Keep the Ball Rolling: Sustained Multiturn Conversational Episodes Are Associated With Child Language Ability

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Linguistics
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Interaction quality is crucial for child language development.
• Multiturn conversational episodes are a key indicator of interaction quality.
• Socioeconomic status can confound the relationship between interaction and language ability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between interaction quality and child language ability.
• To investigate the role of multiturn conversational episodes as an indicator of interaction quality.
• To determine if including nonverbal behaviors in conversational turn analysis alters the relationship with child language ability.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of baseline data from a longitudinal study of 27 mother-child dyads (children aged 13-27 months).
• Participants were from underresourced households, with some bilingual families.
• Trained observers coded verbal and nonverbal behaviors during home interactions; linear regression models were used.

Main Results:

• Child language ability was positively associated with verbal-nonverbal single turns and multiturn conversational episodes.
• No significant association was found between language ability and single verbal-only turns.
• Conversational turn variables including nonverbal behaviors were significantly linked to child language ability.

Conclusions:

• Nonverbal contributions are essential for understanding child language acquisition.
• Interaction quality indicators that incorporate nonverbal behaviors are more strongly associated with child language ability.
• Findings have implications for designing caregiver-implemented interventions to support language development.