유치원에서 나타나는 만 5세 유아들의 웃음에 대한 의미 = Exploring the Meanings of Laughter Among Five-Year-Old Children in Kindergarten Classrooms: An Ethnographic Study

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Exploring the Meanings of Laughter Among Five-Year-Old Children in Kindergarten Classrooms: An Ethnographic Study. Heo Hye Yun Academic Advisor : Prof. Seo Hyun, Ed. D. Department of Education, Graduate School of Chosun University This study aimed to explore the meanings of laughter among five-year-old children in kindergarten classrooms from an ethnographic perspective. Although laughter has often been regarded as a response to humor or a manifestation of positive emotions, children's laughter emerges within everyday interactions with peers and teachers and functions as a sociocultural practice through which children express emotions, negotiate relationships, construct meanings, and participate in classroom culture. Accordingly, this study sought to understand laughter not as an isolated behavior but as a socially and culturally situated experience embedded in children's daily lives. The study addressed three research questions: （1） In what situations do children experience laughter in kindergarten classrooms? （2） What roles does laughter play in interactions with peers and teachers? （3） What meanings do children construct through laughter? This ethnographic study was conducted in a private kindergarten located in G City, South Korea. The participants were twenty-two five-year-old children and their classroom teacher. Data were collected over a ten-month period through participant observation, informal and formal interviews, field notes, audio and video recordings, and document collection. The data were analyzed through an iterative process of coding, categorization, and interpretation to identify recurring patterns and meanings embedded in children's laughter experiences. The findings revealed that children's laughter occurred in four broad contexts: laughter that animated the body, laughter that moved the heart, laughter that connected or damaged relationships, and laughter that shaped classroom culture. Laughter emerged through bodily play, verbal play, shared interests, feelings of achievement, experiences of awkwardness, peer solidarity, teasing, exclusion, classroom routines, and teachers' educational beliefs. These findings suggest that laughter is deeply embedded in children's everyday experiences and social worlds. The study further found that laughter played both positive and negative roles in relationships. In peer interactions, laughter facilitated emotional bonding, the development of humor competence, positive emotional experiences, peer cohesion, and social leadership, while simultaneously functioning as a mechanism for ridicule, exclusion, and marginalization. In teacher-child interactions, laughter contributed to emotionally supportive learning environments, trust formation, educational humor modeling, positive reinforcement, and empathic communication. Conversely, laughter sometimes generated emotional distance or functioned as a subtle form of control. The central meaning emerging from the study was conceptualized as “Connecting Threads.” Children's laughter functioned as a relational thread linking the self, others, and the classroom community. Four interconnected meanings were identified: laughter as a means of negotiating emotional stability and tension, laughter as a pathway to social connectedness and leadership, laughter as a resource for self-expansion and self-efficacy, and laughter as a medium through which children experienced, interpreted, and occasionally transcended social norms and classroom order. These findings suggest that laughter is not merely an expression of amusement but a significant sociocultural resource through which children construct relationships, identities, meanings, and classroom communities. Understanding children's laughter as a meaningful educational phenomenon provides valuable implications for child-centered pedagogy and contributes to a deeper understanding of children's lived experiences in early childhood educational settings. Keywords: children's laughter, ethnography, kindergarten classroom, peer culture, teacher-child interaction, sociocultural meaning, emotional development, early childhood education

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론 1
• A. 연구 필요성과 목적 1
• B. 연구문제 9
• Ⅱ. 이론적 배경 10
• A. 웃음의 개념 10
• 1. 웃음의 정의 10
• 2. 웃음의 구성요소 14
• B. 웃음 이론 17
• 1. 전통적 웃음 이론 17
• 2. 현대 웃음 이론 26
• C. 웃음의 특성 36
• 1. 생리적 반응 36
• 2. 정서적 표현 38
• 3. 사회문화적 상호작용 41
• D. 유아와 웃음 43
• 1. 유아기 웃음의 발달 특성 43
• 2. 유아 웃음의 유형 47
• 3. 관계 속에서 나타나는 유아의 웃음 50
• Ⅲ. 연구방법 54
• A. 질적연구 54
• B. 연구절차 56
• 1. 연구참여자 선정과정 및 윤리적 고려 57
• 2. 예비연구 59
• 3. 본 연구 60
• C. 연구장소와 연구참여자 61
• 1. 다솜유치원 61
• 2. 숲속향기반 68
• 3. 교사 72
• 4. 유아 74
• D. 자료수집 76
• 1. 참여관찰 76
• 2. 면담 78
• 3. 문서수집 81
• E. 자료분석 82
• Ⅳ. 유아가 웃음을 경험한 상황 87
• A. 몸을 들썩거리게 만드는 웃음 87
• 1. 신체를 일부러 우스꽝스럽게하여 익살스런 상황 만들기 88
• 2. 신체를 활용해서 웃기기 96
• B. 마음을 움직이는 웃음 105
• 1. 언어적 유희 106
• 2. 성취만족 118
• 3. 공감대 형성 133
• 4. 어색함과 쑥스러움 139
• C. 관계를 엮어가거나 망가뜨리는 웃음 145
• 1. 사회적 결합과 우애심 146
• 2. 조롱과 배제 그리고 비웃음 158
• D. 교실 문화를 빚어내는 웃음 162
• 1. 놀이 중심 교육 문화 163
• 2. 교사의 가치관 176
• Ⅴ. 유아의 웃음이 갖는 역할 186
• A. 또래와 유아 관계에서 웃음의 상호작용 186
• 1. 긍정적인 웃음의 역할 187
• 2. 부정적인 웃음의 역할 200
• B. 교사와 유아 관계에서 웃음의 상호작용 206
• 1. 긍정적인 웃음의 역할 207
• 2. 부정적인 웃음의 역할 221
• Ⅵ. 유아 웃음의 의미 227
• A. 유아 웃음의 의미 : 연결의 실타래 227
• 1. 정서적 안정과 긴장을 반복하는 웃음 228
• 2. 사회적 유대감 형성과 주도성을 발현하는 웃음 234
• 3. 자아의 확장과 자기효능감을 강화하는 웃음 241
• 4. 규범의 경험과 질서를 넘나드는 즐거움을 느끼는 웃음 247
• Ⅶ. 논의 및 제언 254
• A. 논의 254
• 1. 유아가 웃음을 경험한 상황 254
• 2. 유아의 웃음이 갖는 역할 261
• 3. 유아 웃음의 의미 : 연결의 실타래 271
• B. 제언 290
• 참고문헌 292
• 부록 322