Comparative Study on Influence of Familial Factors on Language Development of Preschool Children in Rural and Urban Areas

A study on the influence of familial factors on language development of preschool children (2 to 5 years) was conducted in university of agricultural sciences Dharwad. On a sample of 240 children selected from rural and urban areas of Dharwad taluk, Karnataka, India from selected nurseries and preschools. Differential and correlation design were employed to know the difference between language development of rural and urban preschool children. To measure the auditory comprehension and expressive communication and also the language development, Preschool Language Scale, fifth edition (PLS-5) was used. The home inventory tool was used to measure the home environment of the preschool children. Results revealed the significant association between locality and language development were most of the urban preschoolers belonged to average level (65%) and mild level (35%) of language development. About 28 per cent of rural children belonged to low level language development. The analysis revealed that the language development and home environment and socioeconomic status highly significantly correlated in rural and urban areas. The regression analysis depicted that high quality home environment predicted higher indices on language development among preschool children. However, type of family and socio-economic factors did not predicted language development significantly indicating that there is need to educate parents in enhancing home environment which in turn promotes language development of preschool children.