Pragmatic functions of lengthenings and filled pauses in the adult-directed speech of Hungarian children

Two most common disfluencies of spontaneous speech, vowel lengthenings (VLE) and non-lexicalized filled pauses (NLFP) were investigated in the adult-directed speech of eight Hungarian children. Though VLE and NLFP might seem to be similar vocalizations, recent investigations have shown that their occurrences might differ remarkably in child speech and may al-so change as a function of age. Based on these findings, in the present study the functional analysis of VLEs and NLFPs was performed. It was hypothesized that in child speech the two phenomena have roles not only in speech planning, but also in discourse management, and that they show functional distribution. The analysis provided evidence that VLE is more common than NLFP. VLE often tends to mark discourse events and may play a role in turn-final floor-holding strategies, while NLFP is mostly connected to speech planning, and occasionally, it may also participate in turn-taking gestures, as well

Multidimensional coding system for describing verbal interactions of teachers and children

The present research is a system for coding the verbal interactions of teachers and children. Its purpose is to facilitate the interdisciplinary study of the teaching-learning process as one instance of the general communicative process. The coding system is based on data collected in conversations recorded on audio tapes in a dyadic setting between hearing-impaired children and their teachers in two schools in Great Britain. Hearing-impaired children were studied because a wide range of linguistic, cognitive, and affective competencies can be found amongst them. In addition, their communicative behaviours and those of their teachers tend to be exaggerated in many respects; thus, it is easier to study these behaviours in such a population than in the general population. The coding system is also based on previously developed coding systems and other research studies on various aspects of conversation and discourse processes. It includes procedures for dividing the conversation into units ("moves"), and for assigning a pedagogical function (soliciting, responding, reacting, structuring) to each move. The categories and codes describing the pedagogical function of reacting for both. teachers and children are greatly expanded over those found in other systems so that (a) the role of the teacher as reactor and as active listener, as well as solicitor, can be described, and (b) the child's role in the teaching-learning process can be studied. Each move is coded with respect to seven categories ("details"), including: pausing, turntaking, language, cognitive level, conversational function, and link to other moves. A conceptual framework for the coding system was developed that divides teacher and child behaviours into five levels, each higher level reflecting a relative increase in the degree of dependence of behaviours assigned to that level upon other aspects of the conversational context. It is suggested that this is a useful model for coding verbal interaction. It is further suggested that the design and format of the coding system can serve as a model for other systems for coding interaction. Procedures for testing reliability of the coding system are outlined. The general test of reliability which was conducted resulted in better than 907. agreement between coders. Three closely interrelated features of the conversational setting were selected as the primary focus of the coding systems the control exercised by the teacher over the nature and extent of the child's participation, the control exercised by the teacher over the unfolding of the subject matter, and the actions taken by the teacher in response to the nature and extent of the child's participation. Preliminary analysis of some of the coded data suggests that teachers exercise control over the nature and extent of a child's participation by the responses they prescribe and the language and cognitive levels they solicit, as well as through their pausing and turntaking behaviour. The control exercised by teachers over the unfolding of the subject matter is reflected in sequences of moves within segments of the interaction, as well as in sequences of segments. Thus, trains of thought can be described. The actions taken by teachers in response to the nature and extent of the child's participation provide feedback to the child that he can use to evaluate the appropriateness and correctness of his participation, and also an opportunity for the teacher to continue or alter the type and degree of control previously used. On the basis of preliminary analysis of the data it is hypothesized that the quality of interactions between hearing-impaired children and their teachers may greatly influence the linguistic, cognitive, and affective growth of the children. The process by which this may occur is discussed. It is thought that messages about the nature of conversation, about the functions language serves in conversation, and about the roles of the participants are conveyed through combinations and patterns of behaviours. Over time, such messages are internalized by each participant, creating in each a set of beliefs and expectations that influence future interactions. It is suggested that the coding system might be used in studying verbal interaction in the general population as well, and may be especially valuable for studying the interactions of children and their caregivers. It is also said to have potential for advancing our theoretical understanding of the interdependence of the linguistic, cognitive, and affective components of the teaching-learning process

Action! suspense! culture! insight! : reading stories in the classroom

Running title: Reading stories in the classroomAt head of title: Center for the Study of Reading.Bibliography: leaves 32-39Supported in part by the National Institute of Education under contract no. US-HEW-C-400-81-003

Pausing and sentence stress in children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy

Introduction: Children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP) can experience problems manipulating intensity, fundamental frequency and duration to signal sentence stress in an utterance. Pauses have been identified as a potential additional cue for stress marking, which could compensate for this deficit. Objective: This study aimed to determine whether children use pauses to signal stress placement, and whether this differs between typically-developing children and those with CP. Methods: Six children with CP and eight typically developing children produced utterances with stress on target words in two different positions. Pauses before and after the stressed target words were analyzed in terms of number, location and duration. Results: Results showed that both groups inserted pauses into their utterances. However, neither group used pause location or duration in a systematic manner to signal the position of stressed words. Conclusions: The results suggest that pausing was not used strategically by either group to signal sentence stress. Further research is necessary to explore the value of pausing as a cue to stress marking in general and as a potential compensatory strategy for speakers with dysarthria

