Books and Activities for Primary Aged Children
Books for Primary Aged Children:
1. "The Owl Who Was Afraid of The Dark" by Jill Tomlinson
2. "All the Wild Wonders" by Windy Cooling
3. "What Was the March on Washington?" by Kathleen Krull
I chose these books for primary aged children because a wide range of genres should be provided such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, fairytales, etc. Chapter books are also appropriate for this age group, but it is still important for books to have frequent illustrations because they provide important contextual information about the concepts presented in the books.
Activities for Primary Aged Children:
1. Word families: Word family activities may focus on onset and rime. In these activities, children sort words (written on cards) from two or more word families, such as hop, stop, mop, map, tap, and cap. Initially, the teacher guides the sorting process. Later on, children can work in pairs or alone. After sorting, words are written down in categories, and children are encouraged to add more words to each category on their own. When children can quickly and correctly read and spell the selected word families, the focus can change to new word families. Word family activities enhance learning knowledge by encouraging children to identify and manipulate words, which enhances their phonetic knowledge of oral and written language.
2. Shared Reading: In shared reading, children take turns reading to each other from individual copies of either basal readers or trade books. At the first grade level, reading pairs are more effective than larger groupings. In second or third grade, children may be able to have shared reading in groups of three or four. The purpose of shared reading is to provide opportunities for children to read orally in an informal setting. Through repeated opportunities to read texts at their appropriate level of reading, children develop reading fluency.
3. Group Projects: A wide variety of language skills are enhanced through group projects. In these projects, students use listening, speaking, reading, and writing to explore, create, and solve problems. By working together on a project, children are encouraged to reflect on their thinking. The development of this "critical reflectiveness" contributes to literate thinking. Group projects require social and interaction skills that students may need to acquire over an extended period of time. Teachers may need to introduce collaborative projects one step at a time, providing a supportive environment in which students can gradually assume more responsibility for planning and conducting their own projects.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Books and Activities for Kindergarteners
Books for Kindergarteners:
1. "A Bad Case of the Stripes" by David Shannon
2. "Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst
3. "Pancakes for Breakfast" by Tomie DePaola
I chose these books because at the kindergarten level is is important to have wordless picture books as well as books with printed text. Compared to the books used at the preschool level, books selected for a kindergarteners should have a more complex story plot and more text on each page. Supportive, complementary illustrations that enhance children's comprehension of the story or nonfiction content are still essential.
Activities for Kindergarteners:
1. Story reenactment: Children's language competencies are enhanced by opportunities to reenact a familiar story through dramatization. This may take several forms. The teacher may begin by reading the story and having children act out different events nonverbally. Gradually, children's verbal participation can be increased to include unison responses, dialogue segments, or whole conversational interactions.
2. Creating morning messages: Using a "morning message" activity provides opportunities to focus on both oral and written language. This activity is based in a letter you would write to your students each day about the upcoming events in your classroom, the weather, school events, or an experience you have had. This letter provides the basis for focusing on the sounds of words as well as the way words are written.
3. Story-telling through dictated writing: Opportunities to dictate stories encourage children to use their oral language competencies in creating a text. Because children are not constrained by the writing process, their stories have more elaboration and structure than their stories would if they were writing them down themselves. As the children dictate a story, the teacher writes it on a chart paper or on chalkboard. Each child contributes a sentence or a thought. The teacher is careful to preserve the sentence structure or dialect of each child. After the story is completed, the teacher reads it back to the students, pointing to each word as it is read. Then the story is read a second time, with the children encouraged to join in unison or by reading their own sentences.
Books for Kindergarteners:
1. "A Bad Case of the Stripes" by David Shannon
2. "Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst
3. "Pancakes for Breakfast" by Tomie DePaola
I chose these books because at the kindergarten level is is important to have wordless picture books as well as books with printed text. Compared to the books used at the preschool level, books selected for a kindergarteners should have a more complex story plot and more text on each page. Supportive, complementary illustrations that enhance children's comprehension of the story or nonfiction content are still essential.
Activities for Kindergarteners:
1. Story reenactment: Children's language competencies are enhanced by opportunities to reenact a familiar story through dramatization. This may take several forms. The teacher may begin by reading the story and having children act out different events nonverbally. Gradually, children's verbal participation can be increased to include unison responses, dialogue segments, or whole conversational interactions.
2. Creating morning messages: Using a "morning message" activity provides opportunities to focus on both oral and written language. This activity is based in a letter you would write to your students each day about the upcoming events in your classroom, the weather, school events, or an experience you have had. This letter provides the basis for focusing on the sounds of words as well as the way words are written.
3. Story-telling through dictated writing: Opportunities to dictate stories encourage children to use their oral language competencies in creating a text. Because children are not constrained by the writing process, their stories have more elaboration and structure than their stories would if they were writing them down themselves. As the children dictate a story, the teacher writes it on a chart paper or on chalkboard. Each child contributes a sentence or a thought. The teacher is careful to preserve the sentence structure or dialect of each child. After the story is completed, the teacher reads it back to the students, pointing to each word as it is read. Then the story is read a second time, with the children encouraged to join in unison or by reading their own sentences.
Books and Activities for Pre-schoolers
Books for Pre-schoolers:
1. "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein
2. "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin
3. "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
Books for preschoolers should be familiar and colorful. I chose these because they contain colorful pictures and include poetry, narratives, and the alphabet. This range provides children with exposure to a wide variety of language structures and vocabulary. The children's vocabulary is also enhanced due to the clear illustrations that are related to the books.
Activities for Pre-schoolers:
1. Painting with Celery/Art activities: Art activities provide an opportunity for children to explore independently the various mediums of artistic expression. Although art activities are visually expressive and communicative by nature, they also provide opportunities to enhance language development. Language goals for art activities focus on encouraging children to develop conceptual knowledge related to art and to be able to verbally describe the colors, textures, or shapes with which they are working with.
2. Educational Computer Games: Research as well as practice indicates that computers can serve as catalysts for positive social interaction and emotional growth. The language goals associated with a preschool computer program include enhancing children's receptive and expressive competencies related to oral and written language. Software that involves interactive or animated stories will enhance children's listening comprehension and encourage them to talk about the stories they hear and view.
3. Sandbox's or other outdoor activities: Outdoor play provides many opportunities for exploratory activities. Language goals for outdoor play focus on enhancing children's communication with each other and with teachers as well as developing concepts through direct experiences. Children can be encouraged to describe natural events such as rain, snowfall, and wind. You can also encourage children to describe their experiences and the events they see and to ask questions about what they experience or see.
Books for Pre-schoolers:
1. "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein
2. "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin
3. "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff
Books for preschoolers should be familiar and colorful. I chose these because they contain colorful pictures and include poetry, narratives, and the alphabet. This range provides children with exposure to a wide variety of language structures and vocabulary. The children's vocabulary is also enhanced due to the clear illustrations that are related to the books.
Activities for Pre-schoolers:
1. Painting with Celery/Art activities: Art activities provide an opportunity for children to explore independently the various mediums of artistic expression. Although art activities are visually expressive and communicative by nature, they also provide opportunities to enhance language development. Language goals for art activities focus on encouraging children to develop conceptual knowledge related to art and to be able to verbally describe the colors, textures, or shapes with which they are working with.
