Professional practice in language-support for childcare centres

This article examines the quality of interactions and the language-related practices of childcare professionals (‘FaBes’) at daycare centres in Zurich. It is based on the evaluation of the language support programme ‘All set for kindergarten’ (German: ‘Gut vorbereitet in den Kindergarten’), conducted by the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zürich) on behalf of the City of Zurich.
Everyday situations in 19 daycare centres were videotaped and analysed using the instrument ‘EULE’, which assesses the quality of language-supportive practices according to four dimensions: structuring and guidance, adaptation, stimulation and linguistic means. For this article, selected scenes were re-analysed in greater depth with a focus on the quality of interactions and drawing on the evaluation results.
Particularly effective are situations where FaBes deliberately use facial expressions and gestures alongside verbal utterances and also respond to children’s interests. This study highlights the active role of FaBes as facilitators of dialogue who, through intentional language use, create supportive language learning environments.