Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Syracuse University, NY.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2022 Sep 7;31(5):2186-2194. doi: 10.1044/2022_AJSLP-21-00333. Epub 2022 Aug 15.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between interaction quality and child language ability. We focused on one promising interaction quality indicator-the rate of multiturn conversational episodes. We also explored whether the relationship between rate of single conversational turns and language ability changed when the child's nonverbal behaviors were considered in addition to verbal conversational turns. To limit the potential of socioeconomic status as a confounder, participants included only families living in underresourced households.
Secondary analyses were conducted using baseline data ( = 41 dyads enrolled, = 27 analyzed) from a longitudinal study. All families were living in low-income households (i.e., below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level) and 12 were English-Spanish bilingual (15 English-only). Mothers and their children (13 to 27 months) participated in video-recorded play and reading interactions at home. Trained observers transcribed and coded the child's and caregiver's verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Linear regression models examined the relationship between the number of conversational turns and child language ability.
Child language ability was significantly and positively associated with the number of verbal-nonverbal single turns and multiturn conversational episodes, but not single verbal-only turns.
For children still acquiring language, it is important to account for nonverbal contributions to conversation. Child language ability was significantly and positively associated only with the conversational turn variables that included the child's nonverbal behaviors. Further investigation is needed to understand whether number of turns within conversational episodes is a better indicator of interaction quality than sheer number of conversational turns. Implications for caregiver-implemented interventions are discussed.
本研究旨在探讨互动质量与儿童语言能力之间的关系。我们关注了一个有前途的互动质量指标——多轮对话的比例。我们还探讨了在考虑儿童的非言语行为的同时，单次对话的比例与语言能力之间的关系是否会发生变化。为了限制社会经济地位作为混杂因素的潜在影响，参与者仅包括居住在资源匮乏家庭中的家庭。
使用纵向研究的基线数据（n=41 对，n=27 对分析）进行二次分析。所有家庭都生活在低收入家庭（即低于联邦贫困线的 200%），其中 12 个是英语-西班牙语双语家庭（15 个仅英语家庭）。母亲和他们的孩子（13 至 27 个月）在家中参与视频录制的游戏和阅读互动。经过培训的观察员转录并编码了孩子和照顾者的言语和非言语行为。线性回归模型检验了对话次数与儿童语言能力之间的关系。
儿童语言能力与言语-非言语单次轮次和多轮对话的数量呈显著正相关，但与单次言语轮次无关。
对于仍在学习语言的儿童，重要的是要考虑到对话中的非言语贡献。儿童语言能力仅与包含儿童非言语行为的对话轮次变量呈显著正相关。需要进一步研究以了解对话回合内的回合数是否比纯粹的对话回合数更能反映互动质量。讨论了对照顾者实施干预的影响。
