Pathways to language development

Subha Vaidyanathan

Over the last few years there has been a noticeable decline in the reading habits of students. Among the various reasons for this, video games and other gadgets are thought to top the list. Research has shown that excessive visual stimulation can be detrimental to concentration and can take away interest from the printed word affecting language skills of students. Difficulties with English as Second language (ESL) also play a part for some children. Further, in the language building progression of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, our school systems tend to focus more on writing. The other three aspects, which are more important for language building, get sidelined. Lastly, language demands of the various Boards are quite high and often the gap between this and the child’s language level is large. When the medium of instruction is itself not comprehensible, it affects the attention, interest, and behaviour of children in the class, thus impacting their academic performance.

There are homes where children are both exposed to English and also encouraged to read and listen to stories early on. Children in these homes not only grow up with a lot of books around them but also get to play language games. Language games (like word building, word ending, etc.) have the dual effect of encouraging bonding among family members and inculcating an interest in language. On the other hand, there are children who have little or no exposure to English at home. This could limit their pronunciation skills, vocabulary, comprehension and expression, and therefore leads to a struggle with the language.

What is language?
As we all know the components of language are:
• phonology (system of sounds) – that helps in accurate pronunciation and spellings,
• morphology (word parts) – that helps to understand the meaning of words better,
• semantics – vocabulary,
• syntax – which is the sentence structure and
• pragmatics – which is the social conventions of language.

There could be deficits in each of these areas affecting the receptive and expressive language of children.

• Many children are unable to read as reading instruction is not explicit in primary classes and children are expected to start reading on their own. The textbooks too are often not graded for readability.
• There are some children who can read but are unable to understand the vocabulary or use them appropriately.
• Some others can understand but are unable to express themselves and
• A last group who have oral language but struggle with written expression.

So it is important that each of the language areas be built consciously for the whole class by the English as well as subject teachers.

When a child lacks the basic vocabulary and nuances of the language, the lesson – specific vocabulary does not make too much sense to him/her despite the glossary boxes given in the textbooks. Systematic building of vocabulary from basics is necessary right from the start. In the KG curriculum, rhymes, action songs, movement, and stories are all aimed at building language. After KG there is the advent of textbooks and often a tendency to follow it rigidly regardless of the child’s language skills.

Our focus in this article will be on phonology and semantics.

What is the role of the teachers (English and subject) in the aspects of phonology and semantic of language building?
Working with general and specific word lists, teachers need to ensure that children have the word attack skills to read accurately. General vocabulary as well as subject-specific vocabulary can be built by way of activities and games in classrooms.

General word lists activities:

Many lists of frequently occurring words in the text are available on the Internet. These are graded lists and often contain phonetic as well as non-phonetic words that occur frequently in texts. A chart can be put up with the words to be worked on that week, written in big letters and in colour. Alternately, the most frequently occurring words in the lesson being taught can also be used and can be just written on the board.

• The teacher can sound out words that are phonetic, (/j/ /ump/) split the multi-syllabic words, (yes/ter/day, any/thing, etc.) and just read out non-phonetic and odd words and ask them to read likewise.
• In a collaborative reading approach, each row in the class can be asked to read the word wall in a particular way. Row 1 chants it together, Row 2 whispers it, Row 3 reads it like mice, (squeaky voice) and Row 4 reads it like wolves (gruff voice). The novelty keeps their interest and attention on the words and the group reading helps the children who are unsure of some of the words.
• After the reading, vocabulary can be worked on. The teacher specifies a column and asks the children to find a word in that column, that means….., that rhymes with….., that is the opposite of ….., that is a naming word…., the word that is a verb ……. a contraction…. etc. They can also be asked to find the three verbs or an adjective or an adverb in column one. The word ‘fly’ is a noun as well as a verb, so ask students to use both forms in a sentence.
• The bean bag (a small cloth bag filled with beans) can be used in a language building game. The teacher throws the bag to a child as she asks for synonyms/antonyms or associated words for the word she calls out. The child throws it back to the teacher giving the answer. It helps to keep the children alert, interested and acquiring new vocabulary and is particularly useful with kinesthetic learners who learn better with movement.
• Phrase generation is also very helpful. For example, with the word around: you can make phrases like ‘around the house’, ‘around eight o’clock’, ‘around the world’, etc. The children are asked to sort them as what, when, where, or how phrases. For example, ‘around the house’ is a where phrase and around eight o’clock is a when phrase. Then the child is asked to frame a where question for example: “Where does the dog run?”
• Pick the first two words of the table (jump and eight) and use them in sentences. This can be an oral activity at first and then a written one.

Subject-specific word lists: A similar word list can be made from their English lesson or social studies or science. The words of the week can make up the science word wall.

In science, word lists are used for reading, spelling, and concept understanding.

• Reading of subject specific words can be done before the lesson using a word wall.
• At the end of a lesson the vocabulary can be reinforced by games where a teacher gives the meaning and the student has to point to the word in the list and vice versa. Alternatively, a student can be given two words from the list and be asked to say how these two words are associated as this will deepen concept understanding. (force, motion etc.)

Math also has its own vocabulary; here is an example of a math word wall.

• As is the case for other lists, the main task is to work on reading and building vocabulary.
• To make them internalize the vocabulary, games are played where children in the class are dealt number cards. The teacher calls out a number and the child with the card comes forward, then she calls out for its predecessor and its successor to come forward. Standing near steps where sequential numbers are written on each step (120, 121, 122, 123), they can run up and down to show what is ascending and descending. Four children stand to form a square and one shows the concept of perimeter by going around them and another child shows the concept of area by running all over inside the square. This kind of experiential learning helps many children especially with math concepts which maybe otherwise abstract for them.

Cross-curricular language building is important. They can cut a square, colour it and write about the process. They can have math, science, or social studies facts to read and answer as a comprehension.

While being involved in an activity, children have fun and also hone their language skills without realizing it, whether at home or in the classroom. Some of these language games are useful when mental fatigue sets in and the class doesn’t want to do serious work. The use of the bean bag for the games and movement increases attention as well as learning.

The author is a special educator who has worked for many years with children with dyslexia and also in training school teachers with remedial methodology for the whole class. Her current focus is scholastic backwardness and language. She can be reached at subhav05@gmail.com.