Demonstrates a training technique for improving the referential performance of young children and for obtaining generalization of this training. Findings on generalization suggest that further investigation should reveal practical applications of the method for the classroom and clinic. (RH)

Investigates children's ability to distinguish the literal meaning of a message and a speaker's communicative intent. Either knowing or not knowing the speaker's intended referent, first- and second-grade children evaluated brief referential communication messages for ambiguity. In the first experiment, messages were written on cards and read to…

Reviewed are previous studies that have examined adults' and children's ability to understand verbal directions. Differences in style and the implications of these differences for educating children are discussed. (CW)

When first, fourth, and fifth grade speakers played a referential communication game with a fictitious listener, they were more likely to give redundant messages to listeners with whom they had no common shared experience or to strangers than to listeners with whom they had shared a previous experience. (RH)

Investigates whether first- and fourth-grade children vary their production of redundant messages (saying more than the minimal necessary to be informative) as a function of sharing common experience with a listener. (HOD)

Observed the decision-reaching and leadership behavior of children in same- amd mixed-age triads by coding their verbalizations in arriving at a consensus for their preference ranking of eight pictures. (HOD)

Describes two experiments comparing how children evaluate three types of uninformative messages (ambiguous, incomplete, inconsistent) and whether and why the speaker's age affects the evaluation of each. (HOD)

An ethnographic study was made of a student-led speech event in an ethnically mixed combined first- and second-grade classroom. In an activity called "Sharing Time," general rules governed appropriate ways of behaving, but no teacher rules governed ways of speaking, topic, or amount of time at talk. Collected over a 5-month period, data…

Examines the ability of 30 normal and 30 learning disabled children across a three-year period to understand a sequence of instructions, communicate the steps in a sequence to others, and rephrase their verbal messages through a referential communication task. (HOD)

Examined the effects different communicators (science methods instructors, supervisors, graduate assistants, and others) had on the attitudes of 25 elementary education majors toward science and science teaching, focusing on which communicators were perceived as being the most credible. (DH)

To determine if purposes in reading differ with sex, grade level, and nationality, a 16-item "Functions of Reading Scale" (developed from content analysis of student essays on why they like to read) was administered to 459 Irish (Dublin, Ireland) and American (Windham, Connecticut) students in grades three, five, and eight. Data…

Examines the effects of electronic mail and bulletin boards on teachers' perceptions, instructional practices, and student involvement in an elementary social studies program. Although responses were generally positive, the study suggested mandating teacher team leaders to facilitate integrating the technology into the curriculum. (MJP)