More than words – how second language learners initiate and respond during shared picture book reading interactions

ABSTRACT

Initiating conversations and responding to initiations of others via gestural and verbal means are prerequisites for participating in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) interactions. However, research to date has not addressed the multimodal initiations and responses of young second language learners (SLLs) in natural ECEC settings. This study investigated their initiations and responses during shared picture book reading interactions with ECEC practitioners with a focus on modalities, strategies, as well as the multimodal meanings and types of utterances. Participants were 30 SLLs in German ECEC institutions. Results showed that SLLs responded to the initiations of the practitioners predominantly verbally and initiated interactions mostly multimodally. Furthermore, the children produced more combinations of multi-word utterances and gestures in their initiations than in their responses. These findings complement the body of work demonstrating the varied communicative skills young SLLs use in their interactions as well as by underlining the importance of gestural cues in everyday ECEC interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Initiations
• responses
• multimodal communication
• shared picture book reading
• second language learners
• Early Childhood Education and Care

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the children, families, practitioners, and ECEC institutions that took part in the study as well as the research assistants who assisted with data collection and analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the project funding ‘Wege in die Forschung II’ (Leibniz University Hannover) as awarded to Ulla Licandro [grant number AZ60460894].

Notes on contributors

Aleksandra Kappenberg

Aleksandra Kappenberg (née Syczewska) is an academic speech and language therapist (M.A.). She completed her studies at the Medical University in Białystok (Poland) and Leibniz University Hanover. She currently works as a research associate at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the field of Heterogeneity and Diversity With Special Consideration of Inclusive Educational Processes.

Ulla Licandro

Dr. Ulla Licandro is a professor at the Department of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and is the head of the working group Heterogeneity and Diversity With Special Consideration of Inclusive Educational Processes.