A Comparison of Emotion-Focused Teaching in and Outside of Planned Social–Emotional Learning Activities

Emotion-focused teaching in early childhood promotes children’s early academic and social–emotional development and can occur through planned or informal classroom interactions. We observed video recordings of preschool teachers engaging in typical teaching practices and carrying out researcher-assigned book reading and social–emotional learning (SEL) lessons. Video cycles were coded using a measure of emotion-focused teaching, which captures teachers’ modeling of, responding to, and instructing about emotions. This study examines (1) whether emotion-focused teaching will be greater during guided SEL activities (SEL lessons and book readings) compared to teaching as usual; and (2) which types of SEL activities are associated with higher levels of EFT-scripted lessons or book readings. Analyses indicate that emotion-focused teaching is greater during SEL activities but only planned SEL lessons had significantly higher scores than the non-intervention occasions. Findings are discussed with exemplar practices drawn from activity transcripts to highlight malleable practices suitable for coaching and professional development.