About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 24. Technology, Media & Child Development

Paper #1
Examining the Link between Media Exposure and Toddlers’ Language Environment
Author information	Role
Ekaterina Novikova, University of Delaware, United States	Presenting author
Pumpki Lei Su, The University of Texas at Dallas, United States	Non-presenting author
Giovanna Morini, University of Delaware, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Background: Previous work has shown that higher media time negatively affects children’s language use (Brush et al., 2024; Christakis et al., 2009). In contrast, the types of programs children watch appear to mediate the adverse influence of media exposure, with educational programs promoting language development (Tomopoulos et al., 2010; Wright et al., 2001). Prior research has primarily relied on parent reports to measure the amount of media exposure and the type of media content children receive. However, it is unclear how closely these reports reflect the actual properties of child media exposure, considering that parents might underreport child media time (Ramirez et al., 2022). The present study uses wearable recording devices to capture children’s naturalistic auditory and language environment to examine (i) whether the amount of audiovisual media exposure predicts child and adult language use, and (ii) the role of media program type. Methods: Twenty-nine typically developing children aged 21-30 months (M=25.28, female=14) wore recording devices for one to two days for an average of M=14.76 hours. The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) system was used to record a total of 428.15 hours (M=14.76) of waking time. The LENA is a portable device worn by the child that captures language and environmental sounds, including media. An experienced human coder listened to the recordings in 10-second intervals to identify total child media exposure and code the audiovisual media types (child-oriented educational, child-oriented entertainment, adult-oriented). Automated measures of child and adult language use such as child vocalization count, adult word count, and conversation turns were used as indicators of child language environment. The analyses controlled for child age and household income as they were associated with dependent variables in the correlation analyses. Benjamini-Hochberg (1995) procedure was used to adjust for multiple testing. Results: On average, children were exposed to audiovisual media 26.02% of their waking time. Regression analyses showed that higher total audiovisual media time predicted lower child vocalization count (b=–0.39, p=.03), adult word count (b=–2.86, p=.03), and conversation turns (b=–0.13, p=.04). Higher child-oriented entertainment media time was also associated with lower conversation turns (b=–0.18, p=.04). Implications: The findings of the negative association between total audiovisual media time and child vocalization count, adult word count, and conversation turns, and as well as the negative relationship between child-oriented entertainment media and conversation turns align with prior research on the amount and type of audiovisual media exposure (Brush et al., 2024; Christakis et al., 2009; Wright et al., 2001). The non-significant findings for child-oriented educational and adult-oriented media time could be explained by the need to increase study power and examine the differences among child-oriented educational media programs. Our findings inform future research by offering a more precise way to measure audiovisual media in families’ homes. Additionally, the results prompt policymakers and practitioners to consider both the amount and types of audiovisual media exposure for young children’s development.

