ERIC Number: EJ728302
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 22
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0782
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Lebanese/Arabic and American Children's Discourse in Group-Solving Situations
Chami-Sather, Grece; Kretschmer, Richard R., Jr.
Language and Education, v19 n1 p10-31 2005
This research describes and analyses the type of verbal discourse and interactions among the children in a group-solving situation. Two groups of five children ages 6, 7 and 8, from two different cultures, were observed: one at an English-speaking summer camp in Beirut, Lebanon, and another at a parallel site, a neighbourhood group in Kentucky, in the United States. The same researcher conducted both studies and English was the language of communication. Audiotapes as well as videotapes and transcriptions were used as means for data collection. A comparative microethnographic analysis was applied to find relationships between the different verbal and nonverbal interactions and interpret the process used by the different cultures in similar situations. The rate and type of utterances as well as nonverbal moves were recorded. Evidence of commonalities between the children's verbal cognitive as well as the semantic aspect of the language was observed. More difference was observed in the nonverbal and perlocutionary acts in some segments of the discourse. Difference was also recorded in the intensity of interactions and the type of utterance and propositions produced during both groups' discourses.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Verbal Communication, Children, Discourse Analysis, Language Usage, Comparative Analysis, Interpersonal Communication, Group Dynamics, Ethnography, Semantics, Nonverbal Communication, Cultural Differences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Kentucky; Lebanon
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A