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8. Listens to and understands increasingly complex language
9. Uses language to express thoughts and needs
10. Uses appropriate conversational and other communication skills
Reference: Words Their Way for Pre-K, Johnston, Ivernizzi, Helman, Bear, Templeton 2015...Chapter 1, pg. 7-32
There is another VERY important area that we as Pre-K staff have control over and that is ECERS indicator 17, Using language to develop reasoning skills (pg. 37 in the Spiral Book and pg. 169-175 in the All About ECERS-R book). For some of us these types of conversations come easily. Others of us will have to consciously train ourselves to talk with students about their reasoning and engage them in meaningful conversations to get them ‘thinking about their thinking’ (metacognition).
Some helpful prompts to use when talking with children about their work may include, “Tell me about your….”, “Why did you…”, “How might you … differently next time?”, “How are these alike/different?”, etc. Asking ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions give students opportunities to explain their thinking.
When interacting with students, instead of ‘telling’ students exactly what to do, you may also begin using the prompt, “I wonder…’. For example, if students are sorting bears/vehicles/dinosaurs by color at the manipulatives center you could sit with them and ask them about their work. After they finish explaining you could ask, “Is there another way you could sort those?” If they do not respond with a logical answer, instead of telling them how to sort the objects, use the prompt, “I wonder if you could sort them by size/type?” Give them time to digest the question and watch how they respond. (The All About ECERS-Rbook gives more examples for this indicator.) As you engage in these conversations, take notes on how the students responded and included those notes as evidence in TSG.
Researchers define language acquisition into two categories: first-language acquisition and second-language acquisition. First-language acquisition is a universal process regardless of home language. Babies listen to the sounds around them, begin to imitate them, and eventually start producing words. Second-language acquisition assumes knowledge in a first language and encompasses the process an individual goes through as he or she learns the elements of a new language, such as vocabulary, phonological components, grammatical structures, and writing systems.
The Six Stages of Second-Language Acquisition
Pre-production
This is also called "the silent period," when the student takes in the new language but does not speak it. This period often lasts six weeks or longer, depending on the individual.
Early production
The individual begins to speak using short words and sentences, but the emphasis is still on listening and absorbing the new language. There will be many errors in the early production stage.
Speech Emergent
Speech becomes more frequent, words and sentences are longer, but the individual still relies heavily on context clues and familiar topics. Vocabulary continues to increase and errors begin to decrease, especially in common or repeated interactions.
Beginning Fluency
Speech is fairly fluent in social situations with minimal errors. New contexts and academic language are challenging and the individual will struggle to express themselves due to gaps in vocabulary and appropriate phrases.
Intermediate Fluency
Communicating in the second language is fluent, especially in social language situations. The individual is able to speak almost fluently in new situations or in academic areas, but there will be gaps in vocabulary knowledge and some unknown expressions. There are very few errors, and the individual is able to demonstrate higher order thinking skills in the second language such as offering an opinion or analyzing a problem.
Advanced Fluency
The individual communicates fluently in all contexts and can maneuver successfully in new contexts and when exposed to new academic information. At this stage, the individual may still have an accent and use idiomatic expressions incorrectly at times, but the individual is essentially fluent and comfortable communicating in the second language.