Gelman, Susan A.Ware, Elizabeth A.Manczak, Erika M.Graham, Susan2020-04-222020-04-222013-03Gelman, S. A. , Ware, E. A., Manczak, E. M., & Graham, S. A. (2012). Children's sensitivity to the knowledge expressed in pedagogical and nonpedagogical contexts. "Developmental Psychology", 2013, (49):3, 491-504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a00279010012-1649http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111855https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/43670The present studies test 2 hypotheses: (1) that pedagogical contexts especially convey generic information (Csibra & Gergely, 2009) and (2) that young children are sensitive to this aspect of pedagogy. We examined generic language (e.g., "Elephants live in Africa") in 3 studies, focusing on informational versus narrative children's books (Study 1), the language of 6-year-old children and adults assuming either a pedagogical (teacher) or non-pedagogical (friend) role (Study 2), and the language of 5-year-old children and adults speaking to either an ignorant alien (pedagogical context) or a peer (nonpedagogical context; Study 3). Results suggest that generics are more frequent in informational than narrative texts. Furthermore, both adults and young children provide more generic language in pedagogical contexts and when assuming a pedagogical role. Together, the studies demonstrate that pedagogical contexts are distinctive in conveying generic information and that children are sensitive to this aspect of the language input. We suggest that generic knowledge is more useful in making predictions about the future and thus more highly valued during instruction.engUnless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.journal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027901