Talking and Learning with Young Children

Michael Jones

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781473952591
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Children learn to talk through interaction including involvement in many thousands of conversations with adults and other children. These conversations provide the framework for exploring relationships, understanding the world, and learning – in its widest sense.This book explores how children learn to communicate using language, how they use language to learn and the role of adults in the process.It examines how adults can support children to learn by involving them in positive interactions, meaningful conversation and by helping them play, explore and talk with each other.

The book includes:

• examples of children and adults talking and learning together
• case studies of successful approaches that support language and learning in early years settings
• points for reflection and practical tasks
  

Informed by the author's own experience working with young children, families and practitioners, and from his involvement in the England-wide Every Child a Talker (ECaT) project, itlinks key research findings with successful practice toinspire practitioners to develop skills when talking with children, influence how adults plan for talk in settings and gain insight into how language develops in the home.

Chapter 1 How and why do children learn to talk?

This chapter will

• Give a brief overview of the main theories on how and why children develop language
• Introduce a perspective that places interaction and conversation between children and adults at the heart of communication, language development and learning in early years

Example 1.1 Amy and the combine harvester

Amy was seven years old when she decided that she was going to learn French, and now has a degree in French Language and Literature. It all began while she was on holiday in France with her parents and four-year-old brother, Ben. The very first French word she wanted to learn was ‘moissonneuse-batteuse’ (combine harvester). This was the largest thing she could see at the time, as she looked out from the garden of her hotel to the combine harvester in the field across the road.

At bedtime, Amy and her Mum were having a chat. Amy looked worried.

Amy:I’m never going to learn French.

Mum:Why not?

Amy:’cos I can’t remember how to say the word for that big tractor thing! It’s so hard to learn one word … so how can I learn lots and lots?

Mum:There is an easier way. You know that song you learned in nursery, ‘Frère Jacques’? Let’s sing it.

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques/Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?

Well ‘dormir’ means ‘to sleep’ and ‘dormez-vous’ means ‘Are you sleeping?’ ‘Bien’ means ‘good’ or ‘well’. So if I tuck you in, give you a kiss and say, ‘Dormes bien ma cherie’, What do I mean?

Amy:Sleep well, my cherry?

Mum:It means ‘Sleep well, my darling’. (Tucks her in and gives her a kiss.) Dormes bien, ma cherie.

Amy:And can Ben learn to speak French, too?

Mum:Yes, of course. And we can start tomorrow by telling him ‘The Three Bears’ in French.

Amy:And …

Mum:No more questions. Dormes bien, ma cherie.

Amy:Dorma ben, ma cherry.

It’s not unusual that Amy and her mother should be thinking about how to learn language. Anyone learning a second language will use the knowledge that they have already gained from developing their first language, whether they are consciously aware of that knowledge or not. This example highlights the key perspectives in a debate that has involved philosophers, psychologists, linguists and educators for centuries, as they seek to answer two questions: ‘How do children learn to talk?’ and ‘How does a baby with no verbal language at birth come to possess an almost complete set of communication and language skills by their fourth birthday?’

Amy assumes that if she starts by learning, one at a time, the names of the biggest objects she can find, and keeps repeating their names until she can pronounce them correctly, then she will learn, in double-quick time, all there is to know about French. She imagines her mind as an empty box that has no French in it, just waiting for her to fill it up with key vocabulary. Amy’s conceptualisation of language learning is not as naive as it may seem: repetition is an important part of developing language, and when children begin using words, at around 12 months of age, they do generally use one word at a time. But children will not get very far if they only imitate what is said to them, or merely repeat words to themselves. Amy has advantages that will support her learning, including a drive to learn and a good role model who understands the language and knows how to teach it. However, one suspects that unless Mum steps in and makes the whole process rewarding, through praise and encouragement, then Amy will give up and concentrate on her other holiday projects, like how to do ‘cat’s cradle’ or perfecting the art of using a skipping rope.

Amy’s mother has absolutely the right approach to language teaching:

• Let’s find some words that we can use meaningfully as part of daily life, e.g. ‘sleep’
• Let’s say them as part of a pleasant experience, e.g. as part of our cosy bedtime routine
• Let’s learn a song that links words to ideas. If the song has a catchy tune and some actions, then it will be easy to remember and the key words will be repeated many times
• Let’s share a simple story, in French, that the children already know, so that they can link new words to familiar ideas

So we have the feeling that French is going to make sense for Amy, and that the process of learning will be fun and, most importantly, will take place as part of a loving relationship. As a teacher of language, it is likely that Amy’s Mum will have thought carefully about how she will introduce French to her children; i.e., that the children can be helped to develop language if the process is meaningful and fun and based around activities and ideas that are relevant for the children’s intellectual levels. Amy’s seven years of experience in becoming a successful communicator and talker in English have given her an intuitive ‘feel’ for how language works, as well as the ability to talk about it. This knowledge will provide her with strong foundations for learning French. What is remarkable is the fact that Amy absorbed all of this knowledge of English without anyone sitting down with the express purpose of teaching her how to talk. So how can we explain very young children’s extraordinarily rapid growth in knowledge and skills?

