What is oral language?

It is a learned ability.

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Receptive & Expressive language

• They are different but equally important!

Oral language involves listening

I have nothing else to do, nowhere I’d rather be.

I’m fully devoted to being with you. Children need unconditional

devotion not unconditional approval .

The psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner says that the one indispensable condition for a child’s successful upbringing is that at least one adult must be absolutely crazy about that child.

Listen…

The mind• The society contribute to the way a child’s mind

work.• According to Vygotsky; children could not learn

logical thinking without having mastered language.

Development and maturation

• Maturation does not totally determine development. (Vygotsky)

• Think about students that are 4 to 5 years old and may not have the skills that we may expect them to have before entering school.

The role of language in development.

• Language plays a greater role in cognition. Language is an actual mechanism for thinking, a mental tool. (Vygotsky)

• Language has 2 roles: it is instrumental in the development of cognition and it is also part of cognitive processing.

Language: a mental tool

• Language makes thinking more abstract, flexible and independent from the immediate stimuli.

• When children use symbols (letters) and concepts (rhyming) to think, they no longer need to have an object in order to think about it.

• Language allows children to imagine, manipulate, create new ideas and share those ideas with others.

Mental tool for mastering behavior

Remembering and thinking• Language plays a large role

in what we remember and how we remember.

• Language can be used to create strategies for the mastery of many mental functions such a attention, memory, feelings and problem solving.

Reacting by stimuli• Without mental tools,

humans would be limited to reacting to the environment as animals do.

• Children need to practice mental exercise in order to develop a higher level of thinking and that can be possible by using language.

To acquire higher mental functions the child must have already learned the basic mental tools of his/her culture.

Lower mental functions• Biological heritage.• Not all develop the same

level.• The problem may be

organic and due to the underdevelopment of, or damage to a particular area of the brain.

Higher mental functions• Influenced by factors• Quality of language

environment.• Social context; school• Needs special support. It

will not happen just by dropping child in the setting.

Higher mental functions are deliberate

Nondeliberate Behavior• Sorting: Child can find a

hidden figure in a picture.• Can not listen to the teacher

when other children are talking.

• Begins building with blocks that are the nearest at hand and keeps stacking them on top of each other with not idea what the structure is going to be.

Deliberate Behavior• Sorting: Child can search for

the hidden figure ignoring other distracting figures.

• Listens to the teacher and blocks other distracting noises.

• Begins building with blocks using a mental plan, so blocks that will be best for the future structure are chosen.

Mediation is an essential characteristic of higher mental function

Nonmediated behavior• Trying to remember a

complicated dance pattern you have just watched.

• Trying to visually estimate the number of items.

• Blurting out your comment after the teacher’s questions.

Mediated behavior• Saying the names of the

steps to yourself such as “two right, three left, kick”

• Counting the items using strategies.

• Holding up your hand as a sign that you are ready to answer the question.

Other Characteristics of higher mental functions

Lower mental functions• Sensation• Reactive attention• Spontaneous or associative

memory• Sensorimotor intelligence

Higher mental functions• Mediated perception• Focused attention• Deliberate memory• Logical thinking

Differentiating

• Often children with neurological or sensory conditions exhibit symptoms similar to those of children with no such conditions who have been subject to cultural deprivation or educational neglect.

• Differentiated diagnoses of these cases is critical for planning successful instructional interventions.

• Vygotsky higher mental functions involve logic, abstract thinking, and self-reflection.

• He believes that with exposure. All humans are capable of developing it.

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Significance of oral language

• Language skills are important in order to make connections with others and understand experiences.

• Majority of vocabulary derives from experiences.

• Teach the essentials of oral language to build upon it for a higher mental development.

When can I promote oral language?

Anytime Asking and answering questions Pair conversations Trantitions Center time/activities Giving students opportunities to speak

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Functions

• Oral language is the foundation of literacy.

• Building a child's oral language skills will ultimately improve her reading skills as well.

Teaching

• We are expected to teach all the basics, exposure is the key. • We must understand that Knowledge is as

important as skills.• Teaching it is a serious work, not a chance

by product of learning skills.• Remember that the basis is the

foundation in learning.