CCF17032017 Oral Language Proof Reading Services

CCF17032017 Oral Language Proof Reading Services

Contextual Information

The focus child of this report is Anna Charles. She is 3 years old Australian native girl who has been a part of the Child Care Center for the past 1 year. She is comes from a well-to-do family and both her parents work in corporate sector. The child doesn’t get much time to interact with her parents at home as they both return home late at night due to excessive work pressure. Their common communication language is Australian English. The child has been a regular student of the child care center, since the day she has joined. The child is very friendly and helpful and interacts with every other child of the group at the child care center. The child is very sharp and is able to grasp any new lesson taught to them, very easily. The interaction has been reported, had taken place between Anna and another child of the child care center Ganan, who belongs to an Australian Aboriginal background. They were discussing about the ball they were playing with. The other child, Ganan has joined the child care center 3 months back and has befriended Anna from the very first day. They both help each other with every task and Anna has helped Ganan develop his communication skills in English language, as due to his cultural origin and background, his English wasn’t very good. The communication between these two children was observed and recorded. Later as the educator, I too had communicated with Anna and had discussed about the same ball they were playing with.

Language Analysis

Communication is an essential part of development of any individual as it helps the person to share their feelings, opinions and other such integral parts of life and though process (Nakatani, 2010). It is therefore essential that an individual is able to develop an effective communication skill in the language of their comfort. This aspect to learning is an integral part of early childhood development process.

Development of oral language

The focus child Anna has been a part of the child care center for the past 1 year. Therefore the child has been able to develop her communication skills quite well. She is very interactive with everyone and is therefore able to develop her communication skills faster compared to other children of her age at the play group. The child has developed a good vocabulary and is able to read most of the books. She is very expressive of her thoughts. She always participates in the group activities and also contributes her ideas, if she has any, regarding the activity that is being planned for the day. The child focuses her attention when any lesson is being taught in the class and asks relevant questions related to the lesson taught. Her communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal as well as written has also developed after she has joined the child care center. She is able to have proper communication only at the child care center as her parents return home late from office, on most of the days. Therefore she isn’t able to communicate well enough at home. She does have a care taker at home, who takes care of her from the time she reaches home from the care center till her parents come back home (Cook, Klein, & Chen, 2015). The child is also very responsive to what is being taught in the class. She follows every class and is able to response back to what is being taught to her. The child actively participates in the “learn through play” activities which had enabled her to develop the communication language with ease. She is able to recite many rhymes with ease and utilizes all the necessary non-verbal communication skills while reciting any rhyme with all the appropriate facial expressions and gestures. She maintains a regular and proper interaction with all her educators and other staffs of the child care center (Cook, 2013). At the age of 3, most of the children are able to communicate using only basic words and terms with limited usage of correct grammar. But Anna has developed good grammatical skills and is able to say most of the complete sentences. She is able to present her communication skills in the form of art by drawing or designing arts that reflect her state of mind (Fellowes, & Oakley, 2014). While communicating with her friends, she sometimes tries to break her sentences so that her partner is able to understand what she is trying to convey. As is in case of Ganan, since the child is of Australian Aborigine, he finds it difficult to communicate or understand proper English complete sentences. Therefore Anna communicates in broken sentences first to help him understand what she intends on conveying, and later she tells him the entire sentence that is enabling him to develop his communication skills in proper Australian English.

Functions for which the child is using language

The child uses the language for various functions, most important being communicating her thoughts and feelings with others around her. She is polite with her communication when she has something to request or if she is in need of something of importance. When she needs to guide other children of the play group during any group activity, she uses her commanding tone, in cases where any child is not able to follow what is being said. She is also persuasive enough to the people around because of which she is able to get them to do what she wants to get done. Although the child is only 3 years old, she has developed impressive communication skills over the one year she has been with the child care center (Margetts, & Bridie Raban, 2011). She is able to communicate with every other member of the child care center with ease, keeping in mind how to communicate with whom. For instance, she when she needs to communicate with someone from her play group, she interacts with the child in broken sentences so that the child is able to understand what she intends to convey, whereas when communicating with an elder, she communicates in full sentences. She is very open with her expressions and uses various gestures when she needs to make herself clear regarding certain things. While playing in the group activities or while drawing, she is very imaginative with her ideas. She shares many stories with the play group, that are made up by her and the stories have varied range of imaginative characters and themes (Amitay et al., 2010). The child is able to utilize all the essential requirements of effective communication that she had attained during the learning process and had developed in the due course of time. The child has also the ability to help the fellow playmates of the group with learning new lessons and engaging them with innovative and imaginative games, developed by the child. The child has the ability to be expressive as and when needed (Grieshaber, 2010).

