Accessing children's knowledge of sociolinguistic rules for speech therapy lessons

Eight dyads of misarticulating school children (M = 7:9 years) enrolled in clinical programs were videotaped while they role-played 5-min remedial articulation lessons. Analysis of lesson transcripts was carried out at selected levels (lesson management, roles, discourse contexts, communicative acts, discourse sequences, and topic introduction). The "clinicians" controlled the lesson tasks and topics and used communicative acts in a manner typical of adult clinicians. The "clients" role-played cooperatively and displayed the response patterns of children receiving remedial lessons. Hierarchical relationships among the selected levels of analysis suggested the use of a cohesive register appropriate for clinical teaching. It is suggested that children's sociolinguistic perspectives on remedial speech and language lessons should be taken into account when intervention lessons are planned and implemented.