Style and structure in mother‐child conversations about the past

Abstract

This research examined possible stylistic differences in how mothers structure conversations about the past with their young children. Just as there are different maternal styles for talking about the "here-and-now," which influence children's language development, we explored different maternal styles for talking about the "there-and-then," which might influence children's memory development. Ten mothers and their 30-35-monthold children engaged in naturalistic conversations about various past events. Two styles emerged, an elaborative style and a repetitive style. Elaborative mothers talk more than repetitive mothers, they ask more memory questions, and they provide more information about the event under discussion. They are also more likely to elaborate on their previous questions, whereas repetitive mothers tend to simply repeat questions without embellishment. Implications of these two maternal styles for the child's memory development are discussed.In this study, we examined how mothers structure conversations about past events with their 2-year-old children. A few recent studies indicate that even children this young are able to participate in conversations about the past and can provide accurate information about the event under discussion (DeForest & Fivush, 1984;Fivush, Gray, & Fromhoff, 1987;Hudson, 1986). But recounting a past experience involves more than simply reporting details of the event; children must also learn how to talk about past events in a conventionalized linguistic form, in order to communicate effectively to another what transpired. Reporting the past is as much a conversational skill as a memory skill and, as such, must be influenced by the kinds of conversational interactions in which the child is expected to engage. That is, the ways in which adults converse with the child about the past will influence the way in which the child comes to think about and talk about the past independently. Eisenberg (1985) identified three phases in how children learn to talk about past events in a longitudinal study of 2 young children between the ages of 18

The role of demonstrator familiarity and language cues on infant imitation from television

“…In contrast, there were a variety of narrations provided in the Mother Naturalistic condition. Differences in maternal narration styles have been well established in research on parent-child conversations about the past (e.g., Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988;McCabe & Peterson, 1991;Reese, 2002;Reese, Haden, & Fivush, 1993). For example, when discussing the past with their child, some mothers use an elaborative conversation style, providing richly detailed accounts, asking a wide range of questions, and providing supplementary information to the child's account (Hudson, 1990(Hudson, , 1993Reese et al, 1993).…”

“…Imitation from television Page 16 of 25 conversation overall (Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988;Hudson, 1990Hudson, , 1993McCabe & Peterson, 1991;Reese et al, 1993). In verbal children, at least, the way mothers talk about an event effects the aspects that children recall about the event (Murachver, 2002;Tessler & Nelson, 1994).…”

O estilo de reminiscência nas interações mãe-criança e pai-criança

“…Depois de devidamente codificadas, omitindo informações da criança e dos pais, todas as transcrições foram analisadas por dois investigadores independentes, previamente treinados, relativamente às características do discurso da criança e do adulto (para exemplos ver Bost et al, 2006;Farrant & Reese, 2000;Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988;. (Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988), todas as transcrições foram marcadas com o início e fim em relação aos três eventos falados. De seguida, foram assinaladas todas as unidades proposicionais do discurso, quer da criança, quer do adulto, formadas pela inclusão implícita de sujeito e verbo.…”

“…Vários estudos têm demonstrado que a forma como os pais estruturam conversas acerca do passado com a criança, em idade pré-escolar, tem um profundo efeito no modo como esta posteriormente se lembra dos eventos e os partilha com os outros (e.g., Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988;Reese, Haden, & Fivush, 1993). Neste âmbito, é através da partilha de experiências passadas, guiada pelos adultos, que a criança aprende diferentes formas narrativas de memória autobiográfica.…”

“…Assim, pais que nas reminiscências elaboram mais e que clarificam a informação espacial e temporal, têm crianças que, no final da idade pré-escolar, são capazes de recontar eventos passados mais detalhadamente e em forma de narrativa, espacial e temporalmente coerente, acerca das suas próprias experiências (Fivush & Fromhoff, 1988;Reese, Haden, & Fivush, 1993).…”