Critique of adult participation in the language exchange

The focus child, Anna, is known to me for the past one year, since she has joined the child care center. I have communicated with the child on several occasions and every day. I have always enjoyed interacting with the child as she is always quick to grasp that is being told to her. Since she lacked communication scopes at home, I tried to make most communication at the child care center, so that she doesn’t lag behind. When she had joined the child care center, a year back, she had the basic knowledge of communication and I had noticed that she had the potential to learn new things with ease. She had exhibited her imaginative skills from the initial days of her joining the child care center (Fellowes, Barratt-Pugh, & Ruscoe, 2014). She always carries a drawing notebook with her which is filled with imaginative arts created by her. Even during play activities in the class, she utilizes various art related articles to develop her imaginative skills or to bring shape to her imagination that is going through her mind at that moment. To encourage her more to express her imagination, I try to provide her with maximum available articles related to art. I try to provide Anna with various pictorial story books with colorful images that would enable to develop her imaginative skills. She also tries to enact various rhymes with the right facial expressions and gestures (Kennedy, 2014). Therefore I have tried to teach her with the necessary gestures required for the particular sentences or the facial expressions required for any particular part of the rhyme. I have also provided with pictorial vocabulary book so that she is able to develop her vocabulary level. Since the child had shown potential to learn new lessons with ease and has a better attention span as compared to other children of her play group at the child care center (Krieg, 2011). Even when I communicate with her, I try to teach her the correct usage of grammar in the sentence. One thing that I have noticed, breaking up sentences into smaller meaningful parts while communicating with her friends from the play group, she must have learnt that by following me or the other educators and staffs of the child care center, as it is a common practice followed by us to help the younger children understand what we are trying to convey (Morreale et al., 2011). Since her family background belongs to the native Australian origin, she had had certain amount of interactions in standard Australian English at home, prior to joining the child care center (Ortlipp, Arthur, & Woodrow, 2011).

Conclusion

From the observation made with the child, Anna, it is clear that it is essential to have a practice of proper and effective communication from the very early age of development. As it could be comprehended from the case of Anna, had there been more communication practice between her and her parents, the child would have been able to develop her communication skills much earlier. It took the child to join a child care center that enabled the child to develop her communication skills better. Since the child is still in the developing stage of her childhood, it is essential for her to remain in a constant communication environment that would enable the child to improve the skills of effective communications. There needs to exist a collaboration between the parents of the child and the educator of the child care center, as the child spends most the hours of the day at the care center, the educator shall be able to guide the parents better in regards with the improvement of the child’s communication skills. Since the child has the potential to learn new skills and develop them, with respect to the communication, it is essential for the parents to collaborate with the educator of the child’s care center and work together in improving the child’s communication skills and language proficiency, right from the early stage of development. Working in collaboration with the families and parents of the child would encourage the child in recognition of their abilities and add more confidence in them.

Essentials for the perfect Parents and Educators Partnership and Collaboration

References

Books

Cook, R. E., Klein, M. D., & Chen, D. (2015). Adapting early childhood curricula for children with special needs. Pearson.

Cook, V. (2013). Second language learning and language teaching. Routledge.

Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2014). Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. Oxford University Press.

Margetts, K., & Bridie Raban, P. (2011). Principles and practice driving the EYLF.

Journals

Amitay, S., Halliday, L., Taylor, J., Sohoglu, E., & Moore, D. R. (2010). Motivation and intelligence drive auditory perceptual learning. PloS one, 5(3), e9816.

Fellowes, M. J., Barratt-Pugh, C., & Ruscoe, M. A. Reflective Practice with Teachers of Early Writers 2014.

Grieshaber, S. (2010). Departures from tradition: The early years learning framework for Australia. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 4(2), 33-44.

Kennedy, C. E. (2014). Learning to spell: An examination of Year 4 teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and practices for the teaching of spelling (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania).

Krieg, S. (2011). The Australian early years learning framework: learning what?. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 12(1), 46-55.

Morreale, S., Backlund, P., Hay, E., & Moore, M. (2011). Assessment of oral communication: A major review of the historical development and trends in the movement from 1975 to 2009. Communication Education, 60(2), 255-278.

Nakatani, Y. (2010). Identifying strategies that facilitate EFL learners' oral communication: A classroom study using multiple data collection procedures. The Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 116-136.

Ortlipp, M., Arthur, L., & Woodrow, C. (2011). Discourses of the early years learning framework: Constructing the early childhood professional. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 12(1), 56-70.