Parents’ Pretend Play Input Supports Infants’ Language Development

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

During pretend play children engage in “as-if” stances (Garvey, 1990). Previous studies indicated positive links between children’s pretend play and language development (e.g., Kızıldere et al., 2020; Kirkham et al., 2013). Furthermore, parents’ use of diverse and sophisticated vocabulary predicts the development of children’s language skills (e.g., Hoff, 2006; Rowe, 2012). Less is known about whether parental pretend play input provided to infants scaffolds infants’ language development. The role of parental input also varies across different child populations such as for children who are born preterm (who are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, PT) due to pre- and post-natal biological and environmental challenges. The current study examines (1) the link between parental pretense input and infants’ word comprehension, and (2) group differences between PT and full-term FT infants.
Eighty infants (Mage=13.70months, SD=1.42months, 42 PT) were recruited. We recorded 10-minute parent-infant play sessions and coded parental pretend play and general linguistic input (linguistic complexity). Parental pretense input was further categorized into personification, substitution, and pantomime. Personification referred to parents’ attribution of agency to an external object. Personification actor was presented either in the form of a personified object (e.g., penguin doll tickling child) or as parent (e.g., parent kissing penguin doll). Substitution was coded when parents used an object as if it was another object. During a pantomime parents imitate an action that involves an object, either with body (i.e., when a body part is used as an object) or with imaginary object (i.e., when an invisible object is used). We also coded linguistic complexity by separating clauses into either simple (i.e., clauses with single predicate) or complex (i.e., clauses with multiple predicates combined with different linguistic structures such as conjunctions, relatives). The parental linguistic complexity score was obtained by dividing the complex clauses by total clauses. For infants’ word comprehension, parents filled up the Turkish adaptation of MacArthur-Bates CDI (Aksu-Koç et al., 2017).
Among the parental pretense input, only total parental pantomime and parental pantomime made with body as substitution differed with respect to neonatal status, favoring FT infants, ps<.05. Infants’ word comprehension was predicted by parental pretense input (each category was used on a separate regression), controlling for age, parental linguistic complexity, and neonatal status. The total word comprehension score was predicted by age (β=.460, p<.001) and parental personification when the pretense actor was parent (β=.234, p=.034) but not when the actor was personified object, R2=36.00%, F(5,67)=7.530, p<.001. The total word comprehension was predicted by age (β=.433, p<.001) and parental pantomime with invisible object (β=.327, p=.002) but not by parental pantomime with body as substitution, R2=43.40%, F(5,67)=10.300, p<.001. There were no interaction effects of neonatal status and pretense input on word comprehension. Parental substitution did not predict infants’ word comprehension.
Parental input is essential to scaffold children’s language development. The current study reveals a positive association of parent’s engagement in pretend play with language development of infants as early as 14 months. Beyond infants’ neonatal status, parents’ pretense is a major contributor to infants’ early word comprehension.

Authors

• Erim Kızıldere, University of California - Davis
  Presenting Author

• Özge Eser, Universiteit Leiden
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tilbe Göksun, Koç University
  Non-Presenting Author