bedeutenden, jedoch nicht gleich großen Einfluss auf die Sprachentwicklung des Kindes in verschiedenen Altersphasen haben. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden der Einfluss des Geschlechts des Kindes und die Ausbildung der Eltern auf die Sprachkompetenz von Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten hin untersucht. Insgesamt 953 slowenische Kleinkinder (etwa zur Hälfte Mädchen und Jungen) wurden als Testpersonen in die Studie aufgenommen, deren Eltern sich im erreichten Ausbildungsabschluss unterschieden. Die Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder wurde mit Hilfe des Verzeichnisses der Kommunikationsfähigkeiten für Kleinkinder im Alter von 16 bis 30 Monaten: Wörter und Sätze (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al. 2004) bewertet. Der Gebrauch der Sprache des Kindes wurde von seinen Eltern beurteilt. Die Resultate ergaben, dass das Geschlecht der Kinder, ungeachtet ihres Alters, einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf ihre Sprachkompetenz hat. Mädchen wurden unabhängig von ihrem Alter von ihren Eltern auf allen Bewertungsebenen als kompetenter in der Sprache im Vergleich zu Jungen bewertet. Die Ausbildungsstufe der Eltern hatte wesentlichen Einfluss in einigen Bereichen der Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder, ungeachtet deren Geschlechts. Den Resultaten zufolge kann festgestellt werden, dass in den bewerteten Bereichen bei Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten wichtige Veränderungen auf dem Gebiet der Sprachkompetenzentwicklung eintreten.RESUMEN: Los resultados de diversas investigaciones demuestran que el sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres tienen un efecto importante, pero no en el mismo grado en diferentes edades, sobre el desarrollo del habla infantil. La presente investigación establece el efecto del sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres sobre la competencia verbal de niños pequeños entre ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2006

Studies in the area of developmental psychology — especially those carried out in the past thirty... more Studies in the area of developmental psychology — especially those carried out in the past thirty years — show that preschool quality, both at the structural and process levels, in combination with the quality of the family environment influences various areas of children's development and learning. The goal of this study is to determine the effect of preschool quality, maternal

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2012

ABSTRACT Storytelling represents an aspect of children's general language competence. The... more ABSTRACT Storytelling represents an aspect of children's general language competence. The characteristics of the home literacy environment, especially joint reading between parents and children, have a significant effect on children's storytelling. The purpose of this study was to explore the age differences in the storytelling of three- to six-year-old children. In addition, the goal was also to determine the effect of parental education, parents' knowledge of children's books, as an indirect measure of joint reading in the home environment, and child's gender on children's storytelling ability. The sample included 156 children aged three- to six-years-old and their parents. The children's storytelling competence was assessed using the Little Glove Storytelling Test. The stories that the children told using a standard picture book were analyzed in terms of several criteria connected with the words in the story and the structure of the story (grammatical structure and contents). Parents' knowledge of children's book was assessed using a Checklist of children's books. The results showed that the period between the ages of three and six is important for the development of children's storytelling; parental education and parents' knowledge of children's books have a significant effect on children's storytelling. In addition, specific important differences were established between boys' and girls' stories: the girls told stories using a greater number of words, whereas no major gender-related differences were determined with regard to the structure of the stories told. The results obtained were interpreted from the viewpoint of both developmental psychology and selected environmental factors.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2005

ABSTRACT As part of a larger Slovene longitudinal study on the impact of the preschool institutio... more ABSTRACT As part of a larger Slovene longitudinal study on the impact of the preschool institution on the child's development and his or her school achievements, effects of the age at entry to preschool on children's language were explored. The sample included 82 children, who were divided into two groups depending on their age at entry to the preschool institution: group A consisted of children who entered preschool at approximately 3 years, and group B those who entered preschool at approximately 1 year of age. Children's language competences were assessed using a Language Development Scale and a Story Telling Test at Time 1 (the average age 38 months) and at Time 2, one year later (the average age 50 months). Early entry to preschool was found to have no negative effects on children's language competences in toddlerhood. Children who entered preschool at an early age told more coherent stories than those who started attending preschool at 3 years of age. Effects of maternal educational level and the child's gender on language competences were also assessed. Children whose mothers had a higher level of formal education showed higher language competences than those whose mothers had less education. No significant effect was found of children's gender on language expression, comprehension, or storytelling. The obtained results were interpreted in the light of the Slovene preschool curriculum, a national document providing guidelines for educational work in preschool institutions, and of current practice observed in Slovene preschool institutions.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2003

