Constituting Social Membership: Two Readings of Talk in an Early Childhood Classroom

Abstract

This paper offers a detailed analysis of the speech practices of pre-school aged children engaged in their daily play and interactions by adopting a perspective that recognises young children organising social membership through talk and activity. A reading based on traditional early childhood practices and theories is contrasted with an alternative reading which shows children constructing gendered social membership. This reading constitutes children as persons of gender and power by showing how children are positioned (and position themselves) as teachers, learners and players engaged in their daily play and interactions.

Should children be seen and not heard? An examination of how children’s interruptions are treated in family therapy

“…Looking at language in children is crucial for understanding the way in which they construct their everyday life. Examining talk enables examination of the ways children construct their world and the way they use it to take up any one available position as a member of a social group (Danby, 1996). Children's views and voices have to be heard and taken into account (John, 1996) and gradually over time more research is dedicating itself to listening to children.…”

Teacher Talk: "I wonder..." Request Designs

“…The video recordings of classroom interactions provided a resource to examine the fine-grained details of teachers' and children's methods (Pomerantz & Fehr, 1997). These recordings afforded repeated viewing of interactions and enabled the development of transcripts of the interactions (Danby, 1996(Danby, , 2009Heath et al, 2010;Pomerantz & Fehr, 1997). Transcripts used Jeffersonian notation (Jefferson, 2004) (see Appendix E for a summary) and were used in conjunction with the video recordings during analysis.…”

“…Ethnomethodology and conversation analysis investigate social life in mundane settings, such as interaction during family mealtimes (Busch, 2011), and institutional settings, such as talk in classrooms (cf. Baker, 1991;Bateman, 2013;Björk-Willén, 2008;Butler, 2008;Church, 2010;Cobb-Moore, 2008;Cromdal, 2004;Danby, 1996;Danby & Baker, 2001, 1998a,1998bHouen, 2012;Mashford-Scott & Church, 2011;Theobald, 2009;Theobald & Kultti, 2012), police interviews (D. Edwards, 2008), court rooms (Komter, 1995) and medical consultations (Clemente, 2009;Maynard, 1992).…”

“…The recordings provide an integral resource for the production of detailed transcripts (Pomerantz & Fehr, 1997) in order to examine interaction in detail (Heath, Hindmarsh, & Luff, 2010;Pomerantz & Fehr, 1997;Silverman, 2009). As well, video data enables repeated viewings of the interaction which may illuminate unnoticed aspects of social interaction pertinent to the analysis, allowing for multiple view points and re-examination of the data (Danby, 1996(Danby, , 2009Heath et al, 2010;Mondada, 2013;Sacks, 1984;Sidnell, 2013).…”