Tips for Families

Conversations, particularly frequent conversations are also one of the most successful strategies of supporting linguistic development. Help your child by talking about all you are doing in the day, object description and infusing open ended questions. This helps to make your child think critically and share his/her ideas. The theory of scaffolding introduced by Vygotsky represents the significant role of adults with regard to the leading children through tasks which are beyond their capabilities yet (Vygotsky, 1978). In this way, as an active intervener in a conversation, you help them deliver the support needed to shift towards more complicated use of language. Listening is also essential- whenever your child talks, listen to him and answer in a suitable way. This will strengthen the impression that what they say is important and leads to greater talkativeness.

One important language development is to read together. Reading aloud to your child on a daily basis will introduce your child to a very diverse choice of the vocabulary and languages patterns. When reading to your child, get your child to answer some questions on the story, talk about how the characters are feeling and the meaning of words that they have not heard before. This way of thinking is justified by the cognitive development theory of Piaget, who stressed the point that children acquire the greatest knowledge, interacting with an environment and books are not an exception. It is also coherent with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) that points at the importance of literacy development within the early childhood. Reading does not only increase the language vocabulary and understanding, but also it trains the listening ability and makes the reader appreciate stories (AGDE, 2022).

Another critical technique of encouraging language growth is play-based learning. Specifically, pretend play provides a rich chance of children to practice the creative usage of language. Children use language in the form of playing house, animals, and role-plays, etc. to convey their ideas as well as negotiate, role-play, and talk to others. Vygotsky asserted that play is one of the main routes through which children internalize the language and ideas they are learning during their contact with others in society. Just as well, EYLF promotes an aspect of play as a method of learning, as it enhances social, emotional, and cognitive skills. You can also enhance the communication skills of your child by offering an opportunity through pretend play in a more exciting manner (AGDE, 2022).

Children can learn a language through story telling. The interactive story telling lets you include your child in the narration and ask them to guess what will happen next, character descriptions, or even enact the scenes of the story. This gives children an urge to use language actively and improves their understanding. It also gives your child a chance to exercise oneself in the way of sequencing and organizing thoughts. An example, EYLF supports this approach when it advises educators and families to adopt an aboriginal process of using storytelling in promoting listening and speaking skills. This practice develops vocabulary, creative writing, and the relationship between spoken words and written words (AGDE, 2022).