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Directive interactions and early vocabulary development: the role of joint attentional focus*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Nameera Akhtar*
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
Frances Dunham
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
Philip J. Dunham
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
*
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada

Abstract

Maternal directiveness, assessed by the mother's use of prescriptives, is correlated with slow vocabulary development. As prescriptives are most often used to redirect a child's attention to a different object or activity, it is hypothesized that attentional regulation underlies this negative relationship. In the present study, twelve mothers were videotaped interacting with their children aged 1;1, and 100 maternal utterances were coded for pragmatic intent. Prescriptives were coded as either changing (LEADING) or FOLLOWING the child's focus of attention. Only the frequency of mothers' FOLLOW-prescriptives correlated significantly with a productive vocabulary measure taken at 1;10. This correlation was high and positive, indicating that, given joint focus, directing a 13-month-old's behaviour can have beneficial effects on subsequent vocabulary development.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Award 410-89-1477) to P.J.Dunham.

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