NEN Summary: Joint Attention

What is joint attention?

Joint attention involves two individuals interacting, cooperating, and sharing their focus on a specific task, object, or event. This can be during a conversation, focusing on a topic within a lesson or completing an activity.

Joint attention is often only referred to when it occurs between two individuals who are purposefully and specifically coordinating their attention with that of another person with an understanding (spoken or unspoken) that they are working toward the same aims, goals or purpose. However, with this being said, joint attention does not refer to the depth or complexity of the attention but solely two individuals coordinating their focus on the aim, goal or purpose of a task.

A type of focus based on the depth of the shared attention is called ‘sustained shared thinking’. More information on this topic can be found on the links below;

Joint attention can be seen when a learner fully engages in their session with ‘learning ready behaviour’ such as eye contact with the teacher as they are disseminating information about a specific topic. Due to this, joint attention is often viewed as a social behaviour as it relies on traditional social interaction skills to occur.

Initiating joint attention

Joint attention is generally seen as being formed of two methods in which the concept of joint attention can occur. These two methods are initiating joint attention and responding to joint attention.

Initiating joint attention

This method of joint attention arises when an individual starts or initiates the social interaction. This can be a visual, physical or vocal gesture to another person, which starts an interaction. This method of joint attention is the more complex of the two as it requires sophisticated social interaction skills, abilities and comprehension. This is because it relies on the individual being able to alert the other person to the presence and desire to communicate, share their meaning and maintain the focus of both the other individual on the task’s aim, goal and purpose.

Responding to joint attention

This method of joint attention arises when the individual is responding to the efforts of another individual to gain their attention. This method of joint attention is seen as easier to initiate as it is just the result of responding rather than initiating, which requires more simplistic socialisation skills, abilities and comprehension.