Abstract

MARTINEZ SOTELO, Carolina  and  NOEMI PADILLA, Cristián. Conversational Reformulation in Older Adults. Rev Hum Med [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.2, pp. 227-245. ISSN 1727-8120.

This study aimed to determine the types of activities of conversational reformulation that occur during oral dialogues with older adults who have varying levels of cognitive performance. Study participants, who ranged between normal cognitive function and mild cognitive impairment, were given the task of constructing a narrative-argumentative dialogue. For qualitative investigation purposes, a corpus of four interviews was obtained. Each series of interviews were encoded using ATLAS.ti software which generated linked concepts and explanations from the data. Findings were then compared with the available theoretical framework. The results indicated that participants exhibited three modes of reformulation technique: self-initiated self-reformulation activities; self-reformulation started by another person; and hetero-reformulation derived from self-start. The first two were reduced in speakers exhibiting mild cognitive impairment, while the latter was the most frequent and dominant mode in the conversation. Speakers with mild cognitive impairment executed reformulations that did not correct or enhance the speech, and as such did not meet the purpose of reformulation.

Keywords : coconversational repair; reformulation activities; senior citizen; mild cognitive impairment.

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