not a star, nope, a boat? No?
0: Yep orange that one and that one
Adult: Does that look like a star?
0: No
Adult: No? That can
0: Nope
Adult: No its not why?
0: Sun
Adult: It’s a sun? Oh right, there isn’t any more here
G: Find me another one
Adult: Have you looked through that one? (Pointing to another box) Shall we loot
through that one?
G: Take them all out
Adult: No there’s none in there, none in there is there? Put them all back in here
now
G: Other girl pushed me
Adult: The other girl pushed you? Oh dear. Do you like stars then?
G: Yer
Adult: Yes
G: I saw them outside (pointing to the window)
Adult: Oh right
G: Yer, I saw a baby one
Adult: Did you see them at night?
(G notices a picture of dolphins)
G: Dolphin play in the water
Adult: Yes they do play in water
G: Yer
Adult: Do you like dolphins?
G: Yer
Adult: Yes
U: You don’t go in the water. Moon would look nice
Adult: Moon isn’t it
G: Yes
Adult: There’s a sun and there’s a moon (Holding up shapes)
G: Any more? There’s a sun
Adult: Sun. What are you going to do now?
G: We find some more suns what’s there?
Adult: There isn’t any more of those is there? Do you want some circles now? Like
that one
U: Lots and lots of circles
Adult: Yes there are. Are you going to put them on the string then?
G: Gone at the top help me (There was no knot in the end of the string so adult
tied one in)
Adult: Help you? There you go
G: You help me get more circles?
Adult: There’s one
G: Yep, another
Adult: You help me get all the circles
G: There’s one and two there’s another one I found some more I found some.
Adult: Oh dear, they’re all rolling off the table now
G: They’re off the table lots and lots of circles it’s finished now.
Evaluation
G demonstrated his language skills whilst he was interacting with the adult, as he was talking about the star shapes. ~“
The language during the observation showed that he was able to communicate confidently with the adult, he looked relaxed and he wasn’t shy to talk. G was able to listen to the adult and answer the questions which were asked although sometimes he didn’t understand the questions, for instance when the adult asked about colours, G’s answer was given as ‘sun,’ Lindon (1993) says ‘children get confused if given complicated instructions’ even though the question is not difficult for an adult it might be for a child. This might have been the case with G as the answer was different to the question or it could have been that he did not no the colour so he compared it
something he had seen of that colour e.g. a sun.
Beaver et al (2001) say that ‘a child of 3 and 6 months is able to use complete sentences.’ G showed he could do this, however his sentences were simple and not complex. G tended to use one word answers a lot of the time and as G spoke his word order was incorrect for example when he said ~we t~nd some more suns what’s there,’ as stated in Beaver et al (2001) ‘Word order is sometimes incorrect.’ ~_—~
G also demonstrated that he uses ‘silly talk’ such as ‘Yep’ and ‘Yer’ instead of yes.’ Bruce et al (2000) states that ‘Children love to use silly talk,’ Although G can say yes as shown in my observation, he chose not to. When G was talking about the sun shape he said “goes in sky” he missed the word ‘the’ out which, as Sunderland says ‘children carry on conversation but missing link words like ‘the’ out.’ Lindon (1993) says ‘Children will make mistakes in their pronunciation of words and in how they put sentences together’ G made a few mistakes but each time the adult still understood what was being said but didn’t correct his speech. ~_—~
G was able to describe an object like something else (a simile) for example when he said ‘it’s like sun’ as Beaver et al (2001) tell us he is ‘linking ideas to speech.’ (i was able to discuss his environment because he noticed the picture of dolphins and started talking about them; Hobart and Frankel (1995) state that a 3 year old can ‘relate to present and past experiences.’ G did show this as he was able to tell the adult about the dolphins. Beaver et al (2001) say that when G told the adult that he saw stars outside, he was ‘using language to report on experiences.’ ‘-~
Sunderland states ‘Children love telling adults what to do,’ G showed this as he kept asking the adult to look for shapes. ~—
Conclusion
[feel that I have met my aim which was to observe and look at the language skills of a child. I observed G for about 30 minutes whilst he was standing at a table with bootlaces and different shaped beads he was also talking to an adult. I placed a tape recorder near G and the adult so that I could accurately record exactly what was said. I also watched them and recorded G’s actions whilst he was talking. ~
I don’t think that I would have changed the way I observed him as I wouldn’t have been able to accurately write down everything which was said and how it was said. The tape was a good method because I could listen and rewind and listen again as many times as I wanted. It helped writing down his actions as well so I knew exactly what was going on whilst I listened to the tape at a later date. If I was to observe language again I would still use the same method as I think it was the best and most accurate
G was at his normal stages for his age as Beaver et al (2001) say ~a child of 3 and 6 months can use complete sentences’ G showed this whilst he was talking to the adult, for example when he said ‘a special thing for music.’ Although El has reached his developmental ‘norm’s’ in language, some children reach them at different times and might be a little behind or a little in front.
Personal learning
I learnt that children do use ‘silly talk’ but they can speak properly when needed and that children can get confused and need a little help to understand things. I also learn that children love telling adults what to do. I learnt that there are different types of questions, open ended and closed questions. The open ended questions need more than a one word answer and children would benefit from being asked these as they help with a child’s language and pronunciation development. —~
Recommendation
I would recommend that when an adult is talking to G the adult should try and use open ended questions as El would probably benefit from this, as he would be able to build on his language skills and talk to the adult more, the adult asked closed questions such as ‘Do you like dolphins?’ or ‘What colour is that?’ These questions only need a short answer but if G was given open ended questions like ‘What are you doing?’ or ‘Why do you like dolphins’ he would be encouraged to answer with more than one word, which would help him to extend his language skills and pronunciations of words. I would help him by getting some picture cards and holding them up then get him to say what is on the card (e.g. an aeroplane) I would also ask him questions about the picture on the card. It would help improve his language skills. Also if G had his word order wrong, the person who was with him should correct him so he would know how words are said properly. ~
Bibliography
Beaver, Brewster, Jones (2001)
Diploma in Child Care and Education, Nelson Thomes Ltd Great Britain
Flobart and Frankel (1995)
Practical guide to activities for young children, Wiltshire Great Britain
Lindon, Jenny (1993)
Caring for the under 8’s, Macmillan Press Hong Kong
Meggitt, Stevens, Bruce (2000)
An introduction to child care and education, Hodder and Stoughton Italy
Meggitt, Sunderland (2000)
Childs Development, Edelvives Spain