2. Educational Computer Games: Research as well as practice indicates that computers can serve as catalysts for positive social interaction and emotional growth. The language goals associated with a preschool computer program include enhancing children's receptive and expressive competencies related to oral and written language. Software that involves interactive or animated stories will enhance children's listening comprehension and encourage them to talk about the stories they hear and view.
3. Sandbox's or other outdoor activities: Outdoor play provides many opportunities for exploratory activities. Language goals for outdoor play focus on enhancing children's communication with each other and with teachers as well as developing concepts through direct experiences. Children can be encouraged to describe natural events such as rain, snowfall, and wind. You can also encourage children to describe their experiences and the events they see and to ask questions about what they experience or see.
Books and Activities for Infants/Toddlers
Books for Infants/Toddlers:
1. "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes" by Mem Fox
2. "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What do you see?" by Bill Martin Jr.
3. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle
I chose these books because it is important to chose books that have clear, colorful illustrations of familiar objects and events for the infant/toddler age group. These books have a patterned text which are enjoyed by their rhythmic language and becomes memorable to infants/toddlers. These books include simple plots or story lines that kids these ages enjoy.
Activities for Infants/Toddlers:
1. Crib Toy/Crib Activity: Crib activities typically provide a variety of activities that stimulate visual, tactile, and auditory perception. Crib activity centers are designed to be manipulated safely by infants. When infants are interacting with an activity center, teachers may occasionally mediate infants' interactions. When labeling or talking about an item, a teacher should touch the item in question and check to be sure the child is also focusing on the item, engaging in shared reference.
2. Balls and push-pull toys: Toys that move when touched or pulled encourage infants to move with or after the toys. These toys also encourage children to use their hands to move the toys. This helps children learn cause-and-effect relations and figure out how to repeat actions to create the same results. Teachers' verbal mapping and affective responses to children's actions stimulate conceptual development and encourage verbal (pre-word) interactions.
3. Blocks and manipulatives: Blocks and other manipulatives provide unlimited opportunities for symbolic play. A teacher should be available to monitor this area and enhance children's social-verbal relationships through mediation and by participating in child-initiated dialogues. Because toddlers may simply want to explore how blocks are stacked and manipulated, it is important that teachers carefully observe the block play and determine when it is appropriate to engage the child in conversation about his "building" or to mediate his interaction with others.
4. Book sharing: Book sharing with toddlers can enhance development of each of the aspects of language knowledge: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic. Two key factors in successfully engaging toddlers in book sharing are selecting appropriate books to share and using specific interaction strategies during book sharing. It is also important to remember that the focus of this activity is on exploring the book rather than reading the text in the book.
Pragmatic Knowledge
What is Pragmatic Knowledge?
Pragmatic Knowledge is the knowledge of different ways in which language is used in different settings and for different purposes. An example of this is how you would speak more casually with your best friend than with your best friend's parents. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, dialogic turn taking, role playing, and things are communicated in a variety of ways using different levels of pitch, loudness, and tempo as well as nonverbal behaviors.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
Infants' expression of communicative intent first appears in nonlinguistic forms, such as facial expression, gaze, and gesture. During later infancy, children appear to use gestures to express two types of intent. Pointing gestures are used to indicate or draw attention to an object or entity, while reaching gestures are associated with requests. Having established this shared reference, the response of the adult to the child's gesture sets up a turn-taking or communication loop. Representational/symbolic gestures are consistent actions used by a child in referring to events or objects. For example, a child might use a "sucking" action to refer to her pacifier or a dancing action to request that a radio be played. These gestures are used similarly to the way words are used- that is, a gesture is used in different contexts to refer to the same object, event, or request. It is important to remember that infants' use of gestures and the development of symbolic gestures take place in social interaction with their families and other in their environment. As with all verbal communication with young children, nonverbal communication is successful only if the people involved in the interaction are engaged in eye contact and shared reference. Social routines involving greetings and farewells and ritualized games of peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake also contribute to infants' development of pragmatic knowledge of language. As infants interact with those around them, they begin to participate in dialogic turn taking. This dialogic turn taking contributes to children's awareness of how language is used for different purposes or intents in a specific context.
When they are toddlers, children begin to respond more verbally in conversational settings and take a few turns in maintaining the interaction. Older toddlers introduce or change the topic of conversation. In addition, toddlers may use some attention-getting words and gestures. Gestures are used to increase the semantic content of what is said; however, as children's productive vocabulary increases during toddlerhood, they begin to rely less on gestures and gesture less during conversations. In literate cultures where children interact with print and texts, their behaviors may indicate that they are becoming aware of certain ways in which written language is used to communicate intent or purpose. Teachers and parents who engage in storybook sharing with both infants and toddlers provide opportunities for children to experience that way in which books communicate meaning. Storybook interactions with toddlers may continue for only a few minutes due to the limited attention span and distractability of toddlers. Toddlers' responses to print may indicate an awareness that print is different from pictures and is associated with meaning in a particular way. For example, a toddler who indicates that her wavy-line scribble says her name is indicating this awareness, as is a toddler who hums when she sees a page with music printed but talks only on a text page.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
During the preschool years, children begin to use language for a wider range of purposes than they have in the past. Children begin to use language to request permission, to invoke social rules, to express emotions, and to make judgements. Language may also be used for jokes and teasing or to make an indirect request. Preschoolers gradually develop conversational competencies, increasing the number of conversational "turns" as well as a stronger topic focus. The particular way the child communicates the message and the resultant success of the message further develop the child's pragmatic knowledge of language. Throughout frequent interactions with others, children gain experience in using language differently in different settings. Dramatic play activities can provide a further look at children's developing pragmatic knowledge as they negotiate and assume various roles and communicate with each other. In assuming a specific role, a child may use a specific variation of language or register. Additional evidence of preschoolers' developing pragmatic knowledge is found in research focusing on block play and pretend telephone conversations. Research on the development of storytelling among young children provides a picture of how children develop language competency in using language to create monologues. Prior to the preschool years, children's linguistic behaviors occur in predominately dialogic interactions or short conversations with adults providing a structure or linguistic scaffolding within which the child participates. Preschoolers gradually begin to engage in monologues, or settings where they are the main speaker to a listening audience. This shift between dialogue and monologue represent's a significant change in the way language is used.
