Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:45:50.896Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A dialogic analysis of interaction between mothers and their deaf or hearing preschoolers1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Terry G. Nienhuys*
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Kim M. Horsborough
Affiliation:
Institute of Early Childhood Development, Victoria, Australia
Toni G. Cross
Affiliation:
Institute of Early Childhood Development, Victoria, Australia
*
Terry G. Nienhuys, Ph.D., Department of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia3052

Abstract

Dialogic interaction between mothers and their age-matched or linguistically matched hearing and hearing-impaired children was investigated. The study employed the cognitively based System of dialogic analysis proposed by Blank and Franklin (1980). The System assesses each participant both as initiator and responder, and judges each participant's initiations for cognitive complexity and summoning power, as well as the appropriateness of participants' responses. Four samples of eight mother–child dyads were investigated, including hearing and hearing-impaired 2-year-olds and 5-year-olds. Results revealed differences between hearing and hearing-impaired dyads along most dimensions, including the number and form of initiations employed, the complexity levels of initiations, and appropriateness of the child's responses, as well as measures of the degree of dialogic exchange that took place in the mother–child dyads.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Accepted for publication under the editorship of Sheldon Rosenberg.

References

REFERENCES

Bellack, A. A., Kliebard, H. M., Human, R. T., & Smith, F. L.The language of the dassroom. New York: Teacher's College Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Blank, M. Language, the child and the teacher: A proposed assessment model. In Hom, H. L. & Robinson, P. A. (Eds.), Psychological processes in early education. New York: Academic Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Blank, M., & Franklin, E.Dialogue with preschoolers: A cognitively-based System of assessment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 1980, 1, 127–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, M., & Milewski, J.Coding manual for dialogue with pre-schoolers: A cognitively-based system of assessment. CMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, 1980.Google Scholar
Brinich, P. M.Childhood deafness and maternal control. Journal of Communication Disorders, 1980, 13, 7581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R.A first language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheskin, A.The use of language by hearing mothers of deaf children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 1982, 15, 145–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J.A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1960, 20, 1, 3746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, J. Communication between deaf children of pre-school age and their mothers. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1969.Google Scholar
Cross, T. G. Mothers' speech adjustments: The contribution of selected child-listening variables. In Snow, C. E. & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Cross, T. G. Mother-child interaction in the study of language development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Melbourne, 1978.Google Scholar
Cross, T. G. Parent speech as primary linguistic data: Some complexities in the study of the effect of the input in language acquisition. In Dale, P. S. & Ingram, D. (Eds.), Child-language – An international perspective. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Cross, T. G., Johnson-Morris, J. E., & Nienhuys, T. G.Linguistic feedback and maternal speech: Comparisons of mothers addressing hearing and hearing-impaired children. First Language, 1980, 1, 163189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, T. G., Nienhuys, T. G., & Morris, J. E.Maternal speech styles to deaf and hearing children. Australian Teacher of the Deaf, 1980, 21, 814.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M.Peabody picture vocabulary test. Minnesota: A.M.G., 1965.Google Scholar
Furth, H. G.Thinking without language: Psychological implications of deafness. New York: Free Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Goss, R. N.Language used by mothers of deaf children and mothers of hearing children. American Annals of the Deaf, 1970, 115, 9396.Google ScholarPubMed
Greenberg, M. T.Social interaction between deaf preschoolers and their mothers: The effects of communication method and communication competence. Developmental Psychology, 1980, 16, 465–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenstein, J., Greenstein, B., McConville, K., & Stellini, L.Mother–infant communication and language acquisition in deaf infants. New York: Lexington School for the Deaf, 1975.Google Scholar
Gregory, S., Mogford, K., & Bishop, J.Mothers' speech to young hearing-impaired children. Journal of the British Association for Teachers of the Deaf, 1979, 3, 4243.Google Scholar
Hughes, M. E., & Howarth, J. N.Verbal interaction between mothers and their hearing-impaired children. Unpublished manuscript, University of Manchester, U.K., 1981.Google Scholar
