When Do Caregivers Talk? The Influences of Activity and Time of Day on Caregiver Speech and Child Vocalizations in Two Childcare Environments

The importance of the language environment in influencing language outcomes is well known, but few studies have addressed the contextual factors that influence the amount of speech heard and vocalizations produced by a young child under naturalistic conditions. We analyze effects of type of activity engaged in by the child and time of day on quantitative measures of the language environment. We found effects of both activity and time of day. Structured activities generated the highest levels of adult language, but not necessarily the most child vocalizations. Home and daycare environments looked overall very similar on these measures, however there were important differences across the two environments with respect to the specific effects of activity and time of day.