Gender Differences in Children's Language: A Meta-Analysis of Slovenian Studies
Povzetek
Child gender has been proved to affect toddlers’/children’s language development in several studies, but its effect was not found to be stable across different ages or various aspects of language ability. The effect of gender on toddler’s, children’s and adolescents’ language ability was examined in the present meta-analysis of ten Slovenian studies (nine cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study). The ten studies were published between 2004 and 2016 and included a total of 3,657 toddlers, children and adolescents, aged from 8 months to 15 years. The language outcome measures refer to different aspects of language ability, including vocabulary, mean length of utterance, sentence complexity, language expression and comprehension, storytelling ability and metalinguistic awareness. Across the studies, language ability was assessed using different approaches and instruments, most of which were standardised on samples of Slovenian-speaking children. Based on the reported arithmetic means and standard deviations, the effect sizes of gender for each of the included studies were calculated, as well as the average effect size of gender across the different studies. The findings of the meta-analysis showed that the effect size of gender on toddlers’/children’s/adolescents’ language largely depended on their age and the aspect of language measured. The effect sizes increased with children’s increasing age. All significant effects proved to be in favour of girls. The findings were interpreted in relation to the characteristics of language development and social cultural factors that can contribute to gender differences in language ability.
Prenosi
Podatki o prenosih še niso na voljo.
Literatura
Apostolos, E., & Napoleon, M. (2001). Word-meaning development in Greek children’s language: The role of children’s sex and parents educational level. Presented at Xth European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Uppsala.
Barbu, S., Nardy, A., Chevrot, J.-P., Guellaï, B., Glas, L., Juhel, J., & Lemasson, A. (2015). Sex differences in language across early childhood: Family socioeconomic status does not impact boys
and girls equally. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1874. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01874.
Berk, L. E. (1997). Child development. Illinois: Allyn and Bacon.
Bornstein, M. H., & Haynes, O. M. (1998). Vocabulary competence in early childhood: Measurement, latent construct, and predictive validity. Child Development, 69(3), 654–671.
Bornstein, M. H., Cote, L. R., Maital, S., Painter, K., Par, S.-Y., Pascual L., Pêcheux, M.-G., Ruel, J., Venuti, P., & Vyt, A. (2004). Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: Spanish,
Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and American English, Child Development, 75(4), 1115–1139.
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, O. M., O’Reilly, W. A., & Painter, K. M. (1996). Solitary and collaborative pretence play in early childhood: Sources of individual variation in the development of
representational competence. Child Development, 67(6), 2910–2929.
Bouchard, C., Trudeau, N., Sutton, A., Boudreault, M.-C., & Deneault, J. (2009). Gender differences in language development in French Canadian children between 8 and 30 months of age. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(4), 685–707.
Clearfield, M. W., & Nelson, N. M. (2006). Sex differences in mothers’ speech and play behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-month-old infants. Sex Roles, 54(1/2), 127–137.
Cohen, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Routledge.
Crawford, M. (2001). Gender and language. In R. K. Unger (Ed.), Psychology of women and gender (pp. 228–244). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Eriksson, M., Marschik, P. B., Tulviste, T., Almgren, M., Pereira, M. P., Wehberg, S., MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., Gayraud, F., KovaÄeviÄ, M., & Gallego, C. (2012). Differences between girls and boys in
emerging language skills: Evidence from 10 language communities. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 30(2), 326–343.
Fekonja Peklaj, U., MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., & Kranjc, S. (2005). Otrokov govorni razvoj v povezavi z njegovim spolom in izobrazbo starÅ¡ev [Language development in early childhood in relation to child’s gender and parental education]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 14(1), 53–79.
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5), 174–185.
Galsworthy M. J., Dionne G., Dale P. S. & Plomin R. (2000). Sex differences in early verbal and nonverbal cognitive development. Developmental Science, 3(2), 206–215.
