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Article published In: Interactions and Language Acquisition in Non-Family Settings
Edited by Caroline Masson
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 15:1] 2024
► pp. 158–188

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Conversations in early childhood education and care centres

The role of recasts in the co-construction of meaning and the acquisition of language features

 | CNRS & Sorbonne Nouvelle
 | Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
 | Sorbonne Université
Published online: 14 November 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.00025.yam
Abstract
The present study describes the use of recasts by early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals in five ECEC centres in France, and their effects on children’s language production – particularly on the phonological and morphosyntactic levels. We adopt a multimodal approach, taking into account recasts conveyed by vocal and visual modalities. The ECEC setting offers a complex interaction framework with more multiple and intertwined conversations than dyadic interactions. We aim to answer two questions: to what extent do the recasts of ECEC professionals contribute to the co-construction of meaning and discourse, and how do they constitute favourable contexts for children to experience the situated use of formal and functional linguistic features? Our results, based on 135 interactional sequences and qualitative analysis, show that under certain conditions, recasts are an efficient professional practice for scaffolding language acquisition and for involving children as active participants in dyadic interaction.
Résumé
Cette étude décrit l’usage des reprises par les professionel·les et leur effet sur la production langagière des enfants – particulièrement aux niveaux phonologique et morphologique – dans cinq crèches en France. Toutes les reprises ont été analysées avec une approche multimodale. De surcroît, le contexte d’accueil collectif offrant un cadre interactionnel complexe avec de nombreux interlocuteurs potentiels, ce travail interroge sur le rôle des reprises adultes dans la co-construction du sens et du discours, et la mise en place de contextes d’expérimentation formelle et fonctionnelle du langage pour les enfants. Nos résultats quantitatifs sur 135 séquences interactionnelles ainsi que nos analyses qualitatives montrent que, sous certaines conditions, les reprises sont une pratique professionnelle efficace pour l’étayage de l’acquisition du langage mais aussi pour l’implication des enfants comme participants actifs dans des interactions dyadiques.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1The RaProChe project
    • 2.2Data selection
    • 2.3Data coding
  • 3.Analysis and results
    • 3.1General description of the recasts
    • 3.2Effects of recasts on dialogue and child language
      • 3.2.1Incorporated in dialogue: Effects on the course of interaction
      • 3.2.2Influence of the gaze on interactional sequences containing recasts
      • 3.2.3Effects on formal features of the child’s language
    • 3.3Qualitative analysis
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
    • 4.1Characteristics of adult recasts
    • 4.2Recasts as dialogue co-construction and linguistic scaffolding
    • 4.3Implications
    • 4.4Limitations and perspectives of the study
  • Notes
  • References
References (70)
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