This
research assessed the predictability of naturalistic evaluation of all-day
recordings for speech and language development in children who acquire Korean
language. One-day home recordings from 20 Korean children were collected
using a Language Environment Analysis (LENA) recorder at 6-8, 12-14, 18-20
months. Both LENA’s automated measures and measures from human coding were
obtained from recordings at 6-8 and 12-14 months. A number of different words
(NDW), consonant inventory, and utterance structure inventory were identified
from recordings of 18-20 months. The results showed that conversation turn
count (CTC) and canonical babbling ratio (CBR) at 6-8 months could
significantly predict NDW at 18-20 months. Also, CTC and CBR at 12-14 months
could significantly predict consonant inventory size at 18-20 months. This
study highlights that rather than the amount of speech to children or
overheard by children, conversational interactions between infants and
caregivers positively affect children’s later speech and language outcomes.