... The Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education (Oxford: The Alden Press). ... The e... more ... The Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education (Oxford: The Alden Press). ... The effects of thematic - fantasy play training on the development of children's story comprehension ... readiness for learning, in: OLSON, DR & TORRANCE, N. (Eds.) The Handbook of Education ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2001

There is an increasing number of studies and papers which highlight the social function of speech... more There is an increasing number of studies and papers which highlight the social function of speech and the importance of communication in the context of social interactions. Our study analyses communication between children, namely the speech in connection with the social interactions of children. Symbolic play is one of the important activities which is very frequent in the preschool period

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1999

The paper considers symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions. ... more The paper considers symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions. Symbolic play was stimulated through two different structured activities and dictation of the preparation and the use of different toys and play materials (i.e. thematic symbolic play and play related to pictorial material). The children's play was videotaped in their home playrooms. The videotapes were analysed by competent observers using Smilansky" s scale for assessing dramatic and sociodramatic play. Analysis was aimed at establishing which elements determine the symbolic play of children of different age groups with regard to two different play situations, and how they determine it. At the same time, we wished to set out some critical points which significantly determine the nature and course of symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1997

In Slovenia many mixed-age groups have recently been formed in early childhood institutions. Resu... more In Slovenia many mixed-age groups have recently been formed in early childhood institutions. Results of research from various countries show that, in most cases, mixing of children of different ages in early childhood institutions has many advantages. It has an impact on a child's cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as on the social atmosphere of the group. In

Early Years, 2001

ABSTRACT This contribution highlights the impact of contextual factors (the structure and realism... more ABSTRACT This contribution highlights the impact of contextual factors (the structure and realism of toys and the play situation) on the development of symbolic play. The studies compared three age groups of children in preschool settings. In the first study we varied the degree of structure in the toys. The level of the play was evaluated by a five-level scale of development in the use of toys and objects. In the second study we varied the theme of the play and analysed the complexity of the play by using Smilansky's Scale for the Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio-dramatic Play. The results of both studies confirm that the level and complexity of children's symbolic play depend on both play materials and the play context. Therefore, preschool teachers should consider both aspects when planning, organising and supervising the play of children in preschool settings.

Early Child Development and Care, 2014

ABSTRACT The purpose of our study was to examine the ways in which parents engage in play with th... more ABSTRACT The purpose of our study was to examine the ways in which parents engage in play with their children within the family context and to establish which parental play behaviour predicts the play behaviour of their children during interactive play with toys. The sample included 58 children from 2;6 to 6 years old and their parents. The parent–child dyads were videotaped in the home setting during a 30-minute interactive play period with both structured and unstructured toys, chosen by the researchers. The interactive play was analysed using the Scale for Observing Child–Adult Play [Marjanovič-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2012). Lestvica za opazovanje otroka in starša med igro [Scale for Observing Child–Adult Play]. Ljubljana: Oddelek za psihologijo, Filozofska fakulteta], which consists of five categories for assessing the adult's play and four categories for assessing the child's play. The results obtained showed positive correlations between parents' and children's play behaviour. The regression analysis showed that the parental use of mental transformations was the strongest predictor of a child's play behaviour; namely, the development of the play content and play frame as well as the child's use of mental transformations. The findings provide important possible implications, especially in the sense of scaffolding children's symbolic play.

