The role of clarification requests in children's communication of route directions by telephone

Abstract

It is argued that studies of referential communication have suffered from a too narrow conception of the exchange of verbal information. This has been reflected in the tasks used, the medium of exchange, the subjects’ relationship with the adult investigator, and the analytic procedures. Use of telephones and a route‐following task that encouraged extended dialogue helped to offset these limiting influences in a study of pairs of communicating 7‐year‐olds, 10‐year‐olds, and adults. An analysis of the requests for clarification used by instruction receivers revealed insights about the interactive nature of communication success and failure. Some support was provided for Ackerman's model of message appraisal. Ten‐year‐olds produced more inadequate directions than adults, but this was offset by their ability to provide an equivalent number of potential requests for clarification which introduced new information to the dialogue. In terms of outcome, 10‐year‐olds were as effective as adults. Seven‐year‐olds were relatively good at signalling inadequacy in messages received through “simple” requests for clarification, but were less able at resolving communication breakdown through potential clarification requests.