Social deprivation and language development: The gap between language abilities for children attending schools from the most to least deprived areas in the UK
Keywords: CDE2021
Child development
Language ability
CDE
Quantitative research
Social deprivation
Digital language assessment
Secondary data analysis
Neighborhood/Home environment

Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between social deprivation and children's language ability. There was evidence suggesting that children from underprivileged backgrounds have delayed language development. We tested the hypothesis that early childhood represents a critical period during which social deprivation levels could produce gaps in language development among nursery children from birth to five years old. We expected children from socially deprived areas to achieve lower language scores than children from more affluent areas. We also hypothesized that the neighborhood effects would be moderated by children's home language environment.
Methods: A secondary analysis of quantitative data from the NELI-N program (Schools = 62, N = 1496) was carried out. Social deprivation of children was measured in two domains, neighborhood poverty and home language environment. School-level neighborhood poverty was measured across five quintile levels by geographical-based income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI). The home language environment was recorded by English as Additional Language (EAL) status, assigning children into two categories, non-EAL and EAL groups. Children’s language outcome was assessed by the LanguageScreen assessment. A language factor was extracted from four subtests of LanguageScreen, presenting children's generalized language ability at age 3 to 4. The main and interaction effects of IDACI and EAL were analyzed in ANOVA models.
Results: Social deprivation and EAL status were strongly related to children’s language ability. For neighborhood poverty, there were significant differences in language development between children from the most deprived neighborhood quintile and children from higher quintiles. Involving varying home language backgrounds, EAL children achieved significantly lower language scores than non-EAL children in nursery years. The interaction effect between IDACI and EAL was highly significant and accounted for more variance in the scores compared to the effect of IDACI exclusively. Non-linear relationships were found in multilevel models, and children from the fourth IDACI quintile (60th-80th) had lower language scores than expected from a linear function.
Conclusions: This study provides strong evidence for both independent and combined effects of home language environment and school neighborhood poverty. These findings demonstrate that children from socially deprived areas experience multiple risk factors. Neighborhood-level deprivation leads to lower language performance, especially for native children compared with other native pupils. EAL conditions strongly predict children’s language scores in preschools, supporting the hypothesis that early childhood represents a critical period during which quantity and quality of language exposure create gaps in language development. The interaction of disadvantaged home and neighborhood experience negatively impacts children’s language learning process and results in poor language skills by nursery ages. Implications for future language research were addressed.