INPUT - Investigating Parental and Other Caretakers' Utterances to Kindergarten Children

Projektleiter: Wolfgang U. Dressler

University of Vienna

The input, i.e. the language young children hear from their caretakers, is the most important basis for successful language acquisition: quality and quantity of linguistic input differ significantly according to the socio-economic and educational status of the families. These
differences have direct effects on children's linguistic competences and on their later school performance. Thus, early language support in child care facilities is extremely important, especially for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and for children from migrant families. Within the planned project, the child-directed language of parents and kindergarten teachers will be investigated empirically and related to the linguistic performance of the children for the first time in a German-speaking country. For this purpose, 52 Viennese children aged 3 to 4.5 years from different social and linguistic backgrounds will be observed in detail. The project aims at making concrete proposals for improving language support of kindergarten children in order to provide them with a solid linguistic basis for their later school achievements and professional careers.

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