Browsing by Author "Savolainen, Emma"

Objectives. The aim of this thesis was to obtain information about the development of pointing gesture use among typically developing Finnish speaking children, at the age of 1–3 years. Pointing gesture use was analysed every six months at 1;0, 1;6, 2;0, 2;6 and 3;0 years. The relation between children’s pointing gesture use and vocabulary development at the age 3 and 5 was explored. Relation between the use of pointing gestures and language development has been found in many international studies, but with regard to Finnish, there is only little research on pointing or use of gestural communication in play situations between children and parents. Methods. The data consisted of video recordings of five children and the results of language tests evaluating children’s vocabulary development. The video material was annotated with computer software ELAN. ELAN was used to mark the pointing gestures used by the children and the types of these pointing gestures (declarative/ imperative pointing). Childrens vocabulary development was assessed with Bo Ege test at the age of 3, and with the Boston Naming Test and Type/Token Ratios at the age of 5. Tables, graphs and calculation of percentages and means were used as statistical description of the phenomena. Non-parametric statistical tests were also used: The Friedman test to determine the distribution of pointing gestures used by children in different age points 1;0, 1;6, 2;0, 2;6 and 3;0, and Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient to explore the re-lation of pointing gestures and vocabulary development. Results and conclusions. All children used pointing gestures, althought there were notable individual differences in the amount of pointings. The greatest increase in the quantity of pointings used was found between the age range 1;0–1;6 years. Children used most pointing gestures at the age of 1;6. All children used considerably more declarative than imperative pointings. The proportion of declarative pointings of the pointing gestures used, increased between the ages 1;0–1;6 and then remained constant until the age of 3;0. No significant correlations were found between pointing gesture use and vocabulary development. However, from this thesis, it appears that children with typical vocabulary development tend to use pointing gestures to a large extent, and of the pointings they use, the proportion of declarative pointing gestures is considerably higher than the imperative ones.