Ethnological Methods in Cultural-Historical Psycholinguistics

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Abstract

Acknowledging the complexities of normal life, this article explores the benefits of ethnological methods for cultural-historical psycholinguistic research in the area of children’s language development. Within the framework of the cultural-historical tradition methods which strengthen the importance of context and dialogue between a researcher and her field appear to be interesting. Using the example of own fieldwork done with children in two German kindergartens, a reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of ethnological methods is proposed. The focus will be on participant observation, narrative interview and the influence of the researcher on the field in general.

General Information

Keywords: Child development, ethnology, language development, methodology, narrative interview participant observation, psycholinguistics

Article type: scientific article

For citation: Epping C. Ethnological Methods in Cultural-Historical Psycholinguistics [Elektronnyi resurs]. Tätigkeitstheorie: E-Journal for Activity Theoretical Research in Germany, 2011. no. 5, pp. 157–174.

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Information About the Authors

Clara Epping, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institut für Interkulturelle Kommunikation, Munich, Germany, e-mail: Clara.Epping@ikk.lmu.de

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