Paper #2
Videos and Vocabulary: How Digital Media Use Impacts the Types of Words Children Know
Author information	Role
Sarah C. Kucker, Ph.D., Southern Methodist University, United States	Presenting author
Rachel Barr, Georgetown University, United States	Non-presenting author
Lynn K. Perry, University of Miami, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
The last decade has seen an exponential rise in children’s digital media use; current estimates suggest children 2-years and under watch an average of 2 hours per day of videos/TV (Kucker et al., 2024; Rideout & Robb, 2020). With this rise is also increasing evidence that some forms of digital media use are associated with smaller vocabularies (Madigan et al., 2020). This is thought to be driven by the fact that digital media changes the language learning environment to include fewer social interactions (Anderson & Hanson, 2017; Brushe et al., 2024; Christakis et al., 2009), less active play (Putnick et al., 2023), and less tactile exploration (Ziemer & Snyder, 2016), all of which are critical for vocabulary growth. However, while high rates of digital media correlate with lower overall amounts of words a child knows, little work has examined if digital media alters the types of words a child learns. Here, we explore whether differences in the amount of digital media exposure are associated with differences in the composition of children’s vocabulary. The current study surveyed 388 caregivers of children 17-30 months (M=23.9 months) on their children’s productive vocabulary and technology use. Caregivers reported on their child’s digital media use, including time viewing videos/TV and completed the MacArthur-Bates communicative Development Inventory (Fenson et al., 1994). Multiple regression models predicted the proportion of words children knew in different semantic categories based on the time they spent watching videos, controlling for total noun vocabulary size, age, sex, and SES. Increased video watching was associated with producing a smaller proportion of body part words, β=-.00, p=.002, and more people, β=.00, p=.006, and furniture words, β=.00, p=.002, but not other semantic categories. Increased video watching was also associated with a smaller proportion of material-based nouns, β=-.00, p=.039, but not related to shape-based nouns, β=-.00, p=.553. The results suggest differences in the rates of children’s video watching are associated with differences in their overall vocabulary size, but also with the particular types of words children know. When children increase time spent watching videos it may be decreasing opportunities for learning specific types of words, including those supported by physical touch (e.g. body part words, Tincoff et al., 2019) and exploration (names for material-based substances; Perry et al., 2014). However, more video time may not change children’s learning for everyday objects and could even increase learning for some types of words. These results have implications for supporting children’s future language growth in a technology-filled world. Future steps includes measuring details of the language input in the specific videos children watch as well as better capturing the social contexts in which they engage with media.

Paper #3
Storytime in the Digital Age: Exploring Preschoolers’ Vocabulary Learning From Remote Reading
Author information	Role
Amanda Delgado, University of Delaware, United States	Presenting author
Caroline Gaudreau, University of Chicago, United States	Non-presenting author
Rebecca Dore, The Ohio State University, United States	Non-presenting author
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, University of Delaware, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Shared book reading (SBR) is a rich source of language input (Sénéchal, 2017) and is an important foundation for later language and literacy outcomes (e.g., Blewitt et al., 2009; Mol & Bus, 2011). However, children have unequal access to storybooks due to systemic disparities in resources (Barr, 2022) and sometimes, fewer people available to read to them. Video chat use has emerged as a viable avenue for increasing children’s access to SBR. Gaudreau et al. (2020) found that 4-year-olds showed similar story comprehension and vocabulary learning whether they were in-person, over video chat with a live human, or through a prerecorded, pseudo-contingent video. This study explores: (1) whether children’s vocabulary learning differs after a one-week delay after being read via video chat or by a prerecorded video, and (2) whether gestures enhance children’s vocabulary learning, given their benefits for narrative comprehension and retell (e.g., Vilà-Giménez et al., 2019). Sixty-seven 4-year-olds (33 girls, Mage= 54.78 months, SD = 4.13 months) were randomly assigned to see the same storybook over video chat (n = 26) or by a prerecorded video (n = 25). Half of the words were taught with gestures; half with verbal repetition. To provide a baseline for what children already know about the target words and storybook, children could have also been randomly assigned to a no-exposure control condition (n = 16). Children selected referents of target words from among a set of illustrations from the storybook (near transfer task) and from photographs (far transfer task). Children completed assessments immediately after the storybook reading (Session 1) and again one week later (Session 2). Separate one-way ANOVAs did not reveal condition differences in children’s performances on either the near and far transfer at Session 1 or Session 2 (Table 1) (all p’s > .626). A series of independent samples t-tests assessed whether gestures facilitated children’s vocabulary learning. Multiple comparisons were avoided by using the Benjamini-Hochberg (1995) adjustment method. Results showed no differences in learning words with or without gestures at Session 1 or Session 2 for the near or far transfer task at either session (all p’s > .344) (see Table 2). What is remarkable about these findings is that whether children heard the story over video chat or a prerecorded video with pseudo-contingent responses, these conditions yielded virtually identical results. These findings strongly suggest that reading over video chat is as effective for 4-year-olds as reading in person or in a pseudo-contingent condition. Nor do 4-year-olds need gestures to learn vocabulary words during remote reading. Thus, in the absence of a caregiver, remote reading may be an accessible tool for introducing children to different story structures and new vocabulary words, while also fostering enjoyment for reading with a caring adult. Adults who work with children from under-resourced homes, as well as those who are not nearby—like grandparents living far away—should be encouraged to engage in remote reading activities with children as it may support children’s language development and pre-literacy skills.

