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

Interpretation I 153

5.5 The exchange of Information and explanation

5.5.1 Home conversations

Requests for Information and Explanation account fair 51% of all adults'
requests to children, (see Annex 5.4). Adults enquire mostly about events
outside the context of present action and time, and this is possibly
linked to the role of children as *reporters' (see page 132); the (few)
explanations requested are justifications of human behaviour rather than
explanations of phenomena per se. (see Table 5.9).

Table 5.9

Adults' Requests for Information and Explanation in CS

Function of Utterance                           Io.          %

Totals                                           510        100.0

The great majority (71.5%) of them are in single—utterance turns, few
(9.6%) are accompanied by an explanation and some (18.8%) by another
utterance. Xost of these requests (62.2%) are in Confirmation Moves and
some (15.2%) are in Moves initiating a unit or a conversation (see Annex
5.8). Almost all are in interrogative form, and are mainly open questions.

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