Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Twenty-four mother-infant dyads participated in a longitudinal study of interaction at 6 and 8 months and language competence at 17 and 24 months. Interaction was coded for mothers' use of verbal references to objects as following or redirecting and joint attention. Language competence was measured by the MacArthur CDI. Joint attention at 6 months was positively correlated with later language competence; no 8-month correlations were found. Surprisingly, maternal verbal redirections were positively correlated with joint attention at 6 and 8 months. These findings suggest that joint attention is important with respect to language at an earlier age than previously thought and that early joint attention is not frustrated by maternal redirection as is the case during second year interaction.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bakeman, R. & Adamson, L.B. (1984). Coordinating attention to people and objects in mother-infant and peer-infant interaction. Child Development , 55, 1278-89.

Baldwin, D.A. (1995). Understanding the link between joint attention and language. In C. Moore & P. Dunham (eds), Joint Attention: Its Origin and Role in Development (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum), 131-58.

Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education ( Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).

Dunham, P. & Dunham, F. (1992). Lexical development during middle infancy: a mutually driven infant-caregiver process. Developmental Psychology , 28 (3) 414-20.

— ( 1995). Optimal social structures and adaptive infant development . In C. Moore & P. Dunham (eds), Joint Attention: Its Origin and Role in Development (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum).

Dunham, P. , Dunham, F. & Curwin, A. (1993). Joint attentional states and lexical acquisition at 18 months. Developmental Psychology, 29 (5), 827-31.

Dunham, P. , Dunham, F. , Tran, S. & Akhtar, N. (1991). The non-reciprocating robot: effects on verbal discourse, social play, and social referencing at two years of age. Child Development, 62, 1489-502.

Fenson, L. , Dale, P. , Reznick, J. , Bates, E. , Thal, D. , Hartung, J. & Reilly, J. (1991). The MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories (San Diego, CA: Singular).

Kenny, D.A. (1975). Cross-lagged panel correlation: a test for spuriousness . Psychological Bulletin, 82 (6), 887-903.

10.

Landry, S.H. , Garner, P.W. , Swank, P.R. & Baldwin, C.D. (1996). Effects of maternal scaffolding during joint toy play with preterm and full-term infants. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly , 42 (2), 177-99.

11.

Messer, D.J. , McCarthy, M.E. , McQuiston, S. , MacTurk, R.H. , Yarrow, L.J. & Vietze, P.M. (1986). Relation between mastery motivation behavior in infancy and competence in early childhood, Developmental Psychology , 22, 366-72.

12.

Pecheux, M.G. , Findji, F. & Ruel, J. (1992). Maternal scaffolding of attention between 5 and 8 months. European Journal of Psychology of Edzccation, 7 (3), 209-18.

13.

Rocissano, L. & Yatchmink, Y. (1983). Language skill and interactive patterns in prematurely born toddlers. Child Development, 54, 1229-41.

14.

— (1984). Joint attention in mother-toddler interaction: a study of individual variation. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly , 30 (1), 11-31.

15.

Saxon, T.F. , Frick, J.E. & Colombo, J. (1997). A longitudinal study of maternal interaction and visual attention. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 43 (1), 48-66.

16.

Tomasello, M. (1992). The social bases of language acquisition. Social Development, 1,68-87.

17.

— (1995). Joint attention and social cognition. In C. Moore & P. Dunham (eds), Joint Attention: Its Origin and Role in Development (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum), 103-30.

18.

Tomasello, M. & Farrar, J.M. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development, 57, 1454-63.

19.

Tomasello, M. , Strosberg, R. & Akhtar, N. (1996). Eighteen-month-old children learn words in non-ostensive contexts. Journal of Child Language, 23, 157-76.

20.

Tomasello, M. & Todd, J. (1983). Joint attention and lexical acquisition style . First Language, 4, 197-212.

21.

Vygotsky, L. (1934/1984). Thought and Language (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

A longitudinal study of early mother-infant interaction and later language competence

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References