Paper #4
Media Use and Language Exposure in Multilingual Families: Insights from an International Study
Author information	Role
McCall Booth, Georgetown University, United States	Presenting author
Rachel Barr, Georgetown University, United States	Non-presenting author
Rebecca Cockroft, Georgetown University, United States	Non-presenting author
Carolin Konrad, Ruhr Universitaet Bochum, Germany	Non-presenting author
Felix Koch, Sweden University of Linkoeping, Sweden	Non-presenting author
Annette Sundqvist, Sweden University of Linkoeping, Sweden	Non-presenting author
Sabine Seehagen, Ruhr Universitaet Bochum, Germany	Non-presenting author
Neele Hermesch, Ruhr Universitaet Bochum, Germany	Non-presenting author
Sarah Kucker, Southern Methodist University, United States	Non-presenting author
Heather Kirkorian, University of Wisconsin, United States	Non-presenting author
Jenny Radesky, University of Michigan, United States	Non-presenting author
Sarah Coyne, Brigham Young University, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction In our modern digital world, there is unprecedented availability of media in multiple languages. Multilingual families have the leisure of engaging with media in any language, which is especially advantageous as the home environment is crucial for developing and maintaining second language proficiency (Gathercole & Thomas, 2009). While many parents believe media can be a useful tool for supporting language development (Lee et al., 2015), research regarding child multilingual media use has yet to identify cross-national patterns. Thus, this study addresses this gap by exploring the intersection of media use and language exposure in multilingual families across international samples. Research Questions (a) How does the frequency of child multilingual media use differ cross-nationally? (b) Which types of multilingual media are used by children, and how do these preferences vary by region? Method Participants included 1,984 parent/child dyads. The sample was collected from four Western regions: two within the United States, one from Germany, and one from Sweden. Children (53.1% male; mean age 27.12 months) were primarily of the majority race (82.3%) and ethnicity (83.3%) for their respective regions. Participants were recruited locally by each PI using non-probabilistic convenience sampling. Data on child screen media habits was collected using the Media Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ; Barr et al., 2020). The MAQ was completed by parents of 1- to 5-year-old children and, among other measures, recorded multilingual media use and child vocabulary. This included whether the child was exposed to multilingual media, in addition to questions regarding frequency of multilingual media use. The initial analysis centers on multilingual media exposure cross-sectionally; however, planned subsequent analyses will examine this in connection with language development outcomes over time. Results and Discussion The cross-national examination of multilingual media exposure reveals patterns influenced by regional linguistic diversity and media type. First, multilingual media engagement varied widely, although a notable difference between sites was in terms of frequency of use. We found that 8.3% of the children in the US who utilized multilingual media used multilingual media ‘more than half of the time’, compared to 15.3% of multilingual children in the EU. As expected, the European sample demonstrated greater multilingual media use overall. Media platform-specific analyses reveal further intricacies: for regions where English was not the majority language, there was a greater frequency of non-majority language media for activities such as playing digital games compared to reading print books. This may be due to the prevalence and access of English media, particularly for mediums such as digital games created for young children. Finally, preliminary regression analysis demonstrated no significant cross-sectional relation between multilingual media use and child language outcomes, yet our framework suggests other factors are likely to be involved (additional home language factors, family resources, screen time); thus, planned analyses include a model examining such relationships both over time. Ultimately, these media platform differences highlight varying degrees of linguistic integration into daily media routines, revealing a dynamic intersection between language and media that varies by context and platform.

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