The Curious Generation™
Family Learning · 2021

Family Questioning Habits and Vocabulary Growth

Dr. Naledi Mokoena, Dr. Sena Boateng

Abstract

What this study did

Recording 200 hours of family dinner conversation across 60 households, researchers coded the frequency and type of questions parents asked children. Open-ended, genuinely curious questions correlated with faster vocabulary growth over the following year.

Key findings

What we learned

01
Children asked one open question per meal showed 18% faster vocabulary growth over 12 months.
02
Quiz-style questions with a known right answer showed no such effect.
03
The effect was consistent across income levels once question type was controlled for.
In practice

What it means for families

Translated for the kitchen table: this study is a nudge to ask a genuine, open question at dinner rather than a quiz-style one, to leave room for unstructured play, and to trust that curiosity — not test scores alone — is doing real work in a child's development. Small, repeatable habits, not grand interventions.

Citation

How to cite this paper

Dr. Naledi Mokoena, Dr. Sena Boateng (2021). Family Questioning Habits and Vocabulary Growth. The Curious Generation™ Research Series.

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