Saudi Mothers' Perceptions

of Children's Development of
Communication Skills
Dissertation submitted in part requirement for the MSc in Speech
Difficulties of the University of Sheffield
 
 
August 2017 Deema Turki
 INTRODUCTION
Learning to talk comprises :

• The capacity to use and understand words.

• Pragmatic features:

1) turn-taking

2) narrative, explanatory and conversational capabilities.

(Brown, 1973; Fenson et al., 1994; Hart & Risley, 1999; Saffran, Senghas & Trueswell, 2001).

The most knowledgeable mothers will exhibit:

1) active mother–child interactions

2) domestic language stimulation.

(Millar, 1988; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 1998)
 Mothers’ Role in Communication
Development

Developing
communication
skills in children

Mothers’ Mothers’
Speech style Language input
Awareness Knowledge
Saudi parents’ knowledge
• What are the perspectives of Saudi mothers
about typical language development?

• Saudi mothers perspective about the role of

mother–child interactions?

• Knowledge about children's bilingual

development (i.e., Arabic and English)?
 Method
Design
• A qualitative research.
• Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews.

Participants
• Eight Saudi mothers for children aged between 0 and 3.

Materials
The interview questions comprised the following topics:
• typical language development.
• language development in a bilingual environment.
• the role of extended family.
 Qualitative Data Analysis
Thematic analysis:

• Code the keywords.

• Find a theme.

• Describing all generated themes.

Result
 Result
• Strategies for language stimulation:
1) READING picture books.
2) TELEVISION.
3) Following the child’s lead and engaging in
conversation.

• Knowledge about language development:

NO KNOWLEDGE

• Knowledge about bilingual development:

Negative effect: 62% of the mothers.
Positive effect: 75% of the mothers.
 Result
• Source of information:
1) personal experience .
2) relatives and friends.

• Causes of language delay:

75% believed in external factors such as:
1) limited language input.
2) passive environment

• Extended family and siblings is perceived as necessary.

Conclusion

• Varied knowledge regarding strategies for language

development.

• Strongly believed in the role of siblings and extended family.

• Uncertain about bilingual development.

Limitation

• Small sample size.

• Cannot be generalized.

• Limited reliability.
 Thank You

• Any Questions?