A Nine-month Developmental Study of Refusal Strategies in Five Young Taiwanese Children
| Autor: | Huei-Hua Wang, 王惠華 |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2004 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 92 The aim of this study was to observe longitudinally the development of refusal strategies in five young Taiwanese children, aged four months to four years old. In order to enrich the study, thirty-six questionnaires were administered to the parents or adult caregivers of children ranging from (0; 2) to (0; 7). The present study focused on subjects’ non-verbal and verbal refusal strategies. For non-verbal strategies, all documentation, from the five subjects and the questionnaires, was divided into two categories: gestural refusal strategies and vocal sounds. Moreover, this study also looked at the verbal refusal strategies of these five subjects, from (0; 4) to (4; 8), as well. All verbal documentation was categorized into twelve types of verbal refusal strategies based on the refusal strategies of Beebe et al. (1990) and Wang (2001). All of the subjects’ data were audiotaped and videotaped by the author. The results indicated that the most frequently used non-verbal refusal strategies were “shake head” and “wave hands”. The babies expressed their unwillingness by whole body physical movements, whereas the children at the age of 1 ½ to 4 only used certain parts of their bodies to refuse. For example, they shook their head, or stamped their feet, etc. The results also showed that as children grew older, they used fewer gestural refusal strategies to convey their unwillingness. Regarding vocal sounds, the results showed that the subjects preferred to make various sounds, or noises such as: ‘a….’ and ‘um….’ to refuse. The observation of the subjects also revealed that the younger the subjects were, the more frequently they used the vocal sounds. As they grew older, they used the vocal sounds less frequently. The results also indicated that “Direct refusal”, “Insistence” and “Reason” were the most commonly used verbal refusal strategies. When the children were refusing, they did not concern themselves with others’ feelings, but rather conveyed their unwillingness directly. As the children grew older, they used more refusal strategies in one utterance and there were more words in one of these refusals than in those of the younger children. Furthermore, the study also found that although the subjects were able to use more words to express their feelings, it did not mean that they would be more considerate of people’s feelings. In conclusion, first of all, the older children used fewer non-verbal refusal strategies than the younger children. “Shake head” and “wave hands” were the most frequent responses that the subjects used. Secondly, the subjects would like to make the vocal sounds: “a….” and “um….” The younger child was able to make these vocal sounds more often. Thirdly, there were twelve different verbal refusal strategies that the subjects used: (1) Direct refusal (2) Insistence (3) Reason (4) Alternative (5) Dissuade interlocutor (6) Postponement (7) Acceptance as a refusal (8) Unrelated answer (9) No answer (10) Call for help (11) Name of the person (12) Other. “Direct refusal” was the most frequent verbal refusal strategy that the subjects used. Fourth, the older children were able to use more words to express their unwillingness. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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