An Investigation into the Development of Referential Speech Skills in Junior School Children

Abstract

The investigation consists of two linked studies. The aim of the first study was to investigate developmental differences among junior school children in explanations of how to play a game. The first child in each dyad explained to the second how to play a board game in order that they could then play the game together. The analysis of the explanations revealed a pattern of similarity at one level, i.e. in the realisation of the simpler individual rules but of differences at other levels, especially in the overall organisation of the explanations. For the second study the children were asked in an interview two days later to describe how the game was played. The descriptions given revealed evidence of a process of extension of organisational frames by the older children from the more supportive to the less supportive situation.