Maternal input as predictors of children's early language development

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24530844
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Osaka University of Comprehensive Children Education (2015); Tezukayama University (2012-2014)
• Principal Investigator: OGURA TAMIKO 大阪総合保育大学, 公私立大学の部局等, 教授 (60031720)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 養育者の働きかけ / 言語発達 / 共同注意 / 発話機能 / 身振り / 音声模倣

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The present study clarified the beneficial maternal input for children’s language development from three points; maternal speech acts, maternal gestures, and maternal verbal imitation. The effective maternal input varied according to the age of the children. First follow-in descriptions at 12 and 14 months, follow-in command and backchannels at 14 months were positively correlated with children’s expressive vocabularies at 2 years old. Second follow-in presentation gesture predicted children’s expressive vocabularies at 2 years old. These results showed the joint attention between child and mother at the beginning of single utterances will have beneficial effects on subsequent vocabulary development. Third predictive maternal verbal imitation for children’s lexical development at 33 months was repetition of interjections at 24 months. Mother’s imitative expansion for particles and/or suffixes at 21 months promoted grammatical development at 33 months.

Free Research Field

発達心理学