놀잇감과 영아의 성별에 따른 어머니의 공간 언어 사용 차이

Abstract

Objectives This study examined whether block plays have an advantage in promoting infants’ exposure to spatial language, and if so, whether the advantage would vary depending on the variability in block shapes. In addition, it was investigated whether infants’ sex influences their exposure to spatial language during mother-infant play.
 Methods Forty-three 8-month-old infants and their mothers living in Seoul Metropolitan areas participated in this study. Mother-infant pairs were asked to play with a set of stuffed animal toys and then with a set of blocks. During the block play session, half of the participants were provided with colorful blocks that were identical in terms of shape; the other participants were provided with colorful blocks that varied in shapes. Spatial language that mothers used during plays was coded and classified into categories. Frequency and diversity of spatial language were calculated.
 Results Although mothers produced spatial language in both the animal toy play and the block play, their spatial language use was more frequent and more diverse when they played with blocks than with animal toys. Importantly, this advantage of block play in infants’ exposure to spatial language only appeared when the blocks varied in shapes. In addition, while mothers used the same amount of spatial language to girls and boys, they used more diverse spatial language to girls than boys.
 Conclusions These results indicate that the spatial language input that mothers provide during mother-infant plays is affected by the characteristics of the play materials and the infants. Specifically, this study suggests that blocks with a variety of shapes can promote mothers’ use of rich spatial language in the context of mother-infant play.