Kids Talk: Strategic Language Use in Later Childhood (Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics)

Between early childhood and adulthood, language acquisition is succeeded by a bloom of repertoire for managing interaction, a growing sensitivity to the relation of language and society, an expanding ability to wield power through the strategic use of language, and an increasing sophistication in framing speech activities. This book examines a wide range of language practices among school-age children and teenagers, using data from naturally occurring recorded talk and from careful observation of interaction in peer groups. The contributors analyze talk at play, at school, and at work, documenting the growing communicative skills of young people while always focusing on what young speakers themselves do with (and through) language. Theoretical constructs to which the contributors appeal include Goffman's notion of footing and Hymes' communicative competence, as well as multiple characterizations of discourse structure. The chapters show older children as strategic language users, dynamic actors who are often concerned with defining themselves as a distinctive group, different from adults, yet who just as often display proficiency at sophisticated discourse activities that presage those of adulthood. Attention to the language practices of school-age children and teenagers is essential for a complete understanding of how language use can vary in the social construction of everyday activity across the life span. This book examines a wide variety of language practices using data from naturally occurring recorded talk and careful observation of interaction in peer groups, and taking into account differences in setting, age, social class, race, and gender. The contributors analyze talk at play, at school, and at work, demonstrating the growing communicative skills of young people while focusing on what young speakers themselves do with and through language. Chapter titles include the following: "Games of Stance: Conflict and Footing in Hopscotch"; "Register and Footing in Role Play"; "Accommodating Friends: Niceness, Meanness, and Discourse Norms"; "Developing Adolescent Peer Culture through Collaborative Narration"; "Multiple Codes, Multiple Identities: Puerto Rican Children in New York City"; "Bodytalk: Discourses of Sexuality among Adolescent African American Girls"; "Of Ritual Matters To Master: Structure and Improvisation in Language Development at Primary School"; "Register Shifting with Dialect Resources in Instructional Discourse"; "The Effect of Role and Footing on Students' Oral Academic Language"; "Finding Words, Finding Meanings: Collaborative Learning and Distributed Cognition"; "Speaking Standard English from Nine to Three: Language as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High"; "Working through Language"; and "Noisy Talk: Conversation and Collaboration in a Youth Writing Group." Extensive references and an index are included. (KFT) Contents......Page 12 Contributors......Page 14 Transcription Conventions......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 1. Games of Stance: Conflict and Footing in Hopscotch......Page 38 2. Register and Footing in Role Play......Page 62 3. Accommodating Friends: Niceness, Meanness, and Discourse Norms......Page 83 4. Developing Adolescent Peer Culture through Collaborative Narration......Page 97 5. Multiple Codes, Multiple Identities: Puerto Rican Children in New York City......Page 110 6. Bodytalk: Discourses of Sexuality among Adolescent African American Girls......Page 128 7. Of Ritual Matters to Master: Structure and Improvisation in Language Development at Primary School......Page 149 8. Register Shifting with Dialect Resources in Instructional Discourse......Page 166 9. The Effect of Role and Footing on Students' Oral Academic Language......Page 185 10. Finding Words, Finding Meanings: Collaborative Learning and Distributed Cognition......Page 202 11. Speaking Standard English from Nine to Three: Language as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High......Page 220 12. Working through Language......Page 232 13. Noisy Talk: Conversation and Collaboration in a Youth Writing Group......Page 256 References......Page 282 B......Page 303 N......Page 304 Y......Page 305 Annotation Between early childhood and adulthood, language acquisition is succeeded by a bloom of repertoire for managing interaction, a growing sensitivity to the relation of language and society, an expanding ability to wield power through the strategic use of language, and an increasing sophistication in framing speech activities. This book examines a wide range of language practices among school-age children and teenagers, using data from naturally occurring recorded talk and from careful observation of interaction in peer groups. The contributors analyze talk at play, at school, and at work, documenting the growing communicative skills of young people while always focusing on what young speakers themselves do with (and through) language. Theoretical constructs to which the contributors appeal include Goffman's notion of footing and Hymes' communicative competence, as well as multiple characterizations of discourse structure. The chapters show older children as strategic language users, dynamic actors who are often concerned with defining themselves as a distinctive group, different from adults, yet who just as often display proficiency at sophisticated discourse activities that presage those of adulthood Recent work in the social sciences has reified stereotypes of gender differences in children; girls are reputedly more interested in cooperative interaction and a morality based on principles of relatedness, relationships, care, equity, flexibility, and responsibility, whereas boys are concerned with dominance and an ethic based on principles of objectivity, individual rights, and rule-governed justice.