The development of referential communication: speaking to different listeners

Referential communication can be conceptualized as consisting of substantive knowledge, enabling skills, and procedural rule knowledge. One type of procedural rule is to tailor a message to the needs of one's listener. 2 studies investigated whether children vary the amount of information in a message (contrastive or redundant) as a function of either sharing a previous experience with that listener or the age of the listener. First- (M = 6-8), fourth- (M = 9-9), and fifth- (M = 10-8) grade speakers played a referential communication game with a fictitious listener. All children were more likely to give redundant messages to listeners with whom they had no common shared experience or to strangers than to listeners with whom they had shared a previous experience. Only the older children, however, varied the type of redundant messages in keeping with the needs of the listeners. Furthermore, the older children were more likely to vary how much information they included in their messages as a function of the listener's age. Discussion focuses on the need to consider the acquisition of communicative competence as the acquisition of specific skills within the context of specific tasks.