Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DOI 10.1007/s10643-014-0635-8
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Possible Teacher
Prompt
Possible
Teacher
Prompt
Child 1 initiates a
social interaction to
Child 2
Social interaction
maintained when
Child 2 hears and
responds to Child 1
Possible Teacher
Prompt
Child 2 responds to
the social interaction
made by Child 1
No social interaction
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The graphic representation of the social-emotional cultural context attempts to explain childrens interactions
with peers and how teachers can support this process. The
overall social-emotional cultural context provides the
foundation for the conceptual model. When a child enters a
social interaction with another child, he or she brings with
them a history of positive and negative social encounters, a
preferred pattern for interactions, and temperament characteristics. Culture may influence the display of these
personality traits and the way they contribute to adaptive or
maladaptive functioning in the social interaction (Chen
et al. 2006). For example, in the United States, shy/inhibited children tend to initiate social interactions by using
hovering, waiting, and/or other nonverbal behaviors with
peers (e.g., Schmidt and Fox 1998). These interaction
behaviors are often viewed negatively by peers, and the
children are typically rejected or ignored by their classmates (Rubin et al. 2002). Conversely, Chinese children
who initiated social interactions using shy/inhibited techniques were less likely to experience peer rejection as
shyness is considered an acceptable and even desired trait
in Chinese culture (Chen et al. 2006). The meanings and
understandings that children derive from these prior
experiences are brought to current play episodes and play
situations.
Children are not the only individuals who bring prior
experiences to the social interaction. Classroom teachers
who supervise childrens play with peers also bring their
prior experiences including their cultural expectations for
interacting with others, home language to use when interacting with others, and appropriate ways to play. These
expectations may be the same or different from the children
enrolled in their classrooms, and thus, teachers have the
ability to influence the childrens peer relationships and
interactions (Howes and Shivers 2006). In other words,
teachers may plan activities and prompt for social interactions in a manner that is consistent with their beliefs for
what to do when developing childrens social skills (Huijibregts et al. 2008). This is important to recognize as race,
ethnicity, and culture may largely influence childrens
social development. For example, in Dutch cultures,
teachers do not become involved in childrens interactions
during play unless there is a communication breakdown
and friendly directives or comments must be offered to fix
the problem (Jones and Reynolds 1992). Israeli caregivers
differ from Dutch caregivers in that they tend to ignore
childrens conflicts and emotional distress during peer
interactions (Rosenthal and Gatt 2011). Their lack of
involvement is not due to their desire to allow children to
suffer during communication breakdowns, but a cultural
expectation to allow children to problem-solve communication breakdowns on their own. Training all preschool
teachers, regardless of culture, to intervene in specific ways
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Teacher Talk
Teacher talk is a form of support that educators can use to
enhance peer interactions and play. Teacher talk refers to
specific help that teachers provide to children to assist
them to become better language learners (Stanton-Chapman and Hadden 2011, p. 18). Teacher talk can take five
different formats (Sharpe 2008). The first format is
recasting. Recasting is defined as providing implicit
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corrective feedback (Fukuya and Hill 2006). In the preschool classroom, a teacher may use a recast by changing a
childs word into a more appropriate word so the peer can
comprehend or follow the social interaction and continue
the play episode. The following example illustrates how
this intervention strategy can be used by preschool educators in the natural classroom.
DeFredra and Estabraq are playing with a doctors kit
in the dramatic play area of a preschool classroom. The
two girls are using the tools to examine a sick doll. Ms.
Williams is observing their play. Can you hand me the
beeper? asks Estabraq. What? replies DeFredra. Can
you hand me the beeper? Estabraq repeats. DeFredra
appears confused so Ms. Williams intervenes. Ms. Williams
picks up the stethoscope and says, stethoscope. Estabraq
repeats the word, stethoscope, and DeFredra takes the
stethoscope from Ms. Williamss hand and gives it to
Estabraq.
By observing the play of DeFredra and Estabraq, Ms.
Williams witnesses a communication breakdown. She
realizes that Estabraq does not know the word stethoscope
and uses the word, beeper, instead. When DeFredra does
not understand what Estabraq is asking of her, Ms. Williams steps in the play and facilitates the social interaction
by using a recast to provide the needed word for clarification purposes. The play interaction is able to continue as
planned.
The second format of teacher talk is repeating.
Repeating is when a teacher restates what a child has just
said (Stanton-Chapman and Hadden 2011). This technique
is especially helpful when a child with a language or
speech delay is included in the general education classroom
and is interacting with peers during play. Sometimes peers
do not understand a childs statement, request, or question.
