Education Report Roundup

Fathers’ Language Skills Seen as Important for Children

By Laura Greifner — November 20, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A father’s language skills may have a greater impact on a child’s language development than the mother’s speech does, a study suggests.

An abstract of “Mother and Father Language Input to Young Children: Contributions to Later Language Development” is available from the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

The research, which appears in the November-December issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, examined differences in the way mothers and fathers spoke to their 24-month-old children. Follow-up studies showed that at 36 months of age, the number of different words that the fathers had used was a predictor of greater language development in the children. The mothers’ speech was not a significant factor.

However, the mothers’ levels of education and the total quality of child care also were factors in language development, according to the study, conducted by two school of education researchers, Nadya Pancsofar and Lynne Vernon-Feagans, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read