Factors influencing language in the nursery school.

A naturalistic study was carried out in three Sheffield nurseries to examine the speech-functions of children and staff in relation to a selection of common indoor play activities. By means of video recording techniques, data were collected representing a total of twenty-two hours of recording, of which, for technical reasons, only twelve hours proved suitable for analysis. The linguistic data were categorised according to their functional aspects; and an assessment was made of the extent to which, and manner in which, speech-functions occurred differentially across the activities. Results of this assessment were interpreted in terms of their implications for the nursery school curriculum and for the functioning of nursery school staff. It was concluded that the children's speech was influenced by the factors of sex, age and their choice of play activity. It could not be concluded that teachers were influential, since no meaningful relationship was found between their own speech and that of the children.