8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
1/40
Adult Communicative StylesAdult Communicative Styles
and childrens languageand childrens language
Caroline Bowen PhD
Speech-Language Pathologist
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
2/40
these slides are aboutthese slides are about
Language teachers communicative styles
The terms teaching and teacher are
used here in their broadest senses.For a child learning language, parents,
pre-school teachers, speech-language
pathologists and other adults (and evenolder children) are all teachers.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
3/40
communicative stylecommunicative style
The term communicative style
refers to the way adults (orlanguage teachers) engage
children in conversation
the language they use and theway they ask questions.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
4/40
reticent childrenreticent children
Children with communication impairmentsare often quite talkative at home andwith their speech-language pathologists.
These same children may say very little,or nothing at all, at daycare, pre-schoolschool, when out, etc.
Think about the points raised in thispresentation in relation to helpingreticent children to be more
forthcoming conversationally.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
5/40
intended audienceintended audience
These slides are for parents and
caregivers of children with speechsound disorders including:
functional speech disorders
developmental phonological disorders developmental apraxia of speech
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
6/40
language learninglanguage learning
All children are language learners.
Part of their speech and language
development is innate.
Part of it is learned through the
modelling of people around them.
Parents are young childrens mainspeech and language teachers.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
7/40
researchers have investigatedresearchers have investigated
teachers communicative styleteachers communicative style
looking at:
1.The way adults talk to children,or, in other words, the adultscommunicative styles.
2. The immediate effect of thevarious styles on childrenscommunication.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
8/40
the adult communicative stylesthe adult communicative styles
investigated were:investigated were:
1) Enforced repetitions
2) Two-choice questions3) Wh type questions
4) Personal contributions
5) Phatics
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
9/40
1. enforced repetitions1. enforced repetitions
In this style:
The adult asks the child to repeatwhat the adult says.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
10/40
enforced repetitionsenforced repetitions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: What are you doing?
C: Painting.A: Say Painting a house.
C: Painting a house.
A: Good girl. Good talking.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
11/40
bad news!bad news!the researchers foundthe researchers found
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
12/40
the effect of enforced repetitions onthe effect of enforced repetitions on
communicationcommunication
1. Enforced repetitions do not
increase the childs mean lengthof conversational turn.
2. Children are not able to imitate
structures more complex thantheir spontaneous utterances.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
13/40
2. two2. two--choice questionschoice questions
In this style:
The adult asks a child a question thatoffers two choices:
To say yes / no
To say a word or phrase
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
14/40
twotwo--choice questionschoice questions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: Is that a red pen?
C: No.A: Thats right, its a blue pen.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
15/40
twotwo--choice questionschoice questions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: Is that a red pen or a blue pen?
C: A blue pen.A: Yes, thats right, it is a blue pen.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
16/40
bad news and not such bad news:bad news and not such bad news:
the researchers foundthe researchers found
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
17/40
the effect on communication of twothe effect on communication of two--
choice questionschoice questions
1. Childrens verbal responses are
shorter than with any of the other
styles.
2. Children tend to give single-word
responses or non-verbalresponses.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
18/40
twotwo--choice questionschoice questions
It is difficult for a teacher to know ifthe child understands 2-choice
questions.
After all, there is a 50% chance ofthe child answering correctly.
Children can become very passive,leaving all of the responsibility forcommunication with the adult.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
19/40
twotwo--choice questionschoice questions
Can be useful to help a child
expand a theme.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
20/40
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
21/40
WhWh type questions type questions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: Wheres the truck?
C: [POINTS] A: Andwhos on the truck?
C: Spot.
S: Whats Spot doing?
C: Driving it.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
22/40
not suchnot such bad news and good news:bad news and good news:
the researchers foundthe researchers found
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
23/40
the effect on communication ofthe effect on communication of
WhWh type questions type questions
1. In excess, Wh questions arelikely to inhibit children from
playing an active role inconversation.
2. Wh questions are only likely to
receive an appropriate response ifthe child understands thequestion.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
24/40
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
25/40
4. personal contributions4. personal contributions
In this style:
The adult avoids asking questionsand chooses topics of interest to
the particular child.
The topic choice is child-led ifpossible.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
26/40
personal contributionspersonal contributions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: I went to the Great Australian
Muster in the holidays
C: Me too!
A: I though it was great.
C: But too noisy. Dad said it was toonoisy.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
27/40
personal contributionspersonal contributions
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: Your dad though it was noisy?
I think hes right!
C: Mummy said it was noisy too.
Not me. I like it.
A: Noise doesnt bother you?C: No, not never!
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
28/40
good news!good news!
the researchers foundthe researchers found
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
29/40
the effect on communication ofthe effect on communication of
personal contributionspersonal contributions
Children initiate more conversational
turns.
Children initiate more conversational
topics.
Children are more talkative. Some children say more in this style
than in the phatic style.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
30/40
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
31/40
personal contributionspersonal contributions
Children are afforded more time to
think about what they want to
communicate, and to plan how to
do it, with this style.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
32/40
5. phatics5. phatics
In this style:
The adult tries to say nothing withany content apart fromacknowledging the childscontribution
Questions are avoided. Topics are initiated by the child.
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
33/40
phaticsphatics
A = Adult C = ChildA = Adult C = Child
A: That looks good.
C: Its going up high.
A: True. C: High up to the sky.
A: Uh-huh
C: Maybe it might fall down. Crash!
A: It might! Its very high!
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
34/40
very good news!very good news!
the researchers foundthe researchers found
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
35/40
the effect on communication of phaticsthe effect on communication of phatics
1. The increase in MLUm can bedramatic with this style.
2. Children may begin to tell stories.
MLUm = the childs mean lengthof utterance measured inmorphemes (units of meaning)
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
36/40
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
37/40
referencesreferences
Dillon, J.T. (1982). Themultidisciplinary study of
questioning. Journal of Educational
Psychology 74, 2, 147-165
Wood, D., Wood, H., Griffiths, A. and
Howarth, I. (1986). Teaching and
talking with deaf children.
Chichester: Wiley
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
38/40
summarysummary
Enforced repetitions
Two-choice questions
Wh type questions
Personal contributions Phatics
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
39/40
Caroline Bowen PhDCaroline Bowen PhDSpeech Pathology PracticeSpeech Pathology Practice
9 Hillcrest Rd9 Hillcrest Rd,, Wentworth Falls, 2782Wentworth Falls, 2782
Phone 61 2 4757 1136
Internet www.speech-language-therapy.com
e-mail [email protected]
8/8/2019 Adult Communicative Styles
40/40