Türkçe konuşan okulöncesi dönem çocuklarının anlatı ve alıcı dil yetkinliklerini yordayan etkenler: Ekolojik bir yaklaşım

This thesis examines the sources of individual variation in Turkish speaking preschoolers? language skills through an ecological perspective. Specifically, this study investigates the contribution of family socioeconomic background, maternal language skills and stimulating home environment at 3 years of age to children?s receptive vocabulary and narrative skills at 4 years of age. The proposed conceptual model of this study surmised that family socioeconomic background will exert its influence on child language skills directly and indirectly through maternal narrative skills and stimulating home environment such as maternal language stimulation and available learning materials at home. Participants were composed of 78 mother-child dyads selected from the ECDET (Early Childhood Developmental Ecologies in Turkey) project with a national sample of 1,052 mothers in Turkey, from whom narrative data were collected. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that child receptive vocabulary skills at 4 years of age were influenced by family socio-economic background through its association with maternal narrative skills, and its influence on maternal language stimulation at 3 years of age. Moreover, learning materials available to children at 3 years of age predicted child receptive vocabulary skills at 4 years of age after the role of maternal language skills was controlled. Differently from receptive vocabulary skills, stimulating home environment had less impact on children?s narrative skills. Instead SES-related maternal narrative skills predicted children?s narrative skills at 4 years of age. The findings highlight the importance of examining the specific influences of proximal and distal factors on children?s receptive vocabulary and narrative skills.