Situation- and partner accommodation in

Hungarian students’ reasoning

Katalin Nagy

II. GRAMMAR ACCOMODATION

Introduction Results & Discussion
Individual differences
Péter Bálint
• OBJECTIVE – CONNECTIVE – • OBJECTIVE – ACTION
This pilot study investigates how two Hungarian 9 year It is assumed that speech is socially and bodily ACTION STRUCTURE STRUCTURE
• CERTAINITY EXPRESSED BY • CERTAINITY EXPRESSED BY
old boys form their opinions and argue for their choices embedded multimodal activity. In the context of STATEMENTS STATEMENTS
when they are supposed to choose objects to be taken to a • ASSUMPTIONS ARE EXPRESSED BY • ASSUMPTIONS ARE EXPRESSED
diverse relationship-patterns (i. e. in diverse social CONDITIONALS BY CONDITIONALS
deserted island. The data suggested that socio-emotional situations) the intertwining layers of grammar, • MAKES EFFORT TO COMPOSE • LOOSELY STRUCTURED,
WELL-FORMED (GRAMMAR BOOK- INFORMAL SENTENCES
relations between the students have strong influence on content and bodily acts were used as the main LIKE) UTTERANCES • FEW CONNECTIVES
reasoning in pair-work situations. In fact, accommodation viewpoints of the analysis. • GREAT AMOUNT OF CONNECTIVES • GERUND AND INFINITIVE
• AUXILIARIES (CAN, COULD) AND • LOOSELY STRUCTURED, SHORT
was observed in grammatical structure, content and bodily INFINITIVES ADVERBIAL PHRASES
communication when the students explained the reasons • LONG ADVERBIAL CLAUSES

for their choices in interview or pair-work situations. FINDINGS

Accommodation in pair-work:
A sociometric measure was carried out among the
BÁLINT EXAM SITUATION BÁLINT, PAIR WORK:
Method and materials participants. The relationships between Péter and
Bálint illustrated on a the sociograph: =mert fát vágni, tüzelőnek=
GRAMMATICAL ACCOMMODATION
=ezzel meg tudjunk fát vágni<
=because to cut trees, =and with this we could cut trees<
for firewood = {POINTS THE AXE}
Péter chose Bálint as: Bálint chose Péter as:

28 children participated in my research from them two objective-action objective-connective-action

• his best friend.
boys with similar cognitive skills and family background • one of the best students.
• he has a good humor. Ø
were chosen for this study. The data contains video- • teachers like him. Teacher’s opinion
recorded tasks, questionnaires and interviews with the • he has the best clothes.
ZERO CHOICE „Bálint’s speech composition and articulation is
• one of the bests in sport.
student’s teacher. better. His stance is more confident. Péter is
giggling a lot. Probably he tries to cover his
I. MULTIMODAL INTERACTION ANALYSIS uncertainty, his problems comprehension. His
Two interviews (1–2.), one pair-work (3.) and a pair- word suffixation is improper.”
interview (4.) were videotaped and analysed.
III. BODILY ACCOMMODATION

When explained the necessity of a particular

object, the children use more bodily
communications in pair-work than in the
individual task.
1. 2.
I. CONTENT ACCOMMODATION

1. Children’s reasoning varied as to the length and

clarifications.
2. Reasoning was motivated by the children’s
expectations about future events.
3. Reasons were based on the children’s existing
3. 4. FURTHER RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
knowledge, either theoretical (e. g. how to make
fire with stones) or practical (e. g. how to read a
• How can the findings be applied to education?
book).
The Survival Task (Nagy, 2014) was applied to • How grammar, content and body aspects of
4. Clarifications were based on the children’s
investigate reasoning from the viewpoint of situation- reasoning are influenced by social relationship
presumptions. Such as possibilities (e. g. if the
and partner accommodation. In this problem-solving between children in pair-work situations?
wind blows the paper away) or probabilities (e.
task fourteen objects were given to the children who • How children’s reasoning differs from the
g. there will be some animal) or both.
were supposed to choose the seven most important formal reasoning patterns?
5. Children changed their individual preferences
things to be taken to a deserted island.
during the pair-work situation and accommo-
Materials:
A pack of dried pea, magnifying glass, a herb book,
dated to each other.
References
band aids, antiseptic gel, PÉTER BÁLINT PAIR-WORK
gauze, nails, rope, a can MATCHES MATCHES MATCHES
BAND-AID BAND-AID BAND-AID Mérei Ferenc (1970/2004): Közösségek rejtett háló-
of food, matchbox and GAUZE GAUZE GAUZE
the pictures of an axe, a ROPE ROPE ROPE zata. Budapest, Osiris.
knife and a saw. MAGNIFYING GLASS ANTISEPTIC GEL ANTISEPTIC GEL Nagy Katalin (2014): Body-, grammar- and content-
BOOK OF HERBS AXE AXE accommodation in children’s reasoning: A qualitative
NAILS NAILS A CAN OF FOOD study. Seminars in Applied Linguistics. Presentation
at the University of Jyväskylä.
II. QUESTIONNAIRES
The Sociometric Questionnaire (Mérei, 1970/2004) Péter Hát, nagyító! (megfogja)
was applied to map the socio-emotional relationships Well, magnifying glass! (grasps)
in the investigated class. Bálint Nagyító, minek?
Magnifying glass, for what? Contact Information:
Péter Találunk valami kicsit mondjuk, … nem, az
III. INTERVIEWS hülyeség (nevet)
Katalin Nagy
The teacher was interviewed concerning the students’ We find something little for example, … kanagy@student.jyu.fi
skills in oral interview exams. no, it’s stupid… (smiles)