Often times parents think that the words they speak to their children don't matter. Are the kids even paying attention anyway? It turns out that yes, what parents say matters to their children. Use language that is appropriate for your child and help your child learn words to increase their vocabulary. It is important for parents to ask their child about their feelings, past or current events and to use a language with children that allows the child to increase his or her vocabulary. Babies as young as six months can recognize new words. Parents need to do all they can to help their child have a wide vocabulary base by the age of four.
By the age of four, it can be obvious if a child has an increased or decreased vocabulary. Decreased vocabulary is associated with lower income families therefore greater vocabulary is associated with higher income households. The vocabulary spoken in lower income households, is typically more simple everyday vocabulary such as, do you want more juice? where language spoken in higher income households, for example was, "we need to stop at the intersection to let the 18 wheeler go by". Conversation in higher income households also consisted of asking children about their feelings, and past or current events and questions were more specific.
Does it matter if a child learns vocabulary from a television or from real conversation? Yes, it does matter. When a child learns a word from television, it does not mean that the child understands the language. In Lisa Guernsey's book Screen Time: From Baby Videos to Educational Software-Affects Your Young Child, She notes that "developmental psychologists and cognitive scientists are starting to discover just how much a person requires real, person to person contact to learn language. This interaction is something that televisions, DVDs or even interactive computer programs cannot replicate". Some parents of children who appear to have a speech delay, think they should buy DVDs that encourage language. In most cases, the parent can "just describe what is going on to help their child learn language". Speaking in slow, enunciated patterns helps children learn language. Parents need to remember that "if raised in normal loving households, babies learn to speak without much intervention".
Language/educational DVDs and television programming lack the "evidence that electronic media alone can teach someone language, how to string verbs and nouns and prepositions together in a meaningful way, how to communicate ideas through speech". This does not mean that television and DVDs do not teach anything at all. Any parent who allows their child to watch television, can share an experience in which the child has copied language or behavior from television. This behavior and language can be good or bad. Some children demonstrate violent behavior and some demonstrate caring and sharing behavior. It just depends on what the child is exposed to.
"Education experts say that a child's level of vocabulary before entering school is a strong predicator of her academic performance years down the road". Therefore if you have young children or care for any young children, you should encourage face to face interaction with lots of vocabulary. This will help them improve their chances of a successful educational career.
Your last review is a great illustration of J.P. Gee’s "[importance of] the child’s early home-based oral vocabulary … [along] with complex oral language [which] correlate for school success …. past the first grade, [and] essentially for the rest of schooling….[to avoid] the fourth–grade slump” (A Situated Sociocultural Approach to Literacy and Technology.) Thanks for reminding us of the direct correlation between face to face time at home before the age of four and literacy afterwards, and how the poorer children education disadvantage needs to be resolved!
ReplyDelete"It is important for parents to ask their child about their feelings, past or current events and to use a language with children that allows the child to increase his or her vocabulary". That is correct, but do you think that our busy lives will us to find the time to do that? Capitalism killed almost the majority of aspects of the social life and the alternative -for both parents and children- became the virtual life with some friends among the big stranger community.
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