Context and education affect the quality of parents' speech to children

Abstract

The present study examined the influence of the context of interaction, parent education level, and parent gender on the quantity and language acquisition-supporting quality of parents' talk with their 3- to 5-year-old children. The conversations of 155 Danish parent-child dyads (41 fathers; 79 boys) in book sharing, reminiscing, and LEGO toy play were recorded, transcribed, and coded for indicators of linguistic and interactive quality. Book sharing and reminiscing elicited higher quality speech than toy play but did not diminish education-related differences in parent speech quality. Higher levels of parent education were associated with higher linguistic quality and linguistic contingency of parent speech. There were no effects of parent gender. The findings support the use of book sharing and reminiscing in parent-implemented interventions to enhance children's language experience, with the caveat that these interventions will not eliminate gaps in children's early language-learning experience associated with parent education.