van Kleeck A, Gillam R B, Hamilton L, McGrath C
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Georgia, Athens 30602 USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 1997 Dec;40(6):1261-71. doi: 10.1044/jslhr.4006.1261.
Thirty-five mothers and fathers were videotaped in their homes as they read a familiar and unfamiliar book to their preschoolers aged between 3;6 and 4;1. Parental discussions about the text were coded for four levels of abstraction and correlated with children's gains one year later on a formal test of the same four levels of language abstraction (the Preschool Language Assessment Instrument). Parental input at three of the four levels of abstraction was positively and significantly correlated with their children's gains at the highest level of abstraction. This was also the level at which children's scores were the lowest initially and showed the greatest gains. The results suggest that discussions during book reading with preschoolers may be a positive influence, since it was parents' amount of input at lower as well as higher levels of abstraction that correlated with the children's development of more abstract language. We speculate that more input at lower levels might enhance learning by creating a climate of success in allowing children to display mastered skills, whereas more input at higher levels might enhance learning by challenging children with abstract language skills they are just beginning to acquire. In contrast to previous research, these results suggest that there is a great deal of variability in middle-class families in the amount of input that children receive at various level of abstractions during book sharing.
35位父母在家中给3岁6个月至4岁1个月的学龄前儿童朗读一本熟悉的书和一本不熟悉的书时被录像。父母关于文本的讨论按照四个抽象层次进行编码，并与一年后孩子们在相同四个语言抽象层次的正式测试（学前语言评估工具）中的进步情况相关联。在四个抽象层次中的三个层次上，父母的输入与孩子在最高抽象层次上的进步呈正相关且具有显著性。这也是孩子们最初得分最低但进步最大的层次。结果表明，与学龄前儿童一起读书时的讨论可能会产生积极影响，因为正是父母在较低和较高抽象层次上的输入量与孩子更抽象语言的发展相关。我们推测，较低层次上更多的输入可能通过营造一种让孩子展示已掌握技能的成功氛围来促进学习，而较高层次上更多的输入可能通过用他们刚刚开始掌握的抽象语言技能挑战孩子来促进学习。与之前的研究不同，这些结果表明，在中产阶级家庭中，孩子们在图书分享过程中在不同抽象层次上所获得的输入量存在很大差异。
