Environmental Effects on Language Development: A Study of Young Children in Long-Stay Residential Nurseries.

TIZARD, BARBARA; COOPERMAN, OLIVER; JOSEPH, ANNE; and TIZARD, JACK. Environmental Effects on Language Development: A Study of Young Children in Long-Stay Residential Nurseries. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 337-358. Observational studies of 85 children aged 2-5 years were made in 13 residential nursery groups. The aim was to relate the language development of the children to the amount and quality of adult talk directed at them, and both these factors to the way in which the nursery was organized. No "institutional retardation" was found, and the mean test scores on both verbal and nonverbal tests were average. Significant correlations were obtained between the language comprehension scores of the children and both the quality of the talk directed to them and the way in which the nursery was organized.