For example, a child mighl use the vocabulary or syntac-tic structure of one language when attempting to communicate in the olher language.
Another example showing how switching from one language to another could be difficult, even if someone grew up hearing both.
As a result, their stories might be assumed to be indicative of lower academic ability and language competency, when, in fact, a complex process of dis-tinguishing between the various aspects of each language is occurring.
As future educators we must closely look at instances like this. Just because a child's story/work seems incomplete does not mean that they are not comprehending. It might take a lot to switch from one language to another.
In some locales in the United States, a drinking fountain is referred to as a bubbler.
Much like how some people refer to soda as pop or vice versa.
When speech directed to young children is at a slower pace or temf it allows for linguistic processing: it takes time lo process speech cognitively. If y, have ever been inn setting where you were a nonnative speaker, you may ha wished that tho native speakers would just speak more slowly.
Makes sense! I can relate with being in a setting where someone speaks a different language and wishing they spoke slowly so I could understand.
Whon this routine hns been repeated suc-cessfully with infants (G-'12 months of ago) over lime, they begin to respond to the verbal phrase or word by looking nl the speaker nnd then Lo the location sig-naled by the udull's gesture. After shared reference is established, communicn· Lion about the object or event occul's.
It's just like taking baby steps before moving onto greater things. The child must first learn one phrase before they can move on to more complex ideas.
Allison's shoes and socks ore now on, nnd Allison becomes distracted by her 4-yeor-old sister, who is also playing in the backyard. Allison leaves hor mom's lnp, and the singing ends. Two minutes later, Allison is observed singing the duck song to herself as she walks in the backyard.
Very cool! Not only did the mother distract the child enough to be able to put her shoes and socks on without a fit, she was also able to teach the child a new song.
"Now say 'bye-bye'," and the child responds with an immediate nllompt to repoat the specific word(s). Or, it may occur as a result of delayed modeling, when the child approximates previously modeled speech in a similar setting without being prompted.
Couldn't telling a child to say something be bad in some cases? By telling the child what to say are they truly understanding why they need to say "bye" in this situation?Some children might just repeat words and have no idea what they mean.
a wide range of children's literature should bo road lo children so thnl L1iey can .develop and test hypotheses about how language is used Lo communicate.
This could be how a child develops the different language needed to talk to a teacher or parent vs talking to a friend.
The ability to learn language is a quality of the human species because humans obviously are not designed to acquire one language over another. Healthy infants are able "lo learn any of the world's 3,000 languages" (Rushton, Eitelgeorge, & Zickafoose, 2003, p. 13).
This might be the reason why many people believe that it is better to teach a child different languages when they are young rather than waiting until they are older. Do we really loose this ability to learn any of the languages as we get older?
For example, a mother of a 5-year-old might dis-cover that the verbal whining she often heard at home from her child never occurred when the child w.as at school.
I got a lot of parents asking me similar questions like this when I was working with 1st and 2nd graders at a summer camp. When I told them that their child did not cry or whine when they did not get their way, they were mostly surprised and said that they do it all the time at home. They learn that in settings like school and camp, whining is not acceptable and won't get them anything.
Early on in lhe development of communicative competence, children's efforts appear to have purpose or intent. An 8-month-old child who looks at her mother \vilh outslrelchod arms and produces strained vocalizations (/uh/ /uh/) is assumed to be communicating thal she wants to be picked up. If not initially sue· cessful, the child may repeat her request, vocalize louder, or gesture more emphati· cally (Gleason, 1993).
It's so amazing how at such a young age communication is taking place and then seeing how these words like "uh uh" can develop into other phrases. This is much like when a baby points to their mouth and makes a sound to signify that they are hungry. The child uses both words and phrases to get their intent across.