How children interact with peers in a multilingual environment

The purpose of this study was to find out if and how the interaction between peers differs during free play and teacher led activities, while focusing on aspects such as use of language and the differences between two different age groups. This thesis includes a large theoretical framework including early childhood education, HighScope, play, teacher led activities, development of language, importance of relationships and previous research. This was a qualitative study which used observation to conduct the research. Narrative records were used as the form of data collection, recording the context of the situation, the individuals in question as well as what was said or did. The target group was 2-5 year olds, split into groups of children aged 2-3 and 3-5 at I.C.E.C: International Childcare and Education Centre. The data was analysed through thematic analysis. The findings showed that there were differences in the ways the children interacted with their peers during teacher led activities and free play. The children interacted with each other much more during free play, both verbally and non-verbally, whereas during teacher led activities, the children focused their attention more on the teacher. The findings also showed that there were large differences between the ways in which the two groups interacted with their peers. The younger group used much more non-verbal communication and needed more support and guidance from their teachers, whereas the older group used more verbal communication and were predominantly able to interact with each other independently. In conclusion, the interaction between children is a vital and natural part of daily life in nurseries. The children interacted with each other actively and this interaction supports their overall development as well as making their time at nursery more enjoyable. The children were able to form friendships and influence one another’s behaviour