An Ethnographic Approach to Infants` Attempts at Interactions with Their Teacher in the Two-Year-Old Curriculum of a Child care Center
Kyeong Ah Yun , Hyun Seo
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate infants` individual attempts at interaction with their teachers in the two-year-old class curriculum of a child care center. To achieve this aim, this study analyzed both the types of interactions that infants attempted with their teachers, as well as the underlying message contained in infants` attempts at of interacting. This study used the complete participation observation methodology following an ethnographic approach, a research method which can help us see the whole picture by tracing the main causes and connections. The participants in this study were 13 infants and their teachers in 2 two-year-old classes (Hope and Love) of the Vision Child Care Center located in G city. The researcher, who was also a Hope-class teacher, ad as an observer, and the Love-class teacher acted as an assistant observer. Participant observation was made everyday except the days when field trips and group activities wewe planned, from october 2009 to January 2010. A variety of methods were used to collect materials, such as participant observation, in-depth interviews and collection of documents.