Variation in language development
One toddler chatters away, while another doesn't say much yet. There is a lot of variation in how quickly children learn language, and that's completely normal. But sometimes we want to support children in their language development, and then we need to know how best to do this! That’s why researchers try to predict language development.
Shared attention
From years of research we now know that shared attention is very important for learning words. When a parent and child are focused on a new object together, and the parent names it, the child can easily learn the object label. The more parents engage in joint attention, the larger the child’s vocabulary!
Overlapping gaze
Researchers do not agree on what the determining factor is. Is it simply enough that the parent and child are looking at the same object? Or is it about the whole social situation, where the parent and child are aware of each other and share their experience?
Benefiting from social interactions
New research shows that both are important. Looking at the same object helps with learning new words, but it’s also about the social context around it. It is about interacting with the object together that really supports language development.
To conclude: children profit from rich social interactions. Engaging with an object the child is paying attention to and talking and playing with it together, will help the child to learn new words.
