Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36797712›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2023

The home language environment in rural China: variations across family characteristics.

Yue Ma, Laura Jonsson, Zixin Yao, Xinwu Zhang, Dimitris Friesen, Alexis Medina, Scott Rozelle, Lucy Pappas

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Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Yue MaRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Laura JonssonRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Zixin YaoRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Xinwu ZhangSchool of Public Administration, Northwest University, 1 Xuefu Road, Chang'an District, 710127, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PR China. zhangxinwuceee@126.com.
Dimitris FriesenRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Alexis MedinaRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Scott RozelleRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Lucy PappasRural Education Action Program, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA rich language environment is an important element of a nurturing home environment. Despite their proven importance, vocabulary and conversation have been shown to vary widely across households-even within the same socio-economic class. One significant gap in the existing literature is its nearly exclusive geographic focus on Western and developed settings, with little attention given to poorer communities in lower/middle income countries. The purpose of this study was to empirically illustrate the characteristics of the home language environment in the low SES, non-Western cultural setting of rural China.

methodsUsing Language Environment Analysis (LENA) automated language-analysis system, this study measured the home language environment of 38 children aged 20-27 months in Northwest rural China. Our primary measures of the home language environment were Adult Word Count (AWC), Conversational Turn Count (CTC) and Child Vocalization Count (CVC). Multivariate linear regression models were used to examine the association between home language environment and family/child characteristics, and language skills (Measured by MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory score).

resultsIn this paper, by comparison, we found that the home language environment of our rural sample fell far behind that of urban households. We also identify significant, positive correlations between language skills and both AWC and CTC. Our analysis finds no significant correlations between home language environment and family/child characteristics.

conclusionIn this paper, we present the first ever findings using the LENA system to measure the home language environment of young children from poor rural communities in China. We found that the home language environment of lower-SES household was significantly worse than high-SES households, and demonstrated the importance of the home language environment to language skills, pointing to a need for more high-quality studies of the home language environment in rural China to better understand possible mechanisms behind low levels of parent-child language engagement and ways to improve the home language environment.

Indexed as

LanguageRural PopulationAdultChild, PreschoolChinaFamily CharacteristicsHumansParentsEarly childhood developmentHome language environmentLanguage developmenturban/rural differences

Identifiers

PMID36797712
PMCPMC9936727

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