Primary school children and cooperative interaction: Recruitments and offers of assistance in small-group activities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.1970-2221/22544Keywords:
classroom interaction, primary school, recruitments and offers of assistance, Conversation Analysis, multimodalityAbstract
Aimed at investigating primary school children’s interactional competence and cooperation practices, this article focuses on recruitments and offers of assistance – a topic mostly studied in interactions among adults, as well as in early childhood and adolescence, but underexplored in classroom settings with children aged 8–9. Using a multimodal conversation analytic approach, the study examines two interrelated practices through which children in Italian primary schools cooperate during classroom activities carried out in pairs and in small groups: (1) explicit requests for assistance and (2) unsolicited provisions of help intended to preempt a classmate’s potential difficulty. These practices occur both within the children’s own pair/group and beyond it. We offer initial insights into how the recruitment continuum (Kendrick & Drew, 2016) is configured by primary school children, paying particular attention to the interplay between Italian syntactic formats and the range of multimodal resources children employ to accomplish recruitment and assistance.
References
Bateman, A. (2024). Infant embodied requests and teacher-practitioner offers during early childhood education mealtimes. Appetite, 200, 107539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107539
Berger, E., & Pekarek Doehler, S. (2018). Tracking change over time in storytelling practices: A longitudinal study of second language talk-in-interaction. In S. Pekarek Doehler, J. Wagner & E. González-Martínez (Eds.), Longitudinal studies on the organization of social interaction (pp. 67–102). Palgrave Macmillan.
Cekaite, A. (2013). Child pragmatic development. In A. Chappelle (Ed.), In the Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 602–609). Blackwell.
Cekaite, A., & Bjork-Willén, P. (2012). Peer group interactions in multilingual educational settings: Co-constructing social order and norms for language use. International Journal of Bilingualism, 17(2), 174-188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006912441417
Cekaite, A., Blum-Kulka, S., Grover, V., & Teubal, E. (Eds.). (2014). Children’s peer talk. Learning from each other. Cambridge University Press.
Clayman, S. E., & Heritage, J. (2014). Benefactors and beneficiaries: Benefactive status and stance in the management of offers and requests. In P. Drew & E. Couper-Kuhlen (Eds.), Requesting in social interaction (pp. 55-86). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1075/slsi.26.03cla
Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (2018). Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge University Press.
Curl, T. S. (2006). Offers of assistance: Constraints on syntactic design. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(8), 1257-1280.
Deppermann, A., & Gubina, A. (2021). When the body belies the words: Embodied agency with darf/kann ich? (“may/can I?”) in German. Frontiers in Communication 6, 661800, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.661800
Drew, P., & Couper-Kuhlen, E. (2014). Requesting—from speech act to recruitment. In P. Drew & E. Couper-Kuhlen (Eds.), Requesting in social interaction (pp. 1–34). John Benjamins.
Drew, P., & Kendrick, K. H. (2018). Searching for trouble: Recruiting assistance through embodied action. Social Interaction. Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality. https://doi.org/10.7146/si.v1i1.105496
Eilittä, T. (2024). How to engage: Kindergarteners telling on their peers and recruiting adults’ assistance. Research on Children and Social Interaction, 8(1), 1–31.
Evaldsson A. C., & Cekaite, A. (2010). ‘Schwedis’ he can’t even say Swedish” – subverting and reproducing institu-tionalized norms for language use in multilingual peer groups. Journal of Pragmatics, 20(4), 587-604. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20.4.05eva?locatt=mode:legacy
Floyd, S., Rossi, G., Enfield, N. J., Kendrick, K. H., Blythe, J., Zinken, J., Baranova, J., & Dingemanse, M. (2020). Getting others to do things: A pragmatic typology of recruitments. Language Science Press. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4017493
Gardner, R. (2019). Classroom interaction research: The state of the art. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 52(3), 211-226. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2019.1631037
Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. Blackwell.
