my journal : language - its much more than a kit!

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:
It's Much More Than a Kit
BY PATRICIA L. HUTINGER

When those of us who work with
children younger than 6 think about
language development and the activ-
ities we should plan to enhance
children's language development,
sometimes we think only of adding
more vocabulary. Although a wide
vocabulary is useful for a young
child, sometimes the child who is
highly verbal, talking about "infini-
ty" and other abstract concepts, is
only demonstrating something
Piaget calls "school varnish." It is
misleading to assume that the child
who has a fantastic vocabulary also
has developed the underlying con-
cepts that go with all the big words
he or she uses. Language develop-
ment is much more than the acquisi-
tion of new words.
While theorists do not agree about
the. relationship between language
and thought, practically speaking,
we know enough to plan activities
for children that will help them
develop a flexible use of language.
Sometimes teachers and administra-
tors are bombarded by educational-
materials salesmen who promote
their products as the answer to a
language program. But language
development takes people, not kits.
A good language program is not as
complicated as is sometimes
thought.
Simple Steps
We all use the language other
people in our community use to
communicate all kinds of informa-
tion in most of our waking hours. So
do the children in our care! Some-
times we don't feel like talking.
Children feel the same way! Some-
times we don't want to respond to a
question with a complete sentence;
instead we respond with a short
phrase. We are more inclined to
carry on a long, complex conversa-
tibn when we initiate that conversa-
tion ourselves. Children have similar
inclinations!
Probably the most effective steps
teachers and other caregivers can
take toward enhancing children's
language development are simple
ones. They don't require a cash
outlay, or new curricular materials,
but they do make time demands
upon you.
I. Accept each child as a very
special, worthwhile, unique human
being.
2. Listen to each child when he or
she talks to you (and when a child
doesn't talk, listen to the behavior).
3. Take the time to talk to each
child, using complex, elaborated
language.
4. Provide rich varied experiences
so that each child will have some-
thing to talk about. Then, allow
children plenty of time to observe
what is happening.
5. Make sure the child has many
opportunities to hear language from
other people, rather than hearing
language primarily from a mechani-
cal source (radio, television, me-
chanical talking toys, and head
phones).
After you've looked over the
above suggestions, you will probably
agree that they won't cost you or
your school any more money. They
may, however, mean rescheduling
your time and your priorities. It is
more important that you spend time
listening to what a child is trying to
communicate to you than it is to
separate out the language patterns
that are not yet "mature," correcting
the child's grammar. Communica-
tion is far more important than
whether or not the young chiM uses
the correct verb form each time he or
she speaks.
The Development of
Syntax or Grammar
When linguists talk about syntax
or grammar, they are not talking
about the kind of grammar you
studied when you were in elementary
school or high school. Rather, they
are talking about a description of the
way the child puts words together--
there is no right or wrong way. The
child develops his or her own
grammatical system. He or she
learns language by imitating some
things, but there is much more
involved than that. The child learns
44 0092-4199/78/1300-0044500.95 9 1978 by Human Sclences Press DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

When the child begins to use
negation (and it happens early!),
expect to hear things like "No sit
there" and "Wear mitten no." The
correct form will appear without
adult correction. The form the
child's questions take also is interest-
ing and will eventually be trans-
formed into utterances that are
much like adults'; but in the begin-
ning, the child will ask questions
such as "What the boy hit?" "Where
I should put it?" and "What he can
ride in?" Again, attend to the
meaning, not to the form, or the way
the child is asking a question.
Questions that require a yes-or-no
answer are much easier than the
"Who," "When," "Why," "What"
variety. The yes-no questions are
usually formed correctly earlier.
Evaluation of the Child's
Language Development
A measure of Mean Length
Utterance (MLU) derived from
samples of the young child's spon-
taneous speech may be more useful
in diagnosing and prescribing than
are scores on the various language
scales of a more formal nature.
Roger Brown's work outlines proce-
dures for MLU (A First Language:
The Early Stages [Cambridge: Har-
vard University Press, 1973]). The
MLU and an accompanying analysis
of the child's language patterns
provides specific information about
the child's communication. Lan-
guage samples are individual mea-
sures, and are somewhat time-
consuming. It is important to note,
however, that an actual record of
what a child does say gives you a lot
more information for making curric-
ular decisions than does a test score.
Also of interest is the development
of tests such as the Say What I Say
test (developed by Madalene Bar-
nett), which focuses on the child's
ability to imitate various grammati-
cal structures and also provides a
fairly accurate assessment of the
child's production ability as well as
his or her syntactic patterns.
What Can Teachers Do?
There are several things you can
do, and probably are doing already
to some extent, that enhance the
child's language development.
Use Expansion. When a young
child makes an utterance that is not
grammatically complete (for an
adult), such as "dog bark," use the
utterance, but expand it to an adult
grammatical form: "Yes, the dog is
barking" or "Yes, that dog barked."
Use Extension. Expand the child's
utterance, as above, but add some
new information, for example: "Yes,
the dog is bark!ng, but he won't hurt
you" or "Yes, the dog is barking
because he's mad at the other dog."
Use Questions That Are Open-
ended (Divergent). For example,
instead of asking, ',Do you hear that
noise?" (which requires a "Yes" or
"No" from the child), ask, "What do
you think might make that noise?"
Ask questions that help the child
begin to make predictions: "I wond-
er what would happen if we let these
ice cubes sit here in the dish?"
Practice using divergent questions,
rather than those that have only one
right answer (convergent).
Record Your Own Language. Use
a tape recorder (or a video tape, if
available) during the day, to record
your own language. Play it back
after school. Listen to your ques-
tions, to your sentence structure,
your pronunciation. Consciously
work on improving your ability to
expand, extend, and ask questions.
Do you use non-standard dialect, yet
reprimand children when they speak
in the same dialect?
Courtney Cazden is spending a
great deal of time studying the
language development of young
children. She suggests that teachers
ask themselves the following ques-
tions (the list below is taken, with
some rephrasing, from her book
Child Language and Education
[Chicago: Holt, Rinehart & Win-
ston, 1972]):
1. Is this a back-and-forth mono-
logue On my part?
2. Are my questions open-or
closed-ended?
3. Am I moralizing, that is, am I
telling children how they should be
thinking and feeling instead of
accepting the way they do think and
feel?
4. Do I really listen to children?
Or do I jump in with an answer as
soon as I think I've guessed what
they mean, or even with an answer
that fits my own preconceptions or
needs for control?
5. Is my language production
geared to the children's understand-
ing, and does it at the same time
expand the children's existing lan-
guage, giving them new words for
more complex operations?
6. Do I finish sentences, or do I
leave children hanging?
7. Do I avoid using pat phrases
over and over again?
8. Do I involve children in activi-
ties that lend themselves easily to
promoting--and that might even
necessitate--verbal interactions?
DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

