Location
University of Windsor
Document Type
Paper
Keywords
adult-children interaction, definition, issue, property, small children, spontaneous argumentation
Start Date
18-5-2016 9:00 AM
End Date
21-5-2016 5:00 PM
Abstract
The literature on argumentation and education often conveys that children’s argumentation skills are not well developed; therefore, it would be difficult to find argumentation in small children, as well as in primary school classrooms (Kuhn 1991). However, studies focusing on argumentation in less formal contexts (for example the family, see Arcidiacono & Bova 2013) show that there is no need to depart from such a negative stance. If children are given room to pursue their lines of thought (Danish & Enyedy 2015), they often produce sophisticated spontaneous argumentation. In this paper I consider arguments from definition introduced by children as a case in point. To do so, I use a corpus of data, in which small children under the age of six years, discuss with an adult and with peers. Results show two uses of arguments from definition by children: on the one hand, children may introduce a new issue and their standpoint supported by an argument from definition; on the other hand, children may contest or refute an issue that was proposed by an adult and put forward an argument from definition.
Creative Commons License
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Daniel Fasko Jr, Commentary on Uses of arguments from definition in children’s argumentation (May 2016)
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Uses of arguments from definition in children’s argumentation
University of Windsor
The literature on argumentation and education often conveys that children’s argumentation skills are not well developed; therefore, it would be difficult to find argumentation in small children, as well as in primary school classrooms (Kuhn 1991). However, studies focusing on argumentation in less formal contexts (for example the family, see Arcidiacono & Bova 2013) show that there is no need to depart from such a negative stance. If children are given room to pursue their lines of thought (Danish & Enyedy 2015), they often produce sophisticated spontaneous argumentation. In this paper I consider arguments from definition introduced by children as a case in point. To do so, I use a corpus of data, in which small children under the age of six years, discuss with an adult and with peers. Results show two uses of arguments from definition by children: on the one hand, children may introduce a new issue and their standpoint supported by an argument from definition; on the other hand, children may contest or refute an issue that was proposed by an adult and put forward an argument from definition.
