The direction of the relation between oral communicative competence and social preference in early childhood classrooms, and the role of dialogic classroom talk

Objective: The present study investigated the direction of the relation between oral communicative competence and social preference in early childhood classrooms. Additionally, we explored the role of dialogic classroom talk in this relation. Methods: N = 311 children (aged four to seven) participated. Oral communicative competence was measured with the Nijmegen Test for Pragmatics and social preference was assessed with a peer nomination method (both constructs measured at two timepoints). Results: Outcomes of cross-lagged analyses demonstrated a directional link from social preference to oral communicative competence, but not the other way around. There were no differences in the relation between the two constructs between classrooms in which dialogic classroom talk was implemented and classrooms in which it was not. Conclusion: This study seems to indicate the importance of children's social preference for developing adequate communicative abilities.