Context matters: Examining the linguistic aspects of educator-toddler talk

The quantity and quality of educator-child talk in early childhood education plays a critical role in children’s language development. This study analysed the linguistic aspects of educator-toddler interactions in 24 New Zealand early childhood classrooms, sampling 25 minutes of naturally occurring interaction across five contexts: book-reading, mealtime, play, group, and nappy-change. Both the quantity (e.g., total utterances) and linguistic quality (e.g., lexical diversity, mean length of utterance in morphemes) of educator and child talk were analysed. The quantity and quality of educator-toddler verbal interactions varied across contexts, with book-reading displaying positive features of educators’ language, and nappy-changes showing positive features of children’s language. This information about which contexts naturally promote high-quality verbal interactions will pave the way for oral language interventions in New Zealand and worldwide.