Laura Barlow

• BSc (Hons) Psychology with Professional Placement
• To Further Investigate the Reliability and Acceptability of the CsCOT in the Early Years as a Tool for Supporting the Oral Language Classroom Environment

The Communication supporting Classroom Observation Tool (CsCOT) is designed to profile the oral language environment in early years classrooms. This research will expand on previous piloting work to investigate the reliability and acceptability of the tool in classroom settings when delivered over time and by different users, in line with its use in real-world settings.

The CsCOT is designed to promote awareness and improvement in good classroom practice for supporting the oral language environment, therefore high inter- and intra- rater reliability is fundamental. Since the tool is likely to be used by professionals with differing experience, this study uses existing data to analyse the effects of user experience with the tool on inter-rater reliability. Expanding on this, intra-rater reliability will be assessed to investigate whether scoring is consistent across time. Finally semi-structured interviews with teachers will elicit qualitative information around teacher perceptions of acceptability.

Funding source: Newcastle University

Supervisor: Dr Helen Stringer