The Advancement of Children's Verbal Referential Communication Skills: The Role of Metacognitive Guidance

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Abstract
36 children aged between 4-4 and 5-4 were assessed for both their understanding about the role of message ambiguity as a cause of communication failure, and their level of performance in verbal referential communication tasks. All children then took part in six half-hour sessions during which they practised listening and speaking in small groups, with the experimenter modelling appropriate behaviour on her turns. In addition, half the children received information about when and why listeners understood or failed to understand (metacognitive guidance) during the course of the sessions. Both groups improved in both performance and understanding in the immediate post-test and in a delayed post-test seven weeks later there was no sign of regression in understanding. The guidance group advanced more than the practice group in both performance and understanding (with the exception of those at the highest levels of understanding originally). Performance and understanding measures were significantly related to each other in the pre-test, and the relationship remained unchanged following intervention, with the exception of question-asking, which increased even among children who made no advances in understanding. The results were interpreted as suggesting that we can advance children's verbal communication skills not only by giving them information about communication, but also by treating them as though they understand that messages can be ambiguous and can cause communication failure.