Teachers' Use of Embedded Instruction in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms

Abstract

Embedded instruction (EI), "a naturalistic instructional approach designed to promote child engagement and learning by identifying times when instructional procedures to teach a child's priority learning targets are implemented in the context of ongoing activities, routines and transitions of inclusive preschool classrooms (Snyder vd., 2007, 2013)," is a recommended practice in the field of early childhood special education (DEC, 2014). Although teacher candidates have reported learning about EI and other EBPs during their pre-service training, several studies reported that teachers implement these practices infrequently and with limited fidelity when they begin to work with young children with disabilities in inclusive classroom settings (Coogle et., 2015; Kretlow & Bartholomew, 2010; Noh et al., 2009; Pretti-Frontczak & Bricker, 2001; Rakap & Balikci, 2016). The purpose of this study was to investigate preschool and special education teachers' use of embedded instruction practices within ongoing activities of preschool and special education classrooms. This study addressed the following research questions: (a) How often do preschool and special education teachers embed instruction in relation to children's learning targets into ongoing classroom activities, routines, or transitions? (b) Are there differences among preschool teachers who work in inclusive preschool classrooms, who work in special education preschool classrooms, or special education teachers who work in special education classrooms with respect to their implementation of embedded instruction? This descriptive study was conducted in 12 classrooms located in three independent preschools in Turkey. A total of 8 preschool teachers (4 working in inclusive classrooms and 4 in special education classrooms) and 4 special education teachers working in special education classrooms participated in the study. In addition, 12 children with disabilities were consented to participate in the present study. Preschool programs operated five days per week, six hours per day. The classroom schedule included arrival, free play/table toys, breakfast, circle, outside play/free play, toileting, snack, free play, clean up, and departure activities.12 20-min observations were conducted in each teacher's classroom, totaling up to 240 min observation in each classroom and 2880 min observation in all classrooms. To embedded instruction, each teacher selected four learning targets (one learning target from each of the following domains: pre-academic/cognitive, social-emotional, motor, language) for the participating child from their classrooms. Teachers were instructed to teach these target skills as they would normally teach. Preliminary analysis of the data showed that teachers across different settings implemented embedded instruction infrequently. The mean number of learning trials implemented was 2.5 for preschool teachers working in inclusive settings, 4.2 for preschool teachers working in special education, and 5.7 for special education teachers working in special education classrooms. Moreover, across different settings, teachers embedded instruction more often for preacademic/cognitive skills than skills from other domains. Skills from social-emotional domain were the least targeted for instruction. Teachers embedded instruction more often during free play activities. Implications of the findings for future research and practice will be discussed.