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In:Usage-based Perspectives on Language and Language Acquisition: In honour of Heike Behrens
Edited by Karin Madlener-Charpentier, Marjolijn H. Verspoor, Mirjam Weder and Annelies Häcki Buhofer
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 35] 2026
► pp. 40–68

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Chapter 2
Scaffolding

A contribution to the Interaction Acquisition Support System (IASS)

Authors
 | University of Freiburg
 | University of Freiburg
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 21 May 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.35.02kla
Abstract
This article proposes a micro-sequential and multimodal approach to scaffolding in parent-child interactions. We argue for a more detailed understanding of how parents manage to transform their scaffolding into a time-limited intervention, transferring responsibility for the task to the child as soon as possible. In a social-interactional perspective following usage-based accounts of language acquisition (Tomasello, 2003), adults play a supportive role, helping children to develop linguistic and discourse skills through structured and dialogical interactions (cf. the Language Acquisition Support System LASS, Bruner, 1981, and the Discourse Acquisition Support System DASS, Hausendorf & Quasthoff, 2005). Whereas traditional approaches focus on asymmetry — where adults model and correct language — a more dynamic perspective, namely the Interaction Acquisition Support System (IASS, Behrens & Pfänder, 2024), recognises interaction as a collaborative and dynamic process. Based on the notions of contingency, fading and transfer (Van de Pol, Volman, & Beishuizen, 2010), we propose a more nuanced view of these three elements of caregivers’ scaffolding. Based on recordings of French families living in Germany, we present a refined scaffolding approach that provides a detailed understanding of how parents manage to limit their intervention while encouraging their child’s active agency.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Framework and research questions
  • 2.Scaffolding in language learning: A brief review of prior research
  • 3.Data and method
    • 3.1The French IluPE Corpus (Klatt, 2020-2024)
    • 3.2Method: Micro-sequential analysis of scaffolding elements
  • 4.Two case studies on scaffolding in playing with stacking rings
    • 4.1Example 1: Stacking rings — father and son
    • 4.2Example 2: Stacking rings — mother and daughter
  • 5.Scaffolding revisited: Toward a microsequential and radically multimodal account of temporary support in play interactions
    • 5.1Contingency revisited
    • 5.2Fading revisited
    • 5.3Transfer revisited
    • 5.4Scaffolding revisited — Answers to our research questions
  • 6.Discussion: Scaffolding as part and parcel of an Interaction Acquisition Support System
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (53)
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