Why Wait? The Importance of Wait Time in Developing Young Students’ Language and Vocabulary Skills

Abstract

Abstract Developing young students’ language and vocabulary is critical in laying the foundation for learning to read. Asking open‐ended questions, which require more than a one‐word response, is an effective strategy that teachers can use to elicit students’ comments and engage students in extended conversations. However, to facilitate students’ responses, teachers need to not only ask questions but also, equally importantly, provide wait time for students to respond. Students need to think about the question, think about their answer, and think about and select the words that they would like to use to communicate their answer. Typically, this takes longer than the second or less that students are given to respond to a question. Although limited, research on wait time has suggested that students provide more high‐quality responses when they are given wait time. Suggestions for implementing wait time in early childhood classrooms are discussed.

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