Goodwin, C., & Goodwin, M.H. (2004). Participation. In A. Duranti (Ed.), A companion to linguistic anthropology (pp. 222-244). Basil Blackwell.
Hayashi, M., Raymond, G., & Sidnell, J. (Eds.). (2013). Conversational repair and human understanding. Cambridge University Press.
Heritage, J. (2016). The recruitment matrix. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 49(1), 27-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2016.1126440
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13-23). Benjamins.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1975). Learning together and alone. Prentice-Hall.
Jones, R., & Thornborrow, J. (2004). Floors, talk, and the organization of classroom activities. Language in Society, 33(3), 399-423.
Kendrick, K. H. (2021). The ‘Other’ side of recruitment: Methods of assistance in social interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 178, 68-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.02.015
Kendrick, K. H. (2025). Recruitment. In A. Gubina, E. M. Hoey & C. W. Raymond (Eds.), Encyclopedia of terminology for conversation analysis and interactional linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA). https://emcawiki.net/Recruitment
Kendrick, K. H., & Drew, P. (2016). Recruitment: Offers, requests, and the organization of assistance in interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 49(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2016.1126436
Koshmann, T. (2013). Conversation Analysis and collaborative learning. In C. Hmelo-Silver, A. O’Donnell, C. Chan, C. & C. Chinn (Eds.), The International Handbook of Collaborative Learning (pp. 149-167). Routledge.
Lamberti, S. (2010). Cooperative Learning. Lineamenti Introduttivi. Quiedit.
Lee, Y-A. (2007). Third turn position in teacher talk: Contingency and the work of teaching. Journal of Pragmatics, 39, 1204-1230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.11.003
Levinson, S. C. (2006). On the human “interaction engine”. In N. J. Enfield & S. C Levinson (Eds.), Roots of human sociality (pp. 39-69). Routledge.
Margutti, P. (2006). “Are you human beings?” Order and knowledge construction through questioning in primary classroom interaction. Linguistics and Education, 17, 313–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2006.12.002
Margutti, P., & Piirainen-Marsch, A. (2011). The interactional management of discipline and morality in the classroom – An introduction. Linguistics and Education, 22, 305-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2011.08.003
Margutti, P., De Roberto, E., Pugliese, R., Rossi, E., & Veronesi, D. (2025). What authentic data tell us about pupils’ interactional competence: A video-based interdisciplinary study. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica 20(2). http://doi.org/10.60923/issn.1970-2221/22577
Mehan, H. (1979). Learning lesson. Harvard University Press.
Moll, H., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Cooperation and human cognition: The Vygotskian intelligence hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B362639–648. http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.2000
Mondada, L. (2014). The local constitution of multimodal resources for social interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 65, 137-156.
Mondada, L. (2018). Multiple temporalities of language and body in interaction: Challenges for transcribing multimodality. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 51(1), 85-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2018.1413878
Mondada, L. (2021). How early can embodied responses be? Issues in time and sequentiality. Discourse Processes, 58(4), 397-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2020.1871561
Nasi, N. (2022a). Classroom norms as resources: Deontic rule formulations and children’s local enactment of authority in the peer group. Linguistics and Education, 69, 101059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2022.101059
Nasi, N. (2022b). Children’s peer interactions in the classroom: A review of literature, an empirical illustration, and some implications for teacher’s practice. Formazione & Insegnamento, 3, 252-264. https://dx.doi.org/10.7346/-fei-XX-03-22_19
Niemi, K. (2016). ‘Because I point to myself as the hog’ – Interactional achievement of moral decisions in a classroom. Learning Culture and Social Interaction, 9, 68-79.
Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B.B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories and their implications. In R. Shweder & R. LeVine (Eds.), Culture theory: Essays on mind, self and emotion (pp. 276-320). Cambridge University Press.
Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B.B. (Eds.). (1979). Developmental Pragmatics. Academic Press.
