ERIC Number: EJ1060656
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1524-8372
EISSN: N/A
Experimentally Induced Increases in Early Gesture Lead to Increases in Spoken Vocabulary
LeBarton, Eve Sauer; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Raudenbush, Stephen
Journal of Cognition and Development, v16 n2 p199-220 2015
Differences in vocabulary that children bring with them to school can be traced back to the gestures they produced at the age of 1;2, which, in turn, can be traced back to the gestures their parents produced at the same age (Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009a). We ask here whether child gesture can be experimentally increased and, if so, whether the increases lead to increases in spoken vocabulary. Fifteen children aged 1;5 participated in an 8-week at-home intervention study (6 weekly training sessions plus follow-up 2 weeks later) in which all were exposed to object words, but only some were told to point at the named objects. Before each training session and at follow-up, children interacted naturally with caregivers to establish a baseline against which changes in communication were measured. Children who were told to gesture increased the number of gesture meanings they conveyed, not only during training but also during interactions with caregivers. These experimentally induced increases in gesture led to larger spoken repertoires at follow-up.
Descriptors: Nonverbal Communication, Vocabulary Development, Intervention, Oral Language, Infants, Caregiver Child Relationship, Family Environment, Picture Books, Language Acquisition, Measures (Individuals), Coding, Speech Communication, Observation
Psychology Press. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A