Peer interactions of multilingual toddlers in early childhood education and care in the Netherlands: An exploratory observation-based social network study

Peer interactions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) contribute to young children’s development. Earlier studies show that children’s linguistic resources might relate to how much they interact with peers, and with whom they interact. However, it is unclear to what extent interaction preferences are shaped by young children’s language background, language proficiency, and communicative competence. In this exploratory study, we tried to examine this question using the latest innovations in social network analysis, namely generalized exponential graph models and observation apps. We investigated to what extent children’s linguistic resources are related to whom they interact with and how much. We observed a free play episode (30-60 minutes) in twelve linguistically diverse toddler groups in the Netherlands (N=124) with a specifically designed observation app and looked at which children interacted and how much. Exploratory analyses across nine playgroups showed that children who shared a home language had more interactions with each other. There was no effect of multilingualism or ECEC language proficiency on peer interactions. We found that teacher involvement in free play was positively related to the quantity of peer interactions. In terms of practical implications, this suggests that teachers play an important role in stimulating (multilingual) children’s peer interactions in ECEC. Teachers might be advised to connect multilingual children to same-language peers and encourage translanguaging practices. • We studied toddlers’ peer interactions in relation to their linguistic resources • A dedicated observation app and generalized exponential graph models were used • Children who shared a home language had more interactions with each other • There was no effect of multilingualism or language proficiency on peer interactions • Teacher involvement during free play was positively related to peer interactions