Effects of Parents’ Corrective Feedback on the Pragmatic Performance of L1 English-speaking Singaporean Children

Abstract

This study examines the effects of the various types of corrective feedback given during parent-child interaction on early pragmatic development in English by three English-speaking Chinese Singaporean pre-schoolers aged between 3 and 4. Analysis of audio-recordings collected over a period of three months shows that parents tended to vary their correcting strategies according to the type of child’s pragmatic lapses that they were dealing with. Further, although all types of corrective feedback appeared to yield a considerable amount of children’s uptake, certain types were more likely to lead to uptake than others. Findings also suggest that overall children succeeded in repairing their pragmatic behaviour for only 33% of the time following parents’ corrective feedback.  This finding was possibly attributable to the early stage of language development of the children under observation. Other factors that may have constrained the effectiveness of parents’ CF included the context of interaction(e.g. lesson times versus play times), the amount of immediate relevance the topic had to the child’s interest, and the opportunities for the child’s uptake and repair that were given by the parent and other family members. These findings raise important pedagogical implications for parents and teachers in dealing with young children’s pragmatic errors.