Early Child Development and Care, 2008

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of preschool on children’s school re... more ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of preschool on children’s school readiness in connection with their intellectual abilities, language competence and parents’ education. The sample included 219 children from 68 to 83 months old attending the first year of primary school, differentiated by whether or not they had attended preschool before starting school. Children’s intellectual ability was determined using Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices, language competence using the Lestvice splošnega govornega razvoja–LJ (Scales of General Language Development) and school readiness with the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo (Test of School Readiness). The results indicate that children’s intellectual ability and language competence have high predictive value for the school readiness because they explain 51% of the variance in children’s scores on the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo. Preschool enrollment has a positive effect on school readiness for children whose parents have a low level of education, but not for those whose parents are highly educated. The results obtained indicate that enrollment in preschool is able to compensate for deficiencies in children’s development if the parents have a lower level of education. Preschool is not an important factor in school readiness for children whose parents are highly educated. These parents probably already offer their children quality stimulation in the family environment that preschool activities do not surpass.

Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and othe... more Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and 2009. The authors point to the danger of such omissions for possible evidence-based education policymaking. With regard to the reproduction of social inequalities through education, we focus on variance in student performance between schools and within schools on the science scale (PISA 2006) and in the mother tongue (PISA 2009). The thesis of the PISA study is that there are countries (Finland, Iceland and Norway) where between only 14 and 29% of the average OECD variance (33%) is attributed to between-school variance – which is good – and there are countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Slovenia, the Netherlands, etc.), where the variance between schools is at least ‘one-and-a-half times that of the OECD’ – which is bad. For Slovenia, we demonstrate a significantly different share of variance explained by between-school variance of the same or similar cohort if we move the point of research by only nine months. Our main argument is that such a difference in the share of variance is not the result of a substantial change in the results (grooving difference in the performance) but the result of formal organisational change – the transition of the cohort to upper secondary education. The difference in calculations also radically changes policy implications, which is crucial. While PISA data suggest the necessity of policy measures to reduce between-school variance, our calculations suggest the need for reconsideration of policy measures aimed at the reduction of within-school variance, gender differences, and differences in performance between native and immigrant students.

• Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several stu... more • Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ability. The effect of gender on toddler's, children's and adolescents' language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian studies (nine cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study). The ten studies were published between 2004 and 2016 and included a total of 3,657 toddlers, children and adolescents, aged from 8 months to 15 years. The language outcome measures refer to different aspects of language ability, including vocabulary, mean length of utterance, sentence complexity, language expression and comprehension, storytelling ability and metalinguistic awareness. Across the studies, language ability was assessed using different approaches and instruments, most of which were standardised on samples of Slovenian-speaking children. Based on the reported arithmetic means and standard deviations, the effect sizes of gender for each of the included studies were calculated, as well as the average effect size of gender across the different studies. The findings of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size of gender on toddlers'/children's/adolescents' language largely depended on their age and the aspect of language measured. The effect sizes increased with children's increasing age. All significant effects proved to be in favour of girls. The findings were interpreted in relation to the characteristics of language development and social cultural factors that can contribute to gender differences in language ability.

Play is considered to be an important context for the development of language, communication skil... more Play is considered to be an important context for the development of language, communication skills and competence, and is often accompanied by complex language interactions. Children use language in their play most of the time, talking to themselves, their toys or their playmates. The purpose of our study was to evaluate children's use of language during three different pre-school activities: free play, routine activity and guided activity. The sample included 60 preschool children, aged 4 to 5 years (30 boys and 30 girls), from families with different educational backgrounds (30 with secondary and 30 with higher parental education). Children's speech was recorded during each of the three activities in the pre-school institution. The results of the structural and functional analysis show significant differences in many of the characteristics of children's speech during each of the three activities. Children spoke significantly more, used more multi-word utterances, inte...

The family literacy environment is reported to be an important predictor of a child's languag... more The family literacy environment is reported to be an important predictor of a child's language and early literacy development. This study examined the relations between various aspects of family literacy environment and different measures of children's language, assessed in three different settings, namely in a structured test situation, at home and in preschool. The sample included 80 preschool children, ran-domly selected from 13 preschools, aged approximately 4 years. The quality of family literacy environment was estimated by mothers, using the Home literacy environment questionnaire. Children's language development and storytelling ability was assessed by a testator, while their spontaneous language was assessed by their mothers and preschool teachers. Family literacy environment was found to be an important factor of the child's storytelling ability and the complexity of his spontaneous language, used at home and in preschool. Maternal education proved to be as...

