Using language aloud may be essential to young children in activities or at story time and they should not be hushed, says Penny Tassoni
Language is an essential tool in our lives. Without language, we would find it hard to socialise, communicate our feelings and maintain relationships.
Language also has another important purpose that we probably take for granted - we use it to process and categorise information in a great variety of ways. You may talk to yourself either aloud or using an inner voice to solve problems or organise your next few actions. This function of language is one of the reasons why it is generally accepted that thought and language are linked, although the extent to which thought is dependent on language is still a matter of debate for psychologists.
The Foundation Stage curriculum also differentiates between uses of language, as within the communication, language and literacy area of learning it has separate strands for 'language for communication' and 'language for thinking'.
Language for self-direction
Most adults use 'inner speech' to think or to solve problems, but young children need to 'think their thoughts' aloud. This type of speech is sometimes referred to as egocentric speech. It sometimes sounds like a running commentary, as if the child were talking to another. Using this kind of speech helps them to organise their actions, and we often hear children 'self-directing' when they are concentrating on tasks such as painting, writing or arranging their games.
The need to think and self-direct aloud goes on until most children are around six years old, when they are able to internalise their thinking. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the need to think and self-direct disappears completely. Most of us know that there are times when we need to talk aloud to ourselves, especially when we are in the process of working something out!
Talking during activities
The necessity for children to self- direct and use language as they are thinking raises a fundamental question about whether we can expect young children to sit quietly during story time or circle time. Assuming that the activity is interesting and children's thoughts are being engaged, it will be immensely difficult for children not to speak aloud.
This may mean challenging the traditional approach of taking a whole group of children for stories and circle times, and instead looking for ways of working with very small groups of children. One pre-school in Aylesbury who did just that found that children who previously had been seen as being 'disruptive' were actually active listeners who need to speak in order to process their thoughts! Staff also found that they enjoyed story time more themselves, because instead of 'crowd controlling', they could interact properly with the children.
Storing information
Language is also one of the ways in which information can be processed and stored in our memories. Words help us to categorise information quickly because they provide labels for things. A simple word such as 'tractor' can stimulate a visual image of a tractor as well as a range of thoughts that are linked to tractors. Encoding information using a language-based or semantic code appears to allow us to deal with more complex and abstract concepts. A famous study of a pair of Russian twins with significant language delay showed that once they had gained a symbolic language system, their play reflected a higher level of cognitive development.
The development of language in children is therefore crucial to helping them to process and categorise information efficiently. It also means that practitioners need to look for opportunities to help children learn as many 'labels' as possible so they can classify and perceive features in their world. It is easy to talk about 'shoes' rather than to give each type of shoe a particular label, such as a sandal or lace-up, but by identifying each one separately children will notice the differences and thus extend their thinking.
Encouraging language
We can help children's language for thinking by providing activities that encourage them to explain and think. Aim for activities that encourage children to predict, question and explain.
It is, however, also important to help children by modelling the 'thinking' language that they will need. A child may visually perceive the differences between two types of leaves, for example, but may not have the vocabulary to explain their differences. A good way of modelling language is to use a 'stooge'. This can be a cuddly toy or a puppet. The puppet can be asked questions or provide the commentary that children will later need when it is their turn.
