The functions of student echolalic speech in linguistically asymmetric classroom conversations
Keywords:
classroom interaction, conversation analysis, echolalia, repetition, student, teacherAbstract
Repeating the words of the conversational partners gives the persons with restricted communicative abilities a possibility for taking an active part in and exerting some control in the conversational interaction. Earlier research has approached the repeats with two different viewpoints: they have been considered either as problematic and meaningless echolalia, or as motivated communication meaningful for speakers themselves. This paper examines the functions for which students with special needs use repetition in their interaction with teachers and the ways in which teachers treat these echolalic responses in classroom talk. The research data consists of the video-recordings of lessons in one special education group for autistic children (N = 11) and in one group for students with intellectual disabilities (N = 9). The data were analyzed through conversation analysis. The findings show that the students used repeats either to respond to teacher declarative sentences, questions or directives. By responding with repetitional responses, students seemed to show listening and orientation to the prior turn of the teacher, initiate repair, prompt themselves or learn language. Teachers typically ratified student repeats minimally but their responses varied according to the
context of repetition. The education of teachers is important, since children’s communicative competence develops mostly in natural everyday learning contexts.