If a teacher observes confusion in a peer after a child with a
language or speech delay has spoken, the teacher could
repeat what this child has said so the peer can better
comprehend the message. The following example illustrates repeating. Archie and Keon are in the manipulative
area playing with play dough. Archie has an articulation
disorder where he makes errors of substitution such as p
for f and b for z. Archie says to Keon, Look Keon,
I made pibba. Huh,?, answers Keon. Pibba, Archie
answers. Mr. Reed realizes that Keon doesnt understand
that Archie is saying pizza so he repeats Archies
statement to assist in the communication breakdown,
Archie said he made pizza, Keon. Repeating prevents or
ameliorates communication breakdowns and allows the
play episode to continue. Previous research has demonstrated that young children are less likely to ask a peer to
repeat an unintelligible message than adults (Bruce et al.
2010). If a teacher does not intervene at this time, it is
possible that the peers will exclude the child from
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developing children and children with disabilities as previous research has shown that prompting children to
engage in social behaviors with peers increases social skills
development in both the target child and peer (Bovey and
Strain 2005). Once children consistently then independently use the learned social skills, teachers can reduce or
eliminate the amount of prompts given. Prompts can be
used to direct a childs attention to a peer (e.g., Lily is
talking to you) or providing children with ideas on how to
participate in a play activity before that play activity begins
(e.g., Pilar, who would you like to play in the manipulative area with you?). The following example illustrates
how prompting can be used in the early childhood classroom during play.
Abriana and Lakesha are playing at the water table. Abriana is pouring a cup of water into a two-cup container
while Lakesha is soaking a sponge with water. Mr. Mike is
monitoring the water play for safety purposes. Look, Lakesha says to Abriana. Abriana ignores Lakesha. Lakesha
repeats, Look! Abriana ignores Lakesha. Abriana, Mr.
Mike exclaims. What? answers Abriana. Lakesha is
talking to you, replies Mr. Mike. Abriana looks towards
Lakesha and says, What? Look what happens when I
push the sponge in the water, Lakesha states.
In this example, Mr. Mike enters and exits Abriana and
Lakeshas play rather quickly. After Lakesha has unsuccessfully requested Abriana to look at the sponge two
times, Mr. Mike enters the social interaction by prompting
Abriana to pay attention to Lakesha. Once Abrianas focus
is directed towards Lakesha, Mr. Mike is able to leave the
social interaction as the two girls are able to continue the
interaction without the teachers assistance.
All five teacher talk strategies can be used in inclusive
classrooms and will benefit typically developing children,
children at-risk, and children with disabilities. The end
result is an increase in social skill development across all
types of children including those from various racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic class backgrounds.
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Conclusion
Play allows children to develop their creativity, verbal
skills, and peer relationships. Some children lack the skills
needed to successfully interact with their peers. Preschool
teachers are the key to orchestrating successful peer
interactions for all children within the early childhood
program including typical, inclusive, and at-risk classrooms. Their involvement requires careful planning and
preparation, creativity, reflection, and providing opportunities for peer interactions to happen. Teacher talk is
another form of support that educators can use to enhance
peer interactions and play. Teachers observe children in the
classroom environment and gather data on the environmental arrangement and the childrens interests and abilities. Based on the information gathered from these
observations, teachers select the most appropriate intervention technique that will best promote successful peerto-peer interactions.
Appendix
As previously mentioned, teachers must thoughtfully plan
when and how to scaffold target children during peer
interactions for maintenance purposes. The goal of this
Appendix is to demonstrate how a teacher can provide
support to preschoolers during center time using the model
outlined in Fig. 1. The model itself is embedded in the
Social-Emotional Cultural Context. In this example, the
assumption is that the teacher is aware of his or her possible biases regarding cultural expectations for interacting
with others, home language to use when interacting with
others, and appropriate ways children can play. The children also bring prior positive and negative social encounters to this play episode, a preferred pattern for interactions,
and temperament characteristics that may or may not
influence the current social interaction.
Luke and Brea are playing at the Lego table. Both are
actively engaged with the Legos. Luke built a small planelike structure and initiates a social interaction with Brea to
show her what he made. To begin the social interaction
(refer to Letter A in the model), Luke says, Brea, I made a
spaceship. Since Luke initiated the social interaction, a
teacher prompt is not needed.
Brea is busy building her own Lego structure, and
consequently, ignores Luke (refer to Letter B in the model).
Luke repeats his statement and is again ignored by Brea.
The teacher witnesses this failed interaction and uses a
repeat teacher talk strategy to Brea in an attempt to salvage the social communication breakdown. The teacher
says to Brea, Brea, Luke said he built a spaceship. Brea
then looks at Lukes spaceship and says, I want to make
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