Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Specific Language Activities at Home
1.2. Language Activities at Home in Low-SES and Minority-Majority Language Contexts
1.3. Relations between Home Language Activities and Children’s Vocabulary in Low-SES and Language-minority Families
1.4. The Present Study
- In toddlers from low-income, monolingual and language-minority immigrant families to compare the frequency and duration of home language activities (a) involving interaction with an adult (shared book-reading, story-telling, and singing), (b) with passive exposure to language input (watching TV), and (c) involving interaction with digital media. We expected that monolingual parents involve children in home language activities in the majority language more frequently than do bilingual parents. We expected this especially for activities in interaction with an adult. When home language activities in total (i.e., in the minority + majority language) were considered, the overall differences were expected to be reduced [3];
- To analyze the longitudinal relations between each of the three types of home language activities—involving interaction with an adult, with passive exposure to language input, and involving interaction with digital media—at 24 months (Time 1) and expressive vocabulary at 30 months (Time 2). The home language activities at Time 1 and expressive vocabulary at Time 2 were assessed both in total language (minority + majority language) and in the majority language. In analyzing the longitudinal relation between home language activities at Time 1 and expressive vocabulary at Time 2, group and total vocabulary at 24 months were controlled for. We expected that:
- -
- -
- neither the frequency and duration of activities with passive exposure to language input nor the frequency and duration of activities involving interaction with digital media would account for expressive vocabulary, whether in total language or in the majority language [3];
- -
- group (i.e., toddlers belonging to monolingual vs. language-minority immigrant families) would account for expressive vocabulary in the majority language but not for expressive vocabulary in total (i.e., minority + majority language).
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Procedure
2.3. Measures
2.3.1. Semi-structured Interviews on Home Language Activities (Time 1)
2.3.2. Expressive Vocabulary (Time 1 and Time 2)
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Home Language Activities of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual and Bilingual Immigrant Families (Aim 1)
3.2. Longitudinal Relations between Home Language Activities at 24 Months and Vocabulary at 30 Months (Aim 2)
4. Discussion
4.1. When Considered in Total, Home Language Activities with Adults Are Similar (and few) in Low-SES Monolingual and Bilingual Immigrant Families
4.2. Home Language Activities in Interaction with Adults Predict Children’s Expressive Vocabulary in Low-SES Monolingual and Language-Minority Immigrant Families
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Bilinguals | Monolinguals | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
% | M (SD) Range | % | M (SD) Range | Test between Groups | p | |
Child gender (female vs. male) | 57 | 46 | χ2(1) = 0.72 | 0.46 | ||
Birth order (firstborn vs. no firstborn) | 33 | 32 | χ2(1) = 0.01 | 0.95 | ||
Singleton (yes vs. no) | 100 | 96 | χ2(1) = 1.94 | 0.16 | ||
Age of entry to nursery school (months) | 14.24 (4.86) 5–23 | 13.50 (4.58) 7–23 | t(68) = 0.62 | 0.54 | ||
Daily attendance at nursery school (hours) | 7.26 (1.63) 3–10 | 6.63 (1.34) 3.5–8.5 | t(68) = 1.74 | 0.09 | ||
Maternal age (years) | 33.84 (5.30) 26–46 | 34.96 (4.60) 27–42 | t(64 a) = −0.84 | 0.41 | ||
Maternal education (more vs. fewer than 13 years/high school) | 60 | 78 | χ2(1 b) = 2.27 | 0.13 |
Bilinguals | Monolinguals | ||
---|---|---|---|
Total (MinL + MajL) | MajL | Total = MajL | |
Variable | M (SD) Range | M (SD) Range | M (SD) Range |
Frequency | |||
Activities in interaction with an adult a | 4.15 (1.85) 0.67–7 | 3.09 (1.85) 0–7 | 4.75 (1.71) 1.33–7 |
Shared book-reading | 3.89 (2.84) 0–7 | 3.40 (3.02) 0–7 | 4.02 (2.86) 0–7 |
Oral story-telling | 2.64 (2.74) 0–7 | 1.15 (2.20) 0–7 | 3.71 (2.92) 0–7 |
Singing | 5.92 (2.23) 0.5–7 | 4.72 (3.07) 0–7 | 6.52 (1.64) 0.5–7 |
