The impact of language skills and social competence on play behaviour in toddlers

ABSTRACT

In this study, the relationship between play, language skills and social competence is explored in a sample (n = 1005) of 33-month-old toddlers in a Norwegian early childhood education setting – Barnehages – based on two observational materials (Tras and Alle med). The study has two aims: (1) to investigate whether there is a relationship between social functioning and language proficiency at an early age; and (2) to identify the unique contributions made by language skills and social competence, respectively, to toddlers’ functioning in play. Toddlers with very low language-skill scores were compared with toddlers with very high scores. Each child had been assessed independently by two staff members, familiar with the child in informal situations at Barnehages, over a period of three months. It was found that there is a relationship between toddlers’ functioning in play and their language proficiency, but that toddlers’ functioning in play is better explained by their social competence than by their language skills.

KEYWORDS:

• late talkers
• social competence
• play
• Barnehage/early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions

Acknowledgements

We thank the University of Stavanger and the municipal of Stavanger for financing the project. We are grateful to the late Professor Ann Mari Knivsberg for her great efforts in initiating and leading the project, and to Inger Kristine Løge PhD, Elin Reikerås PhD and Synnøve Iversen PhD for their contributions in processing the data. Finally, we would like to thank the parents of the participating children, and the Barnehage staff for having completed the observations.

ORCiD

Elisabeth Brekke Stangeland http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8359-5588