4 Ways To Raise a Young Talker
1. Learn to speak “motherese”
Have you ever heard a mother speak to her child or infant in a slow, high pitched, or cooing voice? That vocal register that she is using is called “motherese,” and as Anne Fernald explains in her article in Infant Behavior and Development, children most prefer to listen to this easy on the ears tone. Her research proves that 4-month-old infants responded more favorably to parents speaking in “motherese” than to normal adult speech. Also, speaking slowly helps infants learn the sounds of their language.
2. Speak directly to your child
Research shows that a child’s vocab improves rapidly when spoken to directly, rather than through overheard conversations. Direct speech encourages a child to use his/her lexical knowledge and also create new mental representations. Although infants may not be the most interesting conversational partners, it is not a wasted effort to engage them in conversation!
3. Social interaction is key
Different cultures have different values and norms which determine appropriate grammatical use in social contexts. The more exposure a child has, the more he/she will be familiarized with his/her culture’s unique grammar and language. Early social interaction lays down a foundation for their future as a member of society. Maybe plan a playdate or two, or even take your child with you when you go to a restaurant or the shopping mall.
"When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates."
4. Repetition, repetition, repetition
Ever overhear your child repeat your favorite phrase or quote to his/her friend? That’s probably because you say it repeatedly at home and your child has picked it up and decided to use it for themselves. The more times a child hears a certain word or phrase, the more likely he/she is to understand and repeat it. Many parents don’t realize the amount of time spent in silence throughout the day with their infant or child. We can learn from the wise words of Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates." Recording your daily speech is an easy way to measure performance and can quickly help you monitor the quality and quantity of verbal interaction your child is getting.
http://psych.stanford.edu/~babylab/pdfs/Fernald%201985.pdf\ http://ilabs.washington.edu/kuhl/pdf/Kuhl_2004.pdf http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/ochs/articles/The_Impact_of_Language_Socialization.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/group/langlearninglab/cgi-bin/WeislederFernald2013.pdf Pictures: https://www.mydochub.com/news/tag/newborn/
