The semantic focus of maternal speech: a comment on Ninio & Bruner (1978)

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Goddard ◽  
K. Durkin ◽  
D. R. Rutter

Ninio & Bruner (1978) added an important dimension to the study of early lexical acquisition by drawing attention to the dialogue-like nature of the mother-child interactions where presumably much language-learning takes place. The authors pointed to the well-established findings that much of the child's early speech consists of names for people and objects (Leopold 1949, Werner & Kaplan 1963, Nelson 1973, Greenfield & Smith 1976). They went on to show that in one familiar type of parent–child interaction, joint picture-book reading, labels are used extensively by the adult and are inserted skilfully into a structured interactional sequence that has the texture of a dialogue (Ninio & Bruner 1978: 6). This dialogue, they suggested, ‘seems… to be a format well suited to the teaching of labelling’ (1978: 12). Subsequent research has also been interpreted as pointing to the teaching potential of joint picture-book reading (Wheeler 1983, Ninio 1983) and the opportunities it affords for situation-specific routines (Snow & Goldfield 1983).

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Naya Choi ◽  
Sujeong Kang ◽  
Jiyeon Sheo

In recent years, the ways in which to read English picture books to young children has become diverse in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. The present study examined the effect of parent-child interactions and digital pen use during English picture book reading in the child’s interest in learning English. A total of 320 Korean mothers of three to five year old preschool children participated in the study. The results revealed the following. First, children’s interest in learning English was higher when they used digital pens and engaged in frequent parent-child interactions during English picture book reading. Second, parent-child interaction was a more significant variable in children’s interest in learning English compared to digital pen use. Third, the moderator effect of digital pen use in the relation between parent-children interaction and children’s interest in learning English was insignificant. In other words, parent-child interaction was important in increasing children’s interest in learning English, regardless of digital pen use. While rapid advances in technology enhanced teaching pedagogy, parent-child interaction in foreign language learning still remains as a crucial factor. Further implications and future directions are discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda A. Leonard ◽  
Elizabeth P. Lorch ◽  
Richard Milich ◽  
Neomia Hagans

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUAN E. ADRIAN ◽  
ROSA A. CLEMENTE ◽  
LIDON VILLANUEVA ◽  
CAROLIEN RIEFFE

This study focuses on parent–child book reading and its connection to the development of a theory of mind. First, parents were asked to report about frequency of parent–child storybook reading at home. Second, mothers were asked to read four picture-books to thirty-four children between 4;0 and 5;0. Both frequency of parent–child storybook reading at home, and mother's use of mental state terms in picture-books reading tasks were significantly associated with success on false belief tasks, after partialling out a number of potential mediators such as age of children, verbal IQ, paternal education, and words used by mothers in joint picture-book reading. Among the different mental state references (cognitive terms, desires, emotions and perceptions), it was found that the frequency and variety of cognitive terms, but also the frequency of emotional terms correlated positively with children's false belief performance. Relationships between mental state language and theory of mind are discussed.


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