Communication, particularly language, plays a role in children’s learning.
- Language is a mechanism for thinking
- Language allows children to imagine, create new ideas and share ideas with others.
- Enriches parent-child relationships as they develop a new way of interacting and provides a remarkable lens into the mind of a young human
- Young children are born with an astounding capacity to learn, both in the amount they can learn in any one domain or topic and in the variety and range of what they can learn
Although brain development is “acultural
- Cultural context is very important in determining how and what children learn and how they communicate
- Cultural context also shapes what skills children are most likely to acquire in early childhood and beyond
Human language is
flexible and productive
- Estimated that more than 7000 languages are spoken in the world today
Five elements of language
- Phonology: the sound system of a language and the rules for combining sounds to produce meaningful units of speech.
- Morphology: rules that specify how meaningful words are formed from sounds.
o The morphology rule for many English nouns is to add the letter “s” to indicate plurality. - Semantics: expressed meaning of words or sentences.
o Many English words have more than one meaning but voice inflection or the way words are combined in a sentence can indicate meaning. “pit”- can mean hole in ground or the pit of a fruit - Syntax: structure of a language or the rules specifying ho words and grammatical markers can be combined to produce sentences.
- Pragmatics: rules or principles for the appropriate use of language in a social context
o Includes being aware of subtle differences between words and how different words or sentence structures can be interpreted.
- Children begin to communicate at birth using sounds and then gestures.
o Oral language greatly expands the way in which children can express their needs, exchange ideas, express feelings and connect with others.
o the capacity to communicate with language also expands children’s capabilities to regulate their emotions and behaviour and to get along with others
Humans are prepared to communicate from
the moment they are born
- adults seem also to be prepared to speak in a certain way to infants and young children.
- “motherese” – Werker says it should be called “parantese” since mothers are not the only adults who do it.
Infants are more responsive to
higher-pitched voices.
o Simple, clear enunciation is easier for children to understand
o Adults modify their language interactions based on children’s growing skill and even deaf parents use a form of parentese when signaling to their babies.
This accommodation on the part of the parents is largely unconscious
How language develops
- Babies communicate by
crying, looking towards a voice, cooing (vowel sounds and gurgling) and later babbling.
o By 9 months- start to pay attention to the same object or event when an adult labels or points to it
o Start to screen out sounds not used in their own language, use language patterns from their own language, take turns in games such as pat-a-cake or peek-a-boo, use pointing and other gestures to communicate and comprehend some words.
How language develops
- Toddlers (between 12 months and 2 years of age) use
use gestures and a few words to express themselves and by the end of this period, can use up to 200 words.
o Understand a growing number of words when spoken and are starting to combine words into two- word sentences
o They use their own name or personal pronoun to refer to self and are starting to use words to influence the behaviour of others.
How language develops
- At age 2.
children’s vocabulary is increasing rapidly and they are figuring out word meanings from cues in the environment, and speaking in simple sentences that follow basic syntax.
How language develops
- At age 3, children
talk about objects and events that are not present and the actions of others.
o Can carry on conversations that have several turns for each participant, answer simple questions, ask many questions, and call attention to his/her own actions (‘watch me!’). Their speech is understandable most of the time and they use standard grammar, but may make mistakes with words that don’t follow standard form.
How language develops
- At age 4
, children use prepositions ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘under’ and possessive forms of pronouns.
o They produce elaborate sentences, use correct verb tenses, and change tone of voice and sentence structure to accommodate the listener (i.e., a younger child vs. an adult)
o They remember first and last names, addresses, and telephone numbers and are able to verbally solve simple problems. They can recite and sing simple songs and rhymes
How language develops
- At age 5,
children often have a vocab of 1500 words or more that are used in very complex sentences.
o They can tell a familiar story from looking at the pictures in a book, define simple words by function and enjoy humour and jokes
o They have a growing understanding of irregular syntax and tenses.
- Adults often refer to children as
“sponges”- to highlight the way children seem to soak up experiences and knowledge in what appears to be an effortless way
- Children construct knowledge by
defining, classifying, making connections and predictions, testing theories and using their imagination
o They connect existing knowledge and earlier experiences in new contexts to develop an understanding of the world around them.
Talking, walking, and reading in any language typically follow similar patterns of learning:
- Selective. Babies around the world make the same babbling and cooing sounds. After about six months, they begin to make only the sounds that are related to the languages they hear around them.
- Move from simple to complex. Young children speak single words first and then build them into sentences
o Language skills, like physical skills, build on one another. - Move from concrete to abstract. First words usually name important people such as Mommy or Daddy and things such as a favourite food. Words about feelings and thinking come later.
- Sequential. Babies learn to sit up before they walk, use one word before sentences and focus on one aspect of a problem before learning to focus on several aspects at the same time.
- the physical and social environments in which Canadian children develop have
changed over the past several decades.
o As more Canadians move into cities, their children are less likely to have access to outdoor play spaces in natural environments
o Technology, traffic, and urban land-use patterns have changed the natural play territory of childhood.3 Parents, increasingly concerned about the security of their children, are making greater use of carefully constructed outdoor playgrounds that limit challenge in the name of safety
- Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development
it forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills necessary for success in school and in life. Play “paves the way for learning
o For example, block building and sand and water play lay the foundation for logical mathematical thinking, scientific reasoning, and cognitive problem solving
o Rough-and tumble play develops social and emotional self-regulation and may be particularly important in the development of social competence in boys
o Pretend play fosters communication, developing conversational skills turn taking, perspective taking and the skills of social problem solving—persuading, negotiating, compromising, and cooperating
- Play and development
play is vital to all areas of a child’s development, physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually.
o in play children often use their bodies (promoting small and large muscle development), can engage with others (fostering social and emotional learning as well as friendships), solve problems and be creative
- Unstructured free play
Allowing children time and space for spontaneous, self-initiated play supports children’s development and learning. Often adults may feel that children are “just playing” and not learning or accomplishing anything. However, through spontaneous play important learning is taking place.
- Supporting children’s play
Adults can help support children’s play by recalling the fun of play in their own childhood. There are times when uninterrupted time to play is most beneficial and times when adult involvement can enhance and guide children’s play
- Play environments
Human beings are driven to actively explore and understand the world around them and for children, play is their way. Play can occur in almost any environment, indoors and outdoors. Even when involved in household chores, children can find spontaneous ways to be playful.
- Right to play:
he significance of play in the lives of children is recognized and stated in Article 31 in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Almost every country in the world has made a commitment to protect children’s rights by ratifying this international treaty.
- Play materials
Children’s ability to be creative and to be flexible in their thinking, allows them to playfully engage with materials in limitless ways. Having concrete materials to explore and manipulate supports their active learning
- Literacy is the ability to
to use language in all its forms of communication: listening, talking, reading, writing, music, dance, story-telling, visual arts, drama and digital media.
o Everyday life experiences – speaking, listening, reading, watching, drawing and writing – are part of early literacy.
o As children transition from oral language into an understanding that print can represent experiences, ideas and knowledge, they develop a sense of narrative and the ability to make symbolic representation and actions. They are then ready to acquire reading strategies. All along, language development and literacy reinforce each other.
o For most children, learning to print their name is one of the first activities in learning to print words.
