Reminiscing and future talk conversations between young children, their early childhood educators and mothers

Abstract

This study adopted a sociocultural framework to investigate how educators interacted with young children in reminiscing and future talk conversations. Participants included 85 educator–child dyads from seven early childhood centers in Sydney, Australia. Younger children (n = 40) were 27–36 months and older children (n = 45) were 48–60 months. Each dyad discussed four past events (two novel, two familiar) and four future events (two novel, two familiar). A subsample of mother–child dyads (n = 42) completed the same tasks. Educators’ total elaborations varied by event novelty. Degree-qualified educators were, on average, as highly elaborative as mothers, while diploma-qualified educators were less elaborative. Although children elaborated more with their mothers than with their educators, the findings highlight a role for both mothers and educators in scaffolding children’s contributions in elaborative reminiscing and future talk conversations. Educator professional development interventions in elaborative talk, together with research into their effectiveness, are recommended.