ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the structure of maternal verbal scaffolding features and develop a questionnaire on Mother's language scaffolding characteristics, so as to provide a quantitative, convenient and economical self-assessment tool for describing maternal verbal scaffolding features.Methods:On the basis of qualitative research and literature research, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 704 mothers of preschool children. After item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, a formal questionnaire was formed. Two weeks later, 106 mothers were retested to collect test-retest reliability data. Preschool children's expressive vocabulary checklist was used as external criterion.Data were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 and Amos 21.0.Results:(1)The formal questionnaire includes 28 items with two factors-detailed support factor and control rejection factor, the internal consistency coefficients of the two factors were 0.849 and 0.811, the project load was from 0 .482 to 0 .701, and the variance contribution rate was 40.36%.(2) AMOS 21.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis, indicating that the two-factor structure met the requirements of psychometrics.( χ 2/ df=1.96, RMSEA=0.05, NFI=0.86, CFI=0.90, IFI=0.89). (3)The results of two-factor text-retest reliability were 0.840 and 0.871 as well as the results of split-half reliability was 0.801.The internal consistency reliability was 0.740.The external validity analysis showed that the mother's education level was positively correlated with factor Ⅰ( r=0.288, P=0.000), but not with factor Ⅱ( r=-0.091, P=0.052). There was significant difference in factorⅠbetween mothers with expressive vocabulary development delay children (52.22±10.56) and non delayed children (57.71±7.51) ( t=-5.07, P=0.000). There also was a significant difference in factor Ⅱ between mothers with expressive vocabulary development delay children (37.12±10.09) and non delayed children (31.53±8.59) ( t=4.61, P=0.000). (4)There was no significant difference in the characteristics of language scaffolding between boys(factorⅠ(58.08±8.14), factorⅡ(32.86±9.51)) and girls' mothers(factorⅠ(56.93±8.20), factorⅡ(31.42±8.48)). Analysis of the sample groups showed that age did not affect the verbal scaffolding features of preschool children's mothers( F1=1.633, P1=0.181; F2=0.758, P2=0.518). Conclusion:There are two factors in the questionnaire of the verbal scaffolding features questionnaire, which meet the criteria of psychometrics.The questionnaire of the verbal scaffolding features questionnaire is suitable for evaluating the characteristics of language scaffolding of mothers of preschool children aged 3-6.