The pragmatic component of language development involves knowledge of the ways in which written language is used to communicate in different contexts. As children interact with written language in their world, inside and outside school settings, they learn how written language is used for various purposes. Pragmatic knowledge of written language builds on children's pragmatic knowledge of oral language. Children are active explorers in this process. Children's interaction with written language occur in three ways: as observers of how written language is used in their environments, as questioners of adults who are engaged in literacy-related tasks, and as active explorer-experimenters with written language. In homes where literacy-related events occur frequently, children's observation of how written language is used may begin in infancy or toddlerhood. Preschool children's curiosity about written language is evident when they see print in their environment and question their parents or teachers about it. Preschool children's early writing also provides evidence that children are learning about the different ways in which written language is shared for different purposes. Children's early explorations of writing often involve creating some writing and then giving it to an adult to be "read." Such requests indicate that the child is aware that writing has a purpose. Through preschoolers' experiences as observers and participants in shared book interactions, they develop knowledge of how written language is used in books. They gradually become aware of the left-right, top-down progression of texts. They learn how to orient a book and proceed through the book from the front to the back. They also become aware that the print, rather than the pictures, carries the real message of the story. Children with frequent storybook experiences also learn that the text is stable; they expect that what it says one day, it will say the next day. Parents and teachers often find this out when they do not read the text exactly the same way or with the same intonation during repeated readings. Their preschoolers will stop them, letting the adult reader know that what was said was not "right." Through understanding the significance of children's early explorations and experimentation in reading and writing, teachers will have a better awareness of the complex ways in which children's language knowledge is developing. Teachers can enhance children's further development by being available to answer preschoolers' questions and to welcome preschoolers' participation in literacy-related events throughout classroom activities.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
In many respects, pragmatic knowledge will determine a child's competence in communicating and in participating in various social situations. Kindergarteners use language for a wide variety of purposes. They use language to tell stories, direct peers, express pride, role-play, engage others as a resource for help or information, and gain and hold others' attention. Language may also be used indirectly to request help or regulate another's behavior. Teacher can expect to see differences between kindergarten-age children in their awareness and use of pragmatic knowledge for oral and written language. Children's pragmatic knowledge of language is influenced by not only the variety of social settings they experience but also the frequency of those opportunities and their interactions as listeners and speakers. The various social settings that children encounter during their kindergarten year can enhance acquisition of pragmatic knowledge. Children can learn how to respond during verbal interactions with their teachers and other school staff, such as the principal, assistant principal, janitors, secretaries, older children, teachers' aides, and guest speakers. Pragmatic knowledge involves not only knowing when one can speak and to whom but also the appropriate topics of conversation and cultural expectations for initiating, maintaining, and ending conversations. Kindergarten children's pragmatic knowledge of written language is evident in the different ways they use language when telling a story and when they are dictating a story for someone to write down. Children's competencies in dictating stories or narratives are another component of pragmatic knowledge. Dictated stories provide children with an opportunity to use language to share personally important events and experiences.
Children's listening and speaking competencies will influence the way they will interact with you as their teacher and with their peers. For example, does the child establish eye contact and engage in a turn-taking conversation with you as well as with other children? Does the child speak clearly? Does the child listen attentively at group time? While children's phonological awareness is related to their attempts in using written language to create stories and other writing, their understanding of the ways in which print functions in different settings and their early reading or reading-like behaviors represent further language knowledge and competencies related to school success.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
During the primary years, children may have increased opportunities to participate in a wider variety of activities and experiences. These may include opportunities to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities in the community, going on family vacations, visiting museums, and attending sporting events or religious based events. In each of these activities, there may be specific ways in which language is used in terms of vocabulary, conversational patterns, and the use of an informal dialect or home language. In addition, the curriculum present in children's school classrooms during the primary years typically places a strong emphasis on becoming more metalinguistically aware of specific features of language. During the primary years, children begin to make specific requests for clarification and become increasingly more competent in conversations. They are better able to take into account what their listeners know when engaged in conversation. They're pragmatic knowledge of how to use language in different situations can facilitate resolving conflict. This flexibility in using language differently in different situations helps them work through conflict and express themselves more clearly. Primary children are able to reflect more on their actions as well as others' actions. Due to their increased thinking skills, children are now also able to generate different ways of solving problems. Teachers can provide opportunities in the classroom for children to develop a vocabulary as well as specific communication strategies for resolving conflict and maintaing friendships. Children's awareness of the pragmatic aspects of written language is influenced by the contexts surrounding them. During the primary years, a good part of each day is spent in a school setting. The ways written language is used and the opportunities for children to participate in a wide range of contexts influence the development of children's pragmatic knowledge. Children will show this awareness when they are given opportunities at home and at school to use writing in a variety of ways. Teachers who carefully observe the ways children engage in reading and writing can use these observations and new understandings to better develop and implement curricula.
An important part of pragmatic language knowledge that is developed in the primary grades is an awareness of academic English as well as beginning to use academic English in learning contexts. Academic English involves pragmatic as well as semantic, morphemic, and syntactic features. For example, academic English is used in summarizing and making inferences when reading and interacting with hands-on materials. Academic English is also used metacognitively when children use language to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning. In addition, academic English is used during times when children are engaged in instructional conversations as they ask and respond to questions as well as when they interact with classmates during collaborative projects. To be a successful learner in settings where academic English is used, children need to develop an awareness of the specific ways in which academic English is used in cognitive, metacognitive, and social-affective strategies as a part of the learning process. This also includes responding to writing assignments where informational text and narrative text are assigned.
Tips for Parents:
1. One idea is that you can role play conversations. Pretend to talk to different people in different situations. For example, set up a situation (or use one that occurs during the course of a day) in which the individual has to explain the same thing to different people, such as teaching the rules of a game, or how to make a cake. Model how the person should talk to a child versus an adult, or a family member versus a friend of the family.
2. If your child responds in an incorrect way, respond to the intended message rather than correcting the pronunciation or grammar. Be sure to provide an appropriate model in your own speech. For example, if an individual says, "That's how it doesn't go," respond, "You're right. That's not how it goes."
3. Encourage the use of persuasion. For example, ask the person what he or she would say to convince family members or loved ones to let him or her do something. Discuss different ways to present a message:
What is Pragmatic Knowledge?
Pragmatic Knowledge is the knowledge of different ways in which language is used in different settings and for different purposes. An example of this is how you would speak more casually with your best friend than with your best friend's parents. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, dialogic turn taking, role playing, and things are communicated in a variety of ways using different levels of pitch, loudness, and tempo as well as nonverbal behaviors.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
Infants' expression of communicative intent first appears in nonlinguistic forms, such as facial expression, gaze, and gesture. During later infancy, children appear to use gestures to express two types of intent. Pointing gestures are used to indicate or draw attention to an object or entity, while reaching gestures are associated with requests. Having established this shared reference, the response of the adult to the child's gesture sets up a turn-taking or communication loop. Representational/symbolic gestures are consistent actions used by a child in referring to events or objects. For example, a child might use a "sucking" action to refer to her pacifier or a dancing action to request that a radio be played. These gestures are used similarly to the way words are used- that is, a gesture is used in different contexts to refer to the same object, event, or request. It is important to remember that infants' use of gestures and the development of symbolic gestures take place in social interaction with their families and other in their environment. As with all verbal communication with young children, nonverbal communication is successful only if the people involved in the interaction are engaged in eye contact and shared reference. Social routines involving greetings and farewells and ritualized games of peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake also contribute to infants' development of pragmatic knowledge of language. As infants interact with those around them, they begin to participate in dialogic turn taking. This dialogic turn taking contributes to children's awareness of how language is used for different purposes or intents in a specific context.
