The role of the educator is to support children’s oral language throughout the day by using varied vocabulary, challenging them to think, and stimulating their curiosity and imaginations.
In early childhood settings this means that teachers have an important role to play during informal times such as meals and free play as well as during more formal, structured times like book reading and group time (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). But teachers cannot use the same conversational style throughout the day; they need to make adjustments in how they converse with children. Adjustments are necessary to allow teachers to take advantage of the constraints of different conversational settings. During group times, children benefit when teachers work to keep the group focused, provide children new information, and engage them as a group in thoughtful reflection on books. During these times, teachers also need to take a directive role in determining the content and direction of a conversation while at the same time being responsive to children's questions and comments. In contrast, in less structured times such as free play and mealtimes, teachers need to listen to children and encourage them to extend their ideas (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
In school settings this means that teachers have a significant role in providing a range of contexts for talking and listening so that students expand their experience and knowledge (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). Teachers need to be conscious of the important role children can play in supporting each other's oral language development. Teachers can create classrooms in which children freely and frequently use a relatively broad range of words as they converse with teachers and each other. Allocating sufficient time and providing the space, props, and support that children need will enable them to practice their language skills (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). Another important consideration for teaching talking and listening is the layout of the classroom, i.e. the furniture moved to facilitate an interactive environment. Interactive classrooms are fertile grounds for talking and listening and the growth of ideas (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
Teachers and Teaching in Early Childhood Settings
There is strong evidence to support that teacher-child conversations play an important role in shaping children's language and early literacy development. One key aspect of how teachers work with children is the extent to which they make themselves available to children. Children benefit from having conversations with teachers; therefore, teachers need to organise their day to ensure that they have time to engage children as individuals, as well as in small and large groups, in extended conversations that encourage children to explore new ideas as they clarify and express their own thoughts (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
Evidence shows the need for teachers to make intentional efforts to push children's thinking and support their literacy development as they converse with children throughout the day, plan their day and the content of the curriculum, and organise their environment. For a teacher to provide children optimal supports in all these areas, they must have a deep understanding of what children need, skilful ability to provide appropriate experiences throughout the day, and the willingness to expend the energy needed to support children's development all day long. These are the qualities of intentional teaching (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
Some Strategies and resources
Using puppets, games, songs, Rhymes and dramatic play to encourage children to engage in talking and listening.
Provide opportunities for children to discuss, retell and compare books and stories.
Provide experiences to explore factual and literary texts.
Introduce new words to the children through the use of repetition, signs, flashcard activities and rhyming games.
Provide experiences that are interactive and allows the time for student-student and student-teacher conversations.
Talk, model, demonstrate and guide children through how texts work and how meaning is constructed.
Have activities and/or games that allow children to explore and later on have discussions where new words and ideas can be shared and learned.
Teachers and Teaching in School Setting
Teachers need to identify the assumptions the curriculum makes. Not all students will share the assumptions about talking and listening practices that the curriculum demands and the teacher requires. While small group work is effective as a way to promote collaboration, initially some students may prefer to listen and make fewer contributions. Many students may not feel confident enough to make a presentation to an audience. However, students who prefer to work alone need more opportunities to interact in non-threatening environments, as interaction is a necessary skill for learning and sharing ideas. Teacher need to consider differences among individual students and facilitate an environment where students feel safe and have a sense of belonging (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
For some students, oral language features such as syntax or pronunciation may need to be explicitly taught. Where possible, teachers should make connections between the written work and its pronunciation through verbal rehearsal and reading aloud, including group reading. Older students who have encountered specialised works in research may be uncertain and reluctant to say the words, despite knowing meaning and usage (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
Some Strategies and resources
Explicit teaching - provides links between knowing how language works and using language. Teaching about the purpose and features of a particular text provides students with the knowledge and understandings necessary to apply the skills when talking and listening.
Modelled teaching involves modelled talking and listening, presenting students with oral texts and discussing their meaning. It also involves teacher and student interactions throughout the day, demonstrating how to compose and interpret a text and seeing and hearing language in action. Modelling demonstrates what good listeners and talkers do.
Guided teaching involves drawing on the knowledge, skills and understandings discussed and demonstrated during modelling. It may involve the whole class, small groups or individual students. Activities should be created that support learning and facilitate the development of students’ linguistic resources and conceptual knowledge. Guiding is valuable for all students but is crucial for supporting student with specific needs.
Independent teaching should include many opportunities to use talking and listening in connection with the other modes of language. Teachers need to ensure that students have the appropriate subject specified vocabulary required to participate in a task.
