Using The Observer Video-Pro 5.0 to analyze mother-child interactions in language development

C. Quintana and E. Ribes

Behavior Research Center, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

The role of mother-child interactions is a central issue in the analysis of language acquisition. Here we present data on the observation of linguistic, mother-child interactions. A girl and her mother were video-taped at different ages (29, 33 and 40/months) while they were playing. A sample of each situation was analyzed using The Observer^® Video-Pro 5.0 (Noldus Information Technology bv, The Netherlands) with a system of categories developed to observe linguistic interaction patterns and their relations with social and cognitive skills. We discuss the usefulness of the system in identifying linguistic interaction patterns specific to each situation and the relationship of these patterns to the acquisition of cognitive and social skills.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

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