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Adult versus peer input : Differences in the language of six-year-olds who have been to day care centres versus those who have been at home with an adult

The aim of this study was to find out if there were any detectable differences in the language and language use between children who had been at home with an adult, versus children who had been at day care regularly before they started school. Eight six-year-olds, four from each group, were interviewed and their answers compared to each other. The results pointed to a slight difference in word choices and sentence structure and also a greater difference in the past tense verb forms. Children with a day care background tended to discuss and interact more with their peers, though with simpler sentences and several incorrect verb forms, while the stay-at-home children used more complex sentences and had a higher rate of correct past tense verb forms. The conclusion from this study suggests that children need both adult and peer input to develop correct language and the necessary skills for interaction.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:miun-14161
Date January 2011
CreatorsBergelin Lavesson, Melindah
PublisherMittuniversitetet, Institutionen för humaniora
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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