The role of imitation and rewards

From the 1950s, learning theory has proposed that language, like all other aspects of children’s learning, is largely the product of imitation and reward. The theory put forward by behaviourists suggests that, for example, babies hear a variety of common speech sounds around them and when they accidentally use some of these sounds, parents respond with delight and praise, which rewards the child and spurs him on to repeat the behaviour (Skinner, 1957). The child then starts to regularly repeat these sounds because they are rewarded, or ‘reinforced’, for doing so. The process of giving rewards for behaviour is known as ‘extrinsic reinforcement’. As well as being rewarded by praise from adults, children also receive internal rewards or ‘intrinsic reinforcement’, from feelings of achievement and wellbeing from communicating successfully. Vocabulary, speech sounds and grammar are introduced in the same way, so that children eventually learn to use the language, sound system, grammar and accent that their parents use.

It is inconceivable that an adult should sit a very young child down and try to teach them how to speak with a particular accent. In order for Tanaz and Fouad to have developed their respective accents, we can assume that some form of imitation must have taken place, though probably not at a conscious level. So imitation is important. Yet the behaviourist model of imitation and reward can only explain a relatively small part of the process. It can’t explain, for example, how Tanaz and her brother have developed different speech patterns, because they have never been rewarded for talking like a Scot or an Iranian or a Geordie. They will have learned their accents naturally, through listening to the accents of those around them.

Imitation and reward feature in many daily activities that are planned by adults for young children. These include singing and rhyming sessions, where children are encouraged to imitate, repeat and memorise as many songs and rhymes as they can. Looking at this valuable experience from a behaviourist standpoint, the children are receiving external, extrinsic rewards, in the form of praise from the adults, for joining in the session, and making progress towards mastering the tune and the words. The children also experience internal, intrinsic rewards from feelings of wellbeing they gain from being part of a fun group activity, as well as pleasure from the process of learning the tune and words.

We need only to think of the popular ‘ABC Song’ to further illustrate this point. Tanaz and Fouad are learning a version sung to the tune of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’, ending with the lines, ‘Now I know my ABC/Aren’t you very proud of me?’ Their parents are rightly very proud of their children’s accomplishment, and respond by exclaiming, ‘Well done! You are so clever! Show Granny what you can do!’ The song may not make too much sense at the moment, but the children are developing a feeling that learning to talk, as part of learning in general, is something that their parents value. A year later, the parents will not be reacting in the same way when Tanaz sings the song. In fact, they may choose to ignore her as a way of getting her to stop doing it! However, they will be equally excited when she comes home and says, ‘I can speak French!’ and sings the first two lines of ‘Frère Jacques’. This example gives credence, in part, to the behaviourist view that adults systematically reward learning by providing praise for certain behaviours and by ignoring others.

But can we realistically explain children’s rapid growth of language by imitation and reward alone? Learning to communicate meaning is not the same as learning the words to a song by rote. Young children – or older children learning English as an additional language, or those with speech and language delay – could learn the words of the songs without being able to make any sense of the meaning of the words (as do adults apparently ‘learning’ words of pop songs, only to realise that they have totally misinterpreted the songs’ actual lyrics!). However, unlike learning songs and nursery rhymes, language has to make sense if we are to understand what is being said to us and for us to be able to say what we mean. And how do we explain what is happening when children spontaneously say, ‘My goed to the shops’ for ‘I went to the shops’? It is most unlikely that they would have heard their parents use a sentence like that, and the children wouldn’t be praised for doing so. We need to see imitation and reward as only one part of our model of language development.

Example 1.2 Tanaz, Fouad and the Scottish, Iranian and Geordie accents

Tanaz (4;7) and her brother Fouad (3;2) live in Newcastle, with their Scottish mother and Iranian father. They occasionally visit Scotland but have never been to Iran. Both children are being brought up as English- and Farsi-speakers at home. Mum has a pronounced Scottish accent when she speaks Farsi and English, while Dad has an equally strong Iranian accent when he talks in both languages. Both children attend a local pre-school, where the majority of staff and children speak with a distinctive regional ‘Geordie’ accent.

When Tanaz speaks English or Farsi, she does so with a Scottish accent, while her brother speaks both languages with a Farsi accent. When Tanaz plays ‘being in pre-school’ at home, which involves her pretending to be various members of staff, she uses a Geordie accent.

Point for reflection and discussion

How much do you use praise and rewards in everyday conversation with children? (‘Praise’ does not have to involve words, or physical rewards such as stickers. It could be your smile, or making an effort to stay with the child even though other children are calling for your attention.)

When Amy was three, she said to her granny, ‘Granny. A baby cat is a kitten.’ Grannie replied, ‘Goodness, you are a clever girl for knowing that. Come and tell Granny lots of other things that you know about.’ Amy got a big hug and a kiss, too. Did Granny need to tell Amy that she was a ‘clever girl’? What impact might this have had on Amy?

How much do you praise children for knowing about language or for having learned someth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Talking successfully with children
• Chapter 1 How and why do children learn to talk?
• Chapter 2 Babies and adults communicating and learning together
• Chapter 3 Towards first words
• Chapter 4 Talking With Two-Year-Olds
• Chapter 5 Different Experiences of Talking at Home
• Chapter 6 Quality Talk in Early Years Settings
• Chapter 7 Talking Effectively With Groups of Children
• Chapter 8 Pedagogy and Practice that Influences Talk
• Chapter 9 Communicating Complex Ideas
• Glossary
• References
• Index