Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Interpretation / 141

to respond to an initiation by an adult with a request: it happens in 30%
of the units Initiated by adults. It is only when the request in Keply
Move has other functions, like Seeking Information or Explanation, that a
real shift in dominance is possible: then, the speaker performing the
sustaining role in the conversation finds himself confined to Reply
Moves, and loses the dominant role <see example in CS 14.06, page 106).

And it is exactly in the frequency of these latter cases of Requests in
Reply Move that one finds differences between adults and children: when
adults are in a Reply Move and make a request, the request tends to be
for Information and Explanation in 43% of cases, and for Clarification in
35%, and it very often produces a shift in dominance; on the contrary,
when children are in Reply Move and make a request, the request tends to
be for Clarification (49% of cases), and does not produce a shift in
dominance. In most conversations (82%) the speaker who initiates it will
sustain it until the end; in 42 conversations, however, there is more than
one unit and therefore a shift in dominance; but in only 8 (of a total
of 52) of these shifts does the child acquire control in a conversation
Initiated and sustained by an adult, for the reason given above.

In some studies (TIzard,1984) the children at home were found sustaining
the Interaction more often than at school, but the criteria for defining
who sustained the conversation were simply the number of questions,
commands and demands posed, without further elaboration.

It is also Important to study how conversations are sustained. In the
home data, the most common way for adults to sustain interaction
consists in using the Confirmation Move to place a further request to the
child. This happens in 58% of the cases, and confirms the findings of
other studies on a wide range of age and cultures (see 2.4, page 56). On
the other hand, the most common way for children to sustain interaction
consists in limiting themselves to a statement in their Confirmation Move
(50% of cases, see Annex 5.10 for details). It is possible that this
difference is due to a bias in the coding, as it is difficult to interpret
the speaker's intention as to whether he wants to place a request or just
to comment on, or add to, the previous utterance, even if the separate

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