Importance Of Academic Language In Classroom

Language is very individual, not everyone will think the same, this is the same for children, from the moment we are born we are exposed to the world of language, this isn’t just verbally, we use written language also. Language is something we do in our everyday life’s, it is something we learn from the world we socialise in and in our culture, children will mimic those around them and, learn language themselves by interpreting the world around them. We use language every day to express our thoughts, feelings, create and maintain social relationships. “All language written, spoken and visual-arises from cultural and social contexts and is understood by people in terms of their social and cultural backgrounds” (Campbell, R & Green, D. (2006). pg 2). This is where children in classrooms are influenced by social and culture backgrounds. How children learn in the classroom will depend greatly on their exposures they have had in life, does their culture practice of language and literacy compliment or conflict the practices that is expected at school. There is no right or wrong answer, it is very much expected that not all children will practice at home what is expected at schools, This is why as teachers, we need to be aware that not all children are the same, as we are not, they may use language differently , so “ Teachers are therefore faced with the task of observing children, locating their interests and needs as well as their uses of language” (Campbell, R & Green, D. (2006). Pg 6). Children want to feel they are in an insider regardless of their past learning, all schools should be able to assist children transition into learning at school. When it comes to teaching literacy and language, “All children are from differing language and cultural backgrounds, children with

Pragmatics is the area of language function that embraces the use of language in social contexts (knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it - and how to "be" with other people). Children with pragmatic difficulties have great trouble using language socially in ways that are appropriate or

| |of their teaching. By hearing and using language within the context of curricular experiences, children are more inclined to learn | |

They consider a child’s daily routine and activities highly influence an important role in their language development. Their theories focus on exploring how children socially interact within environments. They explain how children start to explore how language and communication works by inevitably adapting themselves to environments (Orfano F, 2015). This process confirms children are socially persuaded to be pragmatic. Depending on the context of the situation children listen to sounds and look at symbols movements and expressions from things around them. It acknowledges the importance of the environment in that it purports that children learn language as a result of communicative needs, in social contexts, and with social support. This evidence persuades them to deem nurture as the dominant

As a child, I would image what my life would be like when I became a teacher. In this paper I will explore different developmentally appropriate approaching philosophies, theories, and concepts when teaching math, reading, science and the fine arts to young children across a developmental curriculum. Having to gain knowledge from the early childhood text helped me to create what I consider to be the perfect classroom plan. Preschool education is very important because this is their first experience towards twelve years of grade school. The knowledge they gather will increase as they grow and development.

Not all students come to the classroom with the skills to write standardized English; even fewer students come with the skills to read vernacular texts” (93). Devereaux said that what almost all of us come to class equipped with are beliefs about language, how it is and should be. In this article,

Language is an extensively complex topic. To effectively engage in a variety of social contexts one must be well versed in both the concept of 'Discourse' (so capitalised because of James Gee's discrimination between 'discourse' as "connected stretches of language that makes sense" and 'Discourse,' as a concept made up of various discourses as described by David Green, 2006, pp. 3 ), and the basic principles and 'codes' (Bernstein, 1960, as cited by Green, 2006) of the Discourse appropriate to each situation one encounters. A deficient working knowledge of the situational discourse leaves you vulnerable as what Green continues on to describe as an 'outsider' and therefore subject to being classified and treated as inferior. It is important to avoid a reflectively tyrannical system occurring within the classroom setting, as it leads to devaluing of individual children's culture and home Discourse through the process of placing them in direct conflict with the institutional school Discourse (Gee, 1990, Michaels 1981, as cited by Green, 2006).

“Hi, Nick! This is Shepard with the University of Oklahoma and I was just giving you a call—I wanted to first congratulate you. We’re going to be sending you a contract offer of admissions.” (Shepard). It was this voicemail that started my journey here at the University of Oklahoma. When I arrived at the University of Oklahoma, I was unsure what to expect in an academic setting. However, after experiencing several discussion sections of varying classes, I developed a better understanding of how language played a role in academics. Although I knew that my social language would be different in an academic setting as compared to a social setting, it was not until I took English composition that I was fully able to understand the significance of that language plays in education. Because of my experiences at the University of Oklahoma, I now comprehend that, in an academic setting, patience, professionalism, and interaction are all necessary forms of language that must be used in order to fully grasp elements of education that are not written inside of textbooks.

