Pre-kindergarten instructional classroom interactions associated with phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge

The quantitative study examined 325 classroom scores of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge across time at the beginning (BOY), middle (MOY), and end (EOY) of the year in Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K). The study also investigated the association between Pre-K classroom instructional interactions that supported phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Structural equation modeling autoregressive results yielded that vocabulary scores at BOY, MOY, and EOY were significantly associated with the specific time points and stable across time. The phonological awareness scores at BOY, MOY, and EOY were significantly associated with the specific time points but not stable across time. Cross-lag analyses revealed that phonological awareness and vocabulary were not bidirectional. Phonological awareness was associated with vocabulary across all time points, but vocabulary was not associated with phonological awareness and showed no relationship across time. Moderation analyses showed that instructional support classroom interactions did not moderate Pre-K classroom scores of vocabulary and phonological awareness.