Oral Language and Literacy Learning in Context: The Role of Social Relationships

The effects of friend/nonfriend groupings on early literacy were examined. Literacy was defined in terms of children's use of literate language and traditional school-based literacy. We predicted that friend, compared to nonfriend, conditions elicit more conflicts/resolutions, emotional terms, and literate language; that the friendship condition is particularly supportive for girls' exhibition of literate language and emotion terms; and that literate language predicts school-based literacy. Same gender dyads of kindergarten friends and nonfriends were observed in experimental literacy events and measures of oral language and reading and writing were collected. Results generally supported the predictions. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of close relationships and emotion for early literacy development.