Communication habits and skills of adolescents studying in mainstream secondary schools in Hong Kong : a comparison of adolescents’ and speech language pathologists’ perspectives

Abstract

The study investigated the communication habits of Cantonese-speaking Form 3 adolescents (N = 200) studying in mainstream secondary schools; as well as their perceived importance of 14 communication skills. Comparison was made with the targeting frequency of the skills by practicing speech language pathologists (SLPs) (N = 22) who serve this group of client. Two questionnaires were constructed with one in paper-and-pencil format for adolescents and one in web-based format for SLPs. Results showed that the time spent on face-to-face communication by adolescents was comparable to the time they spent on cyber communication. Adolescents tended to perceive communication skills that are related to empathy and addressee-focused as relatively more important to their daily communication; while discourse management skills and basic language skills appeared to be the main focus of the therapy by SLPs in their practice. Moderate agreement was found between adolescents’ perceived importance on the communication skills and the targeting frequency of the skills by SLPs. Clinical implications on speech therapy for adolescents and further research directions were discussed.