When they are toddlers, children begin to respond more verbally in conversational settings and take a few turns in maintaining the interaction. Older toddlers introduce or change the topic of conversation. In addition, toddlers may use some attention-getting words and gestures. Gestures are used to increase the semantic content of what is said; however, as children's productive vocabulary increases during toddlerhood, they begin to rely less on gestures and gesture less during conversations. In literate cultures where children interact with print and texts, their behaviors may indicate that they are becoming aware of certain ways in which written language is used to communicate intent or purpose. Teachers and parents who engage in storybook sharing with both infants and toddlers provide opportunities for children to experience that way in which books communicate meaning. Storybook interactions with toddlers may continue for only a few minutes due to the limited attention span and distractability of toddlers. Toddlers' responses to print may indicate an awareness that print is different from pictures and is associated with meaning in a particular way. For example, a toddler who indicates that her wavy-line scribble says her name is indicating this awareness, as is a toddler who hums when she sees a page with music printed but talks only on a text page.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
During the preschool years, children begin to use language for a wider range of purposes than they have in the past. Children begin to use language to request permission, to invoke social rules, to express emotions, and to make judgements. Language may also be used for jokes and teasing or to make an indirect request. Preschoolers gradually develop conversational competencies, increasing the number of conversational "turns" as well as a stronger topic focus. The particular way the child communicates the message and the resultant success of the message further develop the child's pragmatic knowledge of language. Throughout frequent interactions with others, children gain experience in using language differently in different settings. Dramatic play activities can provide a further look at children's developing pragmatic knowledge as they negotiate and assume various roles and communicate with each other. In assuming a specific role, a child may use a specific variation of language or register. Additional evidence of preschoolers' developing pragmatic knowledge is found in research focusing on block play and pretend telephone conversations. Research on the development of storytelling among young children provides a picture of how children develop language competency in using language to create monologues. Prior to the preschool years, children's linguistic behaviors occur in predominately dialogic interactions or short conversations with adults providing a structure or linguistic scaffolding within which the child participates. Preschoolers gradually begin to engage in monologues, or settings where they are the main speaker to a listening audience. This shift between dialogue and monologue represent's a significant change in the way language is used.
The pragmatic component of language development involves knowledge of the ways in which written language is used to communicate in different contexts. As children interact with written language in their world, inside and outside school settings, they learn how written language is used for various purposes. Pragmatic knowledge of written language builds on children's pragmatic knowledge of oral language. Children are active explorers in this process. Children's interaction with written language occur in three ways: as observers of how written language is used in their environments, as questioners of adults who are engaged in literacy-related tasks, and as active explorer-experimenters with written language. In homes where literacy-related events occur frequently, children's observation of how written language is used may begin in infancy or toddlerhood. Preschool children's curiosity about written language is evident when they see print in their environment and question their parents or teachers about it. Preschool children's early writing also provides evidence that children are learning about the different ways in which written language is shared for different purposes. Children's early explorations of writing often involve creating some writing and then giving it to an adult to be "read." Such requests indicate that the child is aware that writing has a purpose. Through preschoolers' experiences as observers and participants in shared book interactions, they develop knowledge of how written language is used in books. They gradually become aware of the left-right, top-down progression of texts. They learn how to orient a book and proceed through the book from the front to the back. They also become aware that the print, rather than the pictures, carries the real message of the story. Children with frequent storybook experiences also learn that the text is stable; they expect that what it says one day, it will say the next day. Parents and teachers often find this out when they do not read the text exactly the same way or with the same intonation during repeated readings. Their preschoolers will stop them, letting the adult reader know that what was said was not "right." Through understanding the significance of children's early explorations and experimentation in reading and writing, teachers will have a better awareness of the complex ways in which children's language knowledge is developing. Teachers can enhance children's further development by being available to answer preschoolers' questions and to welcome preschoolers' participation in literacy-related events throughout classroom activities.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
In many respects, pragmatic knowledge will determine a child's competence in communicating and in participating in various social situations. Kindergarteners use language for a wide variety of purposes. They use language to tell stories, direct peers, express pride, role-play, engage others as a resource for help or information, and gain and hold others' attention. Language may also be used indirectly to request help or regulate another's behavior. Teacher can expect to see differences between kindergarten-age children in their awareness and use of pragmatic knowledge for oral and written language. Children's pragmatic knowledge of language is influenced by not only the variety of social settings they experience but also the frequency of those opportunities and their interactions as listeners and speakers. The various social settings that children encounter during their kindergarten year can enhance acquisition of pragmatic knowledge. Children can learn how to respond during verbal interactions with their teachers and other school staff, such as the principal, assistant principal, janitors, secretaries, older children, teachers' aides, and guest speakers. Pragmatic knowledge involves not only knowing when one can speak and to whom but also the appropriate topics of conversation and cultural expectations for initiating, maintaining, and ending conversations. Kindergarten children's pragmatic knowledge of written language is evident in the different ways they use language when telling a story and when they are dictating a story for someone to write down. Children's competencies in dictating stories or narratives are another component of pragmatic knowledge. Dictated stories provide children with an opportunity to use language to share personally important events and experiences.
Children's listening and speaking competencies will influence the way they will interact with you as their teacher and with their peers. For example, does the child establish eye contact and engage in a turn-taking conversation with you as well as with other children? Does the child speak clearly? Does the child listen attentively at group time? While children's phonological awareness is related to their attempts in using written language to create stories and other writing, their understanding of the ways in which print functions in different settings and their early reading or reading-like behaviors represent further language knowledge and competencies related to school success.
Pragmatic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
During the primary years, children may have increased opportunities to participate in a wider variety of activities and experiences. These may include opportunities to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities in the community, going on family vacations, visiting museums, and attending sporting events or religious based events. In each of these activities, there may be specific ways in which language is used in terms of vocabulary, conversational patterns, and the use of an informal dialect or home language. In addition, the curriculum present in children's school classrooms during the primary years typically places a strong emphasis on becoming more metalinguistically aware of specific features of language. During the primary years, children begin to make specific requests for clarification and become increasingly more competent in conversations. They are better able to take into account what their listeners know when engaged in conversation. They're pragmatic knowledge of how to use language in different situations can facilitate resolving conflict. This flexibility in using language differently in different situations helps them work through conflict and express themselves more clearly. Primary children are able to reflect more on their actions as well as others' actions. Due to their increased thinking skills, children are now also able to generate different ways of solving problems. Teachers can provide opportunities in the classroom for children to develop a vocabulary as well as specific communication strategies for resolving conflict and maintaing friendships. Children's awareness of the pragmatic aspects of written language is influenced by the contexts surrounding them. During the primary years, a good part of each day is spent in a school setting. The ways written language is used and the opportunities for children to participate in a wide range of contexts influence the development of children's pragmatic knowledge. Children will show this awareness when they are given opportunities at home and at school to use writing in a variety of ways. Teachers who carefully observe the ways children engage in reading and writing can use these observations and new understandings to better develop and implement curricula.
An important part of pragmatic language knowledge that is developed in the primary grades is an awareness of academic English as well as beginning to use academic English in learning contexts. Academic English involves pragmatic as well as semantic, morphemic, and syntactic features. For example, academic English is used in summarizing and making inferences when reading and interacting with hands-on materials. Academic English is also used metacognitively when children use language to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning. In addition, academic English is used during times when children are engaged in instructional conversations as they ask and respond to questions as well as when they interact with classmates during collaborative projects. To be a successful learner in settings where academic English is used, children need to develop an awareness of the specific ways in which academic English is used in cognitive, metacognitive, and social-affective strategies as a part of the learning process. This also includes responding to writing assignments where informational text and narrative text are assigned.
Tips for Parents:
1. One idea is that you can role play conversations. Pretend to talk to different people in different situations. For example, set up a situation (or use one that occurs during the course of a day) in which the individual has to explain the same thing to different people, such as teaching the rules of a game, or how to make a cake. Model how the person should talk to a child versus an adult, or a family member versus a friend of the family.
2. If your child responds in an incorrect way, respond to the intended message rather than correcting the pronunciation or grammar. Be sure to provide an appropriate model in your own speech. For example, if an individual says, "That's how it doesn't go," respond, "You're right. That's not how it goes."