Early Child Development and Care, 2014

ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of t... more ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and tablet computers use in the first grade of primary school from the perspectives of three groups of evaluators, namely the teachers, the pupils and an independent observer. The sample included three first grade classes with children aged from six to seven years. The educational software used by teachers included the electronic form of textbooks and workbooks for different subjects. These data were collected during the period of six months through the teachers' and an independent observer's observations and the semi-structured interviews with pupils. Based on the content analysis of the teachers' and pupils' answers, several positive and negative aspects of the IWB (positive aspects included a dynamic display of the content, pupils' attention and motivation; negative aspects included technical difficulties, a frontal way of teaching) and tablet computers (positive aspects included pupils' motivation and persistence, the immediate feedback; negative aspects included technical problems, teacher's lesser control over pupils' work) were identified.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2015

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environme... more ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environment on the language of toddlers and children in early childhood. The sample included 86 families with one- to six-year-old children. The data on the social, economic, and cultural factors of the family environment, parental reading literacy, parental knowledge of children's development, children's exposure to shared reading, and child language were obtained in the family environment. Path analysis was used to verify the presumed structural model, which included social and economic factors of the family environment, parental knowledge of children's development, and parental reading literacy as independent variables, activities used by parents to encourage their child's language as mediating variables, and children's early literacy and language as a dependent variable. The analysis results showed that the presumed structural model fitted our data well. Parental education (PE), family financial conditions, parental knowledge of children's development, and parental reading literacy was able to explain 13% of the variance in child language. The obtained results confirm the significant effect of social, economic, and cultural factors of the child's family on language during toddlerhood and early childhood.

Journal of Child Language, 2013

European Journal of Psychological Assessment, Mar 6, 2015

... The Greek authors Apostolos and Napoleon (2001) report that the educational level of children... more ... The Greek authors Apostolos and Napoleon (2001) report that the educational level of children's parents influences their understanding and use of word ... The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (.88) and the result of Bartlett's test of sphericity (χ2 = 4998, df = 528, p = .000) were higher ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2008