Gleason, J. B. (1987). Sex differences in parent–child interaction. In S. U. Philips, S. Steele & C. Tanz (Eds.), Language, gender, and sex in comparative perspective (pp. 189–199). Cambridge: University Press.
Golombok, S., & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. Cambridge: University Press.
Hammill, D. D., & Larsen, S. C. (1996). Test of Written Language-3 (TOWL-3). Austin, TX: ProEd, Inc. Hedges, L. V., & Nowell, A. (1995). Sex differences in mental test scores, variability, and numbers of high-scoring individuals. Science, 269(5220), 41–45.
Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27(2), 236–248.
Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (1988). Gender differences in verbal ability: A metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 104(1), 53–69.
Leaper, C., Andersson, K., & Sanders, P. (1998). Moderators of gender effects on parents’ talk to their children: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34(1), 3–27.
Lovas, G. S. (2011). Gender and patterns of language development in mother-toddler and fathertoddler dyads. First Language, 31(1), 83–108.
Lyytinen, P., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Laakso, M.-L. (1997). Language and symbolic play in toddlers. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(2), 289–302.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L. (2007). Diferenciacija v Å¡oli: enako ali razliÄno za razliÄne otroke [Differentiation in school: The same or different for different children]. Sodobna pedagogika, 58(2),
108–127.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Božin, N., ÄŒermak Hauko, N., Å tiglic, N., Bajc, S., & Fekonja Peklaj, U. (2016). Early language development: Vocabulary comparison of Slovenian boys and girls. Sodobna
pedagogika, 67(1), 12–36.
MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2017). The role of child gender and parental knowledge of child development in parent-child interactive play. Sex Roles, 1-14. doi: 10.1007/s11199-016-0734-7.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Kranjc, S. (2004). Pripovedovanje zgodbe kot pristop za ugotavljanje otrokovega govornega razvoja [Storytelling as an approach to evaluate the child’s level of speech development]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 13(1), 43–64.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). The effect of children’s gender and parental education on toddler language development. European Early Childhood
Education Research Journal, 16(3), 325–342.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Podlesek, A. (2010). Razvoj pripovedovanja zgodbe v zgodnjem otroÅ¡tvu [The development of storytelling in early childhood]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 19(4), 35–53.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., & Kranjc, S. (2011). Assessing toddler language ability: Agreement of parents’ and preschool teachers’ assessments. European Early
Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(1), 21–43.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). Lestvice sploÅ¡nega govornega razvoja - LJ: (LSGR - LJ): priroÄnik [Scales of General Language Development – LJ: Manual.]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar L. (2011a). Ocenjevanje sporazumevalnih zmožnosti dojenÄkov in malÄkov: Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti:
besede in geste, Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti: besede in stavki [Assessing infants’ and toddlers’ communication skills: Communicative Development Inventory: Words and
Gestures, Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar L. (2011b). SploÅ¡ni govorni preizkus, pisno sporoÄanje : SGP-PS [Test of General Language, Written Communication]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., Fekonja-Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar, L. (2011c). Preizkus pripovedovanja zgodbe [Storytelling Test]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Kranjc, S., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Grgić K. (2007). Govor deklic in deÄkov [Language of girls and boys]. Razprave, 20, 115–131.
Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Pugh, K. R., Constable, R. T., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R. K., et al. (1995). Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature, 373(6515), 607–609.
Simonsen, H. G., Kristoffersen, K. E., Bleses, D., Wehberg, S., & Jørgensen, R. N. (2014). The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and
gender differences. First Language, 34(1), 3–23.
Sommer, I. E. C., Aleman, A., Bouma, A., & Kahn, R. S. (2004). Do women really have more bilateral language representation than men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies. Brain, 127(8), 1845–1852.
Stennes, L. M., Burch, M. M., Sen, M. G., & Bauer, P. J. (2005). A longitudinal study of gendered vocabulary and communicative action in young children. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 75–88.