3. Encourage the use of persuasion. For example, ask the person what he or she would say to convince family members or loved ones to let him or her do something. Discuss different ways to present a message:
- Polite ("Please may I go to the party?") versus impolite ("You better let me go")
- Indirect ("That music is loud") versus direct ("Turn off the radio")
- Discuss why some requests would be more persuasive than others
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Morphemic Knowledge
What is Morphemic Knowledge?
Morphemic knowledge is the knowledge of word structure or how words are composed of one or more meaningful linguistic units. In summary, it is a form of spelling knowledge that focuses on the meaning of words in its smallest form (morphemes) and how they change when making compound words or using suffixes and prefixes. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, pronoun usage, using plural forms of nouns, overgeneralization (usage of morphemic rules for words that are not regular), using verb tenses, etc.
Morphemic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
The development of the morphemic aspect of language knowledge is influenced by phonemic awareness. The ability to perceive sound distinctions associated with inflectional morphemes is necessary for the development of morphemic knowledge. As infants listen to language around them, they begin to develop receptive knowledge of the meaning-changing aspects of morphemes. For example, "You may have one cracker" versus "You may have these crackers" signals significant differences for the young child. The development of morphemic knowledge becomes more evident as children begin to produce language during the toddler years.
Pronoun usage begins during toddlerhood, with the use of "I, mine, my, it, and me." This is important to the development of morphemic knowledge in the sense that noun-verb agreement in English influences the use of inflectional morphemes. (ex: I go, He goes, We go). Children's production of verbs during the early toddler period is usually expressed in present tense or present progressive (ex: go-going). At the end of the second year, children usually begin regularly using plural forms of nouns. The first grammatical morphemes to appear include present progressive of verbs (go-going), plurality (toy-toys), and possessive (dog-dog's). The sequence of morpheme acquisition does not appear to be influenced by the frequency of parents' use of specific morphemes; instead, acquisition is thought to be related to the linguistic complexity involved in using the specific morpheme.
Morphemic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
The preschool years are a time of significant development in morphemic knowledge. Children first develop knowledge of inflectional morphemes used to indicate plurality, possession, and verb tense. This typically begins between the ages of 2 and 4. Development of derivational morphemic knowledge begins later and takes longer. Derivational morphemes are morphemes added to words that change the part of speech or alter the meaning of the word, such as instruct-instructor, happy-unhappy. Specific variations in the use of morphemes are also acquired by young children as they interact with adults and other children in settings where a dialect variation or different language is spoken. Development of morphemic knowledge contributes to young children's linguistic competencies in providing a way of communicating meaning more precisely. By knowing how to change word structures to change meanings, children can communicate more effectively. Researchers have concluded that children do not learn morphology through simple imitation of adult speech; instead children appear to experiment actively with language to determine how word endings are used to influence the meaning of a sentence. As children develop their morphemic knowledge, their use of morphemes provides evidence that they are learning the general or regular patterns for using morphemes to communicate meaning using grammatical and semantic markers as well as learning the exceptions or irregular patterns.
Children's experiments with language can be observed as they use language to tell stories or in conversations. Overgeneralization occurs when children use their morphemic rules for words that are not regular. For example, the past tense of regular verbs is formed by adding -ed to the word as in walk-walked. When using irregular verbs in the past tense, children may overgeneralize and use falled as a past tense for fall, etc. Preschoolers also being to use comparatives. Children are not yet able to determine which comparatives are regular and which are irregular, so overgeneralization may occur, as in good, gooder, goodest. Evidence of preschoolers' developing morphemic knowledge can be also found in children's narratives.
Morphemic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
Throughout the kindergarten year, morphemic knowledge increases as children become more aware of morphemes in oral language. Kindergarteners continue to develop their awareness of how to show verb tense by using morphemes. With regular verbs, -ed is added to the word, as in "wanted" and "jumped." More irregular verbs are mastered, such as went, gone, and caught; however, kindergarteners may still overgeneralize. Increasing morphemic knowledge is evident in kindergarteners' use of comparatives and superlatives. Kindergarten-age children appear to be aware that there are two ways of making comparatives and superlatives. One way is to add -er and -est to the root wood; another way is to use more or most in from of the root word. Sometimes, it appears that children are trying out several hypotheses as to how comparatives and superlatives are formed. For example, a kindergartener might use both forms of making comparatives, as in "even more dirtier." By age 5, most children have receptive and productive knowledge of the noun suffix -er. Children know that by adding this suffix to a verb, they can make the name for the person who does the verb action, as in teacher-teacher, bat-batter, etc. They may also create their own words. For example, upon noticing that a toy was broken, Sean told a classmate, "this needs to go to the fixer-upper."
Morphemic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
During the primary years, children become more consciously aware of inflectional and derivational morphemes that are added to words to change the meaning of a word and/or to change the syntactic function of a word. While many primary-age children will have acquired most of the inflectional morphemes for marking plurality, possession, and past tense, their comprehension and use of derivational morphemes is still developing. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes used with word stems that change the way a specific word functions in a sentence. For example, adding -ly to an adjective makes the word an adverb, as in quick-quickly. During the primary grades, children begin to form adverbs by using the suffix -ly and may use other derivational morphemes as well, depending on the presence of such morphemes in their oral and written language environments. Children's oral language may not provide evidence of the same use of morphemic knowledge as their written language. When using oral language, such as slang and dialect, children may not observe the same use of inflectional endings as they do when using written language. For example, on the playground, a child might say, "I'm goin' skate-boardin' after school," whereas if the child was writing this in a story for a class assignment, he would write, "I am going to go skateboarding after school." This difference reflects the way in which classroom instruction and exposure to academic English focuses on the use of both inflectional and derivational morphemes. Primary-age children's morphemic knowledge can be observed in their early attempts at encoding their thoughts into words on paper. While this knowledge is related to children's phonemic knowledge, as discussed in an earlier section, it also provides evidence of their understandings of word formation and morphemes. Throughout the primary years, children's morphemic knowledge continues to develop as they are engaged in informal conversations with others as well as in classroom activities that provide opportunities to hear, focus on, and use words containing inflectional and derivational morphemes.
Tips for Parents:
1. You can conduct word sorting activities where you ask your child sort the following words according to their affixes. Then they should guess the meaning of the affix based on their prior knowledge and the patterns they see.
2. Another idea is to make flash cards and ask your child to make as many real words as they can with these cards. Make sure that the cards contain several root words and multiple affixes.
What is Morphemic Knowledge?
Morphemic knowledge is the knowledge of word structure or how words are composed of one or more meaningful linguistic units. In summary, it is a form of spelling knowledge that focuses on the meaning of words in its smallest form (morphemes) and how they change when making compound words or using suffixes and prefixes. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, pronoun usage, using plural forms of nouns, overgeneralization (usage of morphemic rules for words that are not regular), using verb tenses, etc.
Morphemic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
The development of the morphemic aspect of language knowledge is influenced by phonemic awareness. The ability to perceive sound distinctions associated with inflectional morphemes is necessary for the development of morphemic knowledge. As infants listen to language around them, they begin to develop receptive knowledge of the meaning-changing aspects of morphemes. For example, "You may have one cracker" versus "You may have these crackers" signals significant differences for the young child. The development of morphemic knowledge becomes more evident as children begin to produce language during the toddler years.
