Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T20:36:55.137Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alternative explanations for the relationship between maternal verbal interaction style and child language development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Paul J. Yoder  and
Ann P. Kaiser
Paul J. Yoder*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
Ann P. Kaiser
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
*
Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Peabody Box 154, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study analysed formerly unexamined indirect routes for relationships between time 1 maternal speech and later child language development. Ten normally developing children in Brown's early stage 1 and their mothers were the subjects. For each dyad, two free-play sessions occurring five months apart were videotaped in the subjects' homes. Mothers' pragmatic language use was coded from time 1 sessions. Child language level was coded at both sessions. Even though time 1 scores of the outcome were controlled, seven of the ten relationships involving mother speech and child language development were indirectly related through one of two time 1 child language measures. The results indicate that a mother-driven, direct influence model may be inappropriate for many mother speech–child language development relationships. We argue that child-driven and mother-driven explanatory models for the indirect relationships are equally feasible.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , February 1989 , pp. 141 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barnes, S., Gutfreund, M., Satterly, D. & Wells, G. (1983). Characteristics of adult speech which predict children's language development. Journal of Child Language 10. 65–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J., Gleser, G. C., Nanda, H. & Rajaratnam, N. (1972). The dependability of behavioural measurements: theory of generalizability for scores and profiles. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cross, T. (1978). Motherese: its association with the rate of syntactic acquisition in young children. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), The development of communication. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Furrow, D., Nelson, K. & Benedict, H. (1979). Mother's speech to children and syntactic development: some simple relationships. Journal of Child Language 6. 423–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1986). Function and structure in maternal speech: their relation to the child's development of syntax. Developmental Psychology 22. 155–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1987). Why some properties of maternal speech benefit language growth (and others do not). Paper prepared to accompany a poster session presented at the meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, Maryland.Google Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg & Shatz, M. (1982). Linguistic input and the child's acquisition of language. Psychological Bulletin 92. 3–26.Google Scholar
Kaye, K. & Charney, R. (1980). How mothers maintain ‘dialogue’ with two-year-olds. In Olson, D. R. (ed.), The social foundations of language and thought. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Kaiser, A. & Blair, G. (1987). Mother-child transactions in families with normal and handicapped children. Uppsala Journal of Medical Science 44. 204–7.Google Scholar
Lamb, M. E. & Easterbrooks, M. A. (1981). Individual differences in parental sensitivity: origins, components, and consequences. In Lamb, M. E. and Sherrod, L. R. (eds), Infant social cognition: empirical and theoretical considerations. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McDonald, L. & Pien, D. (1982). Mother conversational behaviour as a function of interactional intent. Journal of Child Language 9. 337–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, J. (1981). Assessing language production in children: experimental procedures. Baltimore MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1981). Individual differences in language development: implications for development and language. Developmental Psychology 17. 170–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newport, E., Gleitman, L. & Gleitman, H. (1977). Mother, I'd rather do it myself. In Snow, C. & Ferguson, C. (eds), Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Olsen-Fulero, L. (1982). Style and stability in mother conversational behaviour: a study of individual differences. Journal of Child Language 9. 543–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, A. (1983). The units of language acquisition. New York: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E. (1984). Parent-child interaction and the development of communication ability. In Schiefelbusch, R. L. & Pickar, J. (eds), The acquisition of communicative competence. Baltimore MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., Perlman, R. & Nathan, D. (1987). Why routines are different: toward a multiple-factors model of the relation between input and language acquisition. In Nelson, K. & Van Kleeck, A. (eds), Children's language. Vol. 6. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar