Language Acquisition ePortfolio

Guided Introduction

It is my goal to teach children. I am currently working on my Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. My future career goals are focused on working in the education field, hoping to teach 2^nd and 3^rd grade. Children are the future of our society, and I understand the importance of having teachers who love them and are dedicated to helping them become successful members of the society. In the life of children, language acquisition is essential to assist children in making meaning with words. Children start the language acquisition process from the first day of their lives as they interact with family and friends. Thus, it is important for teachers to cover each component of language acquisition extensively in preparation for success language development.

Language Acquisition Beliefs

Language acquisition is the cognition that makes us humans. While other species communicate and can produce meaningful vocals such as birds singing, they achieve this with a limited set of symbols. Indeed, language acquisition in humans is remarkable, especially the mastery of the skill. Children start the process of language acquisition as early as from the first day of coming into this world. Babbling in infants is often considered the earliest form of language acquisition. Consequently, not all children acquire language the same way as some experience delayed language development. In light of this, the ePortfolio gives several insights on ways that educators can help teach and develop language skills as a way of enhancing language acquisition. 

Language-Rich Environment

By the time children join pre-school, they have already developed a wide range of oral language vocabulary. Instructors are aware of this and in a bid to support the children; they continuously try to create an environment where children are exposed to high-quality language development in different forms. To maximize language acquisition, teachers create a language-rich environment that involves designing a learning atmosphere where developmentally appropriate practices and materials are integrated into the environment. Importantly noted, a language-rich environment also has several benefits such as providing visual exposure to print, diverse opportunities for meaningful interactions, and encouraging engagement. Consequently, as Mora-Flores (2011) notes, a language-rich environment is not quiet, instead the setting offers children an opportunity to engage each other around challenging content and serve as language models to their peers. The environment has desks organized in such a way that students can be able to interact and provide spaces where the children can freely come together as a group and discuss what they have learned. 

Setