| Conversational repair is a pragmatic language skill that is important for effective communication. By age 9, mainstream, typically developing, children are effective and versatile at responding to neutral requests for clarification (e.g., “huh?” or “what?”). Although the development of responses to neutral requests for clarifications by mainstream, typically developing and special needs children has been documented, development of responses to neutral requests for clarification by culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse children has not been described. The present study investigated responses to stacked neutral requests for clarification by low SES African-American, middle SES African-American, and middle SES Anglo-American 9-year-olds.; Thirty participants, 10 low SES African-American, 10 middle SES African-American, and 10 middle SES Anglo-American 9-year-olds, were included in the present investigation. Several significant differences for found for the main effect of SES including the finding that low SES African-American participants, as compared to middle SES African-American participants, responded with more repetitions and fewer cues to all stacked requests within a sequence. The only significant difference between middle SES African-American and middle SES Anglo-American participants was African-American children used fewer cues than the Anglo-Americans in response to the first request. Also, participants who spoke African-American English (AAE) used more repetitions and fewer cues than children who did not speak AAE. Possible contributing factors besides AAE use include educational setting, African-American cultural expectations, and cultural differences in adult-child interactions. |
