The promise and practice of teaching social communication skills: A commentary on Abbot-Smith et al., 2023

In this commentary, I endorse Abbot-Smith and colleagues' call for social conversation skills training and raise challenges to designing such efforts. One challenge is to identify a set of conversational skills that are essentially universally important insofar as what is appropriate and effective conversational behavior varies situationally and culturally. A second challenge is to identify meaningful outcomes for training and how they should be assessed. In considering these challenges, I discuss Social Problem-solving Skills Training, cultural variability in children's conversational behavior, and governmental agencies' standards for students' conversational competence.

Automated summary

This commentary endorses the call for social conversation skills training and raises challenges in designing such efforts. The challenges include identifying universally important conversational skills, considering cultural variability, and determining meaningful outcomes and assessment methods. The commentary discusses Social Problem-solving Skills Training, cultural variability in children's conversational behavior, and governmental standards for students' conversational competence.