TRAINING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Abstract

SHANTZ, CAROLYN UHLINGER, and WILSON, KARL E. Training Communication Skills in Young Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1972, 43, 693-698. The effectiveness of short-term training on 2 communication tasks was assessed with 7?2-year-olds. 12 Ss were trained in trios for 6 sessions on tasks requiring complete description of a design for a listener to reproduce, and tasks requiring communication of critical information for a listener to discriminate the same design from a set. Roles of speaker, listener, and observer were alternated, followed by peer discussion. Compared with 12 control Ss, trained Ss at posttesting had significantly greater useful information and overall evaluation of messages, and showed a moderate transfer of skills.