Stylistic diversity in children’s communication with mothers at 30 months

Abstract

Although developmental researchers endorse a multifaceted view of early communication, where language, non-verbal behaviour and socio-affective exchange contribute concurrently to the social construction of shared meanings, past studies of social development usually focused on component parts of interpersonal communication. This research integrates three aspects of communicative exchange in order to clarify stylistic differences among 30-month-old children. To achieve this objective, data from three different coding procedures (speech acts, information content and affective states) were coded for 52 children and then merged on the basis of onset time. Fifteen distinct descriptors were identified in the analyses of tri-modal communicative processes. Three different communicative styles were identified in person-centred cluster analyses of these descriptors. Analysis of variance revealed that 13 of the constructs significantly differentiated the groups. The first group was characterised as highly engaged in play but with low affect expression; these children’s mode of communication centred more on mother’s feelings and personal references. Children in the second cluster asked more questions and made more statements about objects. Finally, children in cluster three engaged in more complex evaluative discourse while orienting maternal behaviour to ongoing activity. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of a qualitative, holistic approach to the study of diversity in children’s communicative performance and in contemporary research on early learning.