Development of referential communication skills: How familiarity with a listener affects a speaker's production of redundant messages.

Investigated the development of sensitivity to the needs of a listener in 20 1st graders and 20 4th graders. Of interest was whether Ss would vary their production of redundant messages (saying more than the minimal necessary to be informative) as a function of sharing common experiences with a listener. Ss were asked to give messages to a fictitious listener (represented by a drawing) who was supposed to be either a stranger or a friend. Results show that both 1st and 4th graders were more likely to give redundant messages to an unfamiliar listener than to one with whom they shared common experiences. Fourth graders, however, gave a different type of redundant message, one more sensitive to a listener's needs. Fourth graders included several differentiating features in their messages, whereas 1st graders included both differentiating and nondifferentiating features. It is concluded that there were developmental differences in the type of messages given but not in the production of redundancy. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)