Abstract
Early spatial language plays an important role in facilitating cognition and thoughts thus deserves empirical studies. This scoping review aims to synthesis the empirical evidence to identify the key topics, major findings, and research gaps regarding early spatial language development and education. The search has identified 19 studies published in the international peer-reviewed journals during 2000–2021, converging into three common topics: the developmental patterns of early spatial language, its role in child development, and parental influences. First, the synthesis of evidence revealed a significant age effect but an inconclusive gender effect in early spatial language. Second, the modeling or regression results jointly indicated that early spatial language could facilitate or predict spatial skills and/or spatial cognition. Third, the existing evidence supported that parental language input and parental involvement could enhance early spatial language. However, this study also found the major research gaps: no Chinese studies, very few naturalistic studies, the understudied ‘motion events’, and no studies on ‘frames of reference’. Implications for future studies and practical improvements are also discussed.
Highlights
Language has laid a solid foundation for early cognitive development, especially those about space and spatial relationships (Bower et al 2020)
It is critical to conduct a synthesis or scoping review to understand what has been explored and reported about the topic. This scoping review aims to examine a wide breadth of research resources during 2000–2021 related to the exploratory questions regarding early spatial language development and education to meet this need
Some other studies have shown that children with more exposure to spatial language perform better on spatial tasks (Miller et al, 2016). These findings jointly indicated that early spatial language could facilitate the later development of spatial skills and performance
Summary
Language has laid a solid foundation for early cognitive development, especially those about space and spatial relationships (Bower et al 2020). SN Soc Sci (2022) 2:20 hypothesis has inspired decades of exploring the complicated and dynamic relationships between language and thoughts concerning early spatial cognition (Bower et al 2020). It is critical to conduct a synthesis or scoping review to understand what has been explored and reported about the topic. This scoping review aims to examine a wide breadth of research resources during 2000–2021 related to the exploratory questions regarding early spatial language development and education to meet this need.
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