LANGUAGE DURING THE EARLY SCHOOL YEARS (Chapter 10)

PowerPoint Outline

• I. Importance of Increasing Language and Academic Skills

• II. Overall Growth in the Elementary Years• III. Development of Syntactic Skills• IV. Morphological Development• V. Semantic Development• VI. Pragmatic Development• VII. Language Differences

I. IMPORTANCE OF INCREASIING LANGUAGE AND ACADEMIC SKILLS**

• Burke “Spotlight on poverty and opportunity”

• http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org

Burke:

Youtube…Why Teachers Drink

II. OVERALL GROWTH IN THE EARLY ELMENTARY YEARS**

• The biggest language changes we see are in semantic and pragmatic skills

• Metalinguistic ability—the ability to think about language—makes big leaps during this time

Most children have the fine motor skills to draw and write

Gross motor skills develop, especially in sports

III. DEVELOPMENT OF SYNTACTIC SKILLS**

• On the exam, I will not hold you responsible for reading pages 319 (beginning with Noun and Verb Phrase Development) through page 327 (begin reading again at Phonologic Development)

• PowerPoint only

A. Noun Phrases**

Nouns: persons, places, or things

Remember that a noun phrase (NP) is a sentence role filled by people and objects

B. Verb phrases**

• Harder than noun phrases (different tenses)

• Irregular verbs develop slowly (e.g., caught, slid, blew)—should be there by 8 yrs.

C. Types of Sentences

Use of compound and complex sentences increases:**

• Complex sentence: Has an independent and dependent clause

• We will go to the movies if we have enough money.

• Compound sentence: Two independent clauses joined by a conjunction

• I went to the movies and my mom bought us some popcorn.

IV. MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT**

• This is very important, because morphology knowledge is really stressed in the Common Core State Standards

• For example, one kindergarten standard is: (not on exam):

• [Students will] use the most frequently-occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un- pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.

Children especially need to master derivational suffixes:

The –ly suffix which converts adjectives into adverbs…

-er has 3 uses:

V. SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENT**

• A. Vocabulary Growth

• 5-year olds have an expressive vocabulary of around 2200 words

• A first grader has an expressive vocabulary of around 2600 words but may understand 8,000-10,000 English root words

• By 6th grade, a child understands around 50,000 words

Children need to learn how to organize words they learn**

• Taxonomies: categories of objects that share a common essence (fruits, weather, tools)

• Themes: bound by an event (e.g., cake, presents, candles signify a birthday party)

In terms of development:

Previous knowledge is so important to vocabulary acquisition:

The ability to define words…

For example, in defining the word “special”**

• A parent with a 4th grade education might say “’special’ means something that doesn’t happen very often.”

• Their 11th grade daughter might say “it means ‘exceptional, unique, or noteworthy’”

In school, children “slow map**• They add features beyond the

functional and physical aspects of something

• For example, at 5 years, they think of a dog as a furry animal that barks

• At 12 years, they think of a dog as a furry animal that barks and is a mammal that has descended from wolves and is carnivorous

Shoes: **• In the Philippines, there is

one word: zapatos

• In the U.S. High heels, tennis shoes, sneakers, slingbacks, pumps, sandals, mules, penny loafers, boots, flipflops, clogs, stilettos, platforms, espadrilles, booties

Laura Justice, ASHA Schools Conference

Justice —we need to teach Tier 2 words

B. Figurative Language**

• Figurative language is words used in an imaginative sense, rather than a literal one, to create an imaginative or emotional expression

• Connotes higher order language skills

A metaphor:**

• Implies an analogous relationship

• Love is a rose.

• He’s a bull in a china shop.

• She’s a kid in a candy store.

A simile:**Directly states an analogous relationship

“Your lips are like pedals—bicycle pedals.”

“Your teeth are like stars—they come out at night.”

“She’s as light as a feather.”

Proverbs:**• Short, popular sayings that embody a

generally accepted truth, useful thought, or advice

“The early bird gets the worm.”

• “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

• “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”

More proverbs: (not on exam)

Filipino proverbs (thanks to Chantelle!)**

• It is better to live in a nipa hut if a good person dwells there than to live in a palace with an arrogant person

• Before trying to clean the dirt off others, be aware of your own dirt

• Before you get into someone’s business, take a good look at yourself in the mirror

• If you are not proud of your native language, you are but a stinky fish. Be proud of your culture!

More proverbs:

Proverbs are hard for children through about 8 years old

VI. PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENT

• A. Conversational Skills

Children must learn the I-R-E format:

For example: **

• Teacher: “Graciela, why is it important for us to know about the Native Americans?”

• Student: “Because they were the first people here in North America.”

• Teacher: “Good. That’s right. And we can learn from how they cared for the earth.”

As they mature, children become better at**

• Indirect requests

• Introducing a topic into conversation, sustaining it through several turns, and closing or switching the topic

• Repairing conversational breakdowns through providing more background context and defining terms

It is crucial to help students with pragmatics as they grow older**

ASHA Schools Conference: Pamela Wiley—In middle school:

B. Narrative Skills**

• Narratives reflect the storyteller’s experience

• Being a good storyteller enhances children’s self image and group identification within their families and communities

There are 4 types of narratives:

Children need to develop story grammar (components and rules of a story)**

• Usually there is setting + episode structure

• For the exam, don’t worry about types of sequences (bottom of p. 302 and all of p. 304)

• 1. Setting; introduce characters etc.**• There once was a girl who lived in New

Hampshire

• 2. Initiating event (action, seeking something)• and she wanted to become famous.

• 3. Internal response (character’s reactions, thoughts, intentions, motivations)

• She thought it would make her happy.

• 4. Internal plan (strategies for attaining goals)**

• So she and her family moved to Hollywood

• 5. Attempt (Character’s action to attain goal)• where she took acting lessons and found an

agent.

• 6. Direct consequence (success or failure)• She found out that there were about 200

girls auditioning for every role she tried out for

• **7. Reaction (character’s emotional response, though, or actions to the outcome or preceding chain of events)

• The girl missed all her friends back in New Hampshire, and she wasn’t getting any roles. So she and her family moved back home.

VII. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES**

• Codeswitching is a normal behavior that demonstrates the continuing separation of two languages

• E.g. “Me gustaria manejar. I’ll take the car!”• “My boss gives me this huge sense of utang

ng loob, and I just hate that.”• “You’re here early. Das ist gut!”

For children who speak African American English (AAE)…

PowerPoint Outline

• I. Importance of Increasing Language and Academic Skills

• II. Overall Growth in the Elementary Years• III. Development of Syntactic Skills• IV. Morphological Development• V. Semantic Development• VI. Pragmatic Development• VII. Language Differences