“Bravo!”: Co-constructing praise in French family life

Abstract

Children and praise is an under-researched area that is addressed in this study, which explores in detail praise sequences in parent-child interaction in French family life (45 h; video). Language socialization practices (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1989, 2012) are analyzed in verbal praise sequences, including response cries – like ‘ouais’, ‘bravo’, ‘oh là là’ – and audible glee (Goffman, 1978) as well as what we have called glee gestures (e.g. applauds, victory gestures). Work in conversation analysis has shown that adults avoid self-praise. This study extends prior work on praise, showing that young children (toddlers) recurrently deployed self-praise. Moreover, they engaged in role reversal play, when recycling adults' praise. They talked to themselves, using prior praise like mantras, when engaging in demanding novel tasks and they smiled and laughed in self-celebration. The findings contribute to language socialization theory in showing that children's self-praise was linked to adult praise and to scaffolding and joyful emotion sharing. Praise was co-construed and upgraded through an array of resources, and the children's actions were sequentially transformed into accomplishments. In its multimodal enactment, praise may change ordinary actions into extraordinary feats, momentarily transforming little children into the celebrated heroes of family life.