Did you just say transformers? A Child's agency and social actions in language-focused sequences

This study aims to contribute to current understandings about young children's roles and actions in discourse about language with adults in informal contexts. Using conversation analysis, we examine how a young child (aged 3;7 to 4;2) initiated talk about aspects of language in conversations with his parents in language-focused sequences (sequences in which at least one participant oriented to a language form). The child initiated these sequences through requests for linguistic information, unelicited displays of linguistic abilities, and repairs of the parent's language. He also employed a range of interactional practices to actively pursue talk about language. In addition to analyzing the child's agency, we demonstrate that an initial focus on a language form served as a springboard for the accomplishment of a variety of social actions, including (a) the learning and teaching of linguistic knowledge, cultural values, and practical knowledge about the world as well as (b) the display and negotiation of affective, social, and epistemic stances, linguistic competence, norm-compliance/defiance, self-assertion, and identities. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study contributes to understanding young children's roles and actions in discourse about language, showing how children initiate talk about language and use various interactional practices to actively engage in language discussions. The focus on language forms not only facilitates learning and teaching linguistic knowledge, but also serves as a springboard for accomplishing a variety of social actions related to affective, social, and epistemic stances, linguistic competence, norm compliance, self-assertion, and identities.