Social competence in kindergarten: Analysis of social negotiations during peer play

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the social interactions of twenty kindergarten children during their play with building blocks. The study applied naturalistic data collection and analytical methods to provide evidence of a variety of social negotiation strategies and differing levels of social competence of these kindergarten children. Data from the investigation indicates that children were involved in constructing a social order during play. The study suggests that social competence cannot be viewed only as an attribute of an individual but must be examined within the context of on‐going social interaction. That is, social competence will be influenced by the demands of the particular situation, the definitions of self and others held by each individual involved, and the language competence of each individual.