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Socioeconomic disparities in the comprehension of lexical categories. A study with Spanish-speaking Argentinian toddlers

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Abstract

This study documents the effects of social inequality on different dimensions of lexical comprehension in Spanish-speaking Argentinian toddlers, a population in which socioeconomic differences are more striking than in previously studied populations. Using a performance-based forced-choice lexical recognition task implemented on a tablet, an adaptation of the Computerized Comprehension Task (CCT; Friend and Keplinger. Journal of Child Language, 35(01), 77-98. 2003), recognition accuracy and haptic response time to nouns, verbs, and adjectives were assessed. Low and middle (socioeconomic status) SES toddlers (N = 113) were tested at the daycares they attended. Results of the regression analyses showed overall SES effects on recognition accuracy but not on response time. Further analyses that considered the lexical category identified that middle SES children were only more accurate on the recognition of nouns and adjectives but not verbs. Findings also indicated that while low SES children showed longer response times to adjectives than to the other lexical categories, middle SES response times were longer in the case of verbs. The discussion links SES differences in children performance to previous evidence regarding the characteristics of both groups of children’s linguistic experiences in the ebb and flow of everyday life.

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Notes

  1. These are marginalized urban slums that are characterized by precarious housing, which was partly built from wood and salvaged materials and insufficient or nonexistent infrastructure and services. Although most of these neighborhoods are connected to the municipal network for drinking water, they all lack sewers and natural gas connections. In many cases, they are illegally connected to the power grid, as the inhabitants do not have the resources to pay for the service. Such neighborhoods are accessed by narrow dirt- or cement-floored corridors.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP 80/2015 to Dr. Celia Rosemberg). The development of the software used to assess toddlers’ vocabulary was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France) [PICS 261838 period: 2016 to August 2017] to Dr. Alejandrina Cristia (CNRS, France) and Dr.Celia Rosemberg (CONICET, Argentina).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Celia Renata Rosemberg & Florencia Alam

  2. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Celia Renata Rosemberg

Authors
  1. Celia Renata Rosemberg
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  2. Florencia Alam
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Celia Renata Rosemberg.

Additional information

Dr. Celia Rosemberg’s current research themes are (a) early linguistic experience and its impact on children’s outcomes and (b) socioeconomic and sociocultural differences in vocabulary and discourse development.

Most relevant publications in the field are the following:

- Rosemberg, C.; Alam, F.; Audisio, C.; Ramírez, L.; Garber, L.& Migdalek, M. (2020). Nouns and Verbs in the Linguistic Environment of Argentinian Toddlers: Socio-Economic and Context-Related Differences. First Language. 40 (2) 192-217. 10.1177/0142723719901226

- Migdalek M.J & C.R. Rosemberg. (in press) SES differences in children´s argumentative production. European Journal of Psychology. 16(2) 10.5964/ejop.v16i2.1665

- Shiro, M., Migdalek, M.J. & Rosemberg, C.R. (2019) Stance taking in Spanish-speaking preschoolers’ argumentative interaction. Psychology of Language and Communication. 23(1), 184-211.https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2019-0009

- Rosemberg, C R & Silva, M.L. (2009). Teacher-Children interaction and concept development. Discourse Processes. 46, 572–591. 10.1080/01638530902959588

Dr. Florencia Alam’s current research themes are (a) narrative and vocabulary development and (b) multimodal interaction and its impact on language learning.

Most relevant publications in the field of psychology of education are the following:

- Alam, F., Rosemberg C.R. & Scheuer (2019) Gestos y habla en la construcción infantil de narrativas entre pares. Número especial: La experimentación multimodal en la comunicación y en el aprendizaje. Cuadernos 89. Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación, pp 185-210. ISSN-e 1668-0227, N°. 89, 2019-2020

- Alam, F., Migdalek, M.J., Ramírez, L., Stein, A. & Rosemberg, C.R. (2017). “¿Sabés qué es...?” Explicaciones de niños tutores en torno a vocabulario no familiar. Un estudio con niños de poblaciones urbano marginadas de Argentina. Revista Costarricense de Psicología. 36(2), 83-103. Online version ISSN 1659-2913 Print version ISSN 0257-1439

- Alam, F. & Rosemberg, C.R. (2016). “¡Uy, no! ¡Mirá lo que pasó!” Uso de recursos evaluativos en narrativas de ficción por niños pequeños de poblaciones urbano-marginadas. Íkala. Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, Universidad de Antioquia, Escuela de idiomas 21(3), 00-00. 0.17533/udea.ikalav21n03a04

- Alam, F. & Rosemberg, C.R. (2013). El uso de conectores en relatos infantiles de ficción. Diferencias según el contexto interaccional de producción. Lenguas Modernas, 4 1, 11-32. ISSN: 0716-0542

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Rosemberg, C.R., Alam, F. Socioeconomic disparities in the comprehension of lexical categories. A study with Spanish-speaking Argentinian toddlers. Eur J Psychol Educ 36, 989–1008 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00522-0

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