NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Showing all 8 results Save | Export
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Gelman, Susan A.; Ware, Elizabeth A.; Kleinberg, Felicia; Manczak, Erika M.; Stilwell, Sarah M. – Child Development, 2014
Generics ("'Dogs' bark") convey important information about categories and facilitate children's learning. Two studies with parents and their 2- or 4-year-old children (N = 104 dyads) examined whether individual differences in generic language use are as follows: (a) stable over time, contexts, and domains, and (b) linked…
Descriptors: Individual Differences, Child Language, Parent Background, Interpersonal Communication
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Wagner, Laura; Greene-Havas, Maia; Gillespie, Rebecca – Child Development, 2010
For socially appropriate communication, speakers must command a variety of linguistic styles, or "registers", that vary according to social context and social relationships. This study examined preschool children's ability to use a speaker's register choice to infer the identity of their addressee. Four-year-olds could draw correct inferences…
Descriptors: Metalinguistics, Preschool Children, Interpersonal Communication, Social Environment
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Frazier, Brandy N.; Gelman, Susan A.; Wellman, Henry M. – Child Development, 2009
This research examined children's questions and the reactions to the answers they receive in conversations with adults. If children actively seek explanatory knowledge, they should react differently depending on whether they receive a causal explanation. Study 1 examined conversations following 6 preschoolers' (ages 2-4 years) causal questions in…
Descriptors: Speech Communication, Child Language, Adults, Children
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Goldstein, Michael H.; Schwade, Jennifer A.; Bornstein, Marc H. – Child Development, 2009
The early noncry vocalizations of infants are salient social signals. Caregivers spontaneously respond to 30%-50% of these sounds, and their responsiveness to infants' prelinguistic noncry vocalizations facilitates the development of phonology and speech. Have infants learned that their vocalizations influence the behavior of social partners? If…
Descriptors: Comprehension, Phonology, Caregivers, Infants
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Vagh, Shaher Banu; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette – Child Development, 2009
This longitudinal study examined growth in the English productive vocabularies of bilingual and monolingual children between ages 24 and 36 months and explored the utility and validity of supplementing parent reports with teacher reports to improve the estimation of children's vocabulary. Low-income, English-speaking and English/Spanish-speaking…
Descriptors: English, Speech Communication, Longitudinal Studies, Validity
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Clark, Eve V. – Child Development, 1978
Examines children's strategies in language production. Focuses on how children in early stages of language acquisition talk about objects, spatial relations, and actions, and the extent to which they rely on general purpose terms in all three domains. (JMB)
Descriptors: Child Language, Children, Expressive Language, Language
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
Adamson, Lauren B.; Bakeman, Roger – Child Development, 2006
This study documents the development of symbolic, spatial, and temporal displacement of toddler's speech. Fifty-six children and their mothers were observed longitudinally 5 times from 18 to 30 months of age during a staged communication play while they engaged in scenes that encouraged interacting, requesting, and commenting and scenes that…
Descriptors: Speech Communication, Parent Child Relationship, Toddlers, Mothers
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Whitehurst, Grover J.; And Others – Child Development, 1981
Investigates why young children become redundant and informative speakers after listening to nonredundant and informative speakers. The authors conclude that children confuse the length of a message with information. (Author/DB)
Descriptors: Child Language, Communication Research, Kindergarten Children, Language Acquisition