Objectively Measured Teacher and Preschooler Vocalizations: Phonemic Diversity Is Associated with Language Abilities

Autor/inn/en	Mitsven, Samantha G.; Perry, Lynn K.; Tao, Yudong; Elbaum, Batya E.; Johnson, Neil F.; Messinger, Daniel S.
Titel	Objectively Measured Teacher and Preschooler Vocalizations: Phonemic Diversity Is Associated with Language Abilities
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 25 (2022) 2, (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Perry, Lynn K.) Weitere Informationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13177
Schlagwörter	Preschool Children; Phonemic Awareness; Oral Language; Predictor Variables; Teacher Behavior; Preschool Teachers; Speech Communication; Language Skills; Receptive Language; Expressive Language; Language Usage + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Oral interpretation; Mündlicher Sprachgebrauch; Prädiktor; Teacher behaviour; Lehrerverhalten; Erzieher; Erzieherin; Kindergärtnerin; Language skill; Sprachkompetenz; Rezeptive Kommunikationsfähigkeit; Sprachgebrauch
Abstract	Over half of US children are enrolled in preschools, where the quantity and quality of language input from teachers are likely to affect children's language development. Leveraging repeated objective measurements, we examined the rate per minute and phonemic diversity of child and teacher speech-related vocalizations in preschool classrooms and their association with children's end-of-year receptive and expressive language abilities measured with the Preschool Language Scales (PLS-5). Phonemic diversity was computed as the number of unique consonants and vowels in a speech-related vocalization. We observed three successive cohorts of 2.5-3.5-year-old children enrolled in an oral language classroom that included children with and without hearing loss (N = 29, 16 girls, 14 Hispanic). Vocalization data were collected using child-worn audio recorders over 34 observations spanning three successive school years, yielding 21.53 mean hours of audio recording per child. The rate of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations while the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations. The phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations was a stronger predictor of end-of-year language abilities than the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations. Mediation analyses indicated that the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations was associated with children's receptive and expressive language abilities to the extent that it influenced the phonemic diversity of children's own speech-related vocalizations. The results suggest that qualitatively richer language input expands the phonemic diversity of children's speech, which in turn is associated with language abilities. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01