Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/interviewing-young-children/5017954/
Two people are sitting at a table. Spread out before them are pieces of a wooden puzzle. A conversation is in process.G: What is it? What is it?
A: Horse.
G: Horse. So where does the horse go?
A: “ink ink”
G: But where does it go?
A: (Points to the correct place.)
G: You put it in.
A: (Places it correctly.)
G: Great! (Picks up another piece �" a ball.) What is this?
A: Ball.
G: Ball. How do we play with a ball?
A: Play with a ball.
G: Do you play with balls? Where does the ball go? Where does the ball go?
A: (Points to the correct place.)
G: Wonderful. You put it.
Can you guess who the participants are in this conversation? Are both of them children? Are both of them adults? Is one of them a teacher?
It’s easy to guess. This is a typical pedagogical discourse in which a teacher is involved. The conversation is constructed primarily from a sequence of questions and answers. The teacher asks the questions, is active and dominates the discourse, the child, Amir, a 22-month-old boy answers. He is very passive and tries to please the teacher with short answers. The teacher asks questions to which she already knows the answers. These ...