Conversational strategies of teachers using three methods of communication with deaf children

Teacher control over conversations with deaf pupils using oral/aural only, signed English or cued speech communication, was related to pupil response, including taking initiative in conversations, misunderstanding the teacher, and length of contributions to the conversation. As teacher control over the conversation and repair of "wrong" contributions increased, pupil initiative and length of contribution decreased and misunderstanding of teachers increased. Different methods of teacher communication produced few differences in response; those that did occur mostly favored pupils of teachers using signed English. Few significant differences were found in the distribution of different types of conversational moves among teachers using the different methods of communication.