Pauletto, F. (2016). Be’ in posizione iniziale dei turni di parola: Una risorsa interazionale per l’organizzazione delle azioni, delle sequenze e dei topic. Vox Romanica, 75, 73-98.
Pekarek-Doehler, S. (2018). Elaborations on L2 interactional competence: The development of L2 grammar-for-interaction. Classroom Discourse, 9(1), 3-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2018.1437759
Pfeiffer, M., & Anna, M. (2021). Recruiting assistance in early childhood: Longitudinal changes in the use of “Oh+X” as a way of reporting trouble in German. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 54(2), 142–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2021.1899708
Pulles, M., Berenst, J., Koole, T., & de Glopper, K. (2021). How primary school children address reading problems in dialogic reading. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 4(2), 217-242. https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.12411
Raymond, G. (2003). Grammar and social organization: Yes/no interrogatives and the structure of responding. American Sociological Review, 68(6), 939-967. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.2307/1519752
Rossi, G. (2012). Bilateral and unilateral requests: The use of imperatives and Mi X? interrogatives in Italian. Discourse Processes, 49(5), 426-458. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2012.684136
Rossi, G. (2015). Responding to pre-requests: The organization of hai x “do you have x” sequences in Italian. Journal of Pragmatics, 82(Supplement C), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.03.008
Rossi, G. (2020). The recruitment system in Italian. In S. Floyd, G. Rossi & N.J. Enfield (Eds.), Getting others to do things: A pragmatic typology of recruitments (pp. 147-201). Language Society Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696-735.
Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence organization in interaction. A primer in conversation analysis. Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks, H. (1977). The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language, 53(2), 361-382.
Siciliano, J. (2001). How to incorporate cooperative learning principles in the classroom: It's more than just putting students in teams. Journal of Management Education, 25(1), 8–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/105256290102500103
Sidnell, J. & Stivers, T. (Eds.). (2013). The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Whiley-Blackwell.
Sidnell, J., Enfield, N. J., & Kockelman, P. (2014). Interaction and intersubjectivity. Part III. In N. J. Enfield, P. Kockelman & J. Sidnell (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology (pp. 343–480). Cambridge University Press.
Slocombe, K. E., & Seed, A. M. (2019). Cooperation in children. Current Biology, 29(11), R470-R473.
Streeck, J., Goodwin, C., & LeBaron, C. D. (Eds.). (2011). Embodied interaction: Language and body in the material world. Cambridge University Press.
Thornborrow, J. (2003). The organization of primary school children’s on-task and off-task talk in a small group setting. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36(1), 7-32. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327973RLSI3601_2
Tomasello, M. (2009). Why we cooperate. MIT press.
Tůma, F., & Sherman, T. (2022). Recruiting help in word searches in L2 peer interaction: A multimodal conversation-analytic study. Linguistics and Education, 67, 100999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2021.100999
Ulber, J., Hamann, K., & Tomasello, M. (2015). How 18-and 24-month-old peers divide resources among themselves. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 140, 228-244.
Veronesi, D. (2020). Bene, va bene, benissimo come risorse di pre-chiusura e di transizione in interazioni istituzionali. SILTA, 49(3), 544-570.
Warneken, F. (2013). Young children proactively remedy unnoticed accidents. Cognition, 126(1), 101-108.
Warneken, F., & Tomasello, M. (2007). Helping and cooperation at 14 months of age. Infancy, 11(3), 271–94.
Zinken, J. (2015). Contingent control over shared goods. ‘Can I have x’ requests in British English informal interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 82, 23-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2015.03.005
Zinken, J. (2020). Recruiting assistance and collaboration in Polish. In S. Floyd, G. Rossi & N.J. Enfield (Eds.), Getting others to do things: A pragmatic typology of recruitments (pp. 281-324). Language Society Press.
Zinken, J., & Rossi, G. (2016). Assistance and other forms of cooperative engagement. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 49(1), 20-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2016.1126439
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Daniela Veronesi, Monica Simone
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
