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The effect of a narrative context on the verbal style of middle-class and lower-class children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Jan Jewson ,
Jacqueline Sachs  and
Ronald P. Rohner
Jan Jewson
Affiliation:
Graduate Center, City University of New York
Jacqueline Sachs
Affiliation:
The University of Connecticut
Ronald P. Rohner
Affiliation:
The University of Connecticut
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Abstract

The verbal style of middle-class and lower-class ten-year-old children was assessed in a descriptive communication task using three different types of stimulus items: standard visual, tactual, and items embedded in a narrative. In a partial replication of Heider's (1971) work it was found that lower-class children used a global descriptive style to communicate information about standard visual (abstract) stimuli, whereas middle-class children used an analytic style. Group differences also were observed with tactually input stimuli, although the lower-class responses shifted toward an analytic style. However, both middle-class and lower-class children used an analytic style to describe stimulus items when they were embedded in a narrative context. In addition, order effects were observed, suggesting that lower-class children use an analytic style with standard visual stimuli if they perceive this style as situationally appropriate. Social class differences in verbal style are not only a function of type of stimulus item, but are also a function of strategies applied in the communicative situation.

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , August 1981 , pp. 201 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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