Activities with passive exposure to language input b | 6.24 (2.20) 0–7 | 6.24 (2.20) 0–7 | 4.67 (3.37) 0–7 |
Activities interacting with digital media c | 4.72 (3.32) 0–7 | 3.35 (3.53) 0–7 | 2.33 (3.37) 0–7 |
Duration | |||
Activities in interaction with an adult d | 1.00 (1.21) 0–5.16 | 1.10 (1.19) 0–3.50 | |
Activities with passive exposure to language input b | 8.90 (6.55) 0–24.50 | 8.90 (6.55) 0–24.50 | 5.10 (4.81) 0–14.00 |
Activities interacting with digital media c | 5.49 (6.69) 0–24.50 | 4.62 (6.76) 0–24.50 | 2.77 (6.34) 0–28.00 |
Bilinguals | Monolinguals | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
24 Months | 30 Months | 24 Months | 30 Months | |||||||||
M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | |
Total Language | 30.37 | 27.63 | 0–102 | 69.17 | 4.24 | 6–163 | 37.17 | 24.83 | 3–83 | 61.88 | 25.40 | 3–100 |
Majority Language | 13.52 | 13.93 | 0–52 | 36.50 | 23.36 | 1–97 | 37.17 | 24.83 | 3–83 | 61.88 | 25.40 | 3–100 |
Total Language: Frequency | Total Language: Duration | |||||||||
IA a | PEL b | IDM c | IA d | PEL b | IDM c | MFE | E_Voc Tot 24 | E_Voc Tot 30 | E_Voc MajL 30 | |
IAa | - | 0.19 | −0.06 | 0.62 ** | 0.23 | 0.02 | 0.35 ** | 0.01 | 0.21 | 0.25 * |
PEL b | - | 0.08 | 0.14 | 0.58 ** | 0.11 | 0.19 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.08 | |
IDM c | - | −0.12 | −0.03 | 0.56 ** | 0.19 | 0.05 | 0.05 | −0.05 | ||
IA d | - | 0.15 | −0.03 | 0.39 ** | 0.09 | 0.26 * | 0.27 * | |||
PEL b | - | 0.16 | 0.20 | −0.17 | 0.10 | 0.03 | ||||
IDM c | - | 0.10 | −0.07 | 0.02 | −0.05 | |||||
Majority Language: Frequency | Majority Language: Duration | |||||||||
IA a | PEL b | IDM c | IA | PEL b | IDM c | MFE | E_Voc Tot 24 | E_Voc Tot 30 | E_Voc MajL 30 | |
IA a | - | 0.15 | −0.02 | 0.13 | 0.07 | 0.25 * | −0.07 | 0.02 | 0.14 | |
PEL b | - | 0.08 | 0.55 ** | 0.09 | 0.19 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.08 | ||
IDM c | - | −0.01 | 0.69 ** | 0.14 | 0.09 | −0.01 | −0.11 | |||
PEL b | - | 0.21 | 0.13 | −0.16 | 0.11 | −0.01 | ||||
IDM c | - | 0.17 | −0.08 | 0.03 | −0.08 | |||||
MFE | - | 0.18 | 0.18 | 0.21 | ||||||
E_Voc Tot 24 | - | 0.58 ** | 0.60 ** | |||||||
E_Voc Tot 30 | - | 0.84 ** |
First Regression | Second Regression | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adjusted R2 | Adjusted ∆R2 | Β (SE) | ß | Adjusted R2 | Adjusted ∆R2 | Β (SE) | ß | |
Model 1 | 0.32 ** | 0.32 ** | 0.32 ** | 0.32 ** | ||||
Intercept | 56.92 (11.71) | 55.32 (11.82) | ||||||
Group | −12.94 (7.93) | −0.16 | −12.32 (7.96) | −0.15 | ||||
Expressive vocabulary in total language at 24 months | 0.82 (0.14) | 0.58 ** | 0.84 (0.14) | 0.59 ** | ||||
Model 2 | 0.36 ** | 0.04 * | 0.36 ** | 0.04 * | ||||
Intercept | 11.47 (8.09) | 49.93 (11.80) | ||||||
Group | 4.71 (5.41) | −0.19 † | −12.75 (7.76) | −0.16 | ||||
Expressive vocabulary in total language at 24 months | 0.82 (1.22) | 0.58 ** | 0.81 (0.14) | 0.57 ** | ||||
Activities in interaction with an adult in total a | 0.75 (0.42) | 0.21 * | 6.56 (3.10) | 0.21 * |
Third Regression | Fourth Regression | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adjusted R2 | Adjusted ∆R2 | Β (SE) | ß | Adjusted R2 | Adjusted ∆R2 | Β (SE) | ß | |
Model 1 | 0.47 ** | 0.47 ** | 0.47 ** | 0.47 ** | ||||
Intercept | −1.57 (7.27) | −1.20 (7.39) | ||||||
Group | 21.71 (4.93) | 0.39 ** | 21.57 (4.98) | 0.39 ** | ||||
Expressive vocabulary in total language at 24 months | 0.54 (0.88) | 0.54 ** | 0.54 (0.09) | 0.54 ** | ||||
Model 2 | 0.52 ** | 0.04 ** | 0.50 ** | 0.03 * | ||||
Intercept | −13.40 (8.29) | −4.74 (7.35) | ||||||
Group | 19.71 (4.79) | 0.35 ** | 21.29 (4.93) | 0.38 ** | ||||
Expressive vocabulary in total language at 24 months | 0.54 (0.09) | 0.54 ** | 0.52 (0.09) | 0.52 ** | ||||
Activities in interaction with an adult in total a | 1.12 (0.42) | 0.22 ** | 4.31 (1.93) | 0.19 * |
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Florit, E.; Barachetti, C.; Majorano, M.; Lavelli, M. Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010296
Florit E, Barachetti C, Majorano M, Lavelli M. Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(1):296. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010296
Chicago/Turabian StyleFlorit, Elena, Chiara Barachetti, Marinella Majorano, and Manuela Lavelli. 2021. "Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 1: 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010296