Description of communication functions in preschool-aged children

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to investigate communication functions in preschool- aged children and based on their description to make the classification. The research was conducted on the basis of a qualitative analysis of audio-visual recordings of children's speech recorded during supervised and free kindergarten activities. A number of earlier studies have focused on the schedule following which communication functions develop, which is especially significant if the goal is to detect deviations from the typical child development. The focus of this paper was not on the schedule according to which communication functions develop, but their description in a total sample of children aged 3 to 6. According to the research results, the communication functions of preschool-aged children (3 to 6 years old) are classified into the following categories and subcategories: 1) referential (answering, commenting and asking questions); 2) expressive (wording); 3) interactive (greeting, calling/addressing and directing attention) and 4) regulatory (directing or controlling the interlocutor) functions. It was concluded that communication functions in preschool-aged children are fundamentally similar to, or identifiable with, communication functions in adults. Keywords: communication functions, classification, pre-school age