Peer Effects on Early Language Development in Dual Language Learners

Beyond the Classroom: Investigating the Relationship between Psychomotor Development and Academic Achievement in 4-12-Year-Olds

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The relevance of psychomotor skills in children's growth is being increasingly recognized. The transversal role of psychomotor skills in learning performance is described through a link between cognitive and motor functioning, promoting socio-affective-expressive competencies, but there is a scarcity of evidence from the field. A two-fold goal was defined: to investigate the relationship between psychomotor functions and academic performance and to examine the factors affecting children's academic performance.

METHODS

The Portuguese versions of the Neuropsychomotor Functions Assessment Battery for Children (NPmot.pt), Preschool Diagnostic Tasks (PRE), and School Learning Skills Battery (SLSB) were applied to 350 children (85.72 ± 24.23 months) with and without disabilities attending mainstream schools.

RESULTS

Pearson correlations and regression analyses were used. NPmot.pt domains showed moderate to strong correlations with PRE domains (0.30 < r < 0.82) and weak ones with SLSB domains (r < 0.30). Psychomotor development is a stronger predictor (p < 0.001) of pre-academic performance outcomes: (βTonus = 0.67, βGross Motor Skills = 1.04, βSpatial Orientation = -1.44, βRhythm = -1.59 and βAuditory Attention = 3.68) than of academic performance above 7 years old (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Results strengthen the importance of psychomotor skills development from an early age, also at school, with implications for an early psychomotor assessment and intervention for children with and without disabilities. Tailor-fit interventions, including strategies to improve psychomotor skills, should be promoted during the school process of all children for a successful learning process.

Instructional support in inquiry-based elementary school science classes: how does it relate to students’ science content knowledge and academic language proficiency?

Inquiry-based science instruction has been proposed as an optimal learning environment for language-integrated teaching. While its potential for developing both content knowledge and language skills has been shown for students with limited language proficiency, research focusing on mainstream classrooms has mainly considered domain-specific learning. Despite the effectiveness of inquiry-based science instruction for student outcomes, research on the role of specific aspects of instructional quality is limited. Addressing this research gap, the present study investigates the relationship between teachers’ instructional support during inquiry-based science classes and elementary school students’ learning gains in science content knowledge and academic language proficiency. Multilevel regression analyses are based on data from 459 German elementary school students from Grades 3 and 4 who participated in a longitudinal intervention study that took place over one school year. Our findings indicate a strong impact of students’ prior knowledge on learning outcomes and compositional effects for the language-related measures. Relations between teachers’ instructional support, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta et al., 2008), and students’ learning outcomes did not emerge. In interpreting the results, the overall mediocre quality of teachers’ instructional support needs to be considered.