Pragmatic competence of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in educational interactions: An analysis of Gricean conversational maxims

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the pragmatic competence of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through the application of Gricean conversational maxims in learning interactions. The study focuses on the fulfillment and violation of the maxims of quantity, quality, relevance, and manner in the utterances produced by children with ASD. Pragmatic competence is essential in communication because it reflects the ability to use language appropriately according to conversational contexts. However, children with ASD often experience difficulties in producing informative, accurate, and socially appropriate responses during interactions. Therefore, Grice’s conversational maxims provide an important framework for understanding their communication patterns. The subjects of this study consisted of two children with ASD, aged 10 and 12 years, identified by the initials Ab and Yu. The findings show that the maxim of relevance was the most dominant, accounting for 78.38% of the total utterances. The two participating children demonstrated a tendency to maintain topical relevance during educational interactions, indicating that they were generally able to sustain conversational relevance, particularly in structured learning situations involving familiar topics and concrete objects. In contrast, the maxim of quality was fulfilled in only 18.92% of the utterances, indicating difficulties in providing accurate and factual information. Meanwhile, the maxim of quantity was fulfilled in only 2.70% of the utterances, showing challenges in providing sufficient and complete information according to conversational needs. These findings suggest that although children with ASD are able to maintain conversational relevance, they still struggle to produce more detailed and accurate responses. Therefore, communication interventions should focus on improving conversational skills related to information completeness and accuracy. This study contributes to the development of adaptive communication strategies in educational and therapeutic settings to support the language and social development of children with ASD.