Class Meetings with a teacher and group of young children (ages 3-5) provide a forum for creative group problem solving, both establishing a community of learners and developing oral language skills. The construction of a child's oral language and problem-solving skills is far reaching and is an underlying theme in many areas of social and emotional growth including moral development, character development, conflict resolution, identification of values, self esteem, and academic improvement. The theoretical framework for this study is based on various scholarly sources including those concerned with early childhood group learning, oral language, and problem solving.During this 12 week action research study, both teacher-talk and children's problem solving strategies were addressed to answer the following research questions: What roles do teachers play in Class Meetings? What types of teacher talk are used to influence student thinking and talk within Class Meetings? What problems are identified in a Class Meeting with young children? What problem-solving strategies do young children develop within Class Meetings? The research design and methodology include videotaping, audio taping Class Meetings and transcribing these interactions with preschool children in an early childhood classroom setting.Results indicate that during this study, attendance at the Class Meetings increased, and that young children, when given the opportunity to self-select, chose to attend the Class Meetings over other available activities. Also, this study suggests that the Class Meeting model and effective teacher-talk support student oral language, the use of positive communication, problem identification, and the development of problem solving strategies. Implications for early childhood educators, teacher educators, policymakers and researchers are discussed.

The aim of this study is to investigate the opportunities for oral language development that teachers offer pupils during lessons in Swedish in grade 3. The following questions guided the study: how do teachers perceive that they offer the pupils opportunities for oral language development in their teaching and what possibilities for oral language development do teachers offer pupils? The methods used to answer the questions are interview and observation of two teachers in two different classrooms. In all, two interviews and four observations were conducted. An observation schedule was used during the observations and the interviews were semi-structured, based on the same questions. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The collected material showed that the oral activities which the teachers said they offered their pupils were working in pairs or small groups, whole-class conversations and drama. The teachers said that they interacted with the pupils through taking turns and asking questions. The activities the teachers offered their pupils during the four observations were whole-class conversations led by the teacher, structured conversations in small groups and spontaneous conversations among pupils and between pupils and teacher, and interactive book reading. The interactions used by the teachers took the form of speech, questions and body language. The conclusion of the study is that teachers must have more tools for taking advantage of opportunities to let the pupils develop their oral language. The view of what oral language development can involve should also be broadened.

The goal of this paper was to investigate if code-switching is a beneficial language strategy pertaining to pupils’ oral language development. Moreover, the purpose was to examine what teachers need to consider when they use the pupils’ first language in the classroom. Previous studies are in conflict of whether or not code-switching is a useful language strategy and also of how it should be used in the language classroom. This synthesis attempted to answer if code-switching support oral language development in the second language (L2) classroom in secondary school in Sweden and what needs to be considered when using code-switching in an educational context. The results suggested that low-proficiency learners benefit from first language (L1) usage, whereas high-proficiency students seem to both prefer and benefit more from an English-only classroom. Findings also propose that maximum exposure of the target language (TL) is to be preferred, as long as it is not too difficult for pupils to comprehend. Together, these findings suggest that teachers’ and pupils’ usage of code-switching can be a beneficial language strategy, but that it is crucial for teachers to know their pupils’ language level and when to use code-switching.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese-Arlene Araujo Nogueira.pdf: 8227777 bytes, checksum: 7744d770e72fcc52d8c81e89659feceb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-08 / FAPEAM - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas / Understanding the process of oral language development in the first years of life is essential to qualify the pedagogical work in a nursery. The Historical-Cultural Theory emphasizes that the development of oral language and the child's communication activity – as well as all kinds of human mental functions development – are not natural process, but socially mediated. It is up to the adult in charge of education the development of activities that intentionally promote the child interaction. Doing so, communication is set as a necessity, promoting development. Thus, one could ask: how is the development of oral language in early childhood according to historical and cultural perspective? How do the adult-child and child-child interactions interfere with the development of oral language of children in day care situation? How can the pedagogical work in the nursery provide significant verbal interactions? With the purpose of understanding the development process of oral language in early childhood stage, according to the assumptions of Historical-Cultural Theory; besides knowing the influence of adult-child child-child interactions for the development of oral language of children in day care situation; and also with the aim of bringing to the light how pedagogical work in day care can