Sosiokulturelle perspektiver på samtalen som læringsarena – spørsmål som inviterer til språklig aktivitet.

The objective of this study is to identify how preschool teachers can encourage children to conversation and support their linguistic activity. Focus is particularly on how open versus closed questions promote or inhibit children’s participation and language development.

Different children are invited and inspired to participate in different ways. Preschool teachers must support children in their creation of meaning through conversation which builds on the child’s interests and linguistic qualifications. Closed questions can seem supportive and give a specific point of departure for three-year-olds in particular (and younger), whereas open questions are best aimed at the more experienced four-to-five-year-old language users.

The study is a qualitative observation study carried out at two divisions of a Norwegian daycare centre for one-to-five year-olds without any diachronic dimension incorporated. The researcher visited the daycare centre 14 times over a period of four months. During this period the researcher collected 8.5 hours of video footage of spontaneous, smaller group conversations between preschool teachers and children.

Gjems, L. (2009). Sosiokulturelle perspektiver på samtalen som læringsarena – spørsmål som inviterer til språklig aktivitet. Tidsskriftet FoU i praksis, 3(2), S. 9-24.