The Relationship between Chinese Mothers’ Language Input and the Language Skills of Children Aged 3 - 6 Years

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between Chinese mothers’ language input (verbal productivity and interaction behaviors) and language skills of children aged 3 - 6 years. Data on mothers’ language input were videotaped from semi-structured mother-child interactions. The main findings revealed 1) The relationship between mothers’ verbal productivity and children’s language skills. There were significant positive correlations between the mothers’ number of total utterances (NTU) and number of total utterances, number of different words (NDW), and number of total words (NTW) of the children. There were significant positive correlations between mothers’ mean length of utterance (MLU) and children’s MLU, NDW, and NTW. There were significant positive correlations between mothers’ NDW and NTW and children’s NTU, NDW, and NTW. 2) The relationship between mothers’ interaction behaviors and children’s language skills. There was a significant negative correlation between mothers’ directive utterances and children’s MLU. There were significant positive correlations between mothers’ conversational utterances and children’s NTU, NDW, and NTW. These findings provide evidence for the relationship between Chinese mothers’ language input and children’s language skills at ages 3 - 6 years and provide a reference point for how Chinese mothers promote children’s language development.