In my dissertation, I explore child-directed speech, its implementation in kindergarten settings, and educators' responses to it. The theoretical section initially provides a general overview of speech and language. It discusses the development of speech in the preschool years and the role of parents and other adults in this development. The main chapter of the dissertation is dedicated to child-directed speech, detailing its usage, characteristics, and both its negative and positive impacts, as well as how adults should properly engage with it.
In the empirical section, I examined how professional staff in kindergartens respond to child-directed speech that children bring from home. This research was conducted through interviews with ten preschool teachers. The findings indicate that all interviewed teachers actively respond to the child-directed speech used by children, directing them towards proper speech usage. If a child's use of child-directed speech is excessive, they notify the parents and offer various strategies to mitigate it. Additionally, they also monitor and adjust their own use of child-directed speech.
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