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Introduction
02 August 2015

19:05

Learning Outcomes:
1
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Identify and interpret children's representation as a form of communication - how
children think and how children communicate what they are thinking
3
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Evaluate the role of the adult in supporting the development of children's ability to
communicate

Assessments:
Part 1: Class Tests (40%)
2 tests that covers the LOs 1 and 2
- Thursday 3rd March 2016, 10am - WTU203, Covers material from weeks 1 and first
half of week 2
- Thursday 17th March 2016, 10am - WTU202, Covers material from the second half of
week 2 and 3
Part 2: Essay (60%)
Covers the LOs 3 and 4
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Expressive language - This describes how we select the words we want to use and
then how we put them together or combine them to make phrases and sentences to
convey our message
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e
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Non-Verbal communication - This describes the many ways that we communicate
with each other without using speech or language
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Written communication - This describes the way we communicate with each other
and find out about and convey information in a written form
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e
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The EYFS mentions the importance of communication, as one of the prime areas:
"Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to
experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in
expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations," (DfE, 2014,
p
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ED5704 - Powerful Communicators Page 2

Features and Functions of Language
11 February 2016

13:15

Language is one form of communication
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Saxton (2010) - Language as a set of key features that makes it a 'human' form of
communication
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These are four from the list of 16 features derived by Charles Hockett
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g
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Why is it
changing?
- Geography, such as dialects
- Media
- Words from other languages
- Group culture
- New objects - ideas, text, internet
- Technology
- Specific language - science, legal, medical
Language gives us the means to share our thoughts/feelings, give and receive information,
and structure our thinking and reasoning
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58-61, Language and literacy in the Early Years 0-7 - E-Book on
Moodle
[Jo Tough (1976), Listening to children talking]
Functions for language:
- Give or take instructions/directions
- Giving and receiving information
- Finding information, conveying information, recording information (See Neaum)
- For enjoyment
- Creativity
See Michael Halliday's list of functions
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All languages operate on the same principles but how language is constructed is peculiar to
each language
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Areas of Competence:
- Phonology: Refers to the basic units of sound or phonemes, that are used in a
language and rules for combining these sounds
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This is often called grammar
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- Pragmatics: Is knowledge about how language is used in different contexts
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What we feel leads to the tone of voice and
the words you use
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be/q4rvrpmsfjA for more information
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See Neaum, 2012, for more detailed information
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The very young child
has now made the crucial first moves in freeing her thinking from immediate stimuli and
its rootedness in the here and now" (p
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56, in Supporting language and
literacy development in the early years [2nd edition]
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Children want to communicate their thoughts, ideas, their knowledge and experience to
others through a variety of ways, including language
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Therefore children actively attempt to communicate their ideas, feelings, experiences
through various modes of representation
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Each gesture is like a single word, and one word may have several different meanings
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So at least 65% is conveyed through body language
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Non-verbal communication characteristics in infancy include:
- Face-to-face intimacy
- Strong feelings, from warm affection to rage and frustration
- Very dramatic use of facial expressions, especially eyes and eyebrows, mouth, lips,
and tongue
- Whole body movements, head nodding and shaking, arm and hand gestures
- The use of 'mouth sounds' like clicks, whistles, hums, 'raspberries', and loud 'boos'
Non-verbal characteristics:
- Facial expression
○ Face is a specialised communication area
○ Culturally universal
○ When listening one is continuously reading what a person is saying by small
movements of eyebrows, mouth
○ Speakers use different facial expressions when something is funny, serious,
important
○ Children's fine-tuning of facial expressions are important to their social
development
- Eye contact
○ Eye contact gives a powerful indication of emotions
○ Plays an important role in communication and establishing relationships
○ Has important functions such as maintaining conversations, giving feedback to
the speaker, social communication between child and parent/practitioner (links to
attachment theory)
○ People look how much more while listening as while talking
- Paralinguistics (tone of voice, timing)
○ The meaning is conveyed by variations in speech quality - loudness, pitch, rate,
hesitations
○ Metacommunication - noises of agreement/encouragement, pitch, stress, timing
○ Emotions expressed by tone of voice, accent, voice quality, and speech errors e
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anxious person speaks fast, while an angry person speaks loudly and slow
○ See Whitehead (2010), p
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Therefore, by becoming sensitive to the clues of body language can help us communicate
more effectively
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At this stage children often understand words even though they cannot yet speak
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Early Perception of Sounds…
For a child to develop language, she needs to be able to discriminate between
sounds
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Babbling continues for another 6 months
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Children understand far more than they can say
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Good practice…
Don't rush the child
Expand the child's vocabulary - using activities and providing experiences
Encourage eye contact
Share books and stories with the child
Use rhymes and songs to help children listen to the sounds of language
Communication (0-2 years) - Baby Sign Language

