Preschool children`s communication skills : Function, context and communication performances in collaboration

According to international and national literacy studies (PISA, PIRLS) Swedish boys are inferior to Swedish girls when it comes to reading. There can be numerous reasons to that statement. One is that Swedish teachers require more knowledge about communication as an important component in literacy. In spite of this shortcoming, Swedish girls manage to gain sufficient literacy. Why is that? The aim of this survey was to examine if there were any differences between girls and boys regarding communication skills when they begin in school. The main questions taken in account were: Which differences and/or similarities in communication skills are discernible between boys and girls this particular preschool? How do boys and girls communicate with each other in different room contexts on this particular preschool? To be able to answer the questions, I adopted observations and audio recordings from children aged five. I recorded the everyday talk among the children in order to ascertain their communication skills. I´ve tried to demonstrate that communication skills are more than just a function. The context in which the children interact with each other and with the pedagogues, along with communication expectations common in the society, is important to take in account when examine communication skills. My conclusion is that due to expectations about boys being none- speakers and girls being speakers, the children gain different communication skills. Boys and girls then use their dissimilar skills separate from each others. Boys tend to play far from the girls and the teachers, girls play with each other near the teachers. The separate contexts the children select to play within also provide different communication skills. Girls practise their, already better, skills among the pedagogues, who help them develop even more. Boys are denied such help from the pedagogues since they choose not to play with them. This might be one of many reasons why boys more frequently fail as readers