Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
Learning instructional communication skills in peer collaborative problem-solving: A case of a moving referent
Abstract
The present work is an attempt to combine two traditions of communication study: referential communication approach and sociolinguistic approach. The purpose was to examine how children ages 5 and 7 years learn to give instructions to each other in a peer collaborative problem solving situation. In an effort to identify interaction patterns and possible developmental progressions, various coding and categorization schemes were developed to analyze the processes of: negotiation of themes, establishing a common perspective toward the task, co-constructing messages and shared names. A comparison was made between the children's development of spatial terms for a stationary referent and a moving referent. The analysis shows that 7-year-olds shared themes more actively, using explicit means, compared to 5-year-olds. The older children's instructions were more informative and made in the task-appropriate referential perspective. For the purpose of establishing shared names, the older children engaged themselves in the naming process less often because they used names that can be more easily shared. The development of spatial terms for a moving referent seems to lag behind the development of those for a stationary referent. The children gradually learned, across ages and sessions, to participate to maximize the team effectiveness. Finally, dynamic changes in instructional messages were analyzed using a mode of graphic representation.
Subject Area
Early childhood education|Developmental psychology|Communication|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Lee, Moonja Oh, "Learning instructional communication skills in peer collaborative problem-solving: A case of a moving referent" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9233088.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9233088