Babies use all kind of creative ways of communicating before they can speak
One method that has caused much debate is through the use of baby sign language
Arguments for…
Clarke (2004) advocates the use of baby signing because it:
- Provides an active, fundamental means of communication which
capitalises on children's natural tendencies to use gestures
- Targets a range of learning styles: visual, verbal, auditory, and
kinaesthetic (movement)
- Enables children to become active and independent communicators
- Does not stop a baby from talking
Arguments against…
Grove et al (2004):
- More critical view - they do not say that baby signing is a 'bad thing'
but that we should ask ourselves questions before 'leaping on this
extraordinarily fashionable bandwagon'
- Their advice for parents is that the most helpful this they can do is to
encourage their babies to point, citing sound research which suggests
this is associated with joint attention and the development of object
naming and language development
For more research, see the journal article on Moodle by Mueller et al (2014)

Listening
What is listening?
- To hear instructions
- To receive information
- Understand what others are saying and communicating to you
- To know how to help others
- To be part of a group
- Listening to music and poetry
- Enjoying the sounds in nature
Hearing is a passive act, we can usually hear whether we want to or not
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We need to give meaning to the words in order to
understand them
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Stage One Grammar
Before a child uses two words together, the child uses one word to represent a whole
sentence
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Children only use those words necessary to get their point across, and omit small
words that are not necessary
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The words the children use during telegraphic speech are contentive words
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Changes that occur… When the child begins to use:
- The use of -ing added to a verb
- Prepositions such as on or in
- The use of 's' to form plurals
- Irregular past tenses, for example, sang
- Possessives, for example Jennie's hat
- The use of 'the' and 'a', also known as 'articles'
- Adding 's' to the third person verbs, such as he wants
- Regular past tenses, such as climbed and clapped
This is a gradual acquisition over time
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Children seem to know that the noun comes before the verb
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Children show a slow start in acquiring grammar, but sometime in their third year they
show a sudden increase in the complexity of the sentence they use
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Once children have learned a grammatical rule, they begin to incorporate it into their
speech
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They then learn the rule and apply it to everything, which is when they start to learn
through reinforcement and listening to others, how to correctly apply it
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Children understand that words are symbols that label objects (symbolic thinking and
understanding - Piaget)
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Children use 'constraints' which limit or constrain alternative meanings for new words,
see Levine and Munsch, 2011
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- Mutual exclusivity: child assumes only one new name for one object
Children assume, and seem to know, that there is one new name for one
new object, and that is it
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- Taxonomic constraint: two objects with common features have one name
Two objects with common feature have one name, such as cat and dog are
only know as animal
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Over 3s

