ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses findings from a study that investigated the everyday teaching and learning interactions between young children and their teachers in an early childhood education setting in New Zealand. It explores an overview of early childhood literature discussing a socio-cultural approach to teacher-child interactions in education and also provides insight into the relatively underexplored literature of relational, emotional aspects of teacher-child interactions. The book extends research in ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, membership categorisation analysis, early childhood studies and pedagogy. The analysis of mundane activities engaged in by early childhood teachers and young children provide new understandings by revealing how the participants attend to sharing knowledge whilst also orienting to emotional and relational exchanges during their interactions. The book shows how affiliation and alignment are co-produced during pretend play through features of verbal and non-verbal interactions between adults and children.
