Document Type
Article
Abstract
Purpose: Achievement gaps exist between children from racial/ethnic minority and low SES homes and their peers, yet clear explanations for the gap have been elusive. In addition to vocabulary, some are examining pragmatics to help understand the gap, as functional language can a) reflect how caregivers stimulate language; b) show how preschoolers communicate and; c) affect academic performance. The purpose of this study was to examine links between linguistic performance and the communicative functions (CFs) of typically developing African American, European American, and Latino American preschool boys and girls and their mothers. Method: CFs were coded from one learning and play mother-child interaction (N=95) from the National Center for Early Development and Learning’s (NCEDL, 2005) study of Family and Social Environments. Relationships among CFs, demographics and performance on standardized language, receptive vocabulary, and social competence measures were analyzed. Results: Mother Reporting, mother Reasoning, mother Total Utterances, gender, and poverty predicted performance, while Predicting was the only child CF to predict performance. Conclusion: Associations between gender, poverty, and mothers’ CFs suggest that lower performance for boys and children who are poor may reflect a lack of experience rather than a lack of basic communicative competence, as few child CFs were related to performance. By implication, determinations of language deficits in CLD children should consider that observed difficulty may be due to differences in early exposure to some CFs by their mothers or how teachers are measuring performance.
Publication Date
10-29-2017
Recommended Citation
Kasambira Fannin, D., Barbarin, O.A., & Crais, E.R. (in press). Effects of mothers' and preschoolers' communicative function use and demographics on concurrent language and social skills. Journal of the National Black Association for Speech-Language and Hearing.
Original Citation
Kasambira Fannin, D., Barbarin, O.A., & Crais, E.R. (in press). Effects of mothers' and preschoolers' communicative function use and demographics on concurrent language and social skills. Journal of the National Black Association for Speech-Language and Hearing.
Main Article
Table 1Codes10_29_17.pdf (132 kB)
Table 1
Table2MeanSDChildOUT10_12_17(1).pdf (18 kB)
Table 2
Table3MeanSDChildMomLateTotalfREQ8_29_17LESSima(1)(1).pdf (38 kB)
Table 3
Table4MeanSDChildFreq10_12_17LessIMA(1).pdf (123 kB)
Table 4
Table 5MeanSDMothersFreqLessIMA10_12_17(1).pdf (93 kB)
Table 5
Legacy Department
School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders
Sponsorship
Royster Society of Fellows at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education Foundation for Child Development
Language
eng
Rights Statement
In Copyright
