Dialogue with preschoolers: A cognitively-based System of assessment

Abstract

A System is Presented for coding and analyzing dialogue that involves preschool-age children. In the System, each participant is seen, throughout the course of a dialogue, to assume the roles of both initiator and responder. Each role is evaluated according to different scales. As initiator, a speaker's utterances are judged for their level of cognitive complexity and for their “summoning power” (i.e., for their explicitness of a demand for a response). As responder, a speaker's utterances and behaviors are judged for their appropriateness as responses to the speaker-initiator's preceding verbalizations. In assessing dialogue, the scales are interlinked so as to permit one to assess the extent and complexity of the verbal communication that is taking place between the two members of a dyad. The application of the scales is illustrated through the analysis of dialogues recorded between six mothers and their 3-year-old daughters.