Language Development In Early Childhood Students

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Language development in Early Childhood Students Rosetta Billingslea ECE 315 Language Development in Young Children Mrs. Debra Gray June 13, 2011 This essay is based on the information ascertained in Chapters 1-8 of our textbook Language Development in Early Childhood. In this essay I will use information and terminology gained from those chapters in order to demonstrate to you the reader my knowledge and understanding of the concepts of Language Development and Literacy of Young Children shared in those chapters presented above. Throughout my textbook I learned that one of the most important things about Language Development is that it starts with the teacher. Although oral language development is a primary goal in early childhood programs, learning experiences and teaching strategies do not always support this goal. So I feel teachers need to know and be aware of the one-to-one, extended, cognitively challenging conversations and how to engage in such communication, even with students that are reluctant talkers. Teachers need to know how the lexicon is acquired and what instructional practices support vocabulary acquisition. They also need to know how to conduct story reading and other early literacy experiences that promote phonological awareness and prepare children for later success in reading (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Most early childhood teachers do not have sufficient training in how to support early literacy learning. They need to know how much phonics children need to know, how to know which children need more or less explicit phonics instruction, and when to stop teaching phonics to which children. Finally, early childhood teachers should also have an understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity and of learning and teaching that addresses the youngest age, including children who have not yet acquired a foundation in their
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