Martine van der Pluijm

116 Chapter 4 In the second phase of the program (Implement intervention activities), we found that teachers were successful in developing parent-child activities adapted to the needs of lower-educated parents. Teachers designed activities that were easy to perform and stimulated interaction between parent and child. Teachers carefully considered parental skills and knowledge based on the information they attained at Step 1 [Assess the HLE]. They explained the steps and modeled how the activity should be carried out. Several teachers mentioned that modeling was the most effective delivery mode to provide explanations to parents with little prior knowledge and literacy skills. This use of modeling contrasts with previous findings in FLPs. De la Rie (2018) and Teepe (2018) found that teachers used less modeling in language activities than the program prescribed and concluded that teachers should be trained to use appropriate delivery modes to adapt to lower-educated parents. Our program seems to succeed in providing such training. It also stresses the importance of additional competence building for teachers to support them when engaging lower-educated parents and their children in interactive activities. In the third phase of the program (Stimulate oral language development), we found the most development, evidenced by the large effect sizes of observed teacher behavior. First, several teachers considered parental role support [Step 5] as the most relevant step for teachers. However, during our observations, we found lower scores compared to the other two steps to support oral language. We observed less explicit explanations of why and how parents should follow their children’s initiative and how turn-taking can stimulate children’s use of language. As a result, many lower-educated parents dominated the interaction with their children during activities, inhibiting turn-taking. It is well-documented that lower-educated parents often show a directive form of communication with their children (Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994; Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff, 2003; Mistry et al., 2008). Aligning the communication styles of parents and teachers is crucial for progress towards children’s oral language development (Wasik & Sparling, 2012). Our findings show a strong development of prioritizing language [Step 6] and expanding language [Step 7]. However, observations and interviews showed that teachers varied in their adherence to these steps, particularly in their use of scaffolding and decontextualized questions. Additional video coaching would be useful to support teachers who need to improve these strategies (see Chapter 3). Finally, we discuss the AHL professionalization activities. These activities were grounded in principles that have proved to contribute to teachers’ sustained motivation to optimize their role and feelings of ownership (De Brabander & Martens, 2018; Epstein et al., 2019; Hoover- Dempsey et al., 2002; Van Veen et al., 2012). In teachers’considerations of their future use of AHL activities, these principles resound. We believe that the extent of freedom teachers experienced during the implementation, complemented by the meaningful improvements of their work as a teacher, explains their intentions to continue AHL after the implementation period. However, during the interviews, some teachers shared frustrations about involving their colleagues. This