Young children’s affective stance through embodied displays of emotion during tellings

Storytelling provides opportunities for children to practise displays of affective stance. Children’s spontaneous tellings are noticeable as systematic and organized work, which are locally occasioned and triggered by a prior utterance where emotional responses are as significant as the tellings themselves. Affective stances are often observed in children’s tellings, encouraging children’s disposition to learn through active engagement with others, learning acceptable behaviours in meaningful social and cultural ways. This article explores how displays of heightened affect are prompted and responded to and progress the development of storylines within young children’s everyday storytelling. The data were collected in early childhood kindergartens in New Zealand and analysed using conversation analysis. The findings show that there is often elaboration/escalation of a telling, as peers respond by including additional characters within a continued topic in a display of heightened emotion shown through voice pitch and tone, as well as overt facial and bodily expression. Opportunities for practising displays of ‘correct’ emotional responses to tellings are important for young children in contributing to everyday socialising practises through real-life everyday experiences.