High-quality language interactions during preschool age play a crucial role in supporting children's language development in early childhood education (ECE) (European Commission, 2018), and in particular for at-risk children (Sammons et al., 2015). Therefore, enhancing teachers' Language Stimulating (LS) competencies is a significant focus for both pre- and in-service preschool teachers. These competencies are integral to the professional identity of preschool teachers and are central in teacher education curricula. An important element in teachers’ competencies, along with knowledge, classroom behaviour and motivational aspects, is teachers’ pedagogical beliefs (Wieduwilt et al., 2023).

Teachers’ beliefs are described by Pajares (1992, p. 325) as “a filter through which new phenomena are interpreted”, shaping how teachers interpret situations, influencing their perceptions of the classroom context and subsequent behaviour (Degotardi & Gill, 2017; Pajares, 1992). Research commonly categorizes beliefs into teacher-centred and child-centred beliefs (Stipek & Byler, 1997; Wieduwilt et al., 2021). Child-centred pedagogical beliefs emphasize fostering children's autonomy and active exploration, while teacher-centred beliefs involve a more directive approach with the teacher leading in structuring children's learning. In the child-centred approach, language learning is closely tied to children's free play, with the teacher playing a responsive role (Weikart, 2000). The key distinction between both approaches lies in the degree of child engagement, with child-centred pedagogy aligning closely with constructivist approaches, and teacher-centred pedagogical beliefs with transmissive approaches (Lui & Bonner, 2016).

Pianta and colleagues (2005) suggest that child-centred beliefs are associated with higher interaction and instruction quality, and a more positive emotional climate in teacher-child interactions compared to teacher-centred beliefs (Wieduwilt et al., 2021). Furthermore, child-directed interaction, as emphasized in sociocultural research as creating shared experiences between children and teachers, is considered crucial for language development (Peleman et al., 2020; Rowe & Snow, 2020). However, while child-centred beliefs are believed to be essential for a language-stimulating environment, the literature lacks consistency on this matter, requiring more research on the specific relation between teachers' pedagogical beliefs and various quality facets (Wieduwilt et al., 2023). For example, Justice and colleagues (2018) highlight the importance of overall classroom quality, including factors like teacher-child ratio and instructional support, for children's language development in early childhood education, alongside linguistic responsivity and quality of teacher talk. It is therefore hypothesized that a certain level of teacher-centred beliefs – in combination to the child-centred beliefs, is necessary, where a teacher structures the classroom activities in such a way that many child-directed, language stimulating interactions can be realized.

Wieduwilt et al. (2021) stress the need for more empirical data on pedagogical beliefs, particularly in the context of language-related beliefs. To our knowledge, there is currently no questionnaire to capture these beliefs on stimulating language interactions in ECE. Therefore, the primary goal of this paper is to develop an instrument for capturing content-specific pedagogical beliefs on language-stimulating interaction in the ECE context. Additionally, the aim is explore the underlying structures of ECE teachers' pedagogical beliefs regarding language-stimulating interaction, assuming a twofold categorization. The final aim of this paper is to present preliminary results on the pedagogical beliefs of ECE student teachers in Flanders.

The pedagogical beliefs scale from Wieduwilt and colleagues (2023) served as the foundation for constructing a new scale to measure beliefs on stimulating language interactions in ECE. Several items were retained and translated, and items from this scale that were not applicable for a broad, international ECE context (e.g., items about additional language programs) were omitted. Additionally, the Beliefs about Primary Education scale (BPES) from Hermans and colleagues (2008) was used to help construct new items. This process resulted in a new scale comprising 18 items on a five-point Likert scale. Additionally, experts on the topic of language in preschool education reviewed the items, and think-aloud procedures with four preschool teachers were performed to assess content validity and identify ambiguities in item wording. The online platform Qualtrics was used to conduct a web-survey at two university colleges in Flanders, yielding 213 respondents. After identifying and excluding missing data, the final sample size comprised 190 participants. The participants represented a mix of first (2%), second (60%), and third year (38%) students from two teacher education programs for early childhood education. A significant majority were female (95%), aligning with the actual population in the teacher training. In terms of teaching experience, 57% had more than two weeks of active teaching experience, 39% had active teaching experience shorter than two weeks, and the remaining 4% had no active teaching experience in preschool. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to examine the factor structure within the items. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin coefficient of sampling adequacy (KMO=0.9) and Bartlett's test of sphericity (X2=1349.508, df=153, p<0.001) indicated the suitability of the data for factor analysis, surpassing required cut-off values. Kraiser's criterion, Catell's scree test, Horn's parallel analysis, and Velicer's minimum average partial technique were utilized to determine the number of factors. The EFA, conducted in R-studio, employed weighted least squares with direct oblimin rotation, allowing for correlated factors and providing estimates of correlations between factors (De Coninck et al., 2020). Factor loadings of the items were examined, and items with loadings of .40 and below were excluded from further analysis (Stevens, 1992). Factors with strong cross-loadings on other factors (>.25) were also removed.

