Correlates of early language development in Chinese children

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiwen Zhang ◽  
Xingming Jin ◽  
Xiaoming Shen ◽  
Jinming Zhang ◽  
Erika Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Child Gender ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Early Language Development

Caregivers of 608 (331 boys and 277 girls) children in Shanghai, China reported on their children's language development and on the language teaching practices used in the home. The children were between 24 and 47 months old. The relation of age-corrected language level to paternal education, child gender, and teaching practice use was examined. Children of more educated fathers were more advanced in language development than children of less educated fathers. Girls were more advanced than boys. Some language teaching practices were positively related to language development but one, the practice of eliciting imitation from children, was negatively related to language development. Vocabulary development showed a greater number of significant relations to environmental variables than did grammatical development. These results suggest the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural generalizability of previous findings from studies of North American samples with respect to correlates of children's early language development.

Early language development and the emergence of a theory of mind

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Jeffrey Farrar ◽  
Lisa Maag
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Standard Theory ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Grammatical Development ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Communicative Development ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Macarthur Communicative Development Inventory

The current study examined the relation between children's language development at 2 years of age and their theory of mind performance at 4 years of age. Twenty toddlers were initially tested when they were 2 years old. Measures of both lexical and grammatical development were obtained from: (1) parental completion of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI), and (2) a naturalistic play session between mother and child. The children returned at 4 years and were given four standard theory of mind tasks to assess understanding of: (a) false belief, (b) representational change, and (c) appearance-reality. In addition, in order to control for general language and cognitive development, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Woodcock-Johnson Memory for Sentences Test were also given. Strong associations were found between early language development and later theory of mind performance. These relationships may reflect similar social cognitive processes that govern the development of both language and theory of mind.

Overheard: Know Your Morphemes

ASHA Leader ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 16-17
Author(s):  
Julie Wolter
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Literacy Development ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Online Chat ◽  
Early Language Development

Julie Wolter, an expert in early language development, recently led an online chat about the contribution of morphological awareness to semantic understanding and literacy development. Here's what the Leader overheard ...

scholarly journals Variations in the Home Language Environment and Early Language Development in Rural China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2671
Author(s):  
Yue Ma ◽  
Laura Jonsson ◽  
Tianli Feng ◽  
Tyler Weisberg ◽  
Teresa Shao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Child Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Conversational Turns ◽  
Home Language Environment

The home language environment is critical to early language development and subsequent skills. However, few studies have quantitatively measured the home language environment in low-income, developing settings. This study explores variations in the home language environment and child language skills among households in poor rural villages in northwestern China. Audio recordings were collected for 38 children aged 20–28 months and analyzed using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) software; language skills were measured using the MacArthur–Bates Mandarin Communicative Developmental Inventories expressive vocabulary scale. The results revealed large variability in both child language skills and home language environment measures (adult words, conversational turns, and child vocalizations) with 5- to 6-fold differences between the highest and lowest scores. Despite variation, however, the average number of adult words and conversational turns were lower than found among urban Chinese children. Correlation analyses did not identify significant correlations between demographic characteristics and the home language environment. However, the results do indicate significant correlations between the home language environment and child language skills, with conversational turns showing the strongest correlation. The results point to a need for further research on language engagement and ways to increase parent–child interactions to improve early language development among young children in rural China.

Gestural Communication in Deaf Children: The Effects and Noneffects of Parental Input on Early Language Development

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Goldin-Meadow ◽  
Carolyn Mylander ◽  
Jill de Villiers ◽  
Elizabeth Bates ◽  
Virginia Volterra
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Parental Input

scholarly journals Inference and exact numerical representation in early language development

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barner ◽  
Asaf Bachrach
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Available P ◽  
Scalar Implicature ◽  
Numerical Representation ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Do So

How do children as young as 2 years of age know that numerals, like one,have exact interpretations, while quantifiers and words like a do not?Previous studies have argued that only numerals have exact lexicalmeanings. Children could not use scalar implicature to strengthen numeralmeanings, it is argued, since they fail to do so for quantifiers(Papafragou & Musolino, 2003). Against this view, we present evidence thatchildren’s early interpretation of numerals does rely on scalarimplicature, and argue that differences between numerals and quantifiersare due to differences in the availability of the respective scales ofwhich they are members. Evidence from previous studies establishes that (1)children can make scalar inferences when interpreting numerals, (2)children initially assign weak, non-exact interpretations to numerals whenfirst acquiring their meanings, and (3) children can strengthen quantifierinterpretations when scalar alternatives are made explicitly available.

scholarly journals Task-Based Technology: Portuguese Language Teaching Practices

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Joana Carvalho ◽  
◽  
Sixto Cubo Delgado ◽  
Inmaculada Sánchez Casado
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Development Data

As part of a PhD investigation, this presentation aims to reveal the findings on Portuguese as a Non-Native Language (PNNL) teaching practice when using technology to implement other language approaches such as Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). A mixed research was developed to explain if there was a relation between technology use and the implementation of different language methods and teaching strategies, and also holistic task development. Data was gathered from 101 PNNL teachers, with working experience in and out of Portugal. The results provided evidence that technology was not being used to engage students in active learning and holistic tasks, as TBLT sustains, nor was it being used to develop different language methods and teaching strategies. It has been concluded that PNNL teachers were not using technology in their teaching practice to better implement other language methods, such as TBLT.

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