Critical Issues in Infant-toddler Language Development: Connecting Theory to Practice

Designed to help students and educators make critical theory-to-practice connections, this essential volume provides a deep yet accessible approach to infant and toddler language and literacy education. Centered around four foundational topics―language, interaction, and play; language and culture; multilingualism; and early literacy―each section starts with a chapter breaking down the research and theory, followed by two practice chapters, from both leadership and teacher perspectives, that illustrate key concepts across a range of infant-toddler contexts. Ideal for students in early language and literacy courses as well as programs on infant-toddler development, this critical resource helps readers thoughtfully and practically bring multilingual and multiliterate development to the infant and toddler years.

Daniel R. Meier is Professor of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University, USA, and has written widely on young children’s language and literacy learning.