Adult Scaffolding and Pragmatic Competence in Early Language Acquisition: Evidence from a Javanese-Indonesian Bilingual Family
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/tunascendekia.v9i2.12260Keywords:
adult scaffolding, pragmatic competence, naturalistic interactions, language socialization, politeness norms, early language acquisitionAbstract
This study investigates the functional trajectory of adult scaffolding and its role in fostering pragmatic competence during early language acquisition within a non-Western bilingual context. Adopting a comparative naturalistic case study design, 16 hours of audio-visual interaction data were collected from two child participants aged 3 (Child A) and 5 (Child B) in Sukoharjo, Central Java, across mealtime, free-play, and joint reading sessions. The discourse was transcribed using CHILDES CHAT conventions and analyzed via Pragmatic Discourse Analysis. Findings reveal a functional shift in adult scaffolding: primary caregivers at age 3 predominantly utilized verbal prompts (42.1%) and clarification requests (31.0%) to resolve basic communication breakdowns and provide cognitive co-regulation. Conversely, interventions at age 5 transitioned toward modelling and reformatting (44.9%), focusing on socio-pragmatic refinement, local politeness norms (unggah-ungguh), and register shifting between Javanese (Ngoko/Krama) and Indonesian. Moreover, communication repair mechanisms shifted from verbatim phonological repetition at age 3 to spontaneous lexical and structural revisions at age 5, marking a cognitive transition from egocentric speech to an internalized Theory of Mind (ToM). Given its small-scale case study design, these results offer preliminary evidence that may challenge Western-centric scaffolding models by demonstrating that adult guidance in Eastern collectivist contexts frequently directs children toward mitigating direct communication to preserve social harmony. The study highlights the necessity of incorporating socio-pragmatic awareness into early childhood development frameworks and language socialization paradigms.
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