Language expansion in Chinese parent–child mealtime conversations: across different conversational types and initiators

This study examined the distribution of language expansion in parent–child (preschool aged) mealtime conversations in 30 Chinese middle-class families. The conversations were categorised into four types: contextualised & conflicted, contextualised & non-conflicted, decontextualised & conflicted, and decontextualised & non-conflicted. The language expansions were analysed using the systemic functional linguistic theory related to cohesive patterns in language expansion: elaborations, extensions, and enhancements. While the parents dominated the conversations generally, the children were active contributors, initiating over one-quarter of the conversations. Initiation had an impact on the distribution of the conversational types: the proportions of contextualised & non-conflicted conversations was significantly higher in child-initiated conversations. The contextualised & conflicted conversations accounted for a higher proportion in parent-initiated conversations. It was the conversational type rather than initiation, which had an effect on the distribution of language expansion patterns. The least occurring decontextualised & conflicted conversations generated the most extensions. The frequently appeared contextualised & non-conflicted conversations, however, produced the fewest expanded messages. The implications from the findings for promoting high-quality mealtime conversations conducive to children’s language learning are discussed.