Language skills in shy and non-shy preschoolers and the effects of assessment context.

Full Abstract

Nineteen shy, twenty-three middle and twenty-five non-shy junior kindergarten children were assessed at school by an unfamiliar examiner, and at home where their parents administered a parallel form of the expressive and receptive vocabulary tests given at school. A speech sample between the child and parent was also collected at home. Shy children spoke less than non-shy and middle children at home. Additionally, the parents of shy children spoke less than parents of non-shy children. Although there were no language differences between the groups, results showed a context effect for expressive vocabulary, in that all groups of children scored higher at school. The pattern of results suggests that previously observed language differences found between shy and non-shy children are not robust, and that testing children at school does not negatively impact their performance.

Author information

Author/s: Spere, Katherine A (KA); Evans, Mary Ann (MA); Hendry, Carol-Anne (CA); Mansell, Jubilea (J);

Affiliation: University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of child language (J Child Lang), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jan; vol 36 (issue 1) : pp 53-71

Dates: Created 2008/12/19; Completed 2009/03/06;

PMID: 18925990, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 3/10/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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