FACILITATING FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Although all normal children acquire language, there are large individual differences in the rate at which children acquire language and therefore in the language skills children possess when they enter school (Hoff, 2006b; 2006c). These individual differences in oral language skill are predictive of success in acquiring literacy. Some of these individual differences may be the result of differences among children in language learning ability, but to a significant degree, variance among children in their language skills reflects variability in the language learning experiences they have had (Hoff, 2003a). Studies of children within the United States have shown that children who experience more one-to-one conversation with adults have more rapid language development. Thus, a supportive environment for language acquisition is one that is characterized by a great deal of verbal engagement with the child (Hut-tenlocher et al., 1991; Hart & Risley, 1994). The quality of the speech children hear also matters.
Contrary to the view that children require simple input, speech that uses a rich vocabulary and long, information-containing utterances has been found to promote language development (Hoff & Naigles, 2002; Pan, Rowe, Singer, & Snow, 2005). Children who hear a more diverse vocabulary develop larger vocabularies themselves—even at age 2 (Hoff & Naigles, 2002; Pan et al., 2005). Thus, successful and optimal language acquisition is contingent upon the richness of language input a child is exposed to. In addition, grammatical development seems to be accelerated when child-directed speech repeats and expands on a phrase or utterance a child attempts to produce (Hoff-Ginsberg, 1985, 1986). Studies of children in the United States suggest that book reading with an adult is a positive activity that provides children with a great deal of language input. Studies show that mothers produce more speech during book reading time than during toy play time, and this speech is richer than that produced during play time. Object labeling is also frequent during book reading, which may facilitate lexical development (Hoff, 2003b).
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