Cross-generational transmission of teaching strategies: The moderating role of peer-mediation

The objective of the current study was to investigate cross-generational transmission of mother-child teaching strategies and the moderating role of intervention for peer-mediation. Mother-child interactions were videotaped in a teaching situation and analyzed for mediated learning experience (MLE) strategies and non-scaffolding activation behavior (NSAB) using the Observation of Mediated Interaction (OMI) scale. The children (Grade 3) were assigned to an experimental (n = 49) and control (n = 51) groups. The experimental group received a peer-mediation program and the control group an alternative program. All children were assigned to peers (Grade 1) and taught them inferential problems. The interactions were videotaped and analyzed by the OMI. The findings reveal that children's NSAB was predicted significantly by mothers' NSAB. Cross-generational transmission of MLE strategies, however were transmitted only in a group trained for peer-mediation. Cross-generational continuity has emerged as higher for NSAB behavior than for MLE strategies.