This thesis addresses the issue of language and discourse in educational contexts for children from an empirical research perspective. The goal is to analyze the discursive dimension that characterizes the daily lives of children in the preschool context, explored based on what teachers think and do with language. From a theoretical point of view, the research falls in the field of childhood pedagogy (Mantovani, 2003, 2007) and develops pedagogical reflections on the links between language and educational processes (Vygotsky 1934, Bruner,1996) and research conducted on the verbal interactions in learning and development contexts (Lumbelli,1987; Pontecorvo et al., 1991; Pontecorvo, 2005; Molinari, 2010). From a methodological point of view, the study is an idiographic-qualitative survey interweaving the dimension of discourses on language explored starting from the ideas of adults, with what is observed in the context of discursive practices (Duranti, 1992; Fasulo, Pontecorvo, 1999; Ochs, 2006). The study is based on two preliminary pedagogical considerations. On the one hand, there are systematic studies which from epistemological perspectives (interactionism, socio-constructivism) and different disciplines (anthropology, sociology, ethnomethodology, pedagogy) have highlighted how, in daily verbal interaction with adults, children not only learn to speak, but acquire and use reasoning and thinking skills, learn new skills, co-construct meanings and their experience of the world, their roles as speakers, their conversational rights and duties and interaction and context rules, which are simultaneously produced and learned by the participants (Mead, 1934, Vygotsky, 1934 Leont'ev, 1978, Wertsch, 1985, 2008, Rogoff, 1990 Bruner, 1996 Cole, 1995). Speaking with peers and adults, children learn how to interpret and make sense of the world and how to think, the status of the knowledge produced and the processes that build it. On the other hand the study is based on the awareness of how these processes depend verbal interaction forms and content that trigger development processes and culturally situated learning (Rogoff, 1990, 2003). Research on dialogical educational practices between teachers and children, mostly conducted in the school context and only marginally in pre-schools (es. Lumbelli, 1987; Pontecorvo et al., 1991; Fasulo, Pontecorvo, 1999; Pontecorvo, 2005; Molinari, 2010), reveal that in this process, both content and how verbal interaction is produced, structured and articulated form the basis and the expression of all learning. These modes depend largely on the adult-teacher, who is in an asymmetrical position and is therefore always " structuring " (Foucault, 1970, Orletti, 2000). From this point of view, the interactive, strategic and semantic levels on which the teacher structures daily classroom discourse can perpetuate and amplify the constitutive asymmetry of the teacher-child relationship, or (conversely) it supports the use of discursive modes that facilitate children’s growth and development processes by assigning an active roles, participating in dialogues that amplify the possibility for knowledge, development and learning at an early age. The qualitative, exploratory research presented in this thesis investigated these processes from a pedagogical perspective based on the analysis of verbal interactions between teachers and children in two kindergartens in Milan. Specifically, classroom speech was observed, analyzed and discussed. These "typical" discursive situations for children in kindergarten were used as a possible unit of analysis for the study of language and verbal interaction processes in a situated, participatory research setting. The data obtained shows some "cultural constants" that characterize the communication style of teachers in preschool, which is both the result and the mirror of a pedagogical tradition in early childhood services strongly oriented towards the dimension of well-being and relationships. On the other hand, it focuses on the need to broaden knowledge on this subject by studying descriptive verbal interactions in order to respond in a formative way to the cultural, cross-cultural and multilingual challenges that characterize educational contexts in contemporary societies.

(2014). Dire è fare. Una ricerca sulle interazioni verbali tra insegnanti e bambini nella Scuola dell'Infanzia. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2014).

Dire è fare. Una ricerca sulle interazioni verbali tra insegnanti e bambini nella Scuola dell'Infanzia

STEFANELLO, LAURA
2014

Abstract

This thesis addresses the issue of language and discourse in educational contexts for children from an empirical research perspective. The goal is to analyze the discursive dimension that characterizes the daily lives of children in the preschool context, explored based on what teachers think and do with language. From a theoretical point of view, the research falls in the field of childhood pedagogy (Mantovani, 2003, 2007) and develops pedagogical reflections on the links between language and educational processes (Vygotsky 1934, Bruner,1996) and research conducted on the verbal interactions in learning and development contexts (Lumbelli,1987; Pontecorvo et al., 1991; Pontecorvo, 2005; Molinari, 2010). From a methodological point of view, the study is an idiographic-qualitative survey interweaving the dimension of discourses on language explored starting from the ideas of adults, with what is observed in the context of discursive practices (Duranti, 1992; Fasulo, Pontecorvo, 1999; Ochs, 2006). The study is based on two preliminary pedagogical considerations. On the one hand, there are systematic studies which from epistemological perspectives (interactionism, socio-constructivism) and different disciplines (anthropology, sociology, ethnomethodology, pedagogy) have highlighted how, in daily verbal interaction with adults, children not only learn to speak, but acquire and use reasoning and thinking skills, learn new skills, co-construct meanings and their experience of the world, their roles as speakers, their conversational rights and duties and interaction and context rules, which are simultaneously produced and learned by the participants (Mead, 1934, Vygotsky, 1934 Leont'ev, 1978, Wertsch, 1985, 2008, Rogoff, 1990 Bruner, 1996 Cole, 1995). Speaking with peers and adults, children learn how to interpret and make sense of the world and how to think, the status of the knowledge produced and the processes that build it. On the other hand the study is based on the awareness of how these processes depend verbal interaction forms and content that trigger development processes and culturally situated learning (Rogoff, 1990, 2003). Research on dialogical educational practices between teachers and children, mostly conducted in the school context and only marginally in pre-schools (es. Lumbelli, 1987; Pontecorvo et al., 1991; Fasulo, Pontecorvo, 1999; Pontecorvo, 2005; Molinari, 2010), reveal that in this process, both content and how verbal interaction is produced, structured and articulated form the basis and the expression of all learning. These modes depend largely on the adult-teacher, who is in an asymmetrical position and is therefore always " structuring " (Foucault, 1970, Orletti, 2000). From this point of view, the interactive, strategic and semantic levels on which the teacher structures daily classroom discourse can perpetuate and amplify the constitutive asymmetry of the teacher-child relationship, or (conversely) it supports the use of discursive modes that facilitate children’s growth and development processes by assigning an active roles, participating in dialogues that amplify the possibility for knowledge, development and learning at an early age. The qualitative, exploratory research presented in this thesis investigated these processes from a pedagogical perspective based on the analysis of verbal interactions between teachers and children in two kindergartens in Milan. Specifically, classroom speech was observed, analyzed and discussed. These "typical" discursive situations for children in kindergarten were used as a possible unit of analysis for the study of language and verbal interaction processes in a situated, participatory research setting. The data obtained shows some "cultural constants" that characterize the communication style of teachers in preschool, which is both the result and the mirror of a pedagogical tradition in early childhood services strongly oriented towards the dimension of well-being and relationships. On the other hand, it focuses on the need to broaden knowledge on this subject by studying descriptive verbal interactions in order to respond in a formative way to the cultural, cross-cultural and multilingual challenges that characterize educational contexts in contemporary societies.
BOVE, CHIARA MARIA
Preschool, Language, Discourse, Verbal Interactions, Conversational Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Educational Beliefs and Values, Video-research, Observation
M-PED/01 - PEDAGOGIA GENERALE E SOCIALE
Italian
14-gen-2014
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze Umane
SCIENZE DELLA FORMAZIONE E DELLA COMUNICAZIONE - 47R
24
2010/2011
open
(2014). Dire è fare. Una ricerca sulle interazioni verbali tra insegnanti e bambini nella Scuola dell'Infanzia. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2014).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/50224
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