Young children's evaluations of experience‐ and non‐experience‐based oral communications

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the ability of 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children to evaluate the internal consistency of three different types of short, orally presented passages that varied in the extent to which they were based on the young child's experience. The passage types were experience‐based, presenting information that was within the child's experience; neutral, presenting information that was arbitrary with respect to the child's experience; and contra‐experience, presenting information that contradicted the child's experience. The results of the study revealed that the ability to evaluate the consistency of short passages is developing around 5 years of age and that young children are equally able to evaluate experience‐based and neutral passages. Both 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children have more difficulty evaluating the internal consistency of contra‐experience passages, especially when such passages present internally inconsistent information.