Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills

The purpose of this study was to learn about how to scaffold and challenge conversational skills in children at an early stage in language development. Language production most often mirrors verbal comprehension, and moreover gives cues to the conversational partner to relate to and further expand...

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Main Author: Barbro Bruce
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Malmö University Press 2014-09-01
Series:Educare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49246
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author Barbro Bruce
author_facet Barbro Bruce
author_sort Barbro Bruce
collection DOAJ
description The purpose of this study was to learn about how to scaffold and challenge conversational skills in children at an early stage in language development. Language production most often mirrors verbal comprehension, and moreover gives cues to the conversational partner to relate to and further expand upon. The presented results come from dialogues between speech and language therapists and children aged five to six whose language development has been found to be delayed for their age. However, the results are highly applicable to all children, particularly in small children during their most intensive language developing phases. The theoretical framework highlights the importance of being an active language learner, i.e. language skills are mastered by being used in social interaction. Twenty-two dialogues were video-, and audio recorded, transcribed and coded with respect to language structure and interaction. The mean number of words per turn in the children’s contributions was quantified and a qualitative analysis of the preceding turn of the elicitation strategies was performed. The results underline the importance of relating to the child’s focus without being soliciting, i.e. to comment and give feedback, rather than using many questions and imperatives.
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publisher Malmö University Press
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spelling doaj-art-1af7c58488cf4f10a4e4f6b232811f7d2025-08-20T02:09:51ZdanMalmö University PressEducare2004-51902014-09-01210.24834/educare.2014.2.1156Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational SkillsBarbro Bruce0Malmö University The purpose of this study was to learn about how to scaffold and challenge conversational skills in children at an early stage in language development. Language production most often mirrors verbal comprehension, and moreover gives cues to the conversational partner to relate to and further expand upon. The presented results come from dialogues between speech and language therapists and children aged five to six whose language development has been found to be delayed for their age. However, the results are highly applicable to all children, particularly in small children during their most intensive language developing phases. The theoretical framework highlights the importance of being an active language learner, i.e. language skills are mastered by being used in social interaction. Twenty-two dialogues were video-, and audio recorded, transcribed and coded with respect to language structure and interaction. The mean number of words per turn in the children’s contributions was quantified and a qualitative analysis of the preceding turn of the elicitation strategies was performed. The results underline the importance of relating to the child’s focus without being soliciting, i.e. to comment and give feedback, rather than using many questions and imperatives. https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49246conversational skilldialogueelicitation strategieslanguage productionscaffolding
spellingShingle Barbro Bruce
Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
Educare
conversational skill
dialogue
elicitation strategies
language production
scaffolding
title Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
title_full Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
title_fullStr Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
title_full_unstemmed Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
title_short Inviting Small Children to Dialogue – Scaffolding and Challenging Conversational Skills
title_sort inviting small children to dialogue scaffolding and challenging conversational skills
topic conversational skill
dialogue
elicitation strategies
language production
scaffolding
url https://publicera.kb.se/educare/article/view/49246
work_keys_str_mv AT barbrobruce invitingsmallchildrentodialoguescaffoldingandchallengingconversationalskills