ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns about the research pertaining to the talk gap in a historical and contemporary context. It focuses on: the natural language environment of young children; the development of language environment analysis (LENA); LENA Research Foundation (LRF) findings that confirm the Hart and Risley study; new LFR findings; and recommendations aimed at helping to close the talk and achievement gap. The magic of LENA lies in the algorithmic models that are embedded in the software. Hart and Risley showed that talkative parents have talkative children, a finding that we confirmed using data from natural language corpus (NLC) to compare average daily child vocalizations in children of parents in the highest and lowest 20th percentiles with regard to adult word count. A focus on improving words and turns, shared book reading, and turning off electronic media is the best way to close the talk gap and may also be an efficient way to improve the social and emotional environment.
