Children's first school books contain a considerable amount of reported talk among characters in the stories. This is a central aspect of the characterization of these books as transitional from the conventions of oral language to the conventions of written prose, that is, as introductions to literacy. The nature of the written representation of conversation in such books has not previously been examined. This paper presents a partial analysis of this feature of beginning school readers, focussing on “question-answer sequences.” We show how these representations of talk compare with naturalistic research on child-adult interaction at home and in classrooms, and we propose that the model of child-adult talk portrayed in “home” and “school” scenes in the books appears to endorse some of the conventions for participation in instructional talk, and in this respect is implicitly a source of socialization into classroom culture. At the same time, we find that the texts give child speakers far more initiative in conversation than typically obtains in classroom talk, and this is seen also to be a feature of the social constitution of the child in these texts. Thus an image of childhood which combines conversational initiative and conversational competence as a member of the classroom community is conveyed. The paper also points out possible difficulties for child readers in interpreting the talk-on-paper, arising both from textual formats and from the particular version of the child as conversationalist which the books describe (Child-adult conversation, question-answer sequences, first school books, literacy acquisition).

Previous analyses of children's disputes have concentrated on the use of various strategies within discrete activity contexts. Using data from an ethnographic study of an integrated kindergarten, it is suggested that children's disputes are strongly influenced by the activity and role structure of a given event, and that variations in how an event is contextualized are linked to the social structure of the classroom. Analytical problems in studying disputes from this perspective are also discussed. They include determining the speaker's focus, coping with multiple contexts, and selecting the level of analysis. (Developmental sociolinguistics, children's social behavior, peer interaction, analytic problems, American English)

In our research, we wish to illuminate different types of discursive intentions which are structured into discourse via the verb inflections and auxiliaries, together with their entailed social effects. In the present report, we examine the use of the simple present by two three-year-olds, and argue that analyses in terms of tense or aspect are not adequate to account for its use. One needs to recognize the way in which the form implicitly refers to norms and thereby entails a type of impersonal motivation – especially as it is just this feature of the use of this form that structures the ongoing activity into a nondialogic, normative activity. (Simple present, normativity, subjectivity, activity-types, nondialogic discourse, the constitutive role of language, American English)

This study investigated whether preschoolers would spontaneously say thank you in a familiar context without their parents' presence. Two hundred and fifty 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-year-olds played a game with their teachers and received a reward from either an unfamiliar peer or adult. Across conditions, 37 percent of the children said thank you spontaneously, more than in previous studies. The frequency of the spontaneous use of thank you was assessed as a function of sex, socioeconomic status, and listener status. Preschool-aged girls said thank you spontaneously more than boys, χ2(1) = 7.95, p < .01. Also, children from families of low economic status said thank you spontaneously more than children from middle income families, χ2(1) = 7.17, p < .01. This finding does not appear to be due to racial differences. Finally, the preschoolers said thank you spontaneously more to the adult than to the peer, χ2(1) = 4.27, p < .05. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for pragmatic socialization and the acquisition of politeness formulas such as thank you. (Routines, politeness formulas, pragmatic socialization, sex differences, socioeconomic differences, language and status)