ABSTRACT

A text which addresses the relationship between childhood, competence and the social arenas of action in which children live their lives. Taking issue with the view that children are merely apprentice adults, the contributors develop a picture of children as competent, sophisticated social agents, focusing on the contexts which both enable and constrain that competence.

part |1 pages

Part I Competence and Family Structures Chapter 2 Children and the Family Order: Constraints and

part |1 pages

Part II Contexts for Discourse Competence Chapter 5 Children’s Neo-rhetorical Participation in Peer Interactions