A survey of the Current Language Environment of Infants and Young Children in the Ethnic Region of Southeast Guizhou Province Supportive

Abstract

Background: The language environment in early childhood profoundly affects children’s life trajectory, educational level, cognitive outcome, mental health, and, in particular, a child’s language development. Language as a tool for understanding the world can, in turn, affect a child’s cognitive and brain development, acquisition of learning skills, and even interpersonal relationships and mental health, thus having an important impact on the lifelong development of young children. The family language environment is important for the lifelong development of young children. Therefore, it is necessary to create a good family language environment for infants and young children to lay a good foundation for both language skills and psychological.
Subjects and Methods: This study aims to explore the current situation of the language environment in the homes of young children in ethnic areas, identify the problems in the language environment in the homes of ethnic areas, and put forward targeted suggestions to improve the language environment in the homes of young children and promote their development in various aspects such as language and psychological well-being. This study adopted the snowball method in a non-random sample, selecting 677 parents of infants and young children aged 0-3 in the counties, townships, and rural areas of Tianzhu County, Liping County, and Congjiang County, where there are many ethnic minorities living in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province. A total of 654 parents participated in the questionnaire.
Results: The home language environment is generally average in the region, but the home reading environment is poor in all areas. The family language environment is characterized by insufficient family cultural resources, with a scarcity of resources and a neglect of children’s interests. This may lead to children feeling anxious and depressed as their psychological needs are not met. There is an uneven level of quality in family communication environments, with a significant decrease in the quality of family communication environments with a significant decrease in the quality of family communication environments in counties, townships, and towns; and a lack of attention paid by parents to the construction of a language environment for young children in the family reading environment, as well as significant urban-rural differences.
Conclusions: Parents of young children create a Mandarin language environment and improve their language quality; balance family language resources to promote educational equality; increase the frequency of parent-child reading. Addressing children’s anxiety and psychological needs, such as self-esteem and sensitivity. Respect the interests of young children and improve the quality of parent-child reading; change parents’ views on the language to increase the frequency and quality of parent-child reading.