Approaches and educational assessments of children’s speech, language and communication development in Swedish preschools

The aim of the study is to investigate how children’s speech, language and communication development is described and documented in Swedish kindergartens. Another aim is to investigate how kindergarten teachers and special needs teachers in kindergartens describe how they approach and assess children’s linguistic development. The educators’ views on concepts such as ‘scientifically based’ and ‘proven experience’, and different ways of following up language development for children in need of extra support, have also been investigated. The three research questions are: 1) To what extent and what methods do kindergarten teachers and special needs teachers use to describe and document children’s speech, language and communication development? 2) What influences kindergarten teachers’ and special needs teachers’ choice of assessment tools and their approach when describing and documenting children’s speech, language and communication development? 3) In what ways are speech, language and communication development described and documented regarding children in need of extra support in kindergarten, and are there systematic follow-up plans for these children?

The results show that several of the educators are unsure about what it means to conduct scientifically based work. While some of the respondents reflected thoroughly on this, others had a more unreflected approach to the topic. Some of them trusted that tools developed by others, such as the municipal bureaucracy, were scientifically based. Others were confident that the quality of the tools they used to assess children’s language development was scientifically assured because they had critically assessed them themselves, together with colleagues, and/or during their education. Most respondents reported that they used systematic language assessment tools regarding children in need of extra support. The authors of the article believe that the many different ways of following up the language development of these children, and the different perceptions of what lies in important concepts such as ‘scientifically based’ and ‘proven experience’, are a challenge for kindergarten educators. 

The sample consists of 33 kindergarten teachers and 30 special needs teachers from Swedish kindergartens who answered a questionnaire that included both closed-ended and open-ended questions about practices concerning the description, documentation and follow-up of kindergarten children’s speech, language and communication development. Among other things, they were asked which assessment tools they used and whether these were based on proven experience or scientific research. The responses were analysed using a content analysis and then compared.

Nordberg, A. & Jacobsson, K. (2019). "Approaches and educational assessments of children’s speech, language and communication development in Swedish preschools". Early Child Development and Care.