Building understanding through language and interaction: Joint attention, social modals and directives in adult-directed speech to children in two preschools

The purpose of this study is to investigate, through observation and analyses of videotaped records, how adults and children in a preschool setting negotiate meaning and build understanding through language during their daily interactions. What exactly comprises the 'input' that children receive from adults in a preschool setting? How do adults formulate directives to socialize children into appropriate behaviors? How do children respond to the daily socializing routines they are exposed to in preschool? These questions are addressed through the careful analysis of 42 hours of videotaped naturally occurring interaction at two preschools in the US and the UK.; This dissertation employs discourse analysis to investigate the multi-layered nature of interaction, the process of establishing joint attention, and the utilization of social modals and pronouns by participants to communicate with one another. Its focus sheds light on how adults formulate and construct their directives to socialize children into appropriate behaviors, and on how children respond to these directives within discourse. In addition, a multi-vocal ethnography was conducted to explore the attitudes of the teachers at both research sites.; Analyses of the multi-layered aspects of interaction, including linguistic structures, intonation, gesture, establishment of joint attention and the underlying substantive environment, reveal how practices and routines function within human interaction and the socialization of children. Although it could not always he determined whether the children actually understood the complexity of the linguistic input they were receiving; the actions, intonation and embodiment within the environment served to scaffold adults' intentions and meaning within the context of discourse. Often, children's responses were physical rather than verbal, and displayed their comprehension of unfolding events. The phenomenon of constructing joint attention was observed to be present in both data sets, in that establishing a mutually recognized attentional frame is necessary for achieving preferred responses. Joint attention must be mutually recognized for successful communication to take place and is crucial for understanding and adding to our knowledge of the processes of child language development and socialization in preschool.