Diversity
Educators have a dual role, providing a supportive environment and supporting the learners. It is important that in the early months of the year, educators work persistently to establish the predictable routines and behavioural expectations for the learners (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). These include greeting the children on arrival, using routine language to assist children to choose activities, using simple English to help children understand the routines and expectations of the program knowing some key words in the child’s home language, a buddy-system with another child who can speak the same language, visual aids and teachers aids (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). An important strategy to assist in the English as a second language and with special needs is the use of repetition. Saying the same thing more than once gives a child more than one chance to understand what is being said (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Developing listening skills
Educators as active listeners show respect for children’s efforts at speaking and they model good listening habits. They do this by concentrating on the learner’s efforts at speaking and encouraging other children to listen to them. They can assist learners by making directions and instructions implicit and checking that the learner has understood (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Children’s listening skills can be fostered using simple songs and rhymes, playing listening games and providing a range of quality games and CDs. Children learning English as a second language and with learning difficulties can be encouraged to listen and practice English in fun ways, such as playing word games and introducing rhymes. This helps them become familiar with the pronunciation, sounds, stress and rhythms (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Educators can support these children by focusing on topics and activities that children are familiar with and which can provide shared background knowledge for them (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). Use of hands on activities, support from visual materials and other activities that focus on personal and concrete experiences support learners to develop important concepts and learn key language items in English. Children may choose to respond using non-verbal language or with single words and gestures (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). As well as visual and contextual clues, linguistic cues, such as calls to attract and hold attention and repetition are important as they provide support for learners. As children develop confidence, it is important to expose them to more decontextualised language (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009). That is, the language not supported by visual materials. This is often the language of stories, or of recalling past events. As young learners gain confidence, they are less reliant on visual or concrete referents. Children become confident in expressing their interests, opinions and preferences and they learn to negotiate solutions to problems and enter into sustained conversations with others (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).
Assessing outcomes
Assessment of children’s ongoing language development is crucial to ensure relevant planning for each child (Carr, 2006). Assessment of learning includes reviewing, gathering and analysing information about what the learner can do, what they understand and the progress they are making at any particular point in their development (Carr, 2006). Assessment assists educators to find out and support the cultural and linguistic experiences of the children (Carr, 2006). Regular observations should provide them with a clear picture of each child’s progress at various stages throughout the year.
A variety of strategies and methods can be used to record children’s progress. These include:
Reference List
Carr, M. (2006). Assessment in Early Childhood Settings: Learning Stories. London:Sage.
Dickinson, D. K. & Tabors, P O. (2001). Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and at School. New York: Brooks Publishing Co.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2003). State Literacy and Numeracy Plan, Focus on literacy: Talking and listening. Canberra: NSW Department of Education and Training; Professional Support and Curriculum directorate.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Clarke, P. (2000). Supporting identity, diversity and language in the early years. Bucks: Open University Press.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2009). Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education: a Vygotskian perspective. Educational and Child Psychology 26 (2).
In early childhood settings this means that teachers have an important role to play during informal times such as meals and free play as well as during more formal, structured times like book reading and group time (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). But teachers cannot use the same conversational style throughout the day; they need to make adjustments in how they converse with children. Adjustments are necessary to allow teachers to take advantage of the constraints of different conversational settings. During group times, children benefit when teachers work to keep the group focused, provide children new information, and engage them as a group in thoughtful reflection on books. During these times, teachers also need to take a directive role in determining the content and direction of a conversation while at the same time being responsive to children's questions and comments. In contrast, in less structured times such as free play and mealtimes, teachers need to listen to children and encourage them to extend their ideas (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
In school settings this means that teachers have a significant role in providing a range of contexts for talking and listening so that students expand their experience and knowledge (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). Teachers need to be conscious of the important role children can play in supporting each other's oral language development. Teachers can create classrooms in which children freely and frequently use a relatively broad range of words as they converse with teachers and each other. Allocating sufficient time and providing the space, props, and support that children need will enable them to practice their language skills (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). Another important consideration for teaching talking and listening is the layout of the classroom, i.e. the furniture moved to facilitate an interactive environment. Interactive classrooms are fertile grounds for talking and listening and the growth of ideas (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
Teachers and Teaching in Early Childhood Settings
There is strong evidence to support that teacher-child conversations play an important role in shaping children's language and early literacy development. One key aspect of how teachers work with children is the extent to which they make themselves available to children. Children benefit from having conversations with teachers; therefore, teachers need to organise their day to ensure that they have time to engage children as individuals, as well as in small and large groups, in extended conversations that encourage children to explore new ideas as they clarify and express their own thoughts (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
Evidence shows the need for teachers to make intentional efforts to push children's thinking and support their literacy development as they converse with children throughout the day, plan their day and the content of the curriculum, and organise their environment. For a teacher to provide children optimal supports in all these areas, they must have a deep understanding of what children need, skilful ability to provide appropriate experiences throughout the day, and the willingness to expend the energy needed to support children's development all day long. These are the qualities of intentional teaching (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001).
Some Strategies and resources
Using puppets, games, songs, Rhymes and dramatic play to encourage children to engage in talking and listening.
Provide opportunities for children to discuss, retell and compare books and stories.
Provide experiences to explore factual and literary texts.
Introduce new words to the children through the use of repetition, signs, flashcard activities and rhyming games.
Provide experiences that are interactive and allows the time for student-student and student-teacher conversations.
Talk, model, demonstrate and guide children through how texts work and how meaning is constructed.
Have activities and/or games that allow children to explore and later on have discussions where new words and ideas can be shared and learned.
