Volume: 19  Number: 1  Page: 10–31

Lebanese/Arabic and American Children’s Discourse in Group-solving Situations

Grece Chami-Sather1 and Richard R. Jr Kretschmer2 13279 Woodlyn Hills Drive, Erlanger, KY 41018 and 2University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210002, Cincinnati OH 45221-0002

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 use 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.

Keywords: bilingualism, culture, discourse analysis, early childhood education, intercultural communication, multicultural and multilingual research

© 2005 G. Chami-Sather & R.R. Kretschmer

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