Pronoun usage begins during toddlerhood, with the use of "I, mine, my, it, and me." This is important to the development of morphemic knowledge in the sense that noun-verb agreement in English influences the use of inflectional morphemes. (ex: I go, He goes, We go). Children's production of verbs during the early toddler period is usually expressed in present tense or present progressive (ex: go-going). At the end of the second year, children usually begin regularly using plural forms of nouns. The first grammatical morphemes to appear include present progressive of verbs (go-going), plurality (toy-toys), and possessive (dog-dog's). The sequence of morpheme acquisition does not appear to be influenced by the frequency of parents' use of specific morphemes; instead, acquisition is thought to be related to the linguistic complexity involved in using the specific morpheme.
Morphemic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
The preschool years are a time of significant development in morphemic knowledge. Children first develop knowledge of inflectional morphemes used to indicate plurality, possession, and verb tense. This typically begins between the ages of 2 and 4. Development of derivational morphemic knowledge begins later and takes longer. Derivational morphemes are morphemes added to words that change the part of speech or alter the meaning of the word, such as instruct-instructor, happy-unhappy. Specific variations in the use of morphemes are also acquired by young children as they interact with adults and other children in settings where a dialect variation or different language is spoken. Development of morphemic knowledge contributes to young children's linguistic competencies in providing a way of communicating meaning more precisely. By knowing how to change word structures to change meanings, children can communicate more effectively. Researchers have concluded that children do not learn morphology through simple imitation of adult speech; instead children appear to experiment actively with language to determine how word endings are used to influence the meaning of a sentence. As children develop their morphemic knowledge, their use of morphemes provides evidence that they are learning the general or regular patterns for using morphemes to communicate meaning using grammatical and semantic markers as well as learning the exceptions or irregular patterns.
Children's experiments with language can be observed as they use language to tell stories or in conversations. Overgeneralization occurs when children use their morphemic rules for words that are not regular. For example, the past tense of regular verbs is formed by adding -ed to the word as in walk-walked. When using irregular verbs in the past tense, children may overgeneralize and use falled as a past tense for fall, etc. Preschoolers also being to use comparatives. Children are not yet able to determine which comparatives are regular and which are irregular, so overgeneralization may occur, as in good, gooder, goodest. Evidence of preschoolers' developing morphemic knowledge can be also found in children's narratives.
Morphemic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
Throughout the kindergarten year, morphemic knowledge increases as children become more aware of morphemes in oral language. Kindergarteners continue to develop their awareness of how to show verb tense by using morphemes. With regular verbs, -ed is added to the word, as in "wanted" and "jumped." More irregular verbs are mastered, such as went, gone, and caught; however, kindergarteners may still overgeneralize. Increasing morphemic knowledge is evident in kindergarteners' use of comparatives and superlatives. Kindergarten-age children appear to be aware that there are two ways of making comparatives and superlatives. One way is to add -er and -est to the root wood; another way is to use more or most in from of the root word. Sometimes, it appears that children are trying out several hypotheses as to how comparatives and superlatives are formed. For example, a kindergartener might use both forms of making comparatives, as in "even more dirtier." By age 5, most children have receptive and productive knowledge of the noun suffix -er. Children know that by adding this suffix to a verb, they can make the name for the person who does the verb action, as in teacher-teacher, bat-batter, etc. They may also create their own words. For example, upon noticing that a toy was broken, Sean told a classmate, "this needs to go to the fixer-upper."
Morphemic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
During the primary years, children become more consciously aware of inflectional and derivational morphemes that are added to words to change the meaning of a word and/or to change the syntactic function of a word. While many primary-age children will have acquired most of the inflectional morphemes for marking plurality, possession, and past tense, their comprehension and use of derivational morphemes is still developing. Derivational morphemes are bound morphemes used with word stems that change the way a specific word functions in a sentence. For example, adding -ly to an adjective makes the word an adverb, as in quick-quickly. During the primary grades, children begin to form adverbs by using the suffix -ly and may use other derivational morphemes as well, depending on the presence of such morphemes in their oral and written language environments. Children's oral language may not provide evidence of the same use of morphemic knowledge as their written language. When using oral language, such as slang and dialect, children may not observe the same use of inflectional endings as they do when using written language. For example, on the playground, a child might say, "I'm goin' skate-boardin' after school," whereas if the child was writing this in a story for a class assignment, he would write, "I am going to go skateboarding after school." This difference reflects the way in which classroom instruction and exposure to academic English focuses on the use of both inflectional and derivational morphemes. Primary-age children's morphemic knowledge can be observed in their early attempts at encoding their thoughts into words on paper. While this knowledge is related to children's phonemic knowledge, as discussed in an earlier section, it also provides evidence of their understandings of word formation and morphemes. Throughout the primary years, children's morphemic knowledge continues to develop as they are engaged in informal conversations with others as well as in classroom activities that provide opportunities to hear, focus on, and use words containing inflectional and derivational morphemes.
Tips for Parents:
1. You can conduct word sorting activities where you ask your child sort the following words according to their affixes. Then they should guess the meaning of the affix based on their prior knowledge and the patterns they see.
2. Another idea is to make flash cards and ask your child to make as many real words as they can with these cards. Make sure that the cards contain several root words and multiple affixes.
Syntactic Knowledge
What is Syntactic Knowledge?
Syntactic knowledge is the knowledge of how words can be combined in meaningful sentences, phrases, or utterances. It involves the way that words are assembled and sentences are constructed in a particular language. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, telegraphic speech (use of two or three content words in an utterance with no function words), difficulty in pronounce use, speaking in short utterances, and an increase in the number of adverbs used to expand verb phrases (kindergarten).
Syntactic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
Syntactic development during infancy is not readily evident because infants do not begin to use expressive language until the later part of infancy and then only in the form of idiomorphs and single words. However, research with infants has documented their ability to "detect changes in the order of sounds." Children's receptive knowledge of syntax is developing during infancy as they observe and begin to participate in the communicative contexts around them. Children at the one-word stage appear to indicate that words presented in strings are not isolated units but are part of larger constituents. This early awareness facilitates syntactic knowledge development. Children develop receptive knowledge of syntax through speech directed to them and also by being listeners-observers in adult-to-adult interactions. Syntactically, adult-to-child speech is shorter in length and less complex grammatically. It contains repetitions, uses few subordinate clauses, contains fewer modifiers and pronouns, and has more content words and fewer verbs. Older infants' receptive knowledge of syntax is evident in their nonverbal responses to questions or directions such as, "Where is your cup?" or "Go get the ball" or "Where is your nose?" When a child retrieves a cup or ball or points to his nose, comprehension of the question or request is evident. Infants who are involved in storybook interactions with adults are exposed to more complex syntactic structures than those present in daily conversational settings. As infants near their first birthday, they begin to participate verbally as well as nonverbally during storybook interactions. Adults intuitively appear to alter the exact text to fit the comprehension and linguistic competencies of children. They shorten the text, create their own version of the text, increase repetitions, ask questions, and add sound effects. These adaptations encourage more engagement from children.
