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Context dependency in parental speech
Author(s) -
Reissland Nadja
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1998.tb00758.x
Subject(s) - psychology , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , discriminant function analysis , dependency (uml) , statistics , paleontology , mathematics , systems engineering , engineering , biology
Twelve children, six girls and six boys, were videotaped at two ages: first at a mean age of 11:16 months, second at a mean age of 15:16 months, with a parent in their home while having a meal with a spoon (non‐play situation) and feeding a doll with a spoon (play situation). It was found that parents reliably differentiated between play and non‐play situations by using interaction and instruction frames, respectively. A discriminant function analysis of the relative frequency of seven speech acts used within each frame resulted in the correct classification of 60.42 per cent of the children. These findings are discussed in the light of theories of children's learning in context (Snow, Perlmann & Nathan, 1987), specifically their learning about pretend and real situations (Harris & Kavanaugh, 1993).