Student vocabulary size in preschool predicts later literacy outcomes. With many words to master, effective preschool teaching must not only focus on specific words but also on word-learning strategies, with metalinguistic awareness being one strategy. Research supports metalinguistic instruction in upper elementary grades, but few studies explore preschool metalinguistic teacher talk. Research Findings: This study analyzed nine teachers’ use of metalinguistic talk during storybook reading with their 67 preschoolers across 108 observations. Through a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, we used quantitative methods to capture the frequency of metalinguistic talk types and multilevel models to explore associations between metalinguistic talk and standardized vocabulary scores. We then employed qualitative methods to understand how these talk moves enact affective messages about language awareness that signal dispositions toward word learning. Results revealed a typology of preschool metalinguistic talk, a positive association between metalinguistic talk and vocabulary, and teacher enactments that position words as powerful tools for expression or as markers of ability. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight metalinguistic talk as a promising approach for supporting preschool vocabulary development. They also reveal how teachers enact this talk in ways that may shape children’s sustained attention to and interest in words broadly.
Neugebauer et al. (Tue,) studied this question.