Speech becomes more complex
Children use conjunction, like 'and' and 'but'
Combine two ideas together
Use embedded clauses
Make more detailed observations about the world
Vocabulary is increasing, so that by the age of 4, a child will typically have around
1500 words
At 5 years old, a typical child will have vocabulary of around 2000 words
Understands social conventions, such as using 'please' and 'thank you', and not
interrupting others when they are speaking
Keep conversation going for several turns
Language in over 4s
Can talk about the future
Can describe shape, colour, texture, spatial relationships, and the function of objects
Use words to describe what is happening
Able to tell a simple story from looking at a picture
Discovering the power of questions
Being able to talk about feelings and ideas and recount experiences they have had
Some thematic approaches to developing language and communication skills:
- All about me
- Spring
- Rhymes
- Animals
- Colours
- Homes
- Living things
- Toys
Supporting language in:
3 year olds…
- Share rhymes, books and stories from many cultures
- When introducing a new activity, use mime and gesture to support language
development
- Provide practical experiences that encourage children to ask and respond to
questions
- Introduce new words in the context of play and activities
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- Introduce new words in the context of play and activities
- Show interest in the words children use to communicate and describe their
experiences
- Help children expand on what they say, introducing and reinforcing the use of
more complex sentences
4-5 years olds…
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Encourage conversation with others and demonstrate appropriate conventions
Show children how to use language for negotiation, e
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please, and thank you
Model language appropriate for different audiences
Encourage children to predict possible endings to stories and events
Encourage children to experiment with words and sounds, for example, in
nonsense rhymes

Language and communication development beyond the 0-5 age range…
It is recognised that early childhood extends to the 5-8 age range
After EYFS, children enter into The National Curriculum (in Year One onwards)
The developmental aspects of this age range is covered adequately in the National
Curriculum (which will be explored in the forthcoming weeks…)

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Supporting the Development of Reading Skills - Literacy
10 March 2016

08:58

What is literacy?
Term used for reading and writing development
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49)
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Read Whitehead, 1996, Chapter 4 - on e-Library
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Reading and writing are essential skills to have
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Two types:
- Conventional print - in books, newspapers, magazines
- Environmental print - road signs, brand logos, posters, shop signs, labels, graffiti,
apps on tablets/iPad/iPhone, clothes logo, television programmes, packaging,
vehicles, domestic appliances, buildings, street names, toys, movies, baby
equipment, tattoo
Children ask questions such as 'What is this for?' and 'What's in it for me?' (I need to get
knowledge and understanding from this…), as they have a drive to make sense of print
Similar questions lie behind all thinking investigations and play of babies and young children
Adults should aim to stimulate this interest in print, both environmental and conventional
Symbols…
- Numbers, print, pictures, etc…
- All a focus of our feelings, and stand for sequences of emotions, thoughts,
experiences, and beliefs
- Symbols work by representation
Representations…
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Representational thinking
From the infant's earliest experiences of actions, movements, and images
Creates thoughts about people and things
Through the use of symbols

