Diferencias sociales en el desarrollo del vocabulario de niños cuencanos de preparatoria

Abstract

Various studies suggest that children's vocabulary level is a fundamental factor for their school success. However, its development is marked from childhood by situations of social inequality, which leads some children to develop a rich and sophisticated vocabulary; and for others to develop a limited vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence of social differences –related to the level of education of the mother and the type of school –in the development of the vocabulary of children from Cuenca. At the beginning of the school year, a total of 116 high school children from urban public, rural public and private instruction received a test that evaluated the depth of their vocabulary. The information on the level of education of the mother was obtained from thesocioeconomic cards that rest in the educational institutions. The results showed that there are large inter-individual differences in children's vocabulary and that both the level of education of the mother and the type of school the children attend havea significant influence on the development of their vocabulary. From an educational point of view, the findings of this study point to the need to develop educational interventions aimed at stimulating the vocabulary of young children, mainly at home and in their preschool environment.