Text to Talk is a research project focused on home-school engagement and young children’s vocabulary.
Our curriculum materials are located here: https://sites.temple.edu/texttotalk/texts-for-text-to-talk/
Funded by the William Penn Foundation and sponsored by the School District of Philadelphia, Text to Talk is a project focused on improving our understanding of how early childhood educators communicate with families, and how modern forms of communications such as apps, texting, and email might foster home-school connection, and ultimately children’s kindergarten readiness.
Our findings suggest that teachers and families are enthusiastic about using texting and view texting as a tool to further family-school engagement and communication and to enhance child outcomes. The RCT found significant effects of the program on vocabulary knowledge. Read here for an interview by Ed Week about the project.
Recently, funding from the William Penn Foundation has expanded Text to Talk to include videos that model to parents how to best talk about new vocabulary words with their children and how to use vocabulary and language in play, during book-reading, and in everyday activities in ways that best support young children’s language development and reading readiness.
Papers about Text to Talk:
Snell, E.K., Wasik, B. A., Hindman, A. H. (2022). Text to talk: Effects of a home-school vocabulary texting intervention on prekindergarten vocabulary. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 60, 67-79.
Snell et al. 2020 The Reading Teacher
Snell et al. 2020 Early Childhood Development and Care
For more information, please contact Emily Snell or Barbara Wasik .
Text to Talk Videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWS7_0DJXzAaF5HNi51ocmQd29jLj6jE&si=nPYnIxpJhgbS5hjw