Peer Interaction and Language Acquisition in German Kindergartens

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show the correlation between linguistic and communicative competencies of children in the everyday life of four German preschools. Particular attention is paid to the importance of the linguistic environment, which is constituted of the peer interaction and the interaction between children and early education specialists. A cross-sectional analysis using quantitative and qualitative methods was performed in the evaluation of the research questions. The findings especially highlight the major importance of access to peer interaction. Competent speakers therefore prove to be the most popular play partners within the same age group. However, also children at risk are capable of complex linguistic expression when they are especially interested in a subject or object, or if the early education specialists succeed in establishing a situation of “sustained shared thinking” (Siraj-Blatchford & Sylva, 2004, p. 718).

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p11