Hyde, M. B., Power, D. J., & Elias, G. C.The use of verbal and non-verbal control techniques by mothers of hearing-impaired infants. Research Report No. 5, Mt. Gravait College, Queensland, 1980.Google Scholar
Kaye, K., & Charney, R.Conversational asymmetry between mothers and children. Journal of Child Language, 1981, 8, 3549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lederberg, A. R.Adult communication to hearing-impaired vs. hearing preschoolers. Paper presented at the Society of Research in Child Development, Boston, Mass., 1981.Google Scholar
Lewis, M., & Rosenblum, L. A. (Eds.), Interaction, conversation and the development of language. New York: Wiley, 1977.Google Scholar
Marascuilo, L. A., & McSweeny, M.Non-parametric and distribution-free methods for the social sciences. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1977.Google Scholar
McDonald, L., & Pien, D.Mother conversational behaviour as a function of interactional intent. Journal of Child Language, 1982, 9, 337–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKirdy, L. S., & Blank, M.Dialogue in deaf and hearing preschoolers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1982, 25, 487–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meadow, K. P., Greenberg, M. T., Erting, C., & Carmichael, H.Interactions of deaf mothers and deaf preschool children: comparisons with three other groups of deaf and hearing dyads. American Annals of the Deaf, 1981, 126, 454–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morocco, C. C.Mother–toddler conversation: A two-way learning environment. Early Child Development and Care, 1983, 11, 245–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Society for Research on Child Development, Monograph No. 38, 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, K. E., Denninger, M. M., Bonvillian, J. D., Kaplan, B. J., & Baker, N. Maternal input adjustments and non-adjustments as related to children's linguistic advances and to language acquisition theories. In Pellegrini, A. D. & Yawkey, T. D. (Eds.), The development of oral and written languages: Readings in developmental and applied linguistics. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1983.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L. Motherese: The speech of mothers to young children. In Costellan, N., Pisoni, D., & Potts, G. (Eds.), Cognitive theoty: Volume II. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1977.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L., Gleitman, H., & Gleitman, L. R. Mother, l'd rather do it myself: Some effects and non-effects of maternal speech style. In Snow, C. E. & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Nienhuys, T. G., Cross, T. G., & Horsborough, K. M.Child variables influencing maternal speech style: Deaf and hearing children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 1984, 17, 189207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Retherford, K. S., Schwartz, B. C., & Chapman, R. S.Semantic roles and residual grammatical categories in mother and child speech: Who tunes in to whom? Journal of Child Language, 1981, 8, 583608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schlesinger, H. S., & Meadow, K. P.Sound and sign. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Seitz, S., & Marcus, K. P.Mother-child interactions: A foundation for language development. Exceptional Children, 1976, 42, 445–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seitz, S., & Stewart, C.Imitiations and expansions: Some developmental aspects of mother–child communications. Developmental Psychology, 1975, 6, 763–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sisco, F. H., & Anderson, R. J.Current findings regarding the performance of deaf children on the WISC-R. American Annals of the Deaf, 1978, 123, 115–21.Google ScholarPubMed
Snow, C. E. Mothers' speech research: From input to interaction. In Snow, C. E. & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.), Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E. Social interaction and language acquisition. In Dale, P. S. & Ingram, D., Child language: An international perspective. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.). Talking to children: Language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Snyder, L. K., & McLean, J. E.Deficient acquisition strategies: A proposed conceptual framework for analyzing severe language deficiency. American Journal of Mental Deftciency, 1977, 81, 338–49.Google ScholarPubMed
Stinson, M.Effects of deafness on maternal expectations about child development. Journal of Special Education, 1978, 12, 7581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wedell-Monnig, J., & Lumley, J. M.Child deafness and mother-child interaction. Child Development, 1980, 51, 766–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wedell-Monnig, J., & Westerman, T. B.Mothers' language to deaf and hearing infants. Paper presented at the Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, Mass., 1977.Google Scholar
Wells, G., Montgomery, M., & Maclure, M.Adult-child discourse: Outline of a model of analysis. Journal of Pragmatics, 1979, 3, 337–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wexler, K., & Culicover, P. W.Formal principles of language acquisition. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Willis, D. J., Wright, L., & Wolfe, J.WISC and Nebraska performance of deaf and hearing children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1972, 34, 783–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed