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Guidelines for Facilitating Language Development by Dominic F. Gullo

The importance of language in the early childhood classroom cannot be overstated. All classroom activities that children engage in involve language to some extent. Those who have studied language know that it is among the most complex of human behaviors. Yet by the time children have reached the end of their third year of life, they have acquired all of the basic constructs of their native language (Brown, 1973). They have a vocabulary of literally thousands of words and comprehend many more words than they produce. They use different structures to make statements about objects or events, to ask questions, or to make requests. They use and understand small innuendos in language that may vary in meaning from context to context. So when the child enters the preschool or kindergarten classroom they "know" language. Our job then is not to teach them a language, rather our job is to facilitate growth or development in Dominic F. Gutlo is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

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their ability to use the language with which they enter. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how language can be the integrating force in the early childhood curriculum. The primary focus will be on strategies, materials, attitudes, and environmental conditions that have proven to be useful for increasing pre-

school and kindergarten children's language competence - - which in turn leads to literacy (The National Institute of Education, 1985). The discussion will be presented in terms of guidelines. These guiding principles are meant to serve as a structure from which to create and develop the atmosphere for language.

DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

Principle #1:

Value the child's language. Children come to school far more competent in the use of language than many teachers assume. They enter the classroom for the first time with control over the symbols (phonemes) and the system (grammar) of their native language. All normally developing children have the ability and capacity to learn a language. By the age of five, the child has an extensive vocabulary and can use language to accomplish m a n y things. Children learn the particular form or dialect of language that they are exposed to in their immediate environment. As such, no one language is better than another, they are simply different. Children's language reflects their stage of development as well as the environmental influences which shaped their language. When children enter the preschool or kindergarten setting, they exhibit many instances of grammar that do not match the adult's grammar. When the child says "goed" or "mouses," they are demonstrating that they are learning the rules of language and experimenting with their use. Accept the child's language for what it is, a mirror of their development. Likewise, a child learning language in an environment which uses only nonstandard forms will reflect this as well, Do not dwell on or constantly correct the grammatical structures that are different from the ones that adults use, if they are developmentally appropriate. Do be a good model for language and value what the children say - - not necessarily how they say it.

Principle #2:

Organize the learning environment to facilitate language development. The living space in the early childhood classroom should be arranged such that it provides support for children's language development. The role of the teacher is that of environmental ~earranger. Children are curious by nature and the environment supports this curiosity if it is a dynamic rather than a static setting. Children notice even the most subtle changes in the classroom, such as a new object in the room, a missing object, or an object that has been moved. These changes create an atmosphere that preserves the

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child's curiosity leading in turn to more cognitive-oriented exploration. The environment should provide the children freedom within a structure. That is, the teacher should plan the environment and activities so that certain objectives are met. Within this planned environment, there should be choices for the child which reflect aItemative routes for teaching those objectives. The activities and materials provided for in the environment should be manipulatable, concrete, and relevant to the lives of the children (Bredekamp, 1986). Because language is a social behavior and can only be learned in interaction with others, the environment should be interactive. The teacher should provide for a variety of activities. The activities can be changed and their difficulty increased as children develop understanding and accomplish the skills. The teacher can facilitate the children's interaction with the environment by asking questions, making suggestions, or stimulate children's language through other appropriate means. The language learning environment should provide opportunities for at least the following three activities. Spontaneous Language P r o d u c t i o n Activities There should be a time and a place in each early childhood classroom for all children to be able to express themselves through language in a free and spontaneous manner. Such opportunities provide children with occasions to use many functions of language, including giving information, asking for information, using language to control their environment, using language for fantasy, as well as using language simply for the pleasure of interacting with others. Examples of areas in the classroom which provide such opportunity are the housekeeping corner, the dramatic play corner, the puppet stage, the language activity center, the block area, as well as the sand and water areas. Children should be allowed to freely use language for c o m m u n i c a t i v e as well as n o n communicative purposes, such as making sounds and saying words for the pure enjoyment of the behavior itself.

Activities for Analyzing L a n g u a g e Children should be given the opportunity to play with language, in both an unstructured and structured manner. Just as when infants play with sounds as they babble in their cribs learn that sounds can be put together and that these strings of sounds have meaning, so too the three- four- and five-year-old child learns much about language and how it functions through playing and exploring with it. When we do rhyming games with children we are teaching them that some words sound the same when they have similar sounding endings. This is sound analysis. Whenever we play games that require children to think of words that go together because they belong to the same category or have the same function, children are doing semantic or meaning analysis. When we play games with children that require them to finish a sentence with a word or make up a sentence after looking at a picture, we are asking them to do syntactic or structural analysis of language. Whenever we play any of these games with children we are asking them to analyze language. Children need to understand that language is something that can be explored, manipulated, and taken apart as well as put back together in a different way. As teachers of young children we play these games with children as a matter of course, it is important that we realize what we are doing with these games. If we are cognizant of what it is that we are doing, we can better assist children in their understanding of what language is and how it works. L a n g u a g e I n t e r a c t i o n Activities The early childhood c l a s s r o o m should afford children opportunities to hear and be influenced by others' language. This not only aids children in their own language development but also helps move children away from egocentricity, by exposing them to the perspectives of other children and adults. "Sharing time" or "Show and Tell" is one way in which early childhood has traditionally given children this opportunity. At times, however, "show and tell" can become laborious, tedious, and downright boring. One

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can use the "show-and-tell" experience as a language-learning experience. The teacher could require that children share information about an experience or object that has something to do with the instructional theme that is being used. For example, if the class is doing a unit on food, each child could be asked to tell the rest of the class what their favorite food is. In doing this the child could be asked to describe it, how it looks, how it tastes, and so on. In this way, "sharing time" follows the current instructional theme. One more approach to "show and tell" is to have children share with the class, after a common experience such as a field trip, what their favorite part of the field trip was. In this manner, the children, with the guidance of the teacher, can see that not all of the children saw things in exactly the same way that they did or liked the same things that they did. Another example of an activity in the classroom that will accomplish the same goal is a type of interactive following directions game. In this game one child is asked to duplicate a pattern or picture that another child has, but they cannot see, by following the verbal directions of that child. This activity helps children see that it is important to say exactly what you mean and the other child to follow the directions closely if you want to accomplish the same pattern. This activity helps children see the importance of words, the order of words and the importance of others' points of view.

Principle #3: Use child-produced materials as the basis for c u r r i c u l u m development. As mentioned above, learning materials in early childhood should be real, concrete, and relevant to the lives of the children. Using the material that children make is one way of insuring that this will occur. Children create many things during the course of a day and many of the creations can be used for instructional purposes. Children's art, for instance, can be used for discussion of color, form, or content. One suggestion is to have children take turns during the course of the week describing to the rest of the class the process that they undertook to create a particular work. This gives the

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children experience in descriptive language, sequencing, describing of action, as well as using many language concepts, such as color, size, and shape. Extend this activity by having the other children in the class ask questions, or comment on the child's work. This gives children practice in questioning, something that most children are able to do - - which many teachers take for granted. Another method often used in the classroom is reproducing children's work for use in group instruction. A favorite way of doing this is to have children in the class be the "illustrators" for a class language experience book. The pictures are then used for group discussion of the books that were created by the children. Finally, teachers should capture every opportunity to extend children's simple ideas into a classroom project. For example, in the fall, when a child brings in an acorn that they "discovered" on their way to school, the teacher can use this opportunity to develop a unit on fall, harvest, or how plants grow. The extensions are limitless.

Principle #4: Explore the rhythmical and lyrical qualities of language. It is my belief that we have underestimated the power of music in its role to develop language in children. Music provides one of the first pleasurable experiences that children have with language when they melodically play with sounds in the crib. Children love music and love to sing. Singing provides children with experiences in language. As they sing they can feel the rhythm of language. As they sing they can hear the rhyme and sounds of language. As they sing, they are provided with a structure of language with which they can play and experiment. The melodies of familiar songs often provide the structure for children to create new songs. In this manner, children experiment with language by becoming composers. Familiar songs also provide the means for children to experiment with language. Children can be guided into creating new songs by changing some of the words or phrases of the familiar song. For example, 'tOld MacDonald" is a song that is familiar to

most young children. Have you ever considered that "Old MacDonald" is a language classification song? Everything that "Old MacDonald" has is something found on the farm. Once children understand this concept, you can change the song and change the location of "Old MacDonald." So now, "Old MacDonald" can have a zoo. It follows that everything that is in the song is now something that is found at the zoo. Other familiar children's songs offer the same potential. As we do fingerplays with children and they do the accompanying motions or act them out they begin to see the words the), are saying come alive, they come to see that words have a reality in objects or actions. The relationship of words to action is very powerful. One need only observe the toddler doing the actions to a fingerplay or song long before they can say the words to realize this. One of the primary prerequisites for language acquisition is to hear the language and observe the reality associated with it simultaneously. Songs and fingerplays provide a natural manner to provide this type of associative experience which is necessary for language environment. Many times children will recite a fingerplay or sing a song that uses language structure or vocabulary that is developmentally beyond what they will use spontaneously. In this manner, songs and fingerplays provide children with the opportunity to "practice" with language that is yet to develop. For some children songs and fingerplays provide the only means of language experience. These are children who for some reason are reluctant to talk or have no other opportunity to use language in this manner.

Principle #5: S h a r e l i t e r a t u r e with c h i l d r e n every day. The importance of reading to children is something that has been stressed in the research of many fields. The child development literature stresses its importance for facilitating language and cognitive development as well as creating situations that establish social interaction patterns between children and others. The early childhood education literature stresses its importance for engaging children in the reading process.

DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

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Reading to children gives them opportunities to hear language that otherwise they might never be exposed to. It gives them the chance to use their imagination as they hear the words being read to them. It gives children the basis for writing or telling their own stories. Above all, reading to children creates in them an enthusiasm for reading and a respect for books. It must be stressed here that reading a book to children has to be for more than just to tilt the time between activities or that five minutes before dismissal, recess, or lunch. Literature should be incorporated into the early childhood curriculum as an instructional device. Children seldom tire of hearing a favorite story over and over. Use this as a means for reading different versions of the same story to create discussion as to the similarities and differences between the stories. Once the children become familiar with the story, its plot and characters, you can use the story as the

WINTER 1988

basis for an instructional unit. Using literature as the integrating force among the curricular areas is easy, natural and powerful. One can take a story like The Three Bears and develop math, language, science, and social studies activities around this theme. Thus, literature can provide for children the adhesive for holding the curricutum together. Through literature, children can be given the opportunity to try out new language with the teacher by responding in unison to the repetitive phrases found in many children's stories - new words, rhyming words or words and phrases that they have never said before. This practice often encourages children to use language "with expression," in a manner that they may not practice in their own natural, spontaneous speech. Who has not heard children exclaim with glee "Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I ' m the Gingerbread Man!", over and

over again, unrelentingly. Stories can create in children an anticipation for language as well as an excitement in using it. Sharing picture books with children gives teachers a natural opportunity to do many language-related activities with children. The illustrations provide a good way for children to make associations between language and the objects or events for which it stands. Teachers have to learn to use illustrations effectively; as more than just something pretty for the children to look at while the story is being read. Ask questions about the pictures in relation to the words being read. As children think about the story and the pictures, they come to learn that the pictures also tell a s t o r y - - one that they can read on their own. Stories provide a means to help children think about language in different ways as well. One can use stories to help children think about cause-effect,

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to predict future events, as well as to help them understand logical consequences. Stories are a good way to introduce children to the whole concept of sequencing. Once a child knows a story it becomes a fairly easy task for them to sequence the events of the story, provided that there are not too many of them.

