supportive scaffolding

Language Development of Infants and Toddlers * 127 (Owens, 1988). order toddlers introduce or change the topic of conversation. In addition, toddlers may use some attention-getting words and gestures (Owens, 1988). 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. Toddlers' pragmatic knowledge and emergent literacy. In literate cul lures 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

Language Development of Infants and Toddlers *~ 121 For example, in the sentence, "The girl was riding her bike when it broke," both her and it are pronouns that refer to nouns. We can identify the referent for her because the noun girl precedes the pronoun; likewise for it, which was preceded by bike. When children learn to use pronouns, they learn how to identify or indicate the appropriate referent in the utterance or sentence by using both syntactic and semantic information. The acquisition of pronouns begins during the toddler years and extends through preschool {Owens, 2001). This long period of acquisition reflects the complexity of pronoun use. Children need to learn that the form of a pronoun must reflect the syntactic position within the utterance. For example, one form of a pronoun may indicate the subject of an utterance {I, he, she), while a different form is used to refer to the utterance's object {him, her, me). 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) (Owens, 2001; Warren & McCloskey, 1997). In a conversation, the roles of speaker and listener are constantly changing, so the referents for I and you are also constantly changing. Further, it is difficult for an adult to model the appropriate use of I and you ·without adding to the confusion. This confusion may explain why parents and other adults use labels like Daddy's or baby's instead of my or your for objects. For example, a father might tell his son, "Daddy's going to work" rather than saying, "I'm going to work" or "This is Daddy's hat" instead of "This is my hat." Gradually, toddlers learn to use the I and you pronouns appropriately: however, it is important for early childhood teachers to be aware of the initial confusion toddlers experience in acquiring these pronouns. Toddlers are also learning to use the pronouns "I" and "me." They may appear to use both forms to indicate the "agent" position (utterance subject position). For example, saying "Me want dat" on some occasions and at other times saying "I want dat." Even though a toddler has heard others say, "Ready or not, here I come" when playing hide and seek, the toddler may say, "Ready or not, here me come" when it is her turn to look for her playmate. Toddlers are also gradually acquiring the use of the reflexive pronouns such as myself, himself, and herself. In acquiring reflexive pronouns, toddlers may use their knowledge of the possessive pronoun to then form the reflexive pronoun (Otto, 2012). For example, a toddler who has used "his" to refer to someone's possession (e.g., his hat) may use "hisselP' instead of "himself." For example, "He got down there all by hisself." Emergent literacy and syntactic knowledge. When toddlers participate in sto• rybook activities with adults, they are exposed, to more complex sentence struc-ture than in everyday conversations.

While direct experiences have a greater impact on concept development, both direct and vicarious experiences make valuable contributions to concept development.

When meaning is attached to words or sequences of speech sounds, young children begin to develop semantic knowledge.

Early childhood teachers and caregivers need to be aware of the characteristics and significance of this illness so that they may assist parents in safeguarding the health and development of young children.

"lhal lho capacity for basic Janguago dovolopment is 'wirocl' into the analomical slruclurc of lho brain" (p. 29)

t is only through interaction in lhe environment that language is acquired.

Tho ways in which parents and caregivers direct young children's allention to ongoing events and the moaning of those events also has an important role in lan-guage development

According lo Bruner (1990), "language is acquired not in the role of spectator but through use. Being 'exposed' to a flow of language is not nearly so important as 'using it' while 'doing'

To become aware of the ways in which cultures may be similar or different, you will also need to examine your own culture and your students' culture with respect to these aspects: family structure, life cycle, interpersonal role relationships, discipline, time and space, religion, food, health and hygiene, and history, tradi-tion, and holidays. It is important to acknowledge and understand one's own cul-ture and language community as it provides a basis for becoming aware of one's identity and "cultural selr' as well as beginning to understand other cultures and language communities (Zygmunt-Fillwalk & Clark, 2007).

A child's first language serves as a foundation on which the second language is acquired

Children's language competencies influence their educational opportunities and achievements.

Cognitive strategies. These strategies involve using language to interact with written and hands-on materials, using a range of cognitive processes, such as summarizing, deduction/induction, transfer, and inference. 2. Metacognitive strategies. These strategies involve using language to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's own learning. 3. Social-affective strategies. These strategies involve using language to interact with olhers (peers or teachers) in the learning process, such as asking questions for clarification or working collaboratively (Chamot & O'Malley, 1995).

Encouraging children to become linguistically flexible is critical for teachers in the development and implementation of curricula that will provide children with opti-mal learning opportunities.

As an early childhood teacher. your role is lo continue to enhance children's language development and to encourage children lo dovolop linguistic flexibilily so they can communicate effectively in a wide vari-ety of sol tings. While you may think that your emphasis should be only on helping children develop lnngungo competencies that will contribute to thoir success in aca-demic sellings, ii is also important for you lo acknowledge the value of their other language compotoncies that will contribute lo their effective communication

Heath concluded that the contrasts she found in langunge were not based on race, but on complex cultural influences in each community.

In many classrooms. teachers will not ho multilingual or roprosont diverse c.ulturns, nor will thoy have rccoived any special professional preparation lo work with linguislic diversily (R11hi11stoi11-Avila, 2006). In addilion, attention to tlw linguislic and cull11ral backgrounds of tho children may be limilml and not inrorporallid into llw classroom curriculum.

These perspectives have varied in the ways they believe nature and nurture influence language developmonl.

it is important that you acquire knowledge of how children develop language competen-cies. This knowledge will enable you to provide guidance, support, and mediation to enhance children's development.