TY - JOUR
T1 - Mother-child conversations at 36 months and at pre-kindergarten
T2 - Relations to children's school readiness
AU - Cristofaro, Tonia N.
AU - Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S.
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - The contributions of mothers' and children's oral language to children's school readiness were longitudinally examined among 75 low-income mothers and children. When children were 36 months, mothers' and children's lexical diversity, mothers' wh-questions, and children's PPVT-III scores were assessed from play interactions. At pre-kindergarten, mothers and children shared a personal narrative, and various aspects of mothers' and children's narratives were coded. Children were assessed on their knowledge about print, letter-word identification, mathematical skills and sustained attention, and scores were combined into a single factor of school readiness. Structural equation analyses yielded two pathways to school readiness. Mothers' wh-questions and lexical diversity predicted children's PPVT-III scores at 36 months, which in turn predicted children's school readiness. Mothers' 36-month lexical diversity predicted mothers' narrative prompts, which related to children's narrative contributions. Children's narrative contributions in turn predicted school readiness. Mother-child conversations support the school readiness of children from low-income backgrounds.
AB - The contributions of mothers' and children's oral language to children's school readiness were longitudinally examined among 75 low-income mothers and children. When children were 36 months, mothers' and children's lexical diversity, mothers' wh-questions, and children's PPVT-III scores were assessed from play interactions. At pre-kindergarten, mothers and children shared a personal narrative, and various aspects of mothers' and children's narratives were coded. Children were assessed on their knowledge about print, letter-word identification, mathematical skills and sustained attention, and scores were combined into a single factor of school readiness. Structural equation analyses yielded two pathways to school readiness. Mothers' wh-questions and lexical diversity predicted children's PPVT-III scores at 36 months, which in turn predicted children's school readiness. Mothers' 36-month lexical diversity predicted mothers' narrative prompts, which related to children's narrative contributions. Children's narrative contributions in turn predicted school readiness. Mother-child conversations support the school readiness of children from low-income backgrounds.
KW - mother-child interactions
KW - mother-child language
KW - mother-child narratives
KW - narrative development
KW - school readiness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857678977&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/1468798411416879
DO - 10.1177/1468798411416879
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84857678977
VL - 12
SP - 68
EP - 97
JO - Journal of Early Childhood Literacy
JF - Journal of Early Childhood Literacy
SN - 1468-7984
IS - 1
ER -