La configuración de los intercambios en el entorno lingüístico del jardín maternal

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between the structure of daycare conversational exchanges —the teacher speaks to all the children, a small group, a single child— and certain quantitative and qualitative characteristics of teachers’ speech: the volume of speech, the lexical diversity, the pragmatic function of the utterances and the contingency of their responses. We used a mixed methodological procedure to analyze four video-recorded situations in two daycares in the City of Buenos Aires (Rosemberg, Stein, Migdalek, 2003-2014). Results showed that the teachers tended to use a greater volume of speech and greater lexical diversity when addressing a single child, second to the large group and to a lesser extent to small groups. In addition, they used more directives when interacting with a child and more comments when interacting with large or small groups. Results also showed a wide presence of contingent responses to children’s utterances. Overall the results of this work show the relevance of studying child directed speech in school settings, as these studies can provide the knowledge necessary to develop strategies to enhance children’s transition from home to daycare.