Language Input Effects in Atypical Language Development

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 1693

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Development and Education of youth in Diverse Societies (DEEDS), Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands
Interests: (atypical) language development; language input; bilingualism; statistical learning

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Guest Editor
Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, 6525 HT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Interests: developmental language disorder; first language acquisition; language input; statistical learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Language acquisition is facilitated by (a) the quantity and quality of input (Anderson et al., 2021) and (b) the child’s language learning ability. In children with atypical language development, research has focused almost exclusively on the latter, while the role that input itself plays in language acquisition has received less attention. Whether and what characteristics of children’s language input boost (or hinder) language learning in children with atypical language development largely remains an empirical question (but see, e.g., Curtin et al., 2021; Justice et al., 2014). The purpose of this Special Issue is to further investigate this important question (Hoff, 2006). The resulting collection of articles will provide us (a) novel theoretical insight on the relation between language input and language (learning) ability in the context of atypical language development and (b) practical evidence-based advice for parents and professionals on how to boost children’s language learning via language input.

This Special Issue of Languages welcomes studies that investigate the relation between language input and language (learning) ability in children with atypical language development. We aim to include studies that investigate different types of language input (e.g., parental input, peer input, teacher input, artificial language input), different learning contexts (e.g., natural environment, lab environment) and different populations of atypically language developing children (e.g., Developmental Language Disorder, Dyslexia, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children).

Prior to submitting a manuscript, we request that the interested authors first submit a proposed title and an abstract of 250–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editors, Dr. Merel van Witteloostuijn () and Dr. Imme Lammertink (), before 31 January 2025. The Guest Editors will review abstracts for the purpose of ensuring their proper fit within the Special Issue. The full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

References

Anderson, N. J., Graham, S. A., Prime, H., Jenkins, J. M., & Madigan, S. (2021). Linking quality and quantity of parental linguistic input to child language skills: A meta‐analysis. Child Development, 92(2), 484–501.

Curtin, M., Dirks, E., Cruice, M., Herman, R., Newman, L., Rodgers, L., & Morgan, G. (2021). Assessing parent behaviours in parent–child interactions with deaf and hard of hearing infants aged 0–3 years: a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Medicine10(15), 3345.

Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 26. 55–88.

Hudson Kam, C., & Newport, E. (2005). Regularizing unpredictable variation: The roles of adult and child learners in language formation and change. Language Learning and Development, 1(2). 151–195.

Justice, L. M., Logan, J. A. R., Lin, T.-J., & Kaderavek, J. N. (2014). Peer effects in early childhood education: testing the assumptions of special-education inclusion. Psychological Science, 25(9), 1722–1729.

Dr. Merel Van Witteloostuijn
Dr. Imme Lammertink
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • language input
  • atypical language development
  • language environment
  • language acquisition

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 694 KiB  
Article
Are All Conversational Turns Equal? Parental Language Input and Child Language in Children with Hearing Loss during Daily Interactions
by Hiltje P. Muller, Michel R. Benard, Annerenée Meijer, Deniz Başkent and Evelien Dirks
Languages 2024, 9(9), 287; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9090287 - 23 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1016
Abstract
(1) Background: Conversational turns between parents and children contribute to the language development of children. This study aimed to examine parental language input during interactions with high numbers of conversational turns (focused interactions) and those with fewer turns (regular interactions) in children with [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Conversational turns between parents and children contribute to the language development of children. This study aimed to examine parental language input during interactions with high numbers of conversational turns (focused interactions) and those with fewer turns (regular interactions) in children with hearing loss at home. (2) Methods: Twelve children (aged 18–47 months) with hearing loss and their parents participated. Each child wore a Language ENvironment Analysis system digital language processor for 2 days to record all conversations between the parent and child. Focused interactions were characterized by high conversational turns, while regular interactions were defined by median conversational turns. The quantity of language input was reflected by the number of words parents used during the interaction, and the quality was reflected by the mean length of parental utterances, the use of low- and high-level facilitative language techniques, lexical diversity, and the use of (de)contextualized talk. (3) Results: During focused interactions, parents exposed their children to more words than during regular interactions, while the opposite was found for lexical diversity. The quality of parental language input did not differ between the two types of interactions. Parental language input was associated with children’s spontaneous language. (4) Conclusion: Not all conversational turns are equal but are nonetheless associated with children’s language development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Language Input Effects in Atypical Language Development)
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