Abstract:

There are following indicators of child's school preparedness: motivational preparedness (willingness to learn), volitional, intellectual, communicative. However communicative preparedness has not been studied enough, its indicators have not been found, and the discovered relationships between levels of communication and success in study are contradictory. Based on the studies of B. Zazzo, G. Tsukerman, E. Kravtsova, N. Salmina, we assume that one of indicators of communicative preparedness and predictors of successful learning is a communicative initiative. We define communicative initiative as conscious willingness for cooperation with the teacher and pupils.

The following methods were used to study it:
- modified by us R. Zhilya method for discovering self-concept with the display of communicative initiative;
- method of monitoring the process of performing of different tasks to detect the level of cooperation in the game and in study, with adults and peers;
- evaluation of success in studying.

The study involved 97 first-graders.
Our research revealed the following results. We classified children into types based on their communicative initiative display: children consciously demonstrating communicative initiative; children unconsciously demonstrating communicative initiative; children who did not demonstrate communicative initiative. The study describes communicating difficulties in children with different communicative initiative types.

We discovered reliable differences in levels of communicative initiative with adults and peers, while playing and studying in children of different types. Children consciously demonstrating communicative initiative are significantly more successful in learning than children of other groups (at a significance level of p = 0.99).

The research results are used to create a program to develop communication initiative among first grade children.

Keywords:

First-graders, communicative initiative, cooperation, success in study.