SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months
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This research revealed both similarities and striking differences in early language proficiency among infants from a broad range of advantaged and disadvantaged families. English‐learning infants ( n = 48) were followed longitudinally from 18 to 24 months, using real‐time measures of spoken language processing. The first goal was to track developmental changes in processing efficiency in relation to vocabulary learning in this diverse sample. The second goal was to examine differences in these crucial aspects of early language development in relation to family socioeconomic status ( SES ). The most important findings were that significant disparities in vocabulary and language processing efficiency were already evident at 18 months between infants from higher‐ and lower‐ SES families, and by 24 months there was a 6‐month gap between SES groups in processing skills critical to language development.
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Children in poverty have fewer opportunities for exposure to learning activities such as reading and rich varied language that promote literacy and vocabulary development.
“Children in poverty also have fewer opportunities for exposure to learning activities, such as exposure to reading and to rich and varied language that can promote literacy and vocabulary development (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan 1997, Fernald et al. 2013).”
From School Readiness and Self-Regulation: A Developmental Psychobiological Approach (2015) · cites this paper as Fernald et al. 2013
The Discussion section, “Exploring Sources of Variability in Young Children's Early Language Proficiency” (page unavailable), describes SES differences in the amount and quality of child-directed speech. The paper also links early language environments to vocabulary, but the passages do not establish that children in poverty have fewer opportunities for reading activities or that those activities promote literacy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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- Authors
- Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Weisleder, A.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fernald, Anne
- Venue
- Developmental Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-12-08
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 234-248
- ISSN
- 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7687
- PMC
- PMC3582035
- OpenAlex
- W2153897911
- Cited by
- 1,277
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 63 · 2025: 72 · 2024: 100 · 2023: 93 · 2022: 108 · 2021: 117 · 2020: 198 · 2019: 101 · 2018: 101 · 2017: 100 · 2016: 94 · 2015: 59 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 79.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC008838, DC008838)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 42235, R01HD042235)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- socioeconomic status, early childhood language development, vocabulary acquisition, infant language, language disadvantage, language gap, spoken language processing, longitudinal development
- MeSH terms
- Child Development, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Ethnicity, Female, Humans, Infant, Language, Language Development, Learning, Male, Poverty, Social Class, Time Factors, Vocabulary, Reproducibility of Results
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