Kaiser’s criterion, the screeplot, Horn’s parallel analysis, and Velicer's minimum average partial technique consistently favoured a two-factor structure in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of 18 items on language-related pedagogical beliefs in Flemish Early Childhood Education (ECE). The EFA resulted in two factors with sum of squared loadings of 1.80 (factor 1) and 1.79 (factor 2). Ten items were excluded due to low factor loadings (<.40). The data revealed a clear distinction between teacher-centred and child-centred beliefs. Four items loaded on the first factor, capturing teacher-centred pedagogical beliefs in language development (e.g.: “In a language learning moment, it is important that a preschool teacher does not deviate from the planned activity.”). On the second factor, four items loaded, capturing child-centred pedagogical beliefs in language development (e.g. “Language learning moments work best when they respond spontaneously to what preschoolers bring up verbally or non-verbally”). Internal consistency was acceptable for both factors (child-centred: α = 0.64; teacher-centred: α =0.61). While the Cronbach's alpha revealed a moderate internal consistency, the scale's development still holds major instrumental value for measuring language-related pedagogical beliefs in ECE internationally. Participants generally favoured child-centred (M = 4.00, SD = 0.50) over teacher-centred beliefs (M = 2.10, SD = 0.60), indicating a preference for approaches that prioritize children's autonomy and active learning. Furthermore, a weak, significant negative correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient: -0,16, p = 0.03) was found, suggesting a tendency for participants to lean towards one approach. In conclusion, an instrument for capturing content-specific pedagogical beliefs on language stimulating interactions in ECE was developed. Secondly, underlying structures of ECE teachers’ pedagogical beliefs about language stimulating interactions were investigated, confirming a twofold structure. Finally, preliminary results of the current pedagogical beliefs of ECE student teachers in Flanders were reported, showing a preference for child-centred approaches.

De Coninck, K., Walker, J., Dotger, B., & Vanderlinde, R. (2020). Measuring student teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about family-teacher communication: Scale construction and validation. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 64, 100820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100820 Degotardi, S., & Gill, A. (2017). Infant educators’ beliefs about infant language development in long day care settings. Early Years, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2017.1347607 European Commission. (2018). Proposal for a council recommendation on high quality early childhood education and care systems. Hermans, R., Van Braak, J., & Van Keer, H. (2008). Development of the Beliefs about Primary Education Scale: Distinguishing a developmental and transmissive dimension. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 127–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.11.007 Justice, L. M., Jiang, H., & Strasser, K. (2018). Linguistic environment of preschool classrooms: What dimensions support children’s language growth? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42, 79–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.09.003 Lui, A. M., & Bonner, S. M. (2016). Preservice and inservice teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and instructional planning in primary school mathematics. Teaching and Teacher Education, 56, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.01.015 Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning Up a Messy Construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307–332. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543062003307 Peleman, B., Vandenbroeck, M., & Van Avermaet, P. (2020). Early learning opportunities for children at risk of social exclusion. Opening the black box of preschool practice. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1707360 Rowe, M. L., & Snow, C. E. (2020). Analyzing input quality along three dimensions: Interactive, linguistic, and conceptual. Journal of Child Language, 47(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000919000655 Sammons, P., Toth, K., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj, I., & Taggart, B. (2015). The long-term role of the home learning environment in shaping students’ academic attainment in secondary school. Journal of Children’s Services, 10(3), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-02-2015-0007 Stevens, J. (1992). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (2. ed). Erlbaum. Stipek, D. J., & Byler, P. (1997). Early childhood education teachers: Do they practice what they preach? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(3), 305–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(97)90005-3 Weikart, D. P. (2000). Early childhood education: Need and opportunity. UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning. Wieduwilt, N., Lehrl, S., & Anders, Y. (2021). Preschool teachers’ pedagogical beliefs in the field of language education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 101, 103296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103296 Wieduwilt, N., Lehrl, S., & Anders, Y. (2023). Preschool teachers’ language-related pedagogical beliefs and their relation to observed classroom quality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62, 175–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.08.001