我国西部贫困地区儿童早期语言发展现状及影响因素分析

Status and Determinants of Early Childhood Language Development in Poverty Areas in Western China

语言能力的获得是儿童早期发展阶段非常重要的一个组成部分。儿童早期的语言和认知发展对未来的学业表现、教育水平、工作表现及生理与心理健康、非认知能力等具有重要的作用。本研究使用来自中国西部贫困地区的调查数据对中国农村儿童早期语言发展的现状及影响因素进行了分析。此外,为了找到更为有效的衡量儿童早期语言发展水平的工具,本研究以《贝利婴幼儿发展量表(第3版)》为标准,与《汉语言沟通量表(短表)》及《年龄与发育进程问卷(第3版)》沟通部分进行了对比。本研究发现:我国贫困地区6-36个月样本婴幼儿普遍存在早期语言发展滞后风险问题,57%的样本婴幼儿存在语言发展滞后风险;农村地区婴幼儿与城市地区婴幼儿在语言发展水平上有显著差距;除性别、早产、家庭经济状况及户口等风险因素与儿童早期语言发展相关外,照养人的养育知识水平和养育行为都与儿童早期语言发展有显著的正相关关系。我们还发现,《汉语言沟通量表(短表)》和《年龄与发育进程问卷(第3版)》沟通部分与贝利婴幼儿发展量表语言部分的相关性较高。

Language acquisition is a key component of early childhood development (ECD) during the first three years of a child’s life, when most brain development occurs. Speech and language development are good indicators of overall cognitive development, academic performance, education level, work performance and physical, mental health, and non-cognitive ability in the future. The current study selected a sample of children in impoverished areas of Northwest China and used the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development III to measure the level of early childhood language development. It also examined the relevance of other language scales to the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development III in order to find a cost-effective scale to measure early childhood language development. The early language development delay risks were common among 6-36 months sample children, and 57% of the sample infants had language development delay. Moreover, there was a significant gap between the rural and urban area. Gender, premature birth, economic conditions and Hukou type were the risk factors which were related to early childhood language development. Besides, parenting knowledge and parenting behavior were significantly positively correlated with early childhood language development.We also found that both Putonghua Communicative Development Inventory-Short Form and Age & stage Questionnaires-3 (communication) had significantly positive correlations with Bayley-III language domain.