Principle #6: Children should see their words in print. Every child should be given the opportunity to relate their personal experiences to the teacher and see their own words written down. In preserving the child's vocabulary and personal syntax or grammar, we can demonstrate that we value the child's language. Accomplishing this is essential at a number of levels. For three- and fouryear-olds, the teacher can have the children think of and tell him or her a "special word" for the day. The teacher can then write down that word and have the child perhaps copy it or trace it, then draw a picture that tells the story about the word. The teacher can then extend the activity by having the child tell a story that extends the word. Older children or children who have had enough experience in the previous activity can dictate a sentence or a short story to the teacher. This can be done either on an individual or a group basis. Writing down the children's dictation is a very good activity for parent volunteers, aides, or older children in the school to be involved in. It is important, however, that those who are instructed in this process be told of the importance of writing down the story exactly as told by the children. There are many benefits, for both the teacher and the children to engage in these early writing experiences. For the teacher, the children's writing samples gathered throughout the year provide a good indication of developmental progress. Teachers can use these materials to demonstrate to parents how their child has progressed from the beginning of the year. Both the stories that children tell as well as their illustrations show such a progression. Also of benefit to the teacher is an activity that provides a situation in which a natural editing process can take place. When the teacher is going over

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the stories with the child, he or she can suggest other ways of saying things, other words that mean the Same thing. Especially good for teachers who have children in the class using a nonstandard dialect of English, the editing process in a writing activity provides the opportunity for the teacher to suggest in a very nonthreatening manner alternatives to the nonstandard forms. Using phrases such as "school language" and "home language" suggests to the child that the language that they are using is not "bad" or "wrong" but it's just that we use different types of language or "talking" in different places. The teacher can also demonstrate how all people use different language depending on who they're talking to, their friends, parents, teachers, or where they're talking, in the classroom, on the playground, or at home. This process should be started as early as possible in the child's school experience. It is important to note that if the child does not accept the teacher's editing suggestions, the child's decision supersedes the teacher's. It is also important that teachers inform the parents as to the procedure and reason for doing writing experiences. Often parents will not understand why the teacher is sending home children's work that contain what would be considered by adults, grammatical errors. A little advance notice to the parents usually does the trick. For the child, the benefits of such an experience are many. First, the joy that can be seen in a child's face when they see their words in print is unmistakable. This joy usually translates into a desire to do more and more. The desire to do more and more leads to the child's increasing their vocabulary, story length, and sentence complexity in order to make the experience more interesting. Second, the child will begin to relate to the familiar language in the stories they are writing which creates further interest in language through other forms of oral expression. The stories that children write can provide the basis for dramatic play, for instance. The familiarity of the language in the stories also provides an increased interest in the process of reading, and exposes

children to a reading vocabulary that would not be found in basals. Finally, the writing experience provides children with increased personal interaction with the teacher. Through this increased interaction the teacher can come to know the child better and make adjustments to meet the child's individual needs. The child gains from this experience in that the teacher can help the child build meanings for the metalinguistic aspects of language and reading. By talking about language children will be exposed to the meanings of words such as "sound," "word," "sentence," "read," and "language." Teachers often take for granted that children come to the classroom already understanding these concepts.

Principle #7: Integrate language experiences throughout the curriculum. During the course of this article, various aspects of language experiences in the classroom have been discussed as though they were separate entities. Just as when the child is acquiring language, they do not acquire all the sounds, then all the words, then all the meanings for words and so on, one should not think of language development in the early childhood classroom as something that happens between ten o'clock and ten-thirty in the morning. Instead, language is something that is happening all the while the child is at school, as well as at home. Use every experience that the child has as a language experience and each child's language will develop to its fullest potential. References Bredekamp, S. (Ed.). (t986). Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children. Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The Early Stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Cazden, C. (1981). Language in Early Childhood Education. Washington, D.C.: The National Association for the Education oJ Young Children. Lindfors, J. W. (1987). Children's Language and Learning. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. The National Institute of Education (1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading, Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of Education. Owens, R. E. (1988). Language Development: An Introduction. Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Company.

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