THE STRUCTURE OF CONVERSATIONS WITH 6‐ TO 10‐YEAR‐OLD DEAF CHILDREN

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Abstract
SUMMARY: In stage 1 classroom conversations between sixteen teachers and their pre‐lingually deaf children were videotaped and analysed to examine both the styles used by teachers in controlling conversation and the functions pursued in dialogue. In stage 2 a sub‐sample of four teachers with twenty children of known hearing losses and non‐verbal intelligence was analysed in greater detail to examine relationships between these factors, teaching styles and the child's performance in dialogue. The analyses show that deaf children respond in a similar fashion to young hearing children in the way they react to different styles of teacher talk; that teachers differ in the functions they pursue in conversation; and that functions change as a consequence of the child's hearing loss but not mental age. The implications of the findings for linguistic development in pre‐lingually deaf children are explored.

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