The composing process of Hong Kong children in primary schools

Writing is the act of putting thoughts into visible print, a means of articulating and refining one's thinking and a means of communicating such thinking to others. In the past twenty years, a growing number of research studies have been concerned with elucidating the mental faculties, routines and sequences involved as people compose messages in writing representing thoughts in forms which they hope will be mutually understood by intended targets of the communication. Such research has been useful in illuminating ways in which writers can express themselves, and be taught to express themselves, in ways suitable to the task in hand. The bulk of such research has been concerned with English, and it seems to be presumed that the outcomes of such studies carry relevance for languages other than English. Equally, it seems to be presumed that the findings pertain to composers using English when it is a second language of state or a foreign language. This thesis explores in a modest way the validity of these presumptions using as subjects primary school age children from Hong Kong. The study is hence concerned with English, the world's premier international language, and Chinese, the world's most commonly used language. The thesis presents research into the composing processes in English and in Chinese employed by 18 primary school pupils in Hong Kong. It offers an in-depth study of the key subprocesses of generating, transforming, pausing and revising. The research was exploratory in nature and sought to gather evidence which might throw light on what happens when primary school pupils in Hong Kong compose in Chinese and in English. The strategy employed was a multiple case study approach. Subjects were asked to write two scripts, one in Chinese and one in English. Although the mother tongue of all the subjects is Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese, in school they are required to write either in Modem Standard Written Chinese or in English, the second language of Hong Kong. The subjects were given set tasks, either to write in a narrative or an expository style. The methods used to gather evidence and data were composing aloud and transcribing their utterances, video and audio-recorded observation, text analysis, on-task observational notes, cued-recall interviews and retrospective reports. The subjects' reflections were cued by being shown the video recordings

The encoding of simultaneity in children's British Sign Language narratives

Narrative discourse in BSL is first analyzed in an adult signer by describing how fixed and shifted sign space is used for reference and the encoding of simultaneity. Although children as young as 4 years old use parts of these sign spaces in isolation their combined use in encoding simultaneity in narrative is a major hurdle to achieving full mastery of British Sign Language (BSL). The paper describes the developmental trends in encoding simultaneity in BSL ‘frog story’ narratives from a group of 12 signing children, aged 4; 3 to 13; 4. We focus on the gradual control of reference in sign space. A transcription framework for recording this aspect of sign discourse is also outlined. The results point away from the role of iconicity and instead toward general patterns in narrative development as driving the organization of sign space and reference

The composing process of Hong Kong children in primary schools

Writing is the act of putting thoughts into visible print, a means of articulating and refining one's thinking and a means of communicating such thinking to others. In the past twenty years, a growing number of research studies have been concerned with elucidating the mental faculties, routines and sequences involved as people compose messages in writing representing thoughts in forms which they hope will be mutually understood by intended targets of the communication. Such research has been useful in illuminating ways in which writers can express themselves, and be taught to express themselves, in ways suitable to the task in hand. The bulk of such research has been concerned with English, and it seems to be presumed that the outcomes of such studies carry relevance for languages other than English. Equally, it seems to be presumed that the findings pertain to composers using English when it is a second language of state or a foreign language. This thesis explores in a modest way the validity of these presumptions using as subjects primary school age children from Hong Kong. The study is hence concerned with English, the world's premier international language, and Chinese, the world's most commonly used language. The thesis presents research into the composing processes in English and in Chinese employed by 18 primary school pupils in Hong Kong. It offers an in-depth study of the key subprocesses of generating, transforming, pausing and revising. The research was exploratory in nature and sought to gather evidence which might throw light on what happens when primary school pupils in Hong Kong compose in Chinese and in English. The strategy employed was a multiple case study approach. Subjects were asked to write two scripts, one in Chinese and one in English. Although the mother tongue of all the subjects is Cantonese, a dialect of Chinese, in school they are required to write either in Modem Standard Written Chinese or in English, the second language of Hong Kong. The subjects were given set tasks, either to write in a narrative or an expository style. The methods used to gather evidence and data were composing aloud and transcribing their utterances, video and audio-recorded observation, text analysis, on-task observational notes, cued-recall interviews and retrospective reports. The subjects' reflections were cued by being shown the video recordings

The use of linking by native and non-native speakers of American English

This study examines the evidence for the use of the phenomenon of linking, or connected speech modifications, for native speakers of American English (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) of English. In a speech production experiment which seeks to replicate and examine in more detail the set of experiments reported in Hieke (1984) and Anderson-Hsieh, Riney & Koehler (1994), reading and spontaneous speech performance from two groups of beginning-proficiency (BP) and intermediate-proficiency (IP) non-native speakers of English is compared to that of five NSs of American English. Results indicate that, while BP and IP participants link their words significantly less often than NS participants do, their linking rates are similar despite the difference in proficiency level. In addition to the frequency of two types of linking, consonant-to-vowel (C-V) and vowel-to-vowel (V-V), the study investigates the effect that style shifting and syntactic structure have on the frequency of linking

Phonetic characteristics of filled pauses: the effects of speakers’ age

Filled pauses usually reveal speech planning or execution problems even though the speaker does not produce an overt error and may have a function of discourse marker as well. In Hungarian, the most frequent form of filled pauses is a schwa-like vowel of various durations. The purpose of this study was to analyze the occurrence, duration and formant structure of Hungarian schwa-like filled pauses in 16 nine-year-old children, in 16 young adults and in 16 elderly speakers. Our hypotheses were that filled pauses (i) would be more frequent in elderly than in other two age groups, (ii) would show similar durations in all age groups, and (iii) would show different formant structures depending on age. Results confirmed age-dependent occurrences, durations and formants of filled pauses; the hypotheses were partly verified. Speakers’ age is one of those factors that influence the occurrences and formant values of filled pauses

Establishing a Basis for Multi-System Collaboration: Systemic Team Development

Reports of child sexual abuse require police, child protective services, forensic and medical evaluators, prosecutors, family court and treatment providers to negotiate complementary, overlapping roles with children and families. Administrators from these agencies in Kansas City, Missouri clarified this multi-system response by applying a theory-based model for team development previously studied in direct practice with families. This article presents that model and an exploratory case study of this effort. Findings suggest the model\u27s efficacy for resolving inter-agency conflict and may contribute to constructing logic models in multi-system collaboratio