Cooperative Behaviors in Children’s Jointly Art Activities

—A Case Analysis using Ideas of Pragmatics—

Abstract

This study positioned art activities conducted in cooperation with others as “jointly art activities,” dealing with the content of activities in which multiple children worked on the same object, assuming direct interaction between children. To consider how each child’s behavior in the activities takes into account the presence of the other child, the author examined whether those behaviors included elements of cooperation. In doing so, the author attempted to use the framework of conversation analysis in pragmatics. Specifically, the author summarized the stances of the study and the lineages of pragmatics, organized the main theoretical frameworks, and used them to analyze a case study of “jointly art activities” by pairs of primary school students. If cooperation is considered the act of adjusting differences in opinion, seeking harmony with the other person, and joining forces, the behavior of the two children in the case study could be considered cooperative.