Environnement familial et développement du langage oral chez les enfants de 4 –5 ans scolarisés de l’arrondissement de Mfou

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the link between the family environment and the development of oral language in 4 to 5 year old school children in the city of Mfou. It has started from the observation that children in this age group experience difficulties in phonology, semantics and syntax. This permitted to highlight the problem of the poor development of oral language in these. In order to achieve the objective of this study, 151 parents of pupils from three public nursery schools in the district of Mfou were selected using the reasoned choice sampling technique and answered a questionnaire consisting of the Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1984) and the Language Use Inventory (O'Neill & Pesco, 2009). The results from the correlation analysis show that family relationships (r= .204; p <.05), personal growth (r=.321; p <.01) and the organization of the family system (r= .368; p<.01) are related to oral language development. Those of the regression confirm these links and present the organization of the family system as the best predictor of the development of oral language in children aged 4 to 5 in the city of Mfou. These results are in line with the socioconstructivist theory which gives a prominent place to social interactions in the process of language development in children. These results are discussed in the light of previous work, reference theories and their implications for pedagogy are also discussed. Keywords: