This webinar presents key findings from the project MQ Toddler TaLK, which addressed the question: How do very young children develop the ability to engage in conversations that support learning in ECEC centres? In this project, we observed 27 toddlers five times each, at 30, 33, 36, 39 and 40 months of age, during everyday play and mealtime activities in their ECE centres.

The webinar will first introduce the project, which was designed to examine:

• how very young children use language to demonstrate and build knowledge when they interact with educators and peers,

• when and how different types of learning-oriented talk emerge and develop from 2 ½ and 3 ½ years of age, and

• how educators can support young children to engage in learning-oriented talk.

In this presentation, we will define the key features of learning-oriented talk, which is fundamental to a young child’s learning and future academic achievement, and report on when each feature first emerged and how its use developed in the talk of the children who participated in MQ Toddler TaLK.

Finally, using examples from MQ Toddler TaLK, we will invite webinar participants to compare children’s use and development of selected features of learning-oriented talk, and reflect on the ways early childhood educators can promote very young children’s capacity to use features such as questions, reasoning or past and future talk, and engage in learning-oriented talk.

Presented by Natalie Brand, Sheila Degotardi and Emilia Djonovfrom the Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education (CRECE), School of Education, Macquarie University.