What is the best way to close the 30 million word gap?

What is the best way to close the 30 million word gap?

How can we close the 30 million word gap?

1. Talk to your child as you go through daily routines.
2. Sing to your child as you cook, drive, change a diaper, or get them dressed.
3. Read to your child.
4. Count with your child.
5. Point at pictures and describe what you see.
6. Play outside. Go to the park.
7. Use descriptive language.

What did the research for the 30 million word gap suggest?

The public service campaigns are the legacy of a well-known study called Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children—more commonly known as the “30 Million Word Gap” study—which concluded that the first three years of a child’s life are critical to advancing their language development …

How is the 30 million word gap related to poverty?

The finding that children living in poverty hear fewer than a third of the words heard by children from higher-income families has significant implications in the long run. When extrapolated to the words heard by a child within the first four years of their life these results reveal a 30 million word difference.

What is the 30 mil gap?

The “30 million word gap” refers to a research study conducted by psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley. Their study showed that children from lower-income families hear a staggering 30 million fewer words than children from higher-income families by the time they are 4 years old.

Does the word gap exist?

The study arguably showed that there was a 30 million word gap between upper- and lower-class families. There have been other similar studies that have taken place since then that show the word gap not to be as much as 30 million words.

Why does closing the word gap matter?

Language opens doors. It unlocks the world of reading and the imagination, the excitement of writing, the capacity to explore new subjects and releases our potential to learn and grow as an individual.

Who did the 30 million word gap?

The term 30-million-word gap (often shortened to just word gap) was originally coined by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley in their book Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, and subsequently reprinted in the article “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3”.

Is the vocabulary gap real?

Children’s vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds. By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. A recent study shows that the vocabulary gap is evident in toddlers.

What is the 32 million word gap?

The differences were astounding. Children in professionals’ homes were exposed to an average of more than fifteen hundred more spoken words per hour than children in welfare homes. Over one year, that amounted to a difference of nearly 8 million words, which, by age four, amounted to a total gap of 32 million words.

Why does the word gap exist?

What is the word gap? This idea came from a study done in the 1990s by two psychologists, Betty Hart and Todd Risley, where language data was collected on 42 families of low, middle, and upper-socioeconomic levels. The study arguably showed that there was a 30 million word gap between upper- and lower-class families.

Why closing the word gap matters Oxford?

How do you close a gap in Word?

Talk about them, display them, sort them (is it a noun or an adjective?), act them out, discuss synonyms and antonyms. Use the words in vocabulary games for pairs or groups of children. Build a depth of knowledge of new words by revisiting them often, in different ways and in different contexts.

Is there a million word gap in America?

A controversial 1992 study suggested that children growing up in poverty hear about 30 million fewer words in conversation by age 3 than those from more privileged backgrounds. Other studies since then suggest this 30 million word gap may be much smaller or even non-existent, Logan said.

How big is the vocabulary gap in toddlers?

By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. A recent study shows that the vocabulary gap is evident in toddlers.

How is Lena helping to close the word gap?

Software then estimates speech and turn-taking. While not invisible, it’s a lot less intrusive than having a person sitting in the room. Directly inspired by Hart and Risley, LENA is used in school-based and home-based interventions dedicated to closing the word gap in more than 20 states.

How are children affected by the word gap?

The researchers filmed the child’s eye movements, tracking which picture the child looked at (vocabulary) and how long this took in milliseconds (processing time). (Watch a two-minute video of the study at www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7HN5LJOc-w&feature=youtu.be .)

What is the significance of the 30 million word gap?

What is the 30 million Gap?

Why does Word gap exist?

Is the word gap real?

Why does word gap exist?

How many words do poor children hear?

By the time poor children are 3, researchers believe they have heard on average about 30 million fewer words than children the same age from better-off families, setting back their vocabulary, cognitive development, and future reading skills before the first day of school.

What is the word gap argument?

The word gap argument advocates for getting poor parents and teachers of poor children to speak more words to babies and young children so that they will be academically successful. Children benefit from sophisticated, dynamic learning that is connected to family, community, and language.

Is there a million word gap in children?

The word gap examined in this research isn’t the only type kids may face. A controversial 1992 study suggested that children growing up in poverty hear about 30 million fewer words in conversation by age 3 than those from more privileged backgrounds.

Who was involved in the Thirty Million Word Gap?

Betty Hart and Todd Risley were at the forefront of educational research during the 1960’s War on Poverty. Frustrated after seeing the effects of their high quality early intervention program aimed at language skill expansion prove unsuccessful in the long- term, they decided to shift their focus.

Why is there a language gap in kindergarten?

Research likewise shows that these early language development skills are important for children’s longer-term academic success. A 2007 study found that gaps in children’s language abilities in kindergarten account for the majority of the achievement gap between children from families of high and low socioeconomic status.