Caregiver Directive Utterances and Toddlers’ Language Skills in Senegal

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Family Language Practices Across Contexts (Table 1)

Abstract

It is well-established that maternal communication styles relate to language development. However, research on parent-child interaction is dominated by Western perspectives. Therefore, there is a need to examine non-western parents’ communication patterns and how they relate to children’s language abilities. This study examines Wolof-speaking caregivers’ use of directive utterances and child language skills in Senegal. Caregivers’ utterances were coded to identify four types of directives: (1) intrusive, (2) cooperative, aligning with the child’s attentional focus, (3) requesting the child to do a physical action, and (4) providing a verbal response. Cooperative directives negatively correlated with child vocabulary and language milestones. However, intrusive directives predicted children’s language skills when not prohibitive, providing insights for culturally relevant interventions in Senegal.

Authors

• Yatma Diop, University of Vermont

• Lori Skibbe, Michigan State University

• Anne Fernald, Stanford University