Early Vocabulary Development of Australian Indigenous Children: Identifying Strengths

Abstract

The current study sought to increase our understanding of the factors involved in the early vocabulary development of Australian Indigenous children. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children were available for 573 Indigenous children (291 boys) who spoke English ( = 37.0 months, = 5.4 months, at wave 3). Data were also available for 86 children (51 boys) who spoke an Indigenous language ( = 37.1 months, = 6.0 months, at wave 3). As hypothesised, higher levels of parent-child book reading and having more children's books in the home were associated with better English vocabulary development. Oral storytelling in Indigenous language was a significant predictor of the size of children's Indigenous vocabulary.

Childcare Use and Its Role in Indigenous Child Development: Evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children in Australia

“…Our results further suggest that there may be benefit for cognitive development in improving the home environment (e.g., by educating current and future parents on the importance of the home environment). Indeed, our results and the findings of other studies (e.g., Farrant et al ., ) indicate that interventions that focus on educating current and future parents on the importance of parenting practices like reading or telling stories to their children, as well as providing children's books to increase the number of these in the home, are likely to have significant benefits. Comparing the impact of childcare attendance to this kind of parenting programme could be another fruitful avenue for future research.…”

Leadership in Diverse Learning Contexts

“…Farrant et al ( 2014 ) found also that the two main barriers for many disenfranchised families are parents' literacy skills and poor access to books and other reading materials in their homes. Farrant et al ( 2014 ) found also that the two main barriers for many disenfranchised families are parents' literacy skills and poor access to books and other reading materials in their homes.…”

La migración del campo a la ciudad y la amplitud del vocabulario de los niños peruanos a los 8 años de edad

“…La riqueza cultural del hogar ha sido estudiada mediante la cantidad de libros con los que cuentan los niños en sus casas y los hábitos de lectura de sus padres, y se encuentra que estos factores son significativos para predecir el desarrollo del vocabulario (Farrant, Shepherd, Walker y Pearson, 2014;Verdisco et al, 2015). Sin embargo, la riqueza cultural también suele estar relacionada con la situación económica a pesar de que esta última no debería significar una barrera para la capacidad léxica (Alexander y Uccelli, 2010).…”

“…Se encuentran diferencias en el desarrollo del vocabulario entre distintos ambientes socioculturales, evidenciando que una mayor riqueza sociocultural beneficiará el desarrollo cognitivo y semántico del niño (Alfonso e Ibáñez, 2013;Coddington et al, 2014;Cueto et al, 2014;Díaz, 2006;Farrant et al, 2014;Henrichs et al, 2011;Paxson y Schady, 2007;Rubio-Codina et al, 2013;Schady et al, 2014;Verdisco et al, 2015). Aquellos contextos desfavorecidos presentan evidencias de un lenguaje más reducido en cuestión de vocabulario, es más simple y concreto, la conceptualización es escasa y las oraciones son breves; mientras que en ambientes socioculturalmente favorecidos, el lenguaje es más rico y complejo en palabras y conceptualizaciones (Alfonso e Ibáñez, 2013).…”

“…Estas han sido seleccionadas a partir de experiencias previas en las que se ha evidenciado el rol predictor que tienen sobre el desarrollo de vocabulario (Coddington et al, 2014;Cueto et al, 2014;Díaz, 2006;Farrant et al, 2014;Henrichs et al, 2011;Paxson y Schady, 2007;Rubio-Codina et al, 2013;Schady et al, 2014;Verdisco et al, 2015 iii. Talla para la edad: Se refiere a la medida antropométrica de la relación entre la altura del niño (medida en centímetros) y su edad (medida en meses), suele entenderse como un indicador nutricional del niño (Verdisco et al, 2015).…”