Table 1a.

Mothers’ Language Use and Corresponding Examples

Maternal language measure	Examples
Label	That is a cat
Description	We have a small dog
Open-ended question	What did we do at the park?
Closed-ended question	Did you have fun?
Reframe	It was a goat, not a sheep
Affirmation	Child says, “we ate pasta”; mother says, “yes we did!”
Repetition	Child says, “boat”; mother repeats, “boat”
Request for repetition	Can you repeat that?
Expansion	Child says, “eat”; mother says, “we were eating”
Extension	Child says, “all gone”; mother says, “it was all gone, and the cup was empty”
Recast	Child says, “zoo zebra”; mother says, “did we see a zebra at the zoo?”
Direct action request	Sit down
Indirect action request	Can you sit down?
Attention directive	Look at this
Positive feedback	That’s right!
Negative feedback	No, that’s wrong!