2020/01/09 by Joakim E. Hansen, Joakim Evensen Hansen, Martine L. Broekhuizen +1
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Early Childhood Education and Development #Language Development and Disorders #Reading and Literacy Development
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00313831.2019.1705894
crossref issued 2020/01/09 · crossref published 2020/01/09 · crossref published-online 2020/01/09 · openalex publication_date 2020/01/09 · crossref created 2020/01/09 · crossref published-print 2021/02/23 · crossref deposited 2021/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This study aims to enhance our knowledge of the associations between the quality of the language-learning environment in toddler childcare groups and children’s vocabulary development from age 3 to age 5. Participants were 1,131 children (48% girls; age at T1 assessment: M = 35.5 months, SD = 2.7; age at T2 assessment: M = 60.3 months, SD = 1.4) from 206 toddler groups from 93 centres. Multilevel analysis showed that the quality of the language-learning environment experienced in toddler groups was associated with verbal ability at age 5 when controlling for verbal ability at age 3 and the quality experienced in kindergarten groups at age 5. These results indicate that toddler language-learning environments characterised by responsive staff, extended talk, and facilitating conversations promote vocabulary development. The effect, albeit small in magnitude, points to the importance of a rich and varied language-learning environment during the early years. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.