contribute to any significant verbal interactions between children and adults, so, these were the reasons why this research has been conducted. In fact, it is part of the Research Line number 3 – Training and Praxis of the educator before the Amazonian Challenges in the Post-Graduation Program Studies in Education of the Federal University of Amazonas. Three teachers and seven children of one and two years of age were the subjects of this research, held in a nursery called Creche Municipal Maria Ferreira Bernardes, in 2014, in Manaus-AM. The research focused on the development of oral language of young children in an interactive daycare context, based on the theoretical and methodological contributions of the Historical-Cultural Theory, according to which the higher mental functions of humans arise both from the close relationship between biological factors inherent of mankind, and cultural factors, built throughout human history – idea published by L. S. Vygotsky, its principal representative. The empirical knowledge was acquired through participatory observations of everyday life, with the support of photographs, video recordings and records in fieldwork notebook; and also by semi-structured interviews and formative meetings with the teachers. The systematization of data enabled to group the interactive situations experienced by children and their teachers – which have revealed the emergence of oral language – in two categories: 1) direct communication Interactions: through communicative activities whose reasons were personal, based on emotional communication; and 2) communicative interactions mediated by objects: a communicative activity, based on the practice of situations involving manipulation of objects. After analyzing the empirical categories, one could note that the activities proposed by the teachers and the interactions between child-child and adult-child, in the nursery, potentiate the communicative activity of children and the development of oral language, according to the theoretical assumptions of Vygotsky and his collaborators. While we recognize that children build each other interactions that carry rich meanings and produce language, we emphasize the mediating role of teachers in these moments and intentional organization of interactive experiences that promote oral language. Besides that, discussion groups with teachers about oral language development enable the expansion of references to think about the pedagogical activity, confirming the potential of formative research. / Compreender como se dá o desenvolvimento da linguagem oral na primeira infância é fundamental para qualificar o trabalho pedagógico na creche. A Teoria Histórico-Cultural preconiza que o desenvolvimento da linguagem oral e da atividade de comunicação da criança, como ademais todo o desenvolvimento das funções psíquicas humanas, não é um processo natural, mas socialmente mediado. Cabe, pois, ao adulto que educa, promover atividades que intencionalmente coloquem a criança em interação, de modo que a comunicação se configure como uma necessidade, mobilizando o desenvolvimento. Dessa forma, indagamos: de que maneira ocorre o desenvolvimento da linguagem oral na primeira infância segundo a perspectiva histórico-cultural?; como as interações adulto-criança e criança-criança interferem no desenvolvimento da linguagem oral das crianças em situação de creche?; como o trabalho pedagógico na creche pode propiciar interações verbais significativas? Com os objetivos de compreender o processo de desenvolvimento da linguagem oral na etapa da primeira infância, de acordo com os pressupostos da Teoria Histórico-Cultural; conhecer a influência das interações adulto-criança e criança-criança para o desenvolvimento da linguagem oral das crianças em situação de creche; e elucidar como o trabalho pedagógico na creche pode contribuir para que ocorram interações verbais significativas entre crianças e adultos, realizamos este trabalho, que insere-se na Linha de Pesquisa 3 – Formação e Práxis do(a) Educador(a) Frente aos Desafios Amazônicos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Amazonas. Foram sujeitos da pesquisa três professoras e sete crianças de um a dois anos de idade, matriculadas na Creche Municipal Maria Ferreira Bernardes, em 2014, em Manaus-AM. A investigação enfoca o desenvolvimento da linguagem oral da criança pequena no contexto interativo da creche, fundamentando-se nos aportes teóricos e metodológicos da Teoria Histórico-Cultural, segundo a qual as funções psíquicas superiores dos seres humanos surgem da estreita relação entre os fatores biológicos caraterísticos do homem e os fatores culturais, construídos ao longo da história humana – ideia apregoada por L. S. Vigotski, seu principal representante. A construção dos dados empíricos se deu por intermédio de observações participativas do cotidiano, com o apoio de fotografias, videogravações e registros em caderno de campo; entrevistas semiestruturadas e encontros formativos com as professoras. A sistematização dos dados possibilitou agrupar as situações interativas vivenciadas entre as crianças e suas professoras – que revelam a emergência da linguagem oral – em duas categorias: 1) Interações comunicativas diretas: atividade comunicativa cujos motivos são pessoais, baseada na comunicação emocional; e 2) Interações comunicativas mediadas por objetos: atividade comunicativa de natureza prática-situacional, apoiada na manipulação dos objetos. A análise das categorias empíricas permitiu notar que as atividades propostas pelas professoras e as interações criança-criança e adulto-criança, na creche, potencializam a atividade comunicativa das crianças e o desenvolvimento de sua linguagem oral, de acordo com os pressupostos teóricos de Vigotski e seus colaboradores. Apesar de reconhecermos que as crianças constroem entre si interações que portam ricos significados e produzem linguagem, enfatizamos o papel mediador das professoras nesses momentos e na organização intencional de vivências interativas promotoras da linguagem oral. Além disso, os grupos de discussão com as professoras a respeito do desenvolvimento da linguagem oral possibilitam a ampliação de referências para pensar a atividade pedagógica, atestando o potencial formativo da pesquisa.