Factors that influence vocabulary development in two-year-old children.
BACKGROUND
This research explored the relative impact of demographic, cognitive, behavioural, and psycholinguistic factors on vocabulary development in two-year-old children.


METHODS
Two hundred and thirty-two children (24-30 months) were tested on expressive and receptive vocabulary, cognitive development, word learning and working memory skills. Parents completed a British adaptation (Klee & Harrison, 2001) of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993), a demographic questionnaire and a questionnaire regarding the child's social-emotional behaviour.


RESULTS
Several demographic, child and processing variables were significantly correlated with CDI (vocabulary) scores, but the only significant unique predictors of CDI scores were nonword repetition (NWR; R(2) change = .36), sex (R(2) change = .05) and age (R(2) change = .04). Scores were only included when a child completed the entire NWR test (77% of toddlers).


CONCLUSIONS
The NWR task used in this experiment maximised participation in this group of toddlers, and was a strong predictor of vocabulary ability. Longitudinal research is warranted to explore the independent and reciprocal growth in working memory and language skills in children.
Stokes
Stephanie F
SF
Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK. s.stokes@newcastle.ac.uk
Klee
Thomas
T
D000367:Age Factors; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003710:Demography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010290:Parents; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary