Guiding language development: how African American mothers and their infants structure play interactions

Abstract

This investigation explored how African American mothers and their infants at the single-word stage of development structured their play and communicated with one another. Six mother-child dyads of low socioeconomic status (SES) and six of middle SES were observed at play. Few group differences were found, with the majority of the differences involving language behaviors. The middle-SES dyads included language goals more often in their play. Middle-SES infants initiated play verbally more frequently and produced over twice as many vocalizations as their low-SES peers. In addition, middle-SES mothers used a wider variety of words when playing with their children than their low-SES counterparts. A range of play styles was found within both groups. These were categorized into three general play styles: mothers and children actively involved in play; mothers' involvement varied; and children actively engaged and mothers attentive.