Several studies have demonstrated that children’s gender and parental education exert a significa... more Several studies have demonstrated that children’s gender and parental education exert a significant, but not equal, effect on toddler language development at different ages. This study determined the effect of children’s gender and parental education on the verbal competence of toddlers between 16 and 30 months. The sample included 953 Slovenian toddlers (approximately half boys and half girls) whose parents differed in the level of formal education completed. Their language competence was evaluated using the Inventory of Communicative Competence for Toddlers Aged 16 to 30 Months: Words and Sentences (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al. 2004). The parents provided an evaluation of the toddlers’ use of language. The findings demonstrate that gender has a significant effect on toddlers’ language competence, regardless of their age. Parents assessed girls as more verbally competent than boys in all of the language use areas evaluated, regardless of their age. Parental education had a significant effect on certain areas of toddlers’ language competence, regardless of their gender. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that at the age of 16 to 30 months important developmental changes occur in the areas of toddler language competence that were evaluated.RÉSUMÉ: Des études ont démontré que le sexe de l’enfant et le niveau de formation des parents jouent un rôle significatif dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge, mais que leur importance varie en fonction des différentes tranches d’âge. La présente étude se propose d’étudier l’influence exercée par le sexe de l’enfant et par le niveau de formation des parents sur la compétence langagière des enfants âgés de seize à trente mois. Nous avons inclus dans notre étude 953 enfants slovènes en bas âge (avec environ une part égale de filles et de garçons), dont les parents avaient des niveaux de formation différents. La compétence langagière des enfants a été évaluée à l’aide de l’Inventaire du développement des compétences communicatives pour enfants en bas âge, âgés de 16 à 30 mois: mots et phrases (Liste razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti za malčke, stare od 16 do 30 mesecev: besede in stavki), (Marjanovič Umek, Kranjc, Fekonja et Bajc, 2004). Ce sont les parents qui ont évalué la compétence langagière de leurs enfants. Il en résulte que le sexe de l’enfant joue un rôle important quant à la compétence langagière de l’enfant en bas âge, quel que soit son âge. Les parents ont évalué les filles comme étant plus compétentes à l’oral que les garçons, à tous les niveaux d’évaluation de l’usage de l’oral, quelle que soit la tranche d’âge observée. Le niveau de formation des parents joue un rôle important sur certains segments de la compétence langagière des enfants en bas âge. Les résultats obtenus nous permettent de conclure que la période de seize à trente mois apporte des changements significatifs dans le développement de la compétence langagière chez les enfants en bas âge.ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Aus mehreren Studien geht hervor, dass das Geschlecht des Kindes und die Ausbildung seiner Eltern einen bedeutenden, jedoch nicht gleich großen Einfluss auf die Sprachentwicklung des Kindes in verschiedenen Altersphasen haben. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden der Einfluss des Geschlechts des Kindes und die Ausbildung der Eltern auf die Sprachkompetenz von Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten hin untersucht. Insgesamt 953 slowenische Kleinkinder (etwa zur Hälfte Mädchen und Jungen) wurden als Testpersonen in die Studie aufgenommen, deren Eltern sich im erreichten Ausbildungsabschluss unterschieden. Die Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder wurde mit Hilfe des Verzeichnisses der Kommunikationsfähigkeiten für Kleinkinder im Alter von 16 bis 30 Monaten: Wörter und Sätze (ICC/Words and Sentences: Marjanovič Umek et al. 2004) bewertet. Der Gebrauch der Sprache des Kindes wurde von seinen Eltern beurteilt. Die Resultate ergaben, dass das Geschlecht der Kinder, ungeachtet ihres Alters, einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf ihre Sprachkompetenz hat. Mädchen wurden unabhängig von ihrem Alter von ihren Eltern auf allen Bewertungsebenen als kompetenter in der Sprache im Vergleich zu Jungen bewertet. Die Ausbildungsstufe der Eltern hatte wesentlichen Einfluss in einigen Bereichen der Sprachkompetenz der Kleinkinder, ungeachtet deren Geschlechts. Den Resultaten zufolge kann festgestellt werden, dass in den bewerteten Bereichen bei Kleinkindern im Alter von sechzehn bis dreißig Monaten wichtige Veränderungen auf dem Gebiet der Sprachkompetenzentwicklung eintreten.RESUMEN: Los resultados de diversas investigaciones demuestran que el sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres tienen un efecto importante, pero no en el mismo grado en diferentes edades, sobre el desarrollo del habla infantil. La presente investigación establece el efecto del sexo del niño y la educación de sus padres sobre la competencia verbal de niños pequeños entre ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2006

Studies in the area of developmental psychology — especially those carried out in the past thirty... more Studies in the area of developmental psychology — especially those carried out in the past thirty years — show that preschool quality, both at the structural and process levels, in combination with the quality of the family environment influences various areas of children's development and learning. The goal of this study is to determine the effect of preschool quality, maternal

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2012

ABSTRACT Storytelling represents an aspect of children's general language competence. The... more ABSTRACT Storytelling represents an aspect of children's general language competence. The characteristics of the home literacy environment, especially joint reading between parents and children, have a significant effect on children's storytelling. The purpose of this study was to explore the age differences in the storytelling of three- to six-year-old children. In addition, the goal was also to determine the effect of parental education, parents' knowledge of children's books, as an indirect measure of joint reading in the home environment, and child's gender on children's storytelling ability. The sample included 156 children aged three- to six-years-old and their parents. The children's storytelling competence was assessed using the Little Glove Storytelling Test. The stories that the children told using a standard picture book were analyzed in terms of several criteria connected with the words in the story and the structure of the story (grammatical structure and contents). Parents' knowledge of children's book was assessed using a Checklist of children's books. The results showed that the period between the ages of three and six is important for the development of children's storytelling; parental education and parents' knowledge of children's books have a significant effect on children's storytelling. In addition, specific important differences were established between boys' and girls' stories: the girls told stories using a greater number of words, whereas no major gender-related differences were determined with regard to the structure of the stories told. The results obtained were interpreted from the viewpoint of both developmental psychology and selected environmental factors.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2005

