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The Functions of the Child's Language
Joan Tough ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This text discusses how young children learn to use language for talking. It notes that children differ in how they learn to speak, how well they use language, how fast they learn, and how successfully they pronounce sounds. It suggests that teachers can learn a lot about a child's stage of language development by listening to children talk with teachers, other children, adults in the nursery, and their mothers. This helps teachers decide what kind of help to offer particular children.
Key points
- Children differ in how they learn to speak, their ability to use language, their rate of learning, and their success in articulating sounds.
- Some of these differences are important for teachers to note because they show what help particular children need.
- Listening to children talk with teachers, other children, nursery adults and mothers gives teachers information about their stage of language development.
Limitations
Only a short excerpt is provided, with no data, named country or setting, so it cannot show how common these differences are or what support works. It is a general discussion, not an evaluation of an intervention.
Abstract
Our discussion so far has concerned itself mainly with the way in which the young child comes to use language for ‘talking.’ Children differ in the way in which they learn to speak, in the ability they show in using language, in the rate at which they learn to talk, and in the success they have with articulating sounds. Some differences are important for the teacher to note because they indicate the kind of help that she should try to offer to particular children. When the teacher is listening to what the children are saying to her, or to other children, or to adults in the nursery, or to their mothers, it is possible for her to glean a great deal of information about the stage the child has reached in the development of language.