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The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the language learning environment, and the importance of taking age into account
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Abstract:
This research identifies differences in the language learning environments of children born within 6 months of the first lockdown in March 2020, compared to infants who were older at this point, and explores whether these differences are associated with language ability. By so doing, it aims to provide an indication of whether further investigation of such differences is warranted on a larger scale. Current research on the pandemic does not take this age group into account; therefore, this research enhances existing findings and provides directions for future research, whilst also contributing to a more general understanding of how factors such as formal and informal childcare, socialisation, caregiver-child interactions, reading and screen time, and caregiver attitudes interact with language outcomes. Twenty caregivers of monolingual English-speaking children aged 12-48 months each took part in a 30-minute interview and completed an age-appropriate assessment of their child’s language development. Analysis of their responses indicates the following differences between age groups: the 12–24-month-olds demonstrate more advanced language development compared to age-matched normative data than do the 25–48-month-olds; they also started producing words earlier, exhibit fewer issues socialising, and began group childcare at a younger age. Further contrasts explored include those between quantity of reading and screen exposure, and parent attitudes. Results suggest that the changes caused by the pandemic to out-of-home and in-home learning environments may have been experienced very differently by 12–24-month-olds, and could potentially have bestowed certain advantages upon their language development which 25–48-month-olds did not enjoy.
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Keyword:
Child development; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Language acquisition; Language development; Linguistics
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URL: https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/17bcde7e-f78c-4724-b433-c52d861ca840/1/Dissertation presentation Francesca Surman 19032408.mp4
https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/17bcde7e-f78c-4724-b433-c52d861ca840/1/
https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/17bcde7e-f78c-4724-b433-c52d861ca840/1/Presentation slides, Francesca Surman 19032408.pdf
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