A Qualitative Study to Explore the Construct of Communication Skills in Middle Childhood
Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore aspects of children’s communication skills in middle childhood in Indonesia. The study was conducted by using qualitative approach. Data were collected through FGDs with parents of school-aged children and group interviews with fifth-grade students. The FGDs were used to explore parents’ opinions on the expected ways of communicating that children aged 9-11 years or around grades 4 to 6 should be able to perform. In the group interviews, the students were asked to give their opinions on the appropriate ways of communicating, During this process, the children were particularly asked to respond to 14 picture stories that depicted eveyday communication situations. The 14 stories used in the interviews were developed based on a preliminary study that explored the variety of communications children commonly did in their everyday life. All the data collected were analysed by using inductive thematic analysis. The result of the analysis revealed eight themes, including receptive skills, language accuracy, context understanding, openness, assertiveness, self-confidence, social sensitivity, and politeness. This research found two main findings which are themes related to receptive communication skills that emphasized understanding on non-verbal messages and themes related to structure of communication skills that focused on social competence. The themes that represented social competence indicated that both characteristics of individualistic and collectivistic cultures have roles in shaping children’s communication skills.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Altarriba, J., & Basnight-Brown, D. (2022). The psychology of communication: The interplay between language and culture through time. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(7-8), 860-874.
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. (2014). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (7th ed.). Pearson.
Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development . (9th ed.). Pearson.
Berk, L. E. (2018). Development through the lifespan (7th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology: Qualitative research in psychology. 3, 77-101. https://doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bishop, D. (2021). Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC-2). In Dade, P. Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole (eds), International encyclopedia of education , Vol. 3, (2 nd ed.). Freeman.
Charney, S. A., Camarata, S. M., & Chern, A. (2020). Potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communication and language skills in children. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599820978247.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications.
Crotty M. (1998). The foundation of social research: meaning and perspective in the research process. Sage publications.
Dennison, A., Hall, S. P., Leal, J., & Madres, D. A. (2018). ASD or ELL? Distinguishing differences in patterns of communication and behavior. Contemporary School Psychology, 23(1), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-018-0206-x
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2017). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage.
Goldstein, H. (2002). Communication intervention for children with autism: a review of treatment efficacy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32(5), 373–396. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1020589821992
Gooden, C., & Kearns, J. (2013). The importance of communication skills in young children. Research Brief. Summer 2013. Human Development Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED574738
Hargie, O. (2019). The handbook of communication skills (4th ed.). Routledge.
Kerig P.K., Ludlow, A & Wenar, C. (2012). Developmental psychopathology (6th ed.). Mc Graw Hill Higher Education.
King, N., Horrocks, C., & Brooks, J. (2018). Interviews in qualitative research. Sage.
Lally,M. & Valentine-French, S. (2019). Life span development (2nd ed.). College of Lake County Foundation. http://dept.clcillinois.edu/psy/LifespanDevelopment.pdf.
Lane, C., Van Herwegen, J., & Freeth, M. (2019). Parent reported communication abilities of children with sotos syndrome: Evidence from the Children’s Communication Checklist-2. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(4), 1475–1483. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3842-0
Papalia, D. E., & Fieldman, R. D. (2015). Experience human development (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Prelock, P. A., Paul, R., & Allen, E. M. (2011). Evidence-based treatments in communication for children with autism spectrum disorders. In Evidence-based practices and treatments for children with autism. Springer.
Pye,T., Scoffin, S., Quade,J. and Krieg,J. (2022). Child growth and development Canadian Ed. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/childgrowthanddevelopment/.
Russell, R. L. (2007). Social communication impairments: pragmatics. The Pediatric Clinics of North America, 54, 483–506. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.pcl.2007.02.016.
Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span development (17th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Suzuki, M. J. (2000). Child-rearing and educational practices in the United States and Japan: Comparative perspectives. Hyogo Kyoiku Daigaku Kenkyu Kiyo [Hyogo University of Teacher Education Journal], Vol 20 (Ser.1), pp.177-186.
Welten, W. Dunn, D.S. & Hammer, E.Y. (2012). Psychology applied to modern life: Adjustment in the 21st century (10th ed.). Wadsworth.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12928/jehcp.v1i1.25684
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.