Wallentin, M. (2008). Putative sex differences in verbal abilities and language cortex: A critical review. Brain & Language, 108(3), 175–183.
Wehberg, S., Vach, W., Bleses, D., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. O., & Basboll, H. (2008). Girls talk about dolls and boys about cars? Analyses of group and individual variation in Danish children’s first words. First Language, 28(1), 71–85.
Barbu, S., Nardy, A., Chevrot, J.-P., Guellaï, B., Glas, L., Juhel, J., & Lemasson, A. (2015). Sex differences in language across early childhood: Family socioeconomic status does not impact boys
and girls equally. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1874. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01874.
Berk, L. E. (1997). Child development. Illinois: Allyn and Bacon.
Bornstein, M. H., & Haynes, O. M. (1998). Vocabulary competence in early childhood: Measurement, latent construct, and predictive validity. Child Development, 69(3), 654–671.
Bornstein, M. H., Cote, L. R., Maital, S., Painter, K., Par, S.-Y., Pascual L., Pêcheux, M.-G., Ruel, J., Venuti, P., & Vyt, A. (2004). Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: Spanish,
Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and American English, Child Development, 75(4), 1115–1139.
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, O. M., O’Reilly, W. A., & Painter, K. M. (1996). Solitary and collaborative pretence play in early childhood: Sources of individual variation in the development of
representational competence. Child Development, 67(6), 2910–2929.
Bouchard, C., Trudeau, N., Sutton, A., Boudreault, M.-C., & Deneault, J. (2009). Gender differences in language development in French Canadian children between 8 and 30 months of age. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(4), 685–707.
Clearfield, M. W., & Nelson, N. M. (2006). Sex differences in mothers’ speech and play behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-month-old infants. Sex Roles, 54(1/2), 127–137.
Cohen, J. (1977). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Routledge.
Crawford, M. (2001). Gender and language. In R. K. Unger (Ed.), Psychology of women and gender (pp. 228–244). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Eriksson, M., Marschik, P. B., Tulviste, T., Almgren, M., Pereira, M. P., Wehberg, S., MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., Gayraud, F., KovaÄeviÄ, M., & Gallego, C. (2012). Differences between girls and boys in
emerging language skills: Evidence from 10 language communities. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 30(2), 326–343.
Fekonja Peklaj, U., MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., & Kranjc, S. (2005). Otrokov govorni razvoj v povezavi z njegovim spolom in izobrazbo starÅ¡ev [Language development in early childhood in relation to child’s gender and parental education]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 14(1), 53–79.
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Bates, E., Thal, D., & Pethick, S. (1994). Variability in early communicative development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(5), 174–185.
Galsworthy M. J., Dionne G., Dale P. S. & Plomin R. (2000). Sex differences in early verbal and nonverbal cognitive development. Developmental Science, 3(2), 206–215.
Gleason, J. B. (1987). Sex differences in parent–child interaction. In S. U. Philips, S. Steele & C. Tanz (Eds.), Language, gender, and sex in comparative perspective (pp. 189–199). Cambridge: University Press.
Golombok, S., & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. Cambridge: University Press.
Hammill, D. D., & Larsen, S. C. (1996). Test of Written Language-3 (TOWL-3). Austin, TX: ProEd, Inc. Hedges, L. V., & Nowell, A. (1995). Sex differences in mental test scores, variability, and numbers of high-scoring individuals. Science, 269(5220), 41–45.
Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27(2), 236–248.
Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (1988). Gender differences in verbal ability: A metaanalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 104(1), 53–69.
Leaper, C., Andersson, K., & Sanders, P. (1998). Moderators of gender effects on parents’ talk to their children: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34(1), 3–27.
Lovas, G. S. (2011). Gender and patterns of language development in mother-toddler and fathertoddler dyads. First Language, 31(1), 83–108.