9. Is there a maximum chance for
children to converse with each oth-
er?
10. Do I take action to involve
children in verbal communications
when there is the opportunity?
11. Is my verbal interaction relat-
ed to the real world and the child's
real world?
Cazden goes on to say: "Drilling
children in linguistic forms can turn
the kids off in a hurry, just as
quickly as asking them to produce
correct answers to questions. You
can teach a child to use the correct
words in the right places, such as
'under,' 'over,' 'around,' 'into,' 'or.'
But if you want more than a
mechanical repertoire of words, if
you want understanding and
transferability, be sure the words are
attached to action or demonstra-
tions of what the sounds actually
mean in the context of the child's
experiential field and are not em-
bedded in abstractions" (ibid,
p.l16).
Finally, the most important ques-
tion to ask yourself: Does the
interaction between me and the child
take place in the context of mutual
trust and respect, based on my
genuine friendliness, love, uncondi-
tional acceptance, warmth, em-
pathy, and interest?
Some Experiences to Enhance
Language Development
The activities listed below are
usually a part of the early-childhood
curriculum. They are simple, al-
though they often require a great
deal of planning. Nevertheless, they
might be called "well-known but
overlooked secrets" of language
development. Classroom teachers
often are doing the very things that
will lead to enriched language
development, yet fear that they are
not doing enough directed work.
Knowledge of what is expected in
normal language development pro-
vides a justification for these activi-
ties.
1. Read to children every day. Be
sure the stories are good ones, at the
child's level. Ask the children's
librarians if you need help. They
have lots of good information.
2. Write down the things children
tell you about their pictures. Re-
member, we don't talk in the same
way that books are written.
3. Make books of each child's
work, of photographs of the child's
family, the class and its activities,
and other things of interest. Fasten
the pages together with rings, or sew
them together. Use cloth pages
sometimes. Talk about the books.
4. Take trips to interesting places:
the bowling alley, the shoe-repair
shop, the bakery, the zoo, a farm, a
small airport and then a big airport,
a trip on a train, a trip on a bus,
different kinds of stores. When you
get back, draw about the trip. Tell
about it. Recreate it in creative
dramatics. Effective trips can be
quite simple but need careful plan-
ning.
5. Arrange things so that children
have many opportunities to see
operations from beginning to end.
For example, make butter (shake up
whipping cream in a sealed fruit jar,
wash, add salt if desired)--it's more
fun if you can visit the farm and
bring back whole milk, but that
might not be possible. Make apple-
sauce from apples (better yet if you
can pick the apples). Make cloth
from yarn (woven, knitted, crochet-
ed). Make peanut butter. Grow
pumpkins, and make pumpkin pie
or pumpkin bread, as well as jack-o-
lanterns. Children often are not
aware of the origins of things we
take for granted.
6. Visit community affairs such as
4-H fairs, craft shows, antique-auto
shows, new-car shows, farm-
equipment displays.
7. Provide plenty of raw
materials--paper, paint, crayons,
clay, boxes--and time to work with
them.
8. Encourage children to talk
about whatever they are making, but
don't keep asking them, "What is
it?" Try Haim Ginott's "descriptive
reinforcement" too (Between Parent
and ChiM [New York: Avon Books,
1965]).
9. If you have a tape recorder,
children can use it to communicate.
Young children like to hear them-
selves talk when the tape is replayed.
Young children's experience with
CB radios can be an interesting
dramatic-play starting point. Record
group singing sometimes, too.
10. Encourage music activities.
Children can make up their own
songs as they are playing. Songs
often use language in an expressive,
exciting way.
Conclusion
Planning for the optimal language
development of the children in an
early-childhood setting requires
interaction with people: children
must be comfortable in communi-
cating with adults and their peers. If
the long-range objective is to raise
children who can function in a
democracy and communicate their
ideas, then attention to the charac-
teristics of developing language is
important. Children must have
many opportunities to use language
and to have interesting experiences
so that they really do have some-
thing to talk about. Teachers and
other caregivers can provide condi-
tions conducive to optimal language
development. []