1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this current study was to extend the literature on imitation as a learning strategy during the context of sibling teaching, and its association with teachers’ (i.e., older siblings) social-cognitive abilities (i.e., second-order false belief understanding and interpretative understanding).» (p. 23)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The present study [...] use a previously collected data set by Howe et al. (2012) [...].» (p. 24) «The participants of this study included 60 sibling dyads, specifically 15 female-female, 15 male-male, 14 female-male, and 16 male-female pairs. [T]he children’s families lived in a large urban bilingual (French and English) city that had a population of 3,000,000 people.» (p. 28-29) «The data consisted of videotaped sibling teaching sessions collected at home or school; the older sibling teacher was taught how to construct a tractor by a research assistant and then had to teach their younger sibling. Using videotapes and transcripts, the coders identified the sequences of imitation and then coded the type of imitation (verbal, nonverbal, spontaneous, deferred), responses (i.e., correction, positive/neutral, negative, not attending, off-task), and functions (i.e., clarification, agreement, disagreement, off task) of imitation.» (p. iii)

Instruments :
Grille d’observation

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«In conclusion, this study showed that imitation is an implemented learning strategy spontaneously engaged in by the learner during sibling teaching. […] Unlike other relationship contexts, siblings share a co-constructed history and experiences, which they may not share with their peers and friends to the same degree. Siblings’ knowledge and shared experiences allowed learners to imitate teachers and to be involved in the teaching session. Additionally, siblings long-lasting and intimate relationship made learners more comfortable to agree, ask clarification questions, and disagree with teachers. While disagreeing or asking questions might be challenging when learners are building with other peers, apparently, they were able to do so with their older siblings perhaps due to their relationship and knowledge of one another. This study demonstrated that teachers have a role in learners’ imitation by providing appropriate responses to learners’ imitation. Teachers responded differently by correcting and providing positive/neutral responses depending on the type of imitation exhibited by learners. Therefore, the study demonstrated that sibling teaching requires collaboration between both the teacher and learner, in addition to negotiations, elaborations, agreements, and disagreements between both partners, who are performing the task.» (p. 74)