Children's speech during the toddler years is characterized by longer utterances and utterances with specific syntactic features. It is often referred to as telegraphic speech. Telegraphic speech is defined as the child's use of two or three content words in an utterance, with no function words, such as conjunctions, articles, prepositions, and inflections. Simple sentences or utterances involving two or three words are created, such as "Daddy come" and "Mommy coat." Grammatical relations are implied in these two-word combinations. Syntactic knowledge is represented in the word order patterns found in telegraphic speech; however, the word order patterns are closely tied to a child's semantic knowledge. Because we cannot directly ask young children how they decide to combine words in utterances, we must analyze their utterances to see what syntactic patterns are present. Children appear to use this syntactic-semantic knowledge when speaking, using such word combinations as "more juice," "play more," "all gone," "kitty come," etc. Even though children may be using multiple word utterances as toddlers, they may have difficulty with pronoun use. Pronoun use is semantic in the sense that pronouns take the place of nouns in an utterance; however, the way pronoun reference works in a sentence or an utterance involves syntactic structure because a pronoun refers to a noun used earlier in the utterance or sentence, in a specific syntactic position. The acquisition of the pronouns, "I", and "you," is particularly complex for toddlers because the use of these pronouns depends on the role of the listener (you) and speaker (I). When toddlers participate in storybook activities with adults, they are exposed to more complex sentence structure than in everyday conversations. With young toddlers, adults may intuitively continue to adapt story text to fit the toddlers' comprehension and attention span. This adapted text often models simple syntactic structures similar to adult-to-child speech. With older toddlers, parents and teachers may also alternate reading short segments of text with conversational comments that engage a child in talking about the illustrations or a related experience. Teachers and parents may also use a series of questions to encourage children to use more complex explanations instead of responding only by pointing to the picture.
Syntactic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
Preschool children's development of syntactic knowledge is evident in the length and structure of their speech. Children entering the preschool years typically are in the telegraphic speech stage, speaking in short utterances of two to three words. Although the sentence is considered a unit of structure in written language, oral language is often composed of smaller structural units, such as phrases composed of several words, and are referred to as "utterances." The grammatical complexity of preschoolers' speech occurs in significant ways: increasing noun and verb phrase complexity, using negation (no, not), producing interrogative sentences (questions), and beginning to use passive forms of sentences. Each of these new structures contributes to the increasing linguistic complexity of preschool children's language. As children's ability to engage in monologues or extended speech develops, they begin to use more complex syntax when sharing stories and accounts of personal experiences. Noun and verb complexity increases with the use of conjunctions (and) as well as with connectives (because, then, so, if).
Preschool children begin to use the word "no" at the beginning of an utterance; later on, the negative word-element appears within sentences, as in "I no want milk." Gradually contractions such as "don't" or "can't" appear. Preschool children ask a lot of questions. Some children seem to realize that, by asking questions such as "why?" they can keep a conversation going. In summary, during the preschool years, significant changes occur in children's syntactic knowledge. At the beginning, children are likely to use simple two and three word utterances, whereas at the end of the preschool years, children use a wider variety of syntactic structures characterized by greater complexity, having embedded clauses (because...) and conjoined clauses (...and...).
Syntactic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
Kindergarten-age children can construct basic sentences with little difficulty. The average sentence length for 5-year-olds is five to seven words. Children can comprehend others' speech that is more syntactically complex than the speech they produce. Kindergarten-age children's acquisition of syntactic knowledge continues as they begin to use more complex noun and verb phrase structures. Increases in syntactic knowledge allow children to communicate more complex ideas. Acquisition of more complex noun phrase structures may involve clearer use of pronouns. Most kindergarten-age children have mastered pronoun use for indicating subjects (I, you, she, he, they) and objects (me, him, her, them); however, they are just beginning to master the use of reflexives (myself, himself, herself, etc.). Kindergarten-age children's speech is characterized by an increase in the number of adverbs used to expand verb phrases. Auxiliary verbs such as "have, do, will, was, and could" are also increasingly used throughout the kindergarten year. During the kindergarten year, children typically begin to comprehend passive sentence construction, although they may be able to produce only short sentences using passive voice. Children appear to use passive sentences for specific linguistic or discursive purposes. For example, when Steven approached his teacher and said, "The truck wheel got broke," he was using passive sentence construction that did not mention who broke the truck's wheel. It may be that Steven wanted to take the focus off who broke the wheel, or perhaps he just wanted to focus on the fact that it was broken and appeal to his teacher to fix the truck so he would be able to play with it.
Syntactic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
Children's use of sentence structure becomes more elaborate and complex in both their oral and written language during the primary grade years. This syntactic development is influenced by language use in home, school, and community settings and by children's semantic language knowledge. Children who have been exposed to more complex language through a variety of genres, such as poetry, drama, nonfiction, and narrative stories, and who have many opportunities to create their own decontextualized texts will develop more elaborate syntactic knowledge. It is also important for children to have opportunities to participate in collaborative projects with their classmates as well as to participate in informal conversations and instruction-based discussions. Classrooms where most of the instruction occurs in teacher-directed large groups or where children work independently offer little opportunity for children to develop the linguistic competencies needed for complex language and literacy tasks. Primary-age children's knowledge of syntax is evident in their creation of both narrative and informational writing. They also continue to develop a clearer understanding of how pronouns are used in oral and written language. When pronouns are used in oral language, their referents are often indicated by the context, the setting, or both, in which the speech occurs; however, in written language, pronoun referents need to be identified through specific syntactic features.
During primary grades, children are more accurate in understanding and producing passive sentences. Passive sentences require a different type of linguistic processing because passive sentences do not follow the expected subject-verb-object sequence. Children appear to use a variety of clues in understanding passive sentences: contextual support, the presence of action verbs, and the presence of a preposition such as "from" or "by," as in "The window was broken by the ball." Teachers can informally observe primary children's syntactic knowledge by providing opportunities for children to participate in creating their own written stories and participating in story dictation. Through careful observation, teachers can become better acquainted with children's current and developing syntactic knowledge of oral and written language.
Tips for Parents:
1. Label parts of speech during shared book reading. For example, highlight and label different parts of speech by turning grammar into a fun game.
2. Another great tip is to create your own mad libs. Help your child understand parts of speech by creating your own Mad Libs modeled after the popular fill-in-the-blank game. Use any book you read together to create many similar sentences in order to help your child to understand nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
3. You can also build a sentence using objects. Build sentences with your child by using your own tangible materials (such as stuffed animals or lego people). For example, you could line up a baby doll, a spoon, and a bowl of cereal and "read" the sentence, "The baby eats cereal." This is a fun, interactive way to build skills together.
What is Syntactic Knowledge?
Syntactic knowledge is the knowledge of how words can be combined in meaningful sentences, phrases, or utterances. It involves the way that words are assembled and sentences are constructed in a particular language. Characteristics of normal development relating to this aspect include, telegraphic speech (use of two or three content words in an utterance with no function words), difficulty in pronounce use, speaking in short utterances, and an increase in the number of adverbs used to expand verb phrases (kindergarten).
Syntactic Knowledge in Infants/Toddlers:
Syntactic development during infancy is not readily evident because infants do not begin to use expressive language until the later part of infancy and then only in the form of idiomorphs and single words. However, research with infants has documented their ability to "detect changes in the order of sounds." Children's receptive knowledge of syntax is developing during infancy as they observe and begin to participate in the communicative contexts around them. Children at the one-word stage appear to indicate that words presented in strings are not isolated units but are part of larger constituents. This early awareness facilitates syntactic knowledge development. Children develop receptive knowledge of syntax through speech directed to them and also by being listeners-observers in adult-to-adult interactions. Syntactically, adult-to-child speech is shorter in length and less complex grammatically. It contains repetitions, uses few subordinate clauses, contains fewer modifiers and pronouns, and has more content words and fewer verbs. Older infants' receptive knowledge of syntax is evident in their nonverbal responses to questions or directions such as, "Where is your cup?" or "Go get the ball" or "Where is your nose?" When a child retrieves a cup or ball or points to his nose, comprehension of the question or request is evident. Infants who are involved in storybook interactions with adults are exposed to more complex syntactic structures than those present in daily conversational settings. As infants near their first birthday, they begin to participate verbally as well as nonverbally during storybook interactions. Adults intuitively appear to alter the exact text to fit the comprehension and linguistic competencies of children. They shorten the text, create their own version of the text, increase repetitions, ask questions, and add sound effects. These adaptations encourage more engagement from children.
