Creating an Environment for play, music and reading from early infancy helps in promoting expressive language development.
CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR PLAY, MUSIC AND READING FROM EARLY INFANCY HELPS IN PROMOTING EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Expressive language using oral communication is facilitated when children have opportunities to use language with adults, one another, in small groups or one to one, when they listen and engage in conversations with adults, and when they listen and respond to stories read and told to them. These activities enable children to describe events, build background knowledge and expand their vocabulary.
Play provides natural opportunities for language development. Adults who follow the child’s lead when playing provide infants and children with the best opportunities for developing language skills Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E., & Greenberg, J. (2006). Facilitating language skills: Inservice education for early childhood educators and preschool teachers. Infants & Young Children, 19(1), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001163-200601000-00005 Vygotsky, L. S., & Rieber, R. W. (Eds.). (1997). Cognition and language. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Vol. 4. The history of the development of higher mental functions (M. J. Hall, Trans.). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Conversations in these settings are more likely to follow the child’s lead and be focused on the interests of the child. The use of these child-responsive communication strategies by adults has been linked to children’s concurrent and later language development. Roskos, K.A., & Christie, J.F. (2011). The Play-Literacy Nexus and the Importance of Evidence-Based Techniques in the Classroom. American Journal of Play, 4, 204-224. (Level IV) Lillard, A. S., Lerner, M. D., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Smith, E. D., & Palmquist, C. M. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children's development: a review of the evidence. Psychological bulletin, 139(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029321 (Level VI)
During play, adults can use strategies to promote listening and speaking in infants and toddlers. These strategies include expansion of children’s verbal efforts, open-ended questioning, conversational turn-taking and language modelling have been shown to promote children’s communicative language development. Music can also be used to enhance language learning. Strickland, D. S., & Shanahan, T. (2004). Laying the groundwork for literacy. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 74–77. Honig, A. S. (2006). What Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers Learn from Play: 12 Ideas. Montessori Life, 18(1), 16–21. (Level III)
Physical environments can be set up to promote communication. Having toys and raw materials (e.g. cardboard boxes, wooden planks) for children to play with in small groups, on their own, can facilitate communication between toddlers as they have to work together to express ideas, negotiate, and solve problems.
Reading between the parent and child, has been linked to children’s language and social emotional development.
A study carried out in Singapore on creating literacy rich environments for children from infancy showed that children begin to benefit in early language and literacy skills, when regular reading begins as early as 8 months with reading routines that include sensitive and responsive, language-rich interactions. Creating a literacy-rich home environment from infancy (e.g. exposing a child to be read to) helps a child to be more interested in books and reading at 12 months.
Connecting storybook reading and guided play provides an avenue in which adults can enhance their children’s vocabulary and comprehension skills. Rowe, D. W. (2007). Bringing books to life: The role of book-related dramatic play in young children’s literacy learning. In Roskos, K. A. & Christie, J. F. (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 37–63). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Van Kleeck, A. (2008). Providing preschool foundations for later reading comprehension: The importance of and ideas for targeting inferencing in storybook-sharing interventions. Psychology in the Schools, 45(7), 627–643. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20314
To further enhance the vocabulary and comprehension skills, adults can continue literacy-centred conversations with children by coupling the storybook experience with opportunities to expand the learning through play. By providing props related to the storybook and then interacting with children in play centres, adults can scaffold communication, language and literacy skills through targeted comments and questions related to the books’ themes.
Listening to music is an exercise in receptive language skills (words that children understand but may not yet be able to say). Music gives children easy access to practicing language and deciphering meaning, different sounds and words. Children who can distinguish different sounds and phonemes are more likely to develop stronger literacy skills over time.