ABSTRACT As part of a larger Slovene longitudinal study on the impact of the preschool institutio... more ABSTRACT As part of a larger Slovene longitudinal study on the impact of the preschool institution on the child's development and his or her school achievements, effects of the age at entry to preschool on children's language were explored. The sample included 82 children, who were divided into two groups depending on their age at entry to the preschool institution: group A consisted of children who entered preschool at approximately 3 years, and group B those who entered preschool at approximately 1 year of age. Children's language competences were assessed using a Language Development Scale and a Story Telling Test at Time 1 (the average age 38 months) and at Time 2, one year later (the average age 50 months). Early entry to preschool was found to have no negative effects on children's language competences in toddlerhood. Children who entered preschool at an early age told more coherent stories than those who started attending preschool at 3 years of age. Effects of maternal educational level and the child's gender on language competences were also assessed. Children whose mothers had a higher level of formal education showed higher language competences than those whose mothers had less education. No significant effect was found of children's gender on language expression, comprehension, or storytelling. The obtained results were interpreted in the light of the Slovene preschool curriculum, a national document providing guidelines for educational work in preschool institutions, and of current practice observed in Slovene preschool institutions.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2003

... The Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education (Oxford: The Alden Press). ... The e... more ... The Role and Status of Play in Early Childhood Education (Oxford: The Alden Press). ... The effects of thematic - fantasy play training on the development of children's story comprehension ... readiness for learning, in: OLSON, DR & TORRANCE, N. (Eds.) The Handbook of Education ...

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2001

There is an increasing number of studies and papers which highlight the social function of speech... more There is an increasing number of studies and papers which highlight the social function of speech and the importance of communication in the context of social interactions. Our study analyses communication between children, namely the speech in connection with the social interactions of children. Symbolic play is one of the important activities which is very frequent in the preschool period

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1999

The paper considers symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions. ... more The paper considers symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions. Symbolic play was stimulated through two different structured activities and dictation of the preparation and the use of different toys and play materials (i.e. thematic symbolic play and play related to pictorial material). The children's play was videotaped in their home playrooms. The videotapes were analysed by competent observers using Smilansky" s scale for assessing dramatic and sociodramatic play. Analysis was aimed at establishing which elements determine the symbolic play of children of different age groups with regard to two different play situations, and how they determine it. At the same time, we wished to set out some critical points which significantly determine the nature and course of symbolic play in different age groups of children in preschool institutions.

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1997

In Slovenia many mixed-age groups have recently been formed in early childhood institutions. Resu... more In Slovenia many mixed-age groups have recently been formed in early childhood institutions. Results of research from various countries show that, in most cases, mixing of children of different ages in early childhood institutions has many advantages. It has an impact on a child's cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as on the social atmosphere of the group. In

Early Years, 2001

ABSTRACT This contribution highlights the impact of contextual factors (the structure and realism... more ABSTRACT This contribution highlights the impact of contextual factors (the structure and realism of toys and the play situation) on the development of symbolic play. The studies compared three age groups of children in preschool settings. In the first study we varied the degree of structure in the toys. The level of the play was evaluated by a five-level scale of development in the use of toys and objects. In the second study we varied the theme of the play and analysed the complexity of the play by using Smilansky's Scale for the Evaluation of Dramatic and Socio-dramatic Play. The results of both studies confirm that the level and complexity of children's symbolic play depend on both play materials and the play context. Therefore, preschool teachers should consider both aspects when planning, organising and supervising the play of children in preschool settings.