“Literacy learning has a profound and lasting effect on the social and academic lives of children. Their future educational opportunities and career choices are directly related to literacy ability. Since early childhood is the period when language develops most rapidly, it is imperative that young children are provided with a variety of developmentally appropriate literacy experiences throughout each day, and that the classroom environment is rich with language, both spoken and printed. Early childhood teachers are responsible for both understanding the developmental continuum of language and literacy and for supporting each child’s literacy development.

Relating to Gee’s definition of a primary Discourse, he states that the environment in which a child first acclimates to holds heavy influence in how that child proceeds to live out their life. Essentially, based on his findings, he offers the idea that once a primary Discourse is established, it’s extremely difficult to branch out in acquiring the secondary Discourses that are main-stream within public school systems. He essentially offers the idea acquisition of skills that conflict primary discourse values is nearly impossible through learning in a classroom, thus making the role of a teacher to be somewhat null. In contrast to Gee’s article, while respecting his theoretical definition and research on Discourse, Lisa Delpit’s article titled

As a second year Early Childhood Studies student, I was excited to be placed at a toddler classroom in a center that is our school’s lab school for my field placement. Diverse backgrounds are evident in the center due to the urban and multi-cultural location of the setting. Working in the field alongside the professionals, educators, staff, families, and children at the center has given me great insight in regards to the importance of building partnerships with the families and making connections to the child’s behaviors in the classroom. It is crucial to foster an environment that is language rich, that is able to promote children’s communicative, verbal and non-verbal language. More significantly, incorporating the

In terms of education, talk can be defined as everyday uses of spoken language and it refers to the act of both speaking and listening (Bearne, 1998). (Mercer, 1995)categorised talk in three ways; cumulative, disputational and exploratory. Cumulative talk is when pupils work together in pairs to gain a shared knowledge about a subject, disputational talk is mostly short controversial utterances in the form of a debate and exploratory helps people work together by using each other’s ideas critically. Mercer’s three categories of talk are examples of the types of talk that can be found in the classroom environment. This essay will consider will examine the importance of the talk in the classroom and the challenges of it, with specific reference to storytelling.

Children rely heavily on the input of their surrounding environments to develop these skills further (Eileen Allen & Marotz, 2003). The communication strategy used by children over the first year of life is predominately non-verbal before development progresses to include verbal communication (Rodnick & Wood, 1973). McDevitt and Ormrod (2010) suggest social emotional, physical and cognitive development is facilitated by the experiences children have in their “family, school and community” (p. 5). This raises the idea that the level of communicative development may differ greatly between children depending on experiential exposure. Rodnick and Wood (1973) expand on this further suggesting children will actually develop a level of grammatical and language understanding which is essential to communication, long before they commence schooling. In research conducted by Rodnick and Wood (1973) it was noted in their findings that the children subject to their research demonstrated a lower level of communication than expected at around the age of seven and suggest it may be due to environmental factors. This then draws some attention to the educator and their ability to teach a developing child not only the importance of communication, but also the skills of appropriate and effective communication.

Interactions between teachers and students in regards to teacher talk is one of the most important learning tools used in the classroom. Talk moves are tools for building an environment that serves a range of productive interactional, social and intellectual learning functions in the classroom (Edwards-Groves, 2014). They are enabled and constrained by the “sayings, doings and relatings present in classrooms” and prompt responses from students (Edwards-Groves, 2014, p1). Teacher talk is a large part of how students learn, through models such as ‘Initiate, Respond, Evaluate’ (IRE). The IRE model involved the teacher asking questions and giving appropriate feedback to the student’s response to help them understand the reasons behind their response. The Scaffolding Interaction Cycle (SIC) is another important tool, which involved teachers scaffolding a students’ response to engage higher learning functions. It is important to consider Bull and Anstey’s three-style model, consisting of pedagogy of school, pedagogy of literacy lessons and pedagogy of literacy learning (Anstey and Bull, 1996). Pedagogy of school involves the teacher and the student conversing in a Q&A like manner, or a ‘guess-what’s-in-my-head’ approach taken by the teacher. The pedagogy of literacy lessons involves the students carrying out the teacher’s instructions but not making the connection to what they are learning. There is a time where these styles may be useful, but

From a baby 's first word to their first complete sentence, there 's a lot to debate with their language development. The average child has a vocabulary of up to six-thousand words by the time they turn five years old (Brighthubcom, 2016). Language development is one of the most critical roles for an educator in both early childhood and primary settings. It is this ability of language development that is particularly interesting in the nature vs nurture debate. In order for educators to provide effective communication, it is important that they have the knowledge and understanding of the four key concepts of language, such as phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic development and the underlying theoretical perspectives that explain the processes of language acquisition and development.