ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2024

Melodies of learning: A prosodic analysis of preschool teachers' language patterns in the classroom

Jill Thorson, Kim Nesbitt

Rich linguistic environments (RLEs) are essential to support child and language development in early education settings. Characteristics of RLEs include high-quality language, prosody (fundamental frequency-f0 variation), and interactions between the teacher and children (increases in turn-taking, number of contingent responses, and open-ended questions). We currently lack a quantifiable way to assess teacher language to provide clearer feedback to enhance early learning environments. The aims are threefold: 1) to quantitatively assess the quality of teacher language, 2) to analyze prosodic variation across a typical day for a preschool teacher, and 3) to investigate connections between teacher language and prosody. Audio data were recorded from preschool classroom teachers from 5 different sites (preschool teachers of 3-4-year-old children; n=10). Each teacher was recorded for two days (4-7 hours/day). Each participant completed a background survey and a daily activity log. The recordings are transcribed to analyze language (MLU, number of questions, number of different/total words, number of turns) and prosodic characteristics (f0 variation; prosodic contour shapes). Data from this study aid in understanding RLEs and provide a method to systematically capture teacher language in a more nuanced manner.