Verbal communication in heterogeneous and homogeneous dyads of retarded children
| dc.contributor.author | McNaughton-Harrison, Nancy Marie | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-14T22:46:51Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-14T22:46:51Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1977 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1977 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Psychology | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Four methods of pairing retarded children were compared in order to determine which of four dyad types would enjoy the greatest success on a verbal communication task. Forty retarded children were divided into high and low levels of verbal ability on the basis of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Children within each ability group were then assigned to a speaker or listener role, resulting in the formation of the following four groups: Group 1 (High verbal speaker--high verbal listener), Group 2 (High verbal speaker--low verbal listener), Group 3 (Low verbal speaker--high verbal listener), Group 4 (Low verbal speaker--high verbal listener). The speaker was requested to describe a series of small toys to the listener. The listener, given four choices, was requested to point to the toy described by the speaker, Simple and complex tasks were presented. The criteria for simple or complex was determined in the pilot study. Speakers and listeners were allowed full verbal communication but were restricted in their gestural and visual communication by the placement of a plywood screen between the speaker and the listener. Eight hypotheses related to group assignment and task complexity were tested by a univariate analysis of variance and planned comparisons between individual groups. The dependent variable for this analysis was the number of correct choices by the listener, a measure which was considered to reflect 'dyad success.' In addition to this planned analysis, post hoc analyses were performed on the amount of information in the speaker's messages, · and the number of questions asked by the listener's. Results showed no differences in dyad success between the combined homogeneous and combined heterogeneous groups. A comparison of each of the heterogeneous groups (H-L and L-H) with the homogeneous low-level group (L-L) indicated that both of these heterogeneous groups were more successful in verbal communication than was the homogeneous low-level group. Neither heterogeneous group differed significantly in their success rates from the performance shown by the homogeneous high-level group. On the basis of the 'dyad success' data it was concluded that low-level children enjoy more successful verbal communication in a heterogeneous than in a homogeneous dyad and that the advantages gained by low-level children are justifiable because there is no significant change in success rates between the homogeneous high-level and heterogeneous groups. Main effects for the speaker information data were non-significant. A significant speaker information x complexity interaction was found, however, reflecting changes in verbal productivity between high and low level speakers across levels of task complexity. No significant differences were found in the number of listener questions asked across groups. Limitations of the present design, applications to educational settings and suggestions for future research are discussed. | en_US |
| dc.format.extent | 89 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/18967 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | Verbal communication in heterogeneous and homogeneous dyads of retarded children | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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