Mark making…
- "Mark making involves both creativity, communication and some degree of
permanence; these are important components of literacy," (Whitehead, 1996, p
...
" The Oxford Guide to the English Language
Two components of reading identified in the simple view of reading first put forward by
Gough and Tunmer (1986) are:
- Decoding: "reading an unknown word by sounding out and blending phonemes
[sounds] represented by the letters
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e
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(Gough & Tunmer, 1986)
Decoding - reading; Comprehension - understanding what you read
"If you cannot recognise the words that comprise the written text, you cannot recover the
lexical information necessary for the application of linguistic processes that lead to
comprehension
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There are three stages children go through in the development of reading:
1
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The Emergent Reading Stage
3
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They need to understand:
- That spoken words can be represented by written symbols on a page
- That print carries meaning/messages
- That there are different sorts of texts
- That reading is useful and important/informative/interactive activity
Also in this stage, children need to understand that, in the English language:
- Book are read from the front to the back
- Pages are turned over one at a time
- Pages are read from the top to the bottom
- Lines/letters of words are read from the left to the right
In this stage, children need to develop:
- Auditory Discrimination: children need to be able to hear the differences between
sounds
- Visual Discrimination: recognition of similarities and differences, reversal identification
[differentiate between letters such as 'b' and 'd', and 'p' and 'q'], matching shape to
shape
Supporting Reading in the Pre Reading Stage…
- Use finger play, rhymes and familiar songs from home to support young babies'
enjoyment
- Tell, as well as read, stories, looking at and interacting with young babies
- Let children handle books and draw their attention to pictures
- Use different voices to tell stories and encourage young children to join in wherever
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- Use different voices to tell stories and encourage young children to join in wherever
possible
- Find opportunities to tell and read stories to children, using puppets or soft toys as
props
- Encourage children to use the stories they hear in their play
- Discuss with children the characters in books being read
- Encourage them to predict outcomes to think of alternative endings, and to compare
plots and their feelings of characters with their own experiences
- Help children to understand what a word is by using names and labels and by pointing
out words in the environment and in books
- Read stories that children already know, pausing at intervals to encourage them to
'read' the next word
The Emergent Reading Stage
When children have developed these pre reading skills, they are ready to progress to
learning to read
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Phonics
Young children need to understand the relationship between the sounds in the
English language and the printed letters on a page
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Phonemes:
The English language can be broken down into 44 different sounds
These sounds are called phonemes
There are 24 consonant and 20 vowel sounds
Learning phonics:
Children begin by learning basic consonant and short vowel sounds
Children hear and say: the initial sounds in the words, the end sounds of the
words, and the middle sound in the words
Children can then build CVC words, e
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c-u-p, h-a-t, b-e-g
Children then learn blended consonant sounds, e
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'sh' , 'ch', 'th'
Children learn long vowel sounds
Words can then be segmented and sounded out
In the emergent reading stage, phonics should be taught through fun,
practical activities and games
2
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Grammatical Skills
By the time children reach the age of 5, they will have a good grasp of spoken
English
Their knowledge of the grammatical structure of English helps them to read
unknown words
e
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The boy played in the _______________
4
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Contextual Skills
In this stage, children rely heavily on contextual clues from the pictures or from
their general knowledge to work out new words
e
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Kipper has a new t_________ , The bird made a n________
Supporting Reading in the Emergent Reading Stage…
- Discuss and model ways of finding out information from non-fiction texts
- Explain to parents the importance of reading to children, ask about their favourite
books, and offer book loans
- Provide story sacks and boxes for use in the setting and at home
- Provide some simple texts which children can decode to give them confidence and to
practice their developing skills
The Early Reading Stage
Children continue to use the cues learned in emergent reading stage:
- Phonic cues
- Word cues
- Grammatical cues
- Contextual cues
1
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Word Recognition
Age 6:
Controlled word recognition
- Begin to read silently
- Begin to read with expression
- Normally do not need to point at words
- Can use cues more effectively to guess unfamiliar words
Age 7-9:
Can read difficult words in context but find it hard to read them out of
context
Age 9-10:
Developing skimming and scanning skills
Enjoy reading a wide range of material
Teaching Reading
There are three main activities which are used when supporting the development of reading
with young children…
- Modelled reading
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- Modelled reading
- Shared reading
- Guided reading

Modelled reading…
This is particularly important with very young children where the adult reads out loud to
the children
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g
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readingrockets
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Completion prompts
Leaving a blank at the end of a sentence for the child to complete
2
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Open-ended prompt
Ask the child to describe what is happening in the picture (opportunity for
expressive language)
4
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Distancing prompt
Take child out of the story to think about the real world, e
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when reading
story about a dog, ask "What did our dog do yesterday?"
Comprehension
Comprehension is the ability to understand what is spoken or written
It involves much more than simply hearing or reading information
Many children become very good at decoding text but have little understanding of what
they have read
To develop good comprehension skills a child need:
- Access to a wide range of texts
- To watch and listen to skilled readers
- Opportunities to practice reading in a relaxed environment
- Time to discuss what has been read
- Texts which are of interest to them

Read Merchant, 2008, pp
...

The two main functions of writing:
- To help individuals organise thoughts, give meaning to their experiences
- To communicate messages, information, thoughts and feelings to other people
Records of conversations are not word for word transcriptions
A written message does not need the author to be present - it can be read by many other
people at different times and in different places
Oral communication can be easily forgotten
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g
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88

Writing can be used to:
- Persuade
- Entertain
- Communicate
- Express ideas
- Establish contact with others
- Exercise the imagination
Writing for different audiences…
It is also important for children to begin to understand that the style of writing they
use depends on the audience that they are writing for
Children should have the opportunity to write:
- Fiction
- Non fiction
- Poetry
- Reports
- Letter
- Recipes
- Lists
Teaching Writing
There are four ways in which writing can be taught:
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Modelled writing
Shared writing
Guided writing
Independent writing

