• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.77-89
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• 2003

The relationship of communicative intent of infants and the conversation style of mothers were investigated with 20 mothers and their 2- and 3-year old children. They conversed in naturalistic settings while playing with Lego blocks. Cluster analyses revealed 2 maternal styles: a conversation-eliciting and a directive style. Children of conversation-eliciting mothers provided more information than those of directive mothers. Children of directive mother requested more permission than those of conversation-eliciting mothers. Implications of these two maternal styles for children's communicative abilities were discussed.