Argumentation in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review

Abstract

While scientific evidence on argumentation among preschool children is on the rise, it is dispersed over a number of different fields, which may obfuscate its visibility, merit and potential. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize the existing research and, as such, shed more concerted theoretical and empirical light on the origins as well as early development of the human capacity to argue. Based on 56 included studies, we show that it has been approached from numerous theoretical perspectives, with the dialogic view of argumentation and a productive eclecticism between argumentation, developmental, learning and linguistic theories as the main theoretical denominators. The review also documents that young children’s argumentation displays a range of structural-discursive, socio-interactional and developmental features, positioning them as argumentative agents in their own right. We discuss the implications of our findings in terms of further theory-building and their practical significance.