The Kindergarten Teacher as Trainer. Effects of Combining the Fostering of Inductive Reasoning and Language Acquisition in Kindergartners

Based on a sample of 96 kindergartners, the present experiment investigated whether an inductive reasoning training program (Marx & Klauer, 2007) also results in the expected effects on intelligence and language competence when conducted by kindergarten teachers themselves rather than by researchers or specially trained student assistants. Using a pre-post-follow-up, control-group design, results of the experiment revealed large and persistent significant increases in inductive reasoning as well as across all language acquisition dimensions: semantics, syntax and derivational morphology. These effects remained stable over an observation period of three months.