Abstract
Digital media (DM), such as cellphones and tablets, are a common part of our daily lives and their usage has changed the communication structure within families. Thus, there is a risk that the use of DM might result in fewer opportunities for interactions between children and their parents leading to fewer language learning moments for young children. The current study examined the associations between children’s language development and early DM exposure.Participants: Ninety-two parents of 25months olds (50 boys/42 girls) recorded their home sound environment during a typical day [Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA)] and participated in an online questionnaire consisting of questions pertaining to daily DM use and media mediation strategies, as well as a Swedish online version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory, which includes a vocabulary scale as well as a grammar and pragmatics scale.Results: Through correlations and stepwise regressions three aspects of language were analyzed. The child’s vocabulary was positively associated with interactional turn-taking. The child’s vocabulary and grammar were negatively associated with the likelihood of parent’s device use during everyday child routines and the amount of TV watched by the child. The child’s pragmatic development was also positively associated with the parent’s device use in child routines but also with the parent’s joint media engagement (JME), as well as the child’s gender (where girls perform better).Conclusion: Our study confirms that specific aspects of the 2-year old’s DM environment are associated with the child’s language development. More TV content, whether it is viewed on a big screen or tablet, is negatively associated with language development. The likelihood of parents’ use of DM during everyday child routines is also negatively associated with the child’s language development. Positive linguistic parental strategies such as interactional turn-taking with the child, JME, and book reading, on the other hand, are positively associated with the child’s language development.
Highlights
Living in a digital world is changing the way we interact with each other, for children and adults alike. This may change the way young children, growing up today, acquire language, as language development is dependent on the linguistic input achieved through the interactions that occur during child-adult conversations (e.g., Tomasello, 2003; Romeo et al, 2018)
The present study focuses on the importance of child-adult interactions to language development and how this development may be associated with the use of digital media (DM) and digital devices in the home environment
In order to understand vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatic development better, regression models examine the relative contribution of parent and child media use, interactional turn-taking, and joint media engagement (JME) to language development
Summary
Living in a digital world is changing the way we interact with each other, for children and adults alike. This may change the way young children, growing up today, acquire language, as language development is dependent on the linguistic input achieved through the interactions that occur during child-adult conversations (e.g., Tomasello, 2003; Romeo et al, 2018). Despite rapid changes in the availability of digital media (DM) in the home, including Smartphones, television, gaming consoles, and tablets, as well as a number of digital services like streaming television and social media, little research has examined whether DM in the home is associated with child-adult conversations. The present study focuses on the importance of child-adult interactions to language development and how this development may be associated with the use of DM and digital devices in the home environment
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