Applied Psycholinguistics, page 1 of 24, 2014 doi:10.1017/S0142716414000125 Communication patterns between parents and children: Comparing mothers and fathers in different learner contexts LARA PIERCE and FRED GENESEE McGill University KARINE GAUTHIER Montreal Children’s Hospital MARIE-EVE DUBOIS Concordia University Received: May 21, 2013 Accepted for publication: February 25, 2014 ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Lara Pierce, Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada. E-mail: lara.pierce@mail.mcgill.ca ABSTRACT Language use and joint attention (JA) strategies were examined during interactions between franco- phone mothers and fathers and either their birth children (n = 10) or their internationally adopted children from China (n = 8), once when the children were 15 months old and again at 20 months, on average. Results showed that mothers engaged in more JA episodes and tended to talk more with their children than did fathers; however, this was influenced by the language-learning situation of the child. Specifically, the adoptive parents engaged more with their children than did the birth parents, and the behaviors of the internationally adopted mothers and fathers were more similar to each other than to those of the birth parents, arguably to support their children’s unique language-learning situation. However, in contrast to a previous study that examined JA with adoptive mothers, the adoptive fathers’ interaction styles with their children at 15 months were not related to children’s vocabularies at 20 months as has been observed for mothers. It is becoming increasingly evident that the nature and quantity of input children are exposed to during early language acquisition can play an important role in their language development and even ultimate attainment (e.g., Hoff, 2006). In partic- ular, it has been found that input during episodes of joint attention (JA) between children and their parents plays a role in children’s early language learning (e.g., Dominey & Dodane, 2004; Tomasello & Farrar, 1986). At the same time, input © Cambridge University Press 2014 0142-7164/14 $15.00