Children's speech during the toddler years is characterized by longer utterances and utterances with specific syntactic features. It is often referred to as telegraphic speech. Telegraphic speech is defined as the child's use of two or three content words in an utterance, with no function words, such as conjunctions, articles, prepositions, and inflections. Simple sentences or utterances involving two or three words are created, such as "Daddy come" and "Mommy coat." Grammatical relations are implied in these two-word combinations. Syntactic knowledge is represented in the word order patterns found in telegraphic speech; however, the word order patterns are closely tied to a child's semantic knowledge. Because we cannot directly ask young children how they decide to combine words in utterances, we must analyze their utterances to see what syntactic patterns are present. Children appear to use this syntactic-semantic knowledge when speaking, using such word combinations as "more juice," "play more," "all gone," "kitty come," etc. Even though children may be using multiple word utterances as toddlers, they may have difficulty with pronoun use. Pronoun use is semantic in the sense that pronouns take the place of nouns in an utterance; however, the way pronoun reference works in a sentence or an utterance involves syntactic structure because a pronoun refers to a noun used earlier in the utterance or sentence, in a specific syntactic position. The acquisition of the pronouns, "I", and "you," is particularly complex for toddlers because the use of these pronouns depends on the role of the listener (you) and speaker (I). When toddlers participate in storybook activities with adults, they are exposed to more complex sentence structure than in everyday conversations. With young toddlers, adults may intuitively continue to adapt story text to fit the toddlers' comprehension and attention span. This adapted text often models simple syntactic structures similar to adult-to-child speech. With older toddlers, parents and teachers may also alternate reading short segments of text with conversational comments that engage a child in talking about the illustrations or a related experience. Teachers and parents may also use a series of questions to encourage children to use more complex explanations instead of responding only by pointing to the picture.
Syntactic Knowledge in Pre-Schoolers:
Preschool children's development of syntactic knowledge is evident in the length and structure of their speech. Children entering the preschool years typically are in the telegraphic speech stage, speaking in short utterances of two to three words. Although the sentence is considered a unit of structure in written language, oral language is often composed of smaller structural units, such as phrases composed of several words, and are referred to as "utterances." The grammatical complexity of preschoolers' speech occurs in significant ways: increasing noun and verb phrase complexity, using negation (no, not), producing interrogative sentences (questions), and beginning to use passive forms of sentences. Each of these new structures contributes to the increasing linguistic complexity of preschool children's language. As children's ability to engage in monologues or extended speech develops, they begin to use more complex syntax when sharing stories and accounts of personal experiences. Noun and verb complexity increases with the use of conjunctions (and) as well as with connectives (because, then, so, if).
Preschool children begin to use the word "no" at the beginning of an utterance; later on, the negative word-element appears within sentences, as in "I no want milk." Gradually contractions such as "don't" or "can't" appear. Preschool children ask a lot of questions. Some children seem to realize that, by asking questions such as "why?" they can keep a conversation going. In summary, during the preschool years, significant changes occur in children's syntactic knowledge. At the beginning, children are likely to use simple two and three word utterances, whereas at the end of the preschool years, children use a wider variety of syntactic structures characterized by greater complexity, having embedded clauses (because...) and conjoined clauses (...and...).
Syntactic Knowledge in Kindergarteners:
Kindergarten-age children can construct basic sentences with little difficulty. The average sentence length for 5-year-olds is five to seven words. Children can comprehend others' speech that is more syntactically complex than the speech they produce. Kindergarten-age children's acquisition of syntactic knowledge continues as they begin to use more complex noun and verb phrase structures. Increases in syntactic knowledge allow children to communicate more complex ideas. Acquisition of more complex noun phrase structures may involve clearer use of pronouns. Most kindergarten-age children have mastered pronoun use for indicating subjects (I, you, she, he, they) and objects (me, him, her, them); however, they are just beginning to master the use of reflexives (myself, himself, herself, etc.). Kindergarten-age children's speech is characterized by an increase in the number of adverbs used to expand verb phrases. Auxiliary verbs such as "have, do, will, was, and could" are also increasingly used throughout the kindergarten year. During the kindergarten year, children typically begin to comprehend passive sentence construction, although they may be able to produce only short sentences using passive voice. Children appear to use passive sentences for specific linguistic or discursive purposes. For example, when Steven approached his teacher and said, "The truck wheel got broke," he was using passive sentence construction that did not mention who broke the truck's wheel. It may be that Steven wanted to take the focus off who broke the wheel, or perhaps he just wanted to focus on the fact that it was broken and appeal to his teacher to fix the truck so he would be able to play with it.
Syntactic Knowledge in Primary Age Children:
Children's use of sentence structure becomes more elaborate and complex in both their oral and written language during the primary grade years. This syntactic development is influenced by language use in home, school, and community settings and by children's semantic language knowledge. Children who have been exposed to more complex language through a variety of genres, such as poetry, drama, nonfiction, and narrative stories, and who have many opportunities to create their own decontextualized texts will develop more elaborate syntactic knowledge. It is also important for children to have opportunities to participate in collaborative projects with their classmates as well as to participate in informal conversations and instruction-based discussions. Classrooms where most of the instruction occurs in teacher-directed large groups or where children work independently offer little opportunity for children to develop the linguistic competencies needed for complex language and literacy tasks. Primary-age children's knowledge of syntax is evident in their creation of both narrative and informational writing. They also continue to develop a clearer understanding of how pronouns are used in oral and written language. When pronouns are used in oral language, their referents are often indicated by the context, the setting, or both, in which the speech occurs; however, in written language, pronoun referents need to be identified through specific syntactic features.
During primary grades, children are more accurate in understanding and producing passive sentences. Passive sentences require a different type of linguistic processing because passive sentences do not follow the expected subject-verb-object sequence. Children appear to use a variety of clues in understanding passive sentences: contextual support, the presence of action verbs, and the presence of a preposition such as "from" or "by," as in "The window was broken by the ball." Teachers can informally observe primary children's syntactic knowledge by providing opportunities for children to participate in creating their own written stories and participating in story dictation. Through careful observation, teachers can become better acquainted with children's current and developing syntactic knowledge of oral and written language.
Tips for Parents:
1. Label parts of speech during shared book reading. For example, highlight and label different parts of speech by turning grammar into a fun game.
2. Another great tip is to create your own mad libs. Help your child understand parts of speech by creating your own Mad Libs modeled after the popular fill-in-the-blank game. Use any book you read together to create many similar sentences in order to help your child to understand nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
3. You can also build a sentence using objects. Build sentences with your child by using your own tangible materials (such as stuffed animals or lego people). For example, you could line up a baby doll, a spoon, and a bowl of cereal and "read" the sentence, "The baby eats cereal." This is a fun, interactive way to build skills together.
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