Spatial language production in Chinese preschoolers: developmental patterns and associated predictors

Research on Chinese spatial language production has primarily focused on task-based experiments, neglecting naturalistic contexts and family influences and causing limited ecological validity. To address this gap, this study investigated the developmental patterns and predictors of spatial language production among 192 Chinese preschoolers (ages 2;6 to 5;6) during a half-hour toy-play session. The children's naturalistic utterances were analyzed using a five-domain coding system derived from the literature. First, the results indicated a significant age effect in spatial language production. Second, factors such as parent–child storytelling, talk duration, and the total number of utterances significantly predicted early spatial language production. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding and fostering spatial language development in natural contexts.