Beyond Counting Words: A paradigm Shift for the Study of Language Acquisition

Authors

Lillian R. Masek, Temple University
Alexus G. Ramirez, University of Delaware
Brianna T.M. McMillan, Smith CollegeFollow
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, University of Delaware

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2021

Publication Title

Child Development Perspectives

Abstract

The 30-million-word gap, the quantified difference in the amount of speech that children growing up in low-resourced homes hear compared to their peers from high-resourced homes, is a phrase that has entered the collective consciousness. In the discussion of quantity, the complex and nuanced environments in which children learn language were distilled into a singular metric—number of words. In this article, we propose examining children’s language environments by focusing on what caregivers communicate to children and how they communicate it. Focusing on the features of the language environment promotes a more inclusive approach to understanding how children learn and the diverse contexts in which that learning occurs.

Keywords

caregiver-child interaction, early childhood, language input

Volume

15

Issue

4

First Page

274

Last Page

280

DOI

10.1111/cdep.12425

ISSN

17508592

Rights

© 2021 The Authors.

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Masek, Lillian R.; Ramirez, Alexus G.; McMillan, Brianna T.M.; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; and Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick, "Beyond Counting Words: A paradigm Shift for the Study of Language Acquisition" (2021). Psychology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/107