Control and paradox in teacher conversations with shy children.

Abstract

To examine the effect of reducing conversational control on the verbal participation of 19 shy children, four teachers of eight kindergarten classes adopted three styles when conversing during Show and Tell: their normal style, a high control style in which more questions were to be asked, and low control style in which questions were to be reduced in favour of making personal contributions and phatics. Analysis of the data derived from coding audiotapes of the sessions showed that, for the most part, teachers successfully implemented these conditions, and that in the low control condition, children spoke more words, volunteered more content, and spoke in longer turns. Although less obliged to speak by having fewer questions addressed to them, their number of speaking turns did not differ. The study is discussed in terms of the paradoxical effect of questions and the reciprocal nature of conversational control.

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