Development of Intentional Communicative Behavior in Korean Toddlers 12 to 30 Months

Objectives: The development of intentional communicative behaviors is closely related to later language development. This study aimed to examine the development of the intentional communicative behavior in Korean toddlers at 12 to 30 months. Methods: The participants were 41 typical developing Korean toddlers. The toddlers were classified by three age groups: 12-18 months, 19-24 months, and 25-30 months. A 10-minute behavior sample was obtained from each participant during interaction with their caregiver, from which the frequency of intentional communicative behaviors per minute, communicative functions (behavior regulatory, social interactional, and joint attentional functions), and means (gesture, vocalization, gesture with vocalization, verbal, verbal with gesture) of the behaviors were measured. Results: Results showed the following: intentional communicative behaviors per minute increased significantly with age. Analysis of communicative functions indicated that the rate of joint attentional and social interactional functions also significantly increased with age, however, in the number of sub-functions only increased in the joint attentional function. Analysis of communicative means showed that communicative gestures significantly decreased, but verbal communications with gestures and verbal means increased with age. The frequency of intentional communicative behaviors per minute, joint attentional functions, and verbal communications with gestures significantly predicted chronological age and language age. Conclusion: The results of this study help in understanding the development of intentional communicative behaviors in Korean toddlers during 12 to 30 months of age and have implications for assessing the communicative abilities in the toddler period and planning intervention for children with developmental language delay.