Teachers and Teaching in School Setting
Teachers need to identify the assumptions the curriculum makes. Not all students will share the assumptions about talking and listening practices that the curriculum demands and the teacher requires. While small group work is effective as a way to promote collaboration, initially some students may prefer to listen and make fewer contributions. Many students may not feel confident enough to make a presentation to an audience. However, students who prefer to work alone need more opportunities to interact in non-threatening environments, as interaction is a necessary skill for learning and sharing ideas. Teacher need to consider differences among individual students and facilitate an environment where students feel safe and have a sense of belonging (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
For some students, oral language features such as syntax or pronunciation may need to be explicitly taught. Where possible, teachers should make connections between the written work and its pronunciation through verbal rehearsal and reading aloud, including group reading. Older students who have encountered specialised works in research may be uncertain and reluctant to say the words, despite knowing meaning and usage (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003).
Some Strategies and resources
Explicit teaching - provides links between knowing how language works and using language. Teaching about the purpose and features of a particular text provides students with the knowledge and understandings necessary to apply the skills when talking and listening.
Modelled teaching involves modelled talking and listening, presenting students with oral texts and discussing their meaning. It also involves teacher and student interactions throughout the day, demonstrating how to compose and interpret a text and seeing and hearing language in action. Modelling demonstrates what good listeners and talkers do.
Guided teaching involves drawing on the knowledge, skills and understandings discussed and demonstrated during modelling. It may involve the whole class, small groups or individual students. Activities should be created that support learning and facilitate the development of students’ linguistic resources and conceptual knowledge. Guiding is valuable for all students but is crucial for supporting student with specific needs.
Independent teaching should include many opportunities to use talking and listening in connection with the other modes of language. Teachers need to ensure that students have the appropriate subject specified vocabulary required to participate in a task.
Diversity
Educators have a dual role, providing a supportive environment and supporting the learners. It is important that in the early months of the year, educators work persistently to establish the predictable routines and behavioural expectations for the learners (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). These include greeting the children on arrival, using routine language to assist children to choose activities, using simple English to help children understand the routines and expectations of the program knowing some key words in the child’s home language, a buddy-system with another child who can speak the same language, visual aids and teachers aids (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). An important strategy to assist in the English as a second language and with special needs is the use of repetition. Saying the same thing more than once gives a child more than one chance to understand what is being said (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Developing listening skills
Educators as active listeners show respect for children’s efforts at speaking and they model good listening habits. They do this by concentrating on the learner’s efforts at speaking and encouraging other children to listen to them. They can assist learners by making directions and instructions implicit and checking that the learner has understood (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Children’s listening skills can be fostered using simple songs and rhymes, playing listening games and providing a range of quality games and CDs. Children learning English as a second language and with learning difficulties can be encouraged to listen and practice English in fun ways, such as playing word games and introducing rhymes. This helps them become familiar with the pronunciation, sounds, stress and rhythms (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000).
Educators can support these children by focusing on topics and activities that children are familiar with and which can provide shared background knowledge for them (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). Use of hands on activities, support from visual materials and other activities that focus on personal and concrete experiences support learners to develop important concepts and learn key language items in English. Children may choose to respond using non-verbal language or with single words and gestures (Siraj-Blatchford & Clarke 2000). As well as visual and contextual clues, linguistic cues, such as calls to attract and hold attention and repetition are important as they provide support for learners. As children develop confidence, it is important to expose them to more decontextualised language (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009). That is, the language not supported by visual materials. This is often the language of stories, or of recalling past events. As young learners gain confidence, they are less reliant on visual or concrete referents. Children become confident in expressing their interests, opinions and preferences and they learn to negotiate solutions to problems and enter into sustained conversations with others (Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).
Assessing outcomes
Assessment of children’s ongoing language development is crucial to ensure relevant planning for each child (Carr, 2006). Assessment of learning includes reviewing, gathering and analysing information about what the learner can do, what they understand and the progress they are making at any particular point in their development (Carr, 2006). Assessment assists educators to find out and support the cultural and linguistic experiences of the children (Carr, 2006). Regular observations should provide them with a clear picture of each child’s progress at various stages throughout the year.
A variety of strategies and methods can be used to record children’s progress. These include:
- asking children to tell you about their drawing, recording this and collecting the art work
- writing detailed observations
- keeping an account of what parents say about children’s language development
- documenting children’s development using learning stories and
- using video/DVDs to record children’s progress.
Reference List
Carr, M. (2006). Assessment in Early Childhood Settings: Learning Stories. London:Sage.
Dickinson, D. K. & Tabors, P O. (2001). Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and at School. New York: Brooks Publishing Co.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2003). State Literacy and Numeracy Plan, Focus on literacy: Talking and listening. Canberra: NSW Department of Education and Training; Professional Support and Curriculum directorate.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Clarke, P. (2000). Supporting identity, diversity and language in the early years. Bucks: Open University Press.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2009). Conceptualising progression in the pedagogy of play and sustained shared thinking in early childhood education: a Vygotskian perspective. Educational and Child Psychology 26 (2).
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