Look At/Check X: An Attention-And-Approval-Seeking Device

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the home, parents and children are often co-present but engaged with different tasks. When children wish to engage their parents about something they have produced/are producing and to monitor their understanding of it, they need a means of obtaining both parental attention and understanding. I examine instances of children using the look at X directive (and its variant in South African English, check X) as an attention-and-approval-seeking device, where parents either respond by looking and approving or children pursue approval. By examining naturally occurring video-recorded interactions in the homes of two families with four-year-old children, I demonstrate that the directive sets in motion a pair of conditionally relevant responses of attending and approving. Through this practice, children monitor their own understanding of their production as an accomplishment and together parent and child (re)inforce normative expectations of children as apprentices and parents as knowledgeable authorities. Data are in South African English.