ERIC Number: ED208968
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981-Aug
Pages: 16
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Teacher Questions to Male and Female Toddlers.
Honig, Alice Sterling; Wittmer, Donna Sasse
This study was designed to investigate three main topics: the frequency of different kinds of questions which day care teachers asked of low-income 2-year-olds, the toddlers' rate of response to questions, and differences in questions asked of boys and girls. It was hypothesized that caregivers would ask girls more personal-social questions and boys more referential-objective questions. This hypothesis was based on the notion that girls are socialized to be nurturing and expressive, whereas boys are socialized to be instrumental. Subjects in this study were 24 male and female toddlers whose day care fees were paid by Title XX funds. Observation of adult-child interaction employed A Procedure for Patterning the Responses of Adults and Children (APPROACH) for recording behaviors. The hypothesis was confirmed that girls would be asked significantly more convergent questions related to feelings and personal-social content than were boys. The hypothesis that boys would be asked more questions relating to referential-objective content was not confirmed but tended toward significance. The higher rate of male toddler responses to open-ended questions suggested that girls may be socialized to respond to safe, routine questions rather than to questions requiring cognitive restructuring of the objective world. (Author/DB)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A