Com o objetivo de investigar as possibilidades interativas de bebês entre si, como constroem suas preferências, e quais meios de expressão utilizam para se comunicar, a presente pesquisa buscou identificar as possíveis relações/vinculações com a construção de significados compartilhados na interação entre pares. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram bebês de 6 a 15 meses, numa Escola Municipal Infantil do Município de Porto Alegre. Através do estudo de tipo etnográfico foi possível observar, registrando em diário de campo e fitas gravadas o cotidiano do grupo de bebês de uma turma de Berçário. Isto ocorreu fazendo recortes de episódios interativos do processo de interação bebê-bebê nos primeiros anos de vida, Nas situações interativas observadas, com estes bebês, os contatos corporais se intensificaram nas brincadeiras, nas disputas, ou na movimentação espontânea permitindo trocas mais efetivas numa evidente intencionalidade de aproximação ao corpo do outro. Constatei também que a expressividade se fazia crescente à medida que pareciam mais ‘atentos’ uns aos outros, pois fazendo uso da comunicação mímicogestual, acompanhada de vocalizações, faziam-se entender. A comunicação pelo olhar acompanhado do sorriso como signo de socialização, o chamado “sorriso social”, gradativamente se convertem em instrumentos para atuar sobre seu meio. Foi significativo o papel da linguagem (fala) à medida que se constituía como mediador na interação neste contexto permitindo dar mais sentido nas relações entre crianças através da reciprocidade. Nesta trama se fazem presentes também a imitação com função social, o brinquedo, o espaço físico e psicológico, o educador como mediador das relações e do conhecimento, são aspectos facilitadores da construção da identidade de cada bebê e de uma realidade social compartilhada neste contexto > educativo. / The present research had as its main purpose to investigate babies’ interactive possibilities in an educational setting, to verify how they build their relations, their preferences and which means of expression they use to communicate. It also tried to identify the possible relations of meaning construction shared in the interaction among pairs. The research was done in a County School for Children’s Education in Porto Alegre City, and the subjects of the research were babies from 6 to 15 months. Through a study of ethnographic type it was possible to observe, recording on field diary and video, the daily life of the babies’ group from the Nursery class. The analysis was done through cutting outs of baby-baby’s interactive episodes. In the situations observed body contacts were made through games, competitions, or spontaneous movement, allowing more effective exchanges, and showing an evident intention of one another approaching. It was also noticed that expressiveness was growing up as the babies seemed to be more attentive to one another, and it was because the use of mime-gesture communication, together with vocalizations, helped them to make themselves understood. The communication through eye contact, together with smiling as a sign of socialization – social smile – was gradually converted into instruments that helped to build interactions. The role of language (speaking) was meaningful as it acted like a mediator in the interaction in this context, allowing more meaning to be present among children’s relations through reciprocity. In this plot aspects such as the miming with social function, the game, the social and psychological settings, and the educator as a mediator of relations and knowledge, were present as facilitators of each baby’s development, and also of a social reality shared in this learning context.

Com o objetivo de investigar as possibilidades interativas de bebês entre si, como constroem suas preferências, e quais meios de expressão utilizam para se comunicar, a presente pesquisa buscou identificar as possíveis relações/vinculações com a construção de significados compartilhados na interação entre pares. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram bebês de 6 a 15 meses, numa Escola Municipal Infantil do Município de Porto Alegre. Através do estudo de tipo etnográfico foi possível observar, registrando em diário de campo e fitas gravadas o cotidiano do grupo de bebês de uma turma de Berçário. Isto ocorreu fazendo recortes de episódios interativos do processo de interação bebê-bebê nos primeiros anos de vida, Nas situações interativas observadas, com estes bebês, os contatos corporais se intensificaram nas brincadeiras, nas disputas, ou na movimentação espontânea permitindo trocas mais efetivas numa evidente intencionalidade de aproximação ao corpo do outro. Constatei também que a expressividade se fazia crescente à medida que pareciam mais ‘atentos’ uns aos outros, pois fazendo uso da comunicação mímicogestual, acompanhada de vocalizações, faziam-se entender. A comunicação pelo olhar acompanhado do sorriso como signo de socialização, o chamado “sorriso social”, gradativamente se convertem em instrumentos para atuar sobre seu meio. Foi significativo o papel da linguagem (fala) à medida que se constituía como mediador na interação neste contexto permitindo dar mais sentido nas relações entre crianças através da reciprocidade. Nesta trama se fazem presentes também a imitação com função social, o brinquedo, o espaço físico e psicológico, o educador como mediador das relações e do conhecimento, são aspectos facilitadores da construção da identidade de cada bebê e de uma realidade social compartilhada neste contexto > educativo. / The present research had as its main purpose to investigate babies’ interactive possibilities in an educational setting, to verify how they build their relations, their preferences and which means of expression they use to communicate. It also tried to identify