Cross-cultural differences in reminiscing styles between American and Thai mothers and their four-year-olds were examined. Twenty-one English monolingual and 21 Thai monolingual mother-child dyads participated in a Prompted Reminiscing task (Task 1). Children also completed a Child Personal Narrative task with the researcher (Task 2). Results from the first task revealed that dyads from the two cultures differed in the elaborateness of their conversations. American mothers adopted a high-elaborative style, characterized by greater use of evaluative feedback and scaffolding strategies including descriptions, extensions, labels, and recasts, compared to their Thai counterparts. Thai mothers adopted a low-elaborative style, evidenced by greater use of directives and requests for repetitions. Similar to their mothers, American children adopted a high-elaborative style compared to their Thai peers. Findings from the second task demonstrated that interlocutor scaffolding influences children's communicative styles. When reminiscing without their mother, American children produced longer narratives than their Thai peers. The present work suggested that maternal elicitation strategies differ across cultures and play a role in shaping children's developing narrative skills. By interacting with more competent social partners, particularly their mothers, children start to internalize culture-specific socialization goals and learn to converse in a culturally-appropriate way as early as preschool.

中文翻译：

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母体脚手架风格与儿童叙事技巧的发展：美国和泰国自传体对话的跨文化比较

研究了美国和泰国母亲及其四岁孩子在回忆风格方面的跨文化差异。21 位单语英语和 21 位泰语单语母子二人参与了一项提示性回忆任务（任务 1）。儿童还与研究人员一起完成了儿童个人叙事任务（任务 2）。第一项任务的结果表明，来自两种文化的二人在对话的复杂性上有所不同。与泰国母亲相比，美国母亲采用了高度精细化的风格，其特点是更多地使用评估反馈和脚手架策略，包括描述、扩展、标签和重铸。泰国母亲采用了一种不精雕细琢的风格，更多地使用指令和要求重复就证明了这一点。和他们的妈妈一样，与泰国同龄人相比，美国儿童采用了高度精细的风格。第二项任务的结果表明，对话者脚手架会影响儿童的交流方式。在没有母亲的情况下回忆时，美国孩子比泰国同龄人产生了更长的叙述。目前的工作表明，母亲的引出策略因文化而异，并在塑造儿童发展中的叙事技能方面发挥作用。通过与更有能力的社会伙伴，尤其是他们的母亲互动，孩子们开始内化特定于文化的社会化目标，并早在学龄前就学会以适合文化的方式进行交谈。在没有母亲的情况下回忆时，美国孩子比泰国同龄人产生了更长的叙述。目前的工作表明，母亲的引出策略因文化而异，并在塑造儿童发展中的叙事技能方面发挥作用。通过与更有能力的社会伙伴，尤其是他们的母亲互动，孩子们开始内化特定于文化的社会化目标，并早在学龄前就学会以适合文化的方式进行交谈。在没有母亲的情况下回忆时，美国孩子比泰国同龄人产生了更长的叙述。目前的工作表明，母亲的引出策略因文化而异，并在塑造儿童发展中的叙事技能方面发挥作用。通过与更有能力的社会伙伴，尤其是他们的母亲互动，孩子们开始内化特定于文化的社会化目标，并早在学龄前就学会以适合文化的方式进行交谈。