1887
Volume 15, Issue 1
  • ISSN 1879-7865
  • E-ISSN: 1879-7873
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Abstract

Abstract

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are challenging contexts for children to engage in conversations. According to previous studies, toddler participation is minimal. However, most studies have focused on vocal productions. This study investigates how gestures also enable children to participate in interactions. From video recordings of three types of activities (mealtime, playtime, booktime) in a French ECEC, we systematically categorised utterances as being vocal, gestural or multimodal. One third of the utterances was produced by children. In mealtime and playtime, most utterances contained a vocal production, while in booktime, most contained a gesture. Gestural utterances were only addressed to professionals. The qualitative analysis of two sequences further highlights how gestures enable the building of joint attention, the co-construction of dialogic exchanges and the engagement of some children as observers. Taking gestures into account sheds new light on children’s participation in interactions and dialogues in ECEC.

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2024-11-14
2024-12-12
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