Literacy Environment in Early Childhood Classrooms: Associations with Children’s Engagement

This study examines associations between the literacy environment of early childhood classrooms and children’s engagement. Children’s language development relies on quality educational practices in preschool and kindergarten. The literacy environment includes a physical dimension (e.g., books, writing materials, environmental prints) and an interactive dimension (teacher-child and child-child interactions). Engagement refers to the quality of children’s individual experiences, including teacher interactions, peer interactions, task orientation, and conflict interactions. Observations were conducted in 30 classrooms using the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Pre-K (ELLCO Pre-K) to assess the literacy environment, along with the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS) to assess 150 children’s engagement. Findings show that the literacy environment was at a basic quality level, while children’s engagement remained in the low range for teacher, peer, and conflict interactions, and in the medium range for task orientation. No significant associations were found between the literacy environment variables and children’s engagement, but socioeconomic status, child age, and group size were associated with children’s engagement. Results are discussed in light of early literacy teaching practices, supporting children’s engagement, as well as how these findings can be incorporated in teacher training.