Two studies were conducted to examine the effect of children's social cognitions on their ability to monitor their comprehension in the referential communication paradigm. Specifically, it was hypothesized that children's beliefs about the intentions and cooperativeness of speakers prevent them from accurately evaluating messages. In Experiment 1, it was found that children who were made aware of the possibility that speakers themselves (rather than simply their words) might refer to more than one referent, were significantly better able to detect referential ambiguity than were children who, as in traditional referential communication studies, assumed that speakers attempted to describe a single referent. In Experiment 2, it was found that children faced with potentially uncooperative or dishonest speakers, carefully examined the words of referential directions and therefore detected more problems with those directions than children faced with honest, if potentially incompetent speakers. The results are discussed in terms of the interaction between the social and linguistic aspects of communication.A metalinguistic development that has received a good deal of attention recently is the phenomenon of comprehension monitoring. Specifically, between the ages of five and ten children become increasingly aware of how well they have understood verbal input. This awareness is usually assessed in the referential communication paradigm (Bonitatibus 1988a). Children * The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the ideas, support and technical assistance of Carole Beale. We are also thankful for the assistance of the students, teachers, and parents of the Maple Avenue Elementary School, without whose cooperation this work would have been impossible. Thanks also to Lowell Roberts and Michael Carrier for assistance with data analysis.