Newly arrived children’s encounters with the cultural community of preschool

Abstract

The Swedish preschools have evolved to be more diverse in terms of language and culture amongst the attending children. Previous research on newly arrived children in the Swedish preschools focusses on, amongst other things, how to provide for the best reception or education, but less is known about the newly arrived children’s own communicative ways when they start preschool. The aim of this paper is to explore how children entering a new linguistic environment are able to participate by using communicative tools in speech events at preschool. The analysis shows how the children participate by combining different communicative tools when they shadow, code-switch, invent language and make use of expressive body language. The study contributes with knowledge about preschool children’s various ways of approaching a new language and adjusting to a new cultural context and children’s social and informal learning practices in preschool.