Toddler-educator decontextualised talk and its value for toddlers’ learning

In early childhood centres, decontextualised talk is often associated with literacy activities. In this study, however, we investigated toddler-educator conversations across various activities with a focus on those about topics that were not related to the immediate context. We examined the communicative purposes and linguistic features of these conversations and the opportunities they afford for toddlers’ learning. A qualitative analysis of video-recorded conversations between 12 2-year-old toddlers and their educators resulted in identifying four kinds of talk: ‘interview’, ‘story’, ‘inquiry’ and ‘rebuttal’. The findings reveal that toddler–educator conversations provide varied learning opportunities for toddlers, which are reinforced by both educators’ and toddlers’ conversational contributions. The participants’ contributions are shaped by the extent to which a topic is removed from their immediate activity. These findings can inform more effective use of linguistic features, such as questions and narrative constructions, for supporting under-3-year-old children’s learning and developing skills in using decontextualised talk.