Establishing “One-Word Instruction” for Preschoolers

A Longitudinal Study of Line Formation in a Kindergarten Class

Abstract

This study examines the process of “one-word instruction” and its establishment in a young kindergarten class. Through the analysis of “line formation practice,” the study explores how a caregiver's simple cue prompts children to form a line in a specific way.

Children in kindergarten form lines as part of their routine. A characteristic feature of this process is that the caregiver's “one word instruction” guides the children to simultaneously form a specific line. How was this “one-word instruction” established? This study analyzed a scene where a child, new to kindergarten, participates in forming a line. The study employed H. Garfinkel's concepts of “instruction” and “instructed action” as well as the discussion around instructional history.

The analysis indicated that the caregivers readjusted the instructions to combine onomatopoeia with concrete body movements, using the children's responses to the instructions as resources. When the children formed a line in response to the instructions, they evaluated the status and confirmed the name of the line, treating each instruction as a learning item. The process of assigning a status to each instruction as a learning item has also been elucidated. In addition, in the process of establishing the “one-word instruction,” the resources used to construct the previous instructional activity were used to construct the new instructional activity, and the instruction was constructed using interactional history.