Touch as a resource when initiating joint activities in children’s peer interactions

Authors

  • Asta Cekaite Linköping University
  • Anna Ekström Linköping University
  • Anja Rydén Gramner Linköping University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.29058

Keywords:

children's peer group, social interactions, touch, embodiment, joint activities

Abstract

This video-ethnographic study explores preschool children’s ways of engaging in joint activities using touch, i.e., various types of physical contact. Focusing on how children (2–5 years old) in preschools in Sweden manage peer group activities, the study examines the ways in which physical contact features in children’s activity proposals and other actions that are aimed at including participants in a joint activity. It explores some of the diverse ways in which children initiate peer group activities by using touch as one of many multimodal resources for forming and sustaining activity-relevant participation frameworks. The study shows how children employed touch acts to i) initiate a joint participation framework by securing peers’ attention and bodily orientation; ii) create and sustain a joint participation framework within a multi-activity by assembling and managing simultaneous engagements; and iii) engage and include a child into an already ongoing activity. The study aims to contribute to knowledge about children’s touch cultures, as well as embodiment of children’s social relational work in early childhood educational settings.

Author Biographies

  • Asta Cekaite, Linköping University

    Asta Cekaite is a Professor in Child Studies, Thematic Research Unit, Linköping University, Sweden. Her research involves an interdisciplinary approach to language, culture, and social interaction. Specific foci include social perspectives on bilingualism, embodiment, touch, emotion, and moral socialization. Empirical fields cover adult-child and children’s peer group interactions in educational settings, and family in various cultural contexts (Sweden, USA, Japan).

  • Anna Ekström, Linköping University

    Anna Ekström is an associate professor in Speech-Language Pathology and a senior lecturer in the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at Linköping University, Sweden. She conducts research on communication and interaction in a variety of settings focusing on both children and adults with and without communication disorders. In her research, she particularly focuses on the role of intercorporeality in social interaction.

  • Anja Rydén Gramner, Linköping University

    Anja Rydén Gramner is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linkoping university. Her research interests concern discursive psychology and emotional skills (including embodiment) in higher education and professional education, and how fiction can function as a didactic tool for professional development. Anja teaches in teacher education.

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Published

2024-10-31

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Cekaite, A., Ekström, A., & Rydén Gramner, A. (2024). Touch as a resource when initiating joint activities in children’s peer interactions. Research on Children and Social Interaction, 8(1), 91-115. https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.29058