Communication Research; *Difficulty Level; Individual

Modification of mother-child instructional 'interaction was examined in relation to specific tasks and the age of the child. Thirty-two mothers taught their 6- or 8-yea old children,_ dne:.6f two laboratory classification tasks resembling "home o1 a school activity. The'home task involved putting grocery items on shelves in a mock kitchen, and the school task involOed sorting photographs of common objects into a tray divided into brightly N: colored compartments.,It was expected that mothers would compensate-for the perceived difficulty of the school task for the younger children by providinggreater instructional assistance to this group than to the other three grou(older children in either 4taik and younger children in tie, home task). The instructional interaction was coded in terms of numbr mf'directived, open-ended questions, and nonverbal instruction provided by-the mother; involvement of the child; and the extent to,whith mothers rehearsed theik,,,Children in,preparation for the learning test which followed the instruction {th