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In:Variation in Language Acquisition: Unity in diversity
Edited by Laura Rosseel and Eline Zenner
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 34] 2025
► pp. 154–174

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Chapter 8
Parental feedback on children’s non‑conventional versus non-standard language use

A combination of perspectives

 | KU Leuven
 | KU Leuven
 | KU Leuven
Published online: 4 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.34.08ver
Abstract
Combining research in developmental sociolinguistics and L1 acquisition, this study explores how caregivers may orient children towards (socio)linguistic norms through parental feedback. Based on self-recorded family interactions in the Belgian-Dutch setting, it applies a top-down quantitative perspective to examine feedback on non-conventional versus non-standard language use, alongside a bottom-up qualitative perspective highlighting factors that influence parental feedback occurrence. Findings reveal limited feedback on children’s non-standard language use, with participation frameworks and multiactivity contexts emerging as possible constraints. The combined approach also foregrounds possible tensions between researcher categorisations and participants’ perspectives. Overall, this study offers a first step in bridging research on parental feedback and sociolinguistic variation, identifying patterns that merit further investigation.
Article outline
  • 1.Background
  • 2.Research aims
  • 3.Data description
  • 4.Quantitative perspective
    • 4.1Operationalization process
    • 4.2Results quantitative exploration
  • 5.Qualitative perspective
    • 5.1Participation frameworks and multiactivity contexts
    • 5.2More layers than initially observed
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
  • Research funding
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