Modelled writing…

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Allows the practitioner to demonstrate the process of writing by thinking aloud
Sessions should be short and enjoyable
The practitioner talks through the writing process step by step to show the children how
things are done
Demonstrates how to:
- Plan writing
- Make decisions about content and style
- Lay out writing on a page
- Write and locate words
- Shape sentences
- Review work
- Enjoy writing
Shared writing…
Involves a large group of children working together with a practitioner to compose a
joint piece of writing which is transcribed by the adult onto a large piece of paper
The children contribute their own ideas without the pressure of having to write
themselves
The practitioner does the majority of the writing however some children may be asked
to share in the recording
Guided writing…
During guided writing the children get to try out for themselves some of the things they
have learned during modelled and shared writing sessions
Guided writing can be carried out in small groups or one-to-one
The practitioner supports the children to:
- Think and talk through their ideas before writing
- Extend their ideas during writing
- Read and talk about their work after writing
During guided writing, practitioners should:
- Respond positively
- Acknowledge the effort involved
- Identify individual stages of development
- Decide the level of intervention or support
- Encourage the children to have a go
Independent writing…
Children should have access to a variety of writing materials during the day so that
they can write independently if they choose
In the foundation stage this is best done through play activities
Children write for a specific purpose and audience

ED5704 - Powerful Communicators Page 21

Theories of Language Development
17 March 2016

13:39

"The acquisition of language is a staggering feat
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" (Saxton,
2010)
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g
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F
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Innate Theory

Also referred to as Nativist or Biological Theory
Proposes that a child is born with the structures which enable him to develop language
Children are born with a predisposition to develop language
Refer to the TED talk on Moodle - can reference from it
Noam Chomsky:
Languages are far too complex to be either reinforced by parents or discovered through a process of
trial and error
Children have a Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
- LAD contains a 'universal grammar' or knowledge of rules that are common to all languages
Dan Isaac Slobin:
Children have an inborn 'language making capacity' (LMC)
- LMC is a set of cognitive and perceptual abilities that are highly specialised for language
learning
The Sensitive Period Hypothesis:

Lenneberg (1967)
Related to the nativist theory
Also called the Critical Period - Bowlby (refer to attachment theory)
Proficiency at language learning comes before puberty
If they don't, then they will never acquire language to the normal standard
If this is the case then children who are largely deprived of a normal linguistic environment should
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If this is the case then children who are largely deprived of a normal linguistic environment should
find it difficult to acquire language later in life
Motherese:
The way mothers talk to their children
Chomsky called this a 'degenerate input' - a far from ideal stimulus
However more recent research shows that the features of motherese are very helpful to language
acquisition:
- Higher pitched
- Slower
- Clear pauses
- Shorter sentences
- Highly repetitive
- Simple, concrete vocabulary
Social Interactionist Theory
Language development must occur in the context of meaningful social interactions with an adult or more
knowledgeable other(s)
Infants cannot learn without the support of adults or more knowledgeable other(s)
Infants and parents create a range of formats which form the basis of language
Biological processes are necessary, but the main driving force is interaction
Language development results from a complex interplay among biological interplay among biological
maturation, cognitive development, and an ever changing linguistic environment that is influenced by the
child's own attempts to communicate
"a native capacity, a strong desire to interact with others, and a rich linguistic and social environment
combine to assist children in discovering the functions and regularities of language" (Berk, 1994)
Piaget:
Children form schemas to explain events in their lives and then talk about them
Language development reflects the stages of cognitive development through which the child is
progressing
As children progress intellectually, they produce more elaborate sentences
However, this cognitive approach ignores the child's social skills and the effect of the social
environment on the child's capacity to learn
Bruner:
The adult scaffolds language during conversations and language-type games
Stresses the function of language rather than the structures (Chomsky emphasised the structure of
language
Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)
- LASS are what other people, the more knowledgeable other(s) or parents, become to the child
during language development
The importance of early non-verbal interaction between caregiver and baby
Language and Thought
"There has always been some debate about which develops first - thought or language - and the exact
nature and degree of interdependence between them

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