Mothers’ and Fathers´ Language Quality and Vocabulary Development of 3-year-old Children

• In Event: 3-142 - Children´s Language Ability: The Role of Type, Quantity, and Quality Of Parents’ Language Input.

Integrative Statement

A growing body of research shows association between caregivers’ language input and children´s vocabulary acquisition (Rowe, 2012). Several studies have documented a strong positive association between the quantity of caregiver input (i.e. number of words, utterances) and children’s vocabulary growth (Hart & Risley, 1995). Quality of input (i.e. number of different word types, use of wh-questions, among others) has also been shown to be important in predicting vocabulary development (Pan et al., 2005). However, data on the specific contribution of fathers and mothers is still scarce.
In this study we examine whether the quantity (number of words and utterances, mean length utterances) and quality of input (diversity of word types, exposure to wh-questions) is associated with childrens’ vocabulary in a sample of one hundred low-income fathers and mothers and their young children.
Mother-child and father-child dyads were videotaped in 10 minutes free play sessions. Videotapes were transcribed and reliabily coded using the CHAT conventions of the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES, MacWhinney, 2000). Mothers’ and fathers’ quantity of input (number and mean length of utterances, number of words), diversity of vocabulary (word types) and number of wh-questions were obtained using the CLAN program. The quality of parent-child interactions were coded using PARCHISY (Deater-Deckard, 2000). Children’s receptive vocabulary was assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III; Dunn & Dunn, 1997).
Demographic characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1. Preliminary analysis (n=20) showed that fathers’ number of words and diversity of vocabulary were associated with the levels of scaffolding (r=.88, p<.05; r=.89, p<.05, respectively) and reciprocity (r=.86, p<.05; r=.85, p<.05, respectively) they displayed during the free play interaction. Mothers’ amount and diversity of words were associated with the positive affect they showed with their children. Only mothers’ diversity of vocabulary (but not quantity) was associated with children’s’ receptive vocabulary (r=.85, p<.05). This relation was not observed in fathers.
We expect that analysis with the complete sample will show that mothers’ and fathers’ quality of input and the use of wh-questions explain additional variation in chidren´s vocabulary skills.

Authors

• Fernanda Prieto, Centro de Apego y Regulación Emocional (CARE), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo
  Presenting Author

• Daniela Aldoney, Universidad del Desarrollo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jessica Vidal, Universidad del Desarrollo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Soledad Coo, Universidad del Desarrollo
  Non-Presenting Author