Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Literature I 59

and models of analysis of adult-child interaction may sound very familiar
because in psychological and linguistic studies the researcher, the reader
and the subjects of study usually share the same cultural background and
assumptions. This can prove to be a 'mixed blessing' (Ochs and
Scħieffelin,1982): ethnographic studies show how societies differ in their
expectations of what a child can and should communicate, and how the
mismatch of Sociolinguistic assumptions affects communicative performance
(Saville-Troike,1982; Scollon and Scollon,1981). The acquisition of
communicative competence reflects the child's learning of more general
norms of social behaviour and this socio-cultural knowledge is acquired
prior to language. Therefore,

The process of language acquisition must be understood as the
process of Integrating code knowledge with socio-cultural
knowledge. (Ochs and Schieffelin,1982:60)

This reflects the lines of research in linguistics and psychology
reviewed in the previous sections. Some aspects of adult-child interaction
are examined now from anthropological and cross-cultural literature to
show how Vestern, White, Middle Class (WVMC) patterns (Ochs and
Schieffelin,1982) are not applicable to other cultural groups.

2.5.2 Dyadic interaction and adults' input

The bulk of the literature on adult-child interaction has analyzed two-
party communication in the form of dialogue because in VVMC groups
interaction tends to be dyadic, between the principal caregiver, usually
the mother, and her child. In other groups, the typical communicative
situation is multi-party, as children are cared for by a number of
persons and tend to be often in company of peers, siblings, neighbours
and other members of the family (Blount 1972, 1977a and b; Lasky,1983;
Schieffelin,1979).

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