Accelerate EXPRESSIVE Language
“Oral language functions as a foundation for literacy and as the means of learning in school and out”
(Fillmore & Snow, 2002)
Writing or speaking are essentially an expression of thought, therefore language mastery is the vehicle for coherent, critical and creative thinking.
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By the age of three, research evidence shows a large gap between children whose parents provided rich language experiences, such as talking to children, singing, reading, and so on, and children who grew up with fewer languages experiences at home.
Children with rich language experiences heard about 45 million words compared to the group of children with fewer language experiences, who heard only 13 million words.
This 30 million word gap (2003) presents a problem for children, parents and teachers!
Oral language is the foundation for literacy development.
Oral language provides children with a sense of words and sentences and builds sensitivity to the sound system so that children can acquire phonological awareness and phonics. Through their own speech children demonstrate their understanding of the meanings of words and written materials.
Supporting evidence
Children reared in families where parents provide rich language and literacy support do better in school than those who do not. Language-poor families are likely to use fewer different words in their everyday conversations and the language environment is more likely to be controlling and punitive.
Exposure to less common, more sophisticated vocabulary (rare words) at home relates directly to children's vocabulary acquisition. Rare words are those that go beyond the typical 8,500 most common words in the English language.
There is a strong relationship between vocabulary development and reading achievement. Understanding the meanings of words is critical to understanding what a child reads. Good readers combine a variety of strategies to read words. Even when children have strong familiarity with the alphabetic code, they frequently meet words for which the pronunciation is not easily predictable.
Children who acquire strong vocabularies increase their ability to make sense of what a word might be while using what they know about phonics.
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/early-literacy-policy-and-practice-preschool-yearsA study showed that 86-98% of the words in a child’s vocabulary were also found in their parents’ vocabulary. So, what does this tell us? Kids listen to what we say. Whether we are talking to them or not, they will pick up on vocabulary words.
THE EARLY YEARS ARE CRITICAL
Within a child’s early life the caregiver is responsible for most, if not all, social simulation and consequently language and communication development.
As a result, how parents and nannies interact with their children is of great consequence given that it lays a critical foundation, impacting the way the children process future information many years down the road.
This study displays a clear correlation between the conversation styles of parents and the resulting speech of their children.
Use new and interesting words in natural conversations. Try this at mealtimes or when presenting a new toy or material. Introducing a new word in context helps children learn what it means. For example, it’s easier for children to learn what a spade is when they can see and hear it as well as listening to you say the word.
Use gestures and facial expressions to help children make sense of new words. For example, when introducing the word joyful, you might smile and wave your arms about to convey what it means.
Sing with children and recite poetry and rhymes to playfully introduce vocabulary.
Talk with children and encourage children to talk with one another. Keep the conversation going by asking questions, making comments, and inviting children to think and share their ideas.
Read to children daily, taking time to go over new words. Look for books with illustrations that provide clues to word meanings.
Think about new vocabulary words that might come up during family activities as part of the experience. A trip upcountry could introduce the word "landscape", while a trip to a pizza restaurant might introduce "kneading dough".
Infuse rich language in every-day family life
AS CHILDREN GET OLDER.......
ORAL LANGUAGE IS THE FOUNDATION FOR READING COMPREHENSION
Rich and expressive language and strong reading comprehension are essential to academic success in primary and secondary education
Rich vocabulary and language comprehension allow children to be good thinkers.
What can parents do to support oral language development?
Rich experiences, play and conversations: This depth is built through extending daily conversations, reading to your child daily, diverse family experiences and playful projects that spur long talks and knowledge and thinking.
Oral narration: Encourage your child to narrate books and experiences on a daily basis; slowly guide them to learn to organise and express their thoughts and ideas coherently in the dominant language at home.
Written narration - family journal
Children below 7 years can dictate their narration to parents. This is as simple as, perhaps, describing their favourite part of their birthday celebration. As they describe and watch you write, they learn that thoughts and knowledge can be expressed in written form.
From age 7, children continue oral narration and expression but they can start to write a few lines of their experiences in a journal.
Oral narration prepares children for written narration.
Collect photos, have children draw , or draw for the children, images that bring their journal to life.
Curate their ideas and thoughts and collect the ideas in their journal - this stimulates more self expression because children start to see that their thoughts and ideas matter and can be shared with others
We all think in a language; the richer the language the deeper and wider the knowledge a child will develop.
Once a child has depth in their thinking, and can organise their thoughts coherently as they express themselves, they become quick learners.