Lyytinen, P., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Laakso, M.-L. (1997). Language and symbolic play in toddlers. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(2), 289–302.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L. (2007). Diferenciacija v Å¡oli: enako ali razliÄno za razliÄne otroke [Differentiation in school: The same or different for different children]. Sodobna pedagogika, 58(2),
108–127.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Božin, N., ÄŒermak Hauko, N., Å tiglic, N., Bajc, S., & Fekonja Peklaj, U. (2016). Early language development: Vocabulary comparison of Slovenian boys and girls. Sodobna
pedagogika, 67(1), 12–36.
MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2017). The role of child gender and parental knowledge of child development in parent-child interactive play. Sex Roles, 1-14. doi: 10.1007/s11199-016-0734-7.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Kranjc, S. (2004). Pripovedovanje zgodbe kot pristop za ugotavljanje otrokovega govornega razvoja [Storytelling as an approach to evaluate the child’s level of speech development]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 13(1), 43–64.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). The effect of children’s gender and parental education on toddler language development. European Early Childhood
Education Research Journal, 16(3), 325–342.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Podlesek, A. (2010). Razvoj pripovedovanja zgodbe v zgodnjem otroÅ¡tvu [The development of storytelling in early childhood]. PsiholoÅ¡ka obzorja, 19(4), 35–53.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., & Kranjc, S. (2011). Assessing toddler language ability: Agreement of parents’ and preschool teachers’ assessments. European Early
Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(1), 21–43.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., Podlesek, A., Kranjc, S., & Grgić K. (2008). Lestvice sploÅ¡nega govornega razvoja - LJ: (LSGR - LJ): priroÄnik [Scales of General Language Development – LJ: Manual.]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar L. (2011a). Ocenjevanje sporazumevalnih zmožnosti dojenÄkov in malÄkov: Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti:
besede in geste, Lista razvoja sporazumevalnih zmožnosti: besede in stavki [Assessing infants’ and toddlers’ communication skills: Communicative Development Inventory: Words and
Gestures, Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar L. (2011b). SploÅ¡ni govorni preizkus, pisno sporoÄanje : SGP-PS [Test of General Language, Written Communication]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ-Umek, L., Fekonja-Peklaj, U., SoÄan, G., & Komidar, L. (2011c). Preizkus pripovedovanja zgodbe [Storytelling Test]. Ljubljana: Center za psihodiagnostiÄna sredstva.
MarjanoviÄ Umek, L., Kranjc, S., Fekonja Peklaj, U., & Grgić K. (2007). Govor deklic in deÄkov [Language of girls and boys]. Razprave, 20, 115–131.
Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Pugh, K. R., Constable, R. T., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R. K., et al. (1995). Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature, 373(6515), 607–609.
Simonsen, H. G., Kristoffersen, K. E., Bleses, D., Wehberg, S., & Jørgensen, R. N. (2014). The Norwegian Communicative Development Inventories: Reliability, main developmental trends and
gender differences. First Language, 34(1), 3–23.
Sommer, I. E. C., Aleman, A., Bouma, A., & Kahn, R. S. (2004). Do women really have more bilateral language representation than men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies. Brain, 127(8), 1845–1852.
Stennes, L. M., Burch, M. M., Sen, M. G., & Bauer, P. J. (2005). A longitudinal study of gendered vocabulary and communicative action in young children. Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 75–88.
Wallentin, M. (2008). Putative sex differences in verbal abilities and language cortex: A critical review. Brain & Language, 108(3), 175–183.
Wehberg, S., Vach, W., Bleses, D., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. O., & Basboll, H. (2008). Girls talk about dolls and boys about cars? Analyses of group and individual variation in Danish children’s first words. First Language, 28(1), 71–85.
Objavljeno
2017-06-30
Kako citirati
Marjanovič-Umek, L., & Fekonja-Peklaj, U. (2017). Gender Differences in Children’s Language: A Meta-Analysis of Slovenian Studies. Revija Centra Za študij Edukacijskih Strategij , 7(2), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.171
Rubrike
FOCUS
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
- The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
