Spanish-Speaking Caregivers' Use of Referential Labels with Toddlers Is a Better Predictor of Later Vocabulary than Their Use of Referential Gestures

Autor/inn/en	Bang, Janet Y.; Bohn, Manuel; Ramírez, Joel, Jr.; Marchman, Virginia A.; Fernald, Anne
Titel	Spanish-Speaking Caregivers' Use of Referential Labels with Toddlers Is a Better Predictor of Later Vocabulary than Their Use of Referential Gestures
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 26 (2023) 4, (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Bang, Janet Y.) ORCID (Bohn, Manuel)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1363-755X
DOI	10.1111/desc.13354
Schlagwörter	Child Caregivers; Spanish Speaking; Toddlers; Nonverbal Communication; Language Processing; Vocabulary Development; Language Usage; Interpersonal Communication; Predictor Variables; Time Factors (Learning); Incidence + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Caregiver; Caregivers; Carer; Child; Children; Kinderbetreuung; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Sprachverarbeitung; Wortschatzarbeit; Sprachgebrauch; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Prädiktor; Vorkommen
Abstract	Variation in how frequently caregivers engage with their children is associated with variation in children's later language outcomes. One explanation for this link is that caregivers use both verbal behaviors, such as labels, and non-verbal behaviors, such as gestures, to help children establish reference to objects or events in the world. However, few studies have directly explored whether language outcomes are more strongly associated with referential behaviors that are expressed verbally, such as labels, or non-verbally, such as gestures, or whether both are equally predictive. Here, we observed caregivers from 42 Spanish-speaking families in the US engage with their 18-month-old children during 5-min lab-based, play sessions. Children's language processing speed and vocabulary size were assessed when children were 25 months. Bayesian model comparisons assessed the extent to which the frequencies of caregivers' referential labels, referential gestures, or labels and gestures together, were more strongly associated with children's language outcomes than a model with caregiver total words, or overall talkativeness. The best-fitting models showed that children who heard more referential labels at 18 months were faster in language processing and had larger vocabularies at 25 months. Models including gestures, or labels and gestures together, showed weaker fits to the data. Caregivers' total words predicted children's language processing speed, but predicted vocabulary size less well. These results suggest that the frequency with which caregivers of 18-month-old children use referential labels, more so than referential gestures, is a critical feature of caregiver verbal engagement that contributes to language processing development and vocabulary growth. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01