Eighty-five educator-child dyads from seven daycare centres in Sydney, Australia engaged in counterbalanced reminiscing and future talk conversations at two time points. A subset of mother-child dyads also participated (n=42). Conversations were coded for elaboration (total elaborations, elaborative style) and content (temporal language, mental state language). Educators’ elaboration varied by temporal focus and event novelty. Educators were consistent across child partners, demonstrating stable individual differences in conversational style. Educators and mothers talked differently about events, thus, children received different support from their conversational partners. Children’s contributions varied dependent upon their conversational partner. Educator qualifications were found to make a difference.
Period
2019
Event title
Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition SARMAC XIII