Adult-child talk in the pre-school setting : a dissertation.

Abstract

The frequency and type of child-adult talk and adult-child talk were observed in ten early childhood centres in the Christchurch metropolitan area. The frequency and type of talk was analysed to see if there were differences in the talk oftrained and untrained teachers. The sample consisted often randomly selected early childhood centres, an equal number of trained and untrained teachers in each centre and four children from each centre. The findings indicate that the children spoke approximately the same number of words to teachers as they did to their peers. The children initiated more talk with peers but they responded more to teachers. The adults, on the other hand, spoke considerably more to children than children spoke to them and the trained teachers talked to the children significantly more than did the untrained teachers. Trained teachers used more positive language and used fewer discouragements than untrained teachers. The observed children also heard less adult talk than they tend to hear in the home.