by Shanelle Bandara
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, remote learning emerged as an alternative to onsite teaching. Although platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet were all viable options that served the purpose, parents and educators alike were concerned about the potential negative impacts remote/online learning would have on young children.
In a 2022 study conducted by Professor Stephanie Jones and lecturer Emily Hanno, the researchers observed a swift turn in young children’s behaviour when online teaching was introduced. It hampered their language literacy and other aspects of their studies. They exhibited negative emotional responses which the researchers said was because of a lack of formal socialization. Although parents and other adults could fill this socialization gap, research done by Wilkinson and Hiebert has found significant differences in peer communication - or communication between children - compared to adult communication. While parents use longer sentences and polite instructions/directives, children resort to more primitive strategies such as repetitions and instructions. While adults can provide a richer vocabulary to children, studies show that repetitions and simpler grammatical structures can be extremely beneficial for young children between the ages of 1-3 years. Therefore, it is important to explore the significance of language socialization for children, especially with peer interaction as one of the resources.
Exploring the Importance of Peer Interaction and Language Socialization
‘Language socialization’ was seen as a key issue within these studies as children were not able to respond appropriately to situations. Ochs and Schieffelin, experts in the field of child language development, view language socialization as a process in a child’s language development journey wherein children acquire language and culture together. This is because different communities have different communicative goals. Ochs and Schieffelin, support the idea of a culturally structured model for the language development of children. As such, it is paramount to understand the socio-cultural context children are living in; in this instance, Sri Lanka. Peers also are a part of this process of language socialization that takes place in these cultural contexts.
A study done on child language resources reveals that children develop language skills, cognitive skills and social skills through multiple perspectives presented by their peers. The same study also underscores how peer communication could be useful for language development in younger children in comparison to adult communication due to similarities in language levels amongst peers. The findings also suggested that it significantly benefited children who learned multiple languages. Since it is beneficial for children learning ‘multiple languages’ it would be worthwhile to understand it in the Sri Lankan context.
Context Matters
Sri Lanka is an ethnically diverse country, with many children who speak two or more languages; respectively referred to as bilinguals and multilinguals. Hence, peer communication would prove to be a valuable resource in children’s language learning journey. A research on German bilingual students by Schmerse revealed that in comparison to monolingual children, bilingual children showed faster growth in language socialization in the ‘majority language’ (or the language most used) if they joined preschool at an earlier age. This suggests that bilingual learners benefit from peer relations greatly in terms of language acquisition. Echelon claims that university and school students, due to the pervasive racial tensions, commonly view English as ‘alien’ or a language used for educational purposes only. Hence, for children learning Sinhala as their home language, it could hamper their conversational skills. Therefore, enrolling bilingual or multilingual children could possibly result in greater language acquisition as they will be mixing with their peers from different backgrounds.
Recommendations
While acknowledging the importance of peer interaction, we should remember that certain children may be shy to develop relations with other children, or there could be other factors at play as well. For instance, peers bond together due to ‘similarities’, and this could lead to children who differ in race or even social and language ability being isolated. To prevent this, most advice is directed at educators such as teachers and schools since they organize classroom structures, the Hanen Centre suggests educators:
Conduct collaborative peer activities in both small and large groups, and
Pair children with different societal language levels, so that different students from different socio-economic and ethnic groups will engage with each other more frequently.
Parents too can assist with socializing outside of school. Psychology Today claims that parents can build these relationships by:
Designing, mediating, supervising, and advising children about these relationships
Building bridges between their child and peers by scheduling playdates, helping their child engage with others, and share their difficulties.
In a rapidly evolving technological landscape and an ever-evolving world, fostering children’s connection with peers is crucial for their language literacy and their emotional/mental well-being. It is always good to let your child explore the world and create meaningful bonds with their peers.