Språklig mestring, lek og sosial kompetanse hos de yngste barnehagebarna: en studie av variasjon og sammenhenger

The purpose of this thesis is to build knowledge about language, play and social skills at an early age in order to get closer to an understanding of how variation and relationships between these areas are expressed in the normal population. The study also aims to gain knowledge that can contribute to increased awareness regarding the youngest children in kindergarten. In addition, the thesis looks at the learning opportunities of young children who have weaker language skills compared to their peers, and who may struggle later if language-promoting measures are not implemented.

A relationship was found between young children’s functional ability in play and their language skills, but young children’s functional ability in play is more closely related to their social skills than to their language skills. This study contributes knowledge to the field in the following ways: (1) there is variation in children’s participation in play and language activities in kindergarten, (2) language skills seem to predict the ability to function socially in both multilingual and monolingual young children, and young children with low, average and high language skills. (3) social skills mediate the association between language skill and play around the age of 33 months.

The thesis consists of three studies that investigated both variation and relationships between language skills, play and social skills among children aged approximately 33 months in a Norwegian kindergarten context. The kindergarten staff collected data that was encoded and structured using the observation materials TRAS (language skills) and ALLIN (social skills). Each observation period lasted three months. All observations were carried out in natural situations in the kindergarten, such as routine situations, play and other everyday activities.

Stangeland, E. B. (2018). «Språklig mestring, lek og sosial kompetanse hos de yngste barnehagebarna: en studie av variasjon og sammenhenger». Doktorgradsavhandling. Universitetet i Stavanger.