the possible relations of meaning construction shared in the interaction among pairs. The research was done in a County School for Children’s Education in Porto Alegre City, and the subjects of the research were babies from 6 to 15 months. Through a study of ethnographic type it was possible to observe, recording on field diary and video, the daily life of the babies’ group from the Nursery class. The analysis was done through cutting outs of baby-baby’s interactive episodes. In the situations observed body contacts were made through games, competitions, or spontaneous movement, allowing more effective exchanges, and showing an evident intention of one another approaching. It was also noticed that expressiveness was growing up as the babies seemed to be more attentive to one another, and it was because the use of mime-gesture communication, together with vocalizations, helped them to make themselves understood. The communication through eye contact, together with smiling as a sign of socialization – social smile – was gradually converted into instruments that helped to build interactions. The role of language (speaking) was meaningful as it acted like a mediator in the interaction in this context, allowing more meaning to be present among children’s relations through reciprocity. In this plot aspects such as the miming with social function, the game, the social and psychological settings, and the educator as a mediator of relations and knowledge, were present as facilitators of each baby’s development, and also of a social reality shared in this learning context.

The continued underperformance of many L2 students at primary, secondary and tertiary level is a cause for grave concern in South Africa. In an attempt to better understand the cognitivelinguistic conditions and processes that underlie academic performance and underperformance, this study looks at the problem of differential academic performance by focussing on the inferential ability of undergraduate L2 students during the reading of expository texts. The study works within a constructivist theory of reading, where the successful understanding of a text is seen to involve the construction of a mental representation of what the text is about. Inferencing plays an important role in constructing meaning during reading because it enables the reader to link incoming information with already given information, and it enables the reader to construct a mental representation of the meaning of a text by converting the linear input into a hierarchical mental representation of interrelated information. The main finding showed that the ability to make inferences during the reading of expository texts was strongly related to academic performance: the more inferences students made during the reading of expository texts, the better they performed academically. This relationship held across the making of various inferences, such as anaphoric inferences, vocabulary inferences, inferences about various semantic relations, and thematic inferences. In particular, the ability to make anaphoric, contrastive and causal inferences emerged as the strongest predictors of academic performance. The study provides strong empirical evidence that the ability to make inferences during reading enables a reader to construct meaning and thereby also to acquire new knowledge. Reading is not only a tool for independently accessing information in an information-driven society, it is fundamentally a tool for constructing meaning. Reading and inferencing are not additional tools that students need to master in the learning context- they constitute the very process whereby learning occurs. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The continued underperformance of many L2 students at primary, secondary and tertiary level is a cause for grave concern in South Africa. In an attempt to better understand the cognitivelinguistic conditions and processes that underlie academic performance and underperformance, this study looks at the problem of differential academic performance by focussing on the inferential ability of undergraduate L2 students during the reading of expository texts. The study works within a constructivist theory of reading, where the successful understanding of a text is seen to involve the construction of a mental representation of what the text is about. Inferencing plays an important role in constructing meaning during reading because it enables the reader to link incoming information with already given information, and it enables the reader to construct a mental representation of the meaning of a text by converting the linear input into a hierarchical mental representation of interrelated information. The main finding showed that the ability to make inferences during the reading of expository texts was strongly related to academic performance: the more inferences students made during the reading of expository texts, the better they performed academically. This relationship held across the making of various inferences, such as anaphoric inferences, vocabulary inferences, inferences about various semantic relations, and thematic inferences. In particular, the ability to make anaphoric, contrastive and causal inferences emerged as the strongest predictors of academic performance. The study provides strong empirical evidence that the ability to make inferences during reading enables a reader to construct meaning and thereby also to acquire new knowledge. Reading is not only a tool for independently accessing information in an information-driven society, it is fundamentally a tool for constructing meaning. Reading and inferencing are not additional tools that students need to master in the learning context- they constitute the very process whereby learning occurs. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)