How to Contribute to the Language and Communication Development of Children and Adolescents

Dear Colleagues,

The family and the school are the first and often the most vital environments for child linguistic development. Given that the school is the child’s second social group, it is likely that the child’s learning and language development and socialization are highly influenced by their teachers and other children. The presence of risk factors or barriers in children and families, such as vulnerability, disability, and poverty, may threaten child language development. However, it is equally important to note that protective factors and strengths in the family and school context, such as the quality and quantity of exposition in bilingual or multilingual environments, conversational and participative activities, and specific strategies, can promote cultural identity and positive child language development.

Although there is a growing body of research on oral language development and its relation with family and school activities and specific interactions in these contexts, much remains to be learned about the ways in which some conditions and aspects (bilingualism, multilingualism, disability, vulnerability, immigration status, gender perspective, race/ethnicity, etc.) interact with each other to shape child and adolescent oral language development over time. Further, we need to better understand how the interactions in the family and school context can be improved in order to contribute to fostering oral language development at different educational levels (from kindergarten to secondary education).

This Special Issue will be devoted to understanding the unique and combined effects of family risk or barriers and protective factors and the characteristics of the interactions in the family and school context on child and adolescent oral language development and different intervention proposals in terms of teachers’ development processes (i.e., collaborative and reflective perspective) or family participation in collaborative processes (i.e., family-centered practices) to fostering oral language development. Both reviews and original research (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies) will be considered for publication.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Children.

Dr. Marta Gràcia
Guest Editor

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• family
• risk factors
• protective factors
• multilingualism
• bilingualism
• communicative and linguistic interaction
• oral language development
• family centered practices
• teacher development programs
• adolescence
• developmental language disorders
• child
• reflective collaboration
• language development