Language exposure
언어 노출
Scientists want to understand how young children learn. In this study, they wanted to find out how many words children hear at home each day. The participants were all from poor families, and the research method involved using small recorders in the children's pockets to record everything they heard throughout the day.
The researchers used a computer program to count how many words the children heard. Some children heard 20,000 words a day, while others heard only 2,500 words.
Some children heard a lot of words directly from their parents while talking or playing with them. The researchers called this "child-directed speech." On the other hand, some children mostly heard words when their parents were talking to each other or to siblings. This could be called "indirectly heard speech."
The results showed that children who heard more direct speech learned more vocabulary, while those who heard less direct speech learned less. Isn't that interesting?
This suggests that simply hearing other people talk or watching TV is not enough for children to learn language. It’s important for children to be involved in conversations, to have things explained to them, to respond to what they say, and to repeat the sounds they make.
There are many reasons why children may hear more or fewer words. Some children have no siblings, while others have many. Some children have parents who have more time to play with them, while others have less time. Some children live with their parents, while others live with other adults or caregivers. Children’s lives vary greatly, and we still don’t fully understand how these differences affect language learning.
However, what we do know is that play and conversation are very important for children to learn language. In other words, children who have many opportunities to play and talk are more likely to adapt well in school.
Reference
https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2017.00045
