Comprehension of Indirect Speech Act according to Emoticon Expression Types in Instant Messenger Conversation of School-Aged Children

Objectives: This study aims to examine if there is a difference in indirect speech comprehension ability based on grade level and to identify which type of emoticon is most helpful in the students’ understanding of indirect speech. Methods: A total of 60 students were gathered, consisting of 20 children each from the second, fourth, and sixth grades of elementary school, who lived in Seoul and Gyeongi-do. The indirect speech comprehension task divided the emoticons into four types: facial expression clue, motion clue, object clue, and no clue. The experiment was conducted using a slideshow, where students read sentences and answered clues. They were then required to select the meaning of the underlined part in the last sentence of the article among three answer choices: the correct answer, example of surface meaning answer, and example with weak connection answer. The task consisted of a total of 32 questions, with 8 questions for each emoticon type and an additional 16 questions involving direct conversations as filler questions. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed in indirect speech comprehension scores between second and fourth graders, as well as between second and sixth graders. Statistical significance was found in the indirect speech comprehension task with regard to grade level and emoticon types. In addition, the effect of interaction between grade level and emoticon type was statistically significant. There was a decreasing trend in the overall frequency of error types as grade level increased. Conclusion: This study revealed that, as the grade level increases, individuals develop the ability to comprehend indirect speech accurately, even when the meaning is not explicit on the surface, by understanding the social context and utilizing their knowledge of the world. For future research, it is essential to examine the tendencies of children with disabilities or conversational language difficulties compared to non-disabled children.