Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-24T03:10:42.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maternal verbal responsiveness and directiveness: consistency, stability, and relations to child early linguistic development*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2017

LEILA PAAVOLA-RUOTSALAINEN ,
JAANA LEHTOSAARI ,
JOSEFINA PALOMÄKI  and
IMMI TERVO
LEILA PAAVOLA-RUOTSALAINEN*
Affiliation:
University of Oulu, Faculty of Humanities, Logopedics, Child Language Research Center, Oulu, Finland
JAANA LEHTOSAARI
Affiliation:
Coronaria Kuntoutus Oy Ltd, Therapy Center, Oulu, Finland
JOSEFINA PALOMÄKI
Affiliation:
Coronaria Kuntoutus Oy Ltd, Therapy Center, Helsinki, Finland
IMMI TERVO
Affiliation:
CogniMed Oy Ltd, Therapy Center, Helsinki, Finland
*
*Address for correspondence: Leila Paavola-Ruotsalainen. e-mail: leila.paavola@oulu.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Maternal responsive and directive speech to children at ages 0;10 and 2;0 was investigated by applying a procedure first introduced by Flynn and Masur (2007) to a new language community (Finnish). The issues examined were consistency and stability over time, and also the role of responsiveness and directiveness in child linguistic development at 1;0 and 2;6. The measures of maternal speech from each age were used to predict the results of the subsequent linguistic assessment. Negative correlations between responsive and directive utterances were found at both ages. The frequencies of responsive utterances and supportive directives increased over time. Responsiveness was positively, and intrusive directiveness negatively, related to child early comprehensive skills and the use of symbolic actions and communicative gestures. By contrast, no relations were found between responsiveness and directiveness and children's later linguistic capacities.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 319 - 339
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akhtar, N., Dunham, F. & Dunham, P. (1991). Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: the role of joint attentional focus. Journal of Child Language 18, 41–9.Google Scholar
Arshavsky, Y. (2009). Two functions of early language experience. Brain Research Reviews 60, 327–40.Google Scholar
Barrett, M., Harris, M. & Chasin, J. (1991). Early lexical development and maternal speech: a comparison of children's initial and subsequent uses of words. Journal of Child Language 18, 21–40.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. & Haynes, O. M. (1999). First words in the second year: continuity, stability, and models of concurrent and predictive correspondence in vocabulary and verbal responsiveness across age and context. Infant Behavior and Development 22, 65–85.Google Scholar
Brent, M. R. & Siskind, J. M. (2001). The role of exposure to isolated words in early vocabulary development. Cognition 81, B33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruner, J. S. (1981). The social context of language acquisition. Language and Communication 1, 155–78.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S. (1983). Child's talk: learning to use language. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Ciccone, N., Hennessey, N. & Stokes, S. F. (2012). Community-based early intervention for language delay: a preliminary investigation. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 47, 467–70.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (2009). First language acquisition, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clark, R. (1985). The Parent–Child Early Relational Assessment. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Medical School, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Darrah, J., Hodge, M., Magill-Evans, J. & Kembhavi, G. (2003). Stability of serial assessments of motor and communication abilities in typically developing infants – implications for screening. Early Human Development 72, 97–110.Google Scholar
Della Corte, M., Benedict, H. & Klein, D. (1983). The relationship of pragmatic dimensions of mothers’ speech to the referential–expressive distinction. Journal of Child Language 10, 34–43.Google Scholar
Desmarais, C., Sylvestre, A., Meyer, F., Bairati, I. & Rouleau, N. (2008). Systematic review of the literature on characteristics of late-talking toddlers. International Journal of Language & Communicative Disorders 43, 361–89.Google Scholar
D'Odorico, L., Salerni, N., Cassibba, R. & Jacob, V. (1999) Stability and change of maternal speech to Italian infants from 7 to 21 months of age: a longitudinal study of its influence on early stages of language acquisition. First Language 19, 313–46.Google Scholar
Dunham, P. J., Dunham, F. & Curwin, A. (1993). Joint-attentional states and lexical acquisition at 18 months. Developmental Psychology 29, 827–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, S., Fletcher, P., Garman, M., Hughes, A., Letts, C. & Sinka, I. (1997). Reynell Developmental Language Scales III. The University of Reading edition. Berkshire: NferNelson (Translation and standardization of the Finnish version: Psykologien Kustannus Oy, 2001).Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Bates, E., Dale, P., Goodman, J., Reznick, S. & Thal, D. (2000). Measuring variability in early child language: don't shoot the messenger. Child Development 71, 323–8.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D. & Pethick, S. J. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59 (5, Serial No. 242).Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (2004 [1978]). Talking to children: a search for universals. Reprinted in Lust, B. C. & Foley, C. (eds), First language acquisition: the essential readings (pp. 176–189). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Flynn, V. & Masur, E. (2007). Characteristics of maternal verbal style: responsiveness and directiveness in two natural contexts. Journal of Child Language 34, 519–43.Google Scholar
Furrow, D., Nelson, K. & Benedict, H. (1979). Mothers’ speech to children and syntactic development: some simple relationships. Journal of Child Language 6, 423–42.Google Scholar
Gibbard, D., Coglan, L. & MacDonald, J. (2004). Cost-effectiveness analysis of current practice and parent intervention for children under 3 years presenting with expressive language delay. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 39, 229–44.Google Scholar
Girolametto, L., Bonifacio, S., Visini, C., Weitzman, E., Zocconi, E. & Pearce, P. S. (2002). Mother–child interactions in Canada and Italy: linguistic responsiveness to late-talking toddlers. International Journal of Communication Disorders 37, 153–71.Google Scholar
Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E., Wiigs, M. & Pearce, P. (1999). The relationship between maternal language measures and language development in toddlers with expressive vocabulary delays. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 8, 364–74.Google Scholar
Gleitman, L., Newport, E. & Gleitman, H. (1984). The current status of the motherese hypothesis. Journal of Child Language 11, 43–79.Google Scholar
Goodman, J. C., Dale, P. S. & Ping, L. (2008) Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary. Journal of Child Language 35, 515–31.Google Scholar
Hampson, J. & Nelson, K. (1993). The relation of maternal language to variation in rate and style of language acquisition. Journal of Child Language 20, 313–42.Google Scholar
Harrison, L. J. & McLeod, S. (2010). Risk and protective factors associated with speech and language impairment in a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 53, 508–29.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. & Naigles, L. (2002). How children use input to acquire a lexicon. Child Development 73, 418–33.Google Scholar
Hurtado, N., Marchman, V. A. & Fernald, A. (2008). Does input influence uptake? Links between maternal talk, processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish-learning children. Developmental Science 11, 31–9.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Waterfall, H. R., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J. L. & Hedges, L. V. (2010). Sources of variability in children's language growth. Cognitive Psychology 61, 343–65.Google Scholar
Kaiser, A. P. & Hancock, T. B. (2003). Teaching parents new skills to support their young children's development. Infants & Young Children 16, 9–21.Google Scholar
Landry, S. H., Chapienski, M. L. & Schmidt, M. (1986). Effects of maternal attention-directing strategies on preterms’ response to toys. Infant Behavior and Development 9, 257–69.Google Scholar
Landry, S. H, Smith, K. E. & Swank, P. R. (2006). Responsive parenting: establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental Psychology 42, 627–42.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C. A. & Masur, E. F. (2014). Infant behaviors influence mothers’ provision of responsive and directive behaviors. Infant Behavior & Development 37, 276–85.Google Scholar
Lyytinen, P. (1999) MCDI-testi: varhaisen kommunikaation ja kielen kehityksen arviointimenetelmä [MCDI test: an assessment method for early communicative and language development] . Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä and the Niilo Mäki Institute.Google Scholar
Masur, E. F. (1982). Mothers’ responses to infants’ object-related gestures: influences on lexical development. Journal of Child Language 9, 23–30.Google Scholar
Masur, E. F., Flynn, V. & Eichorst, D. L. (2005). Maternal responsive and directive behaviours and utterances as predictors of children's lexical development. Journal of Child Language 23, 63–91.Google Scholar
Masur, E. F., Flynn, V. & Lloyd, C. A. (2013). Infants’ behaviors as antecedents and consequents of mothers’ responsive and directive utterances. First Language 33, 354–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mundy, P. & Gomes, A. (1997). A skills approach to early language development: lessons from research on developmental disabilities. In Adamson, L. B. & Romski, M. A. (eds), Communication and language acquisition: discoveries from atypical development (pp. 469–482). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Pine, J. (1992). Maternal style at the early one-word stage: re-evaluating the stereotype of the directive mother. First Language 12, 169–86.Google Scholar
Rescorla, L. & Fechnay, T. (1996). Mother–child synchrony and communicative reciprocity in late-talking toddlers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 39, 200–8.Google Scholar
Roberts, M. Y. & Kaiser, A. P. (2011). The effectiveness of parent-implemented language interventions: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 20, 180–99.Google Scholar
Rowe, M. L. (2008). Child-directed speech: relation to socioeconomic status, knowledge of child development and child vocabulary skill. Journal of Child Language 35, 185–205.Google Scholar
Rowe, M. L. (2012). A longitudinal investigation of the role of quantity and quality of child-directed speech in vocabulary development. Child Development 83, 1762–74.Google Scholar
Silvén, M., Niemi, P. & Voeten, M. J. M. (2002). Do maternal interaction and early language predict phonological awareness in 3- to 4-year-olds? Cognitive Development 17, 1133–55.Google Scholar
Smolak, L. (1987). Child characteristics and maternal speech. Journal of Child Language 14, 481–92.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E. (1995). Issues in the study of input: finetuning, universality, individual and developmental differences, and necessary causes. In Fletcher, P. & MacWhinney, B. (eds), The handbook of child language (pp. 180–193). Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Soderstrom, M. (2007). Beyond babytalk: re-evaluating the nature and content of speech input to preverbal infants. Developmental Review 27, 501–32.Google Scholar
Song, L., Spier, E. T. & Tamis-LeMonda, C. S. (2014). Reciprocal influences between maternal language and children's language and cognitive development in low-income families. Journal of Child Language 41, 305–26.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011). Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38, 1–34.Google Scholar
Stolt, S., Haataja, L., Lapinleimu, H. & Lehtonen, L. (2008). Early lexical development of Finnish children – a longitudinal study. First Language 28, 259–79.Google Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Bornstein, M. H. & Baumwell, L. (2001). Maternal responsiveness and children's achievement of language milestones. Child Development 72, 748–67.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. & Farrar, J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development 57, 1454–63.Google Scholar
van Balkom, H., Verhoeven, L. & van Weerdenburg, M. (2010). Conversational behaviour of children with developmental language delay and their caretakers. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 45, 295–319.Google Scholar
Vigil, D. C., Hodges, J. & Klee, T. (2005). Quantity and quality of parental language input to late-talking toddlers during play. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 21, 107–22.Google Scholar
Wetherby, A. M., Cain, D. H., Yonclas, D. G. & Walker, V. G. (1988). Analysis of intentional communication of normal children from the prelinguistic to the multiword stage. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 31, 240–52.Google Scholar