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This dissertation investigated second graders’ oral discourse production regarding three aspects: 1) oral discourse production by discourse context, 2) dimensionality of oral discourse production, and 3) contributions of language and cognitive skills to oral discourse production. Data came from 330 second grade students (53% boys) from the Southeastern part of the United States, and oral discourse production was measured through picture description task which was transcribed verbatim and coded for linguistic (e.g., adverb, conjunction, pronominal, elaborated noun phrase, mental state talk) and discourse features (e.g., proper character introduction, degree of decontextualization, perspective taking). Study 1 examined how second graders vary linguistic and discourse features depending on discourse conditions: contextualized condition—describing the picture to an examiner while looking at it together—and decontextualized condition—pretending to describe the picture to a friend while sitting in front of the examiner. Results of multilevel regression showed that type-token ratio, higher degrees of decontextualization, and complex perspective taking were higher in the contextualized condition whereas some elaborated noun phrases, coordinating conjunctions, non-clauses, and proper character introduction occurred more frequently in the decontextualized condition, controlling for total productivity and student demographics. The findings illustrated the extent to which children used their discourse knowledge in oral discourse production. Study 2 looked at the factor structure of oral discourse production using a total of nine linguistic and discourse features identified from the same picture description task in Study 1. Results from confirmatory factor analysis showed that a bi-factor structure consisting of a general oral discourse production factor and two specific linguistic features and discourse features factors provided the best fit to the data. The only reliable facto

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how the quality and quantity of literacy instruction are related to children's language and reading achievement at the elementary level. To this end, I conducted three studies: Study 1 used a meta-analytic approach to synthesize extant research findings regarding the correlational coefficients reported between the observed classroom practices (including both quality and quantity of teaching behaviors) and students’ language and literacy achievement from Pre-K to 6th grade; Study 2 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quantity (i.e., amount of code-based or meaning-based instruction) is related to Grade 1 to Grade 3 students’ reading outcomes while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction as well as a variety of student-and teacher-level characteristics such as students’ race, gender and teachers’ teaching experience; Study 3 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quality (i.e., teacher warmth and responsiveness, and organization for instruction) is related to student language (listening comprehension) and reading achievement while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction in Grade 1 to Grade 3.Study 1 obtained a significant but weak association between the observed classroom practices and students’ language and literacy achievement from 108 studies: the average zero-order correlation is .12 and the partial correlation is .04. The relation was slightly weaker in upper than in lower grade levels and stronger for observations capturing macro quality and an instructional dimension than those capturing micro quantitative measurement and an emotional or structural dimension, respectively. Study 2 used data from 800 students and their teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 3, and detected a positive relation of a greater amount of meaning-based instruction to

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how the quality and quantity of literacy instruction are related to children's language and reading achievement at the elementary level. To this end, I conducted three studies: Study 1 used a meta-analytic approach to synthesize extant research findings regarding the correlational coefficients reported between the observed classroom practices (including both quality and quantity of teaching behaviors) and students’ language and literacy achievement from Pre-K to 6th grade; Study 2 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quantity (i.e., amount of code-based or meaning-based instruction) is related to Grade 1 to Grade 3 students’ reading outcomes while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction as well as a variety of student-and teacher-level characteristics such as students’ race, gender and teachers’ teaching experience; Study 3 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quality (i.e., teacher warmth and responsiveness, and organization for instruction) is related to student language (listening comprehension) and reading achievement while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction in Grade 1 to Grade 3.Study 1 obtained a significant but weak association between the observed classroom practices and students’ language and literacy achievement from 108 studies: the average zero-order correlation is .12 and the partial correlation is .04. The relation was slightly weaker in upper than in lower grade levels and stronger for observations capturing macro quality and an instructional dimension than those capturing micro quantitative measurement and an emotional or structural dimension, respectively. Study 2 used data from 800 students and their teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 3, and detected a positive relation of a greater amount of meaning-based instruction to