Early Child Development and Care, 2014

ABSTRACT The purpose of our study was to examine the ways in which parents engage in play with th... more ABSTRACT The purpose of our study was to examine the ways in which parents engage in play with their children within the family context and to establish which parental play behaviour predicts the play behaviour of their children during interactive play with toys. The sample included 58 children from 2;6 to 6 years old and their parents. The parent–child dyads were videotaped in the home setting during a 30-minute interactive play period with both structured and unstructured toys, chosen by the researchers. The interactive play was analysed using the Scale for Observing Child–Adult Play [Marjanovič-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2012). Lestvica za opazovanje otroka in starša med igro [Scale for Observing Child–Adult Play]. Ljubljana: Oddelek za psihologijo, Filozofska fakulteta], which consists of five categories for assessing the adult's play and four categories for assessing the child's play. The results obtained showed positive correlations between parents' and children's play behaviour. The regression analysis showed that the parental use of mental transformations was the strongest predictor of a child's play behaviour; namely, the development of the play content and play frame as well as the child's use of mental transformations. The findings provide important possible implications, especially in the sense of scaffolding children's symbolic play.

Early Child Development and Care, 2008

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of preschool on children’s school re... more ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of preschool on children’s school readiness in connection with their intellectual abilities, language competence and parents’ education. The sample included 219 children from 68 to 83 months old attending the first year of primary school, differentiated by whether or not they had attended preschool before starting school. Children’s intellectual ability was determined using Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices, language competence using the Lestvice splošnega govornega razvoja–LJ (Scales of General Language Development) and school readiness with the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo (Test of School Readiness). The results indicate that children’s intellectual ability and language competence have high predictive value for the school readiness because they explain 51% of the variance in children’s scores on the Preizkus pripravljenosti za šolo. Preschool enrollment has a positive effect on school readiness for children whose parents have a low level of education, but not for those whose parents are highly educated. The results obtained indicate that enrollment in preschool is able to compensate for deficiencies in children’s development if the parents have a lower level of education. Preschool is not an important factor in school readiness for children whose parents are highly educated. These parents probably already offer their children quality stimulation in the family environment that preschool activities do not surpass.

Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and othe... more Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and 2009. The authors point to the danger of such omissions for possible evidence-based education policymaking. With regard to the reproduction of social inequalities through education, we focus on variance in student performance between schools and within schools on the science scale (PISA 2006) and in the mother tongue (PISA 2009). The thesis of the PISA study is that there are countries (Finland, Iceland and Norway) where between only 14 and 29% of the average OECD variance (33%) is attributed to between-school variance – which is good – and there are countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Slovenia, the Netherlands, etc.), where the variance between schools is at least ‘one-and-a-half times that of the OECD’ – which is bad. For Slovenia, we demonstrate a significantly different share of variance explained by between-school variance of the same or similar cohort if we move the point of research by only nine months. Our main argument is that such a difference in the share of variance is not the result of a substantial change in the results (grooving difference in the performance) but the result of formal organisational change – the transition of the cohort to upper secondary education. The difference in calculations also radically changes policy implications, which is crucial. While PISA data suggest the necessity of policy measures to reduce between-school variance, our calculations suggest the need for reconsideration of policy measures aimed at the reduction of within-school variance, gender differences, and differences in performance between native and immigrant students.

• Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several stu... more • Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers'/children's language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ability. The effect of gender on toddler's, children's and adolescents' language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian studies (nine cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study). The ten studies were published between 2004 and 2016 and included a total of 3,657 toddlers, children and adolescents, aged from 8 months to 15 years. The language outcome measures refer to different aspects of language ability, including vocabulary, mean length of utterance, sentence complexity, language expression and comprehension, storytelling ability and metalinguistic awareness. Across the studies, language ability was assessed using different approaches and instruments, most of which were standardised on samples of Slovenian-speaking children. Based on the reported arithmetic means and standard deviations, the effect sizes of gender for each of the included studies were calculated, as well as the average effect size of gender across the different studies. The findings of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size of gender on toddlers'/children's/adolescents' language largely depended on their age and the aspect of language measured. The effect sizes increased with children's increasing age. All significant effects proved to be in favour of girls. The findings were interpreted in relation to the characteristics of language development and social cultural factors that can contribute to gender differences in language ability.