Crying in a Russian preschool: Teachers' pragmatic acts in response to children's distress

Abstract

The paper examines teacher pragmatic acts (verbal and embodied) in response to children's crying in a Russian preschool. It focuses on crying episodes associated with children's inability or unwillingness to follow the norms and expectations surrounding children's conduct (e.g., crying when not allowed to do something). The paper employs discourse analysis; the data are 40 h of video- and audio-recorded interactions. The analysis shows that teachers used directives and other pragmatic acts (e.g., assessments, explanations) that encouraged children to stop crying. The directives were produced in multi-party participation frameworks where peers were referred to or recruited as active participants. Teachers used positive and negative assessments of crying. Crying was presented in a negative light in contrast with positive non-crying behaviors; positive assessments (praise and affectionate touch) were offered when crying stopped. The consequences of crying were presented as negatively affecting others. It is argued that such discursive treatment of crying contributes to socializing children to conformity. The paper contributes to our understanding of how through the use of pragmatic acts, child crying is discursively treated in ways that invoke norms of pragmatic conduct (e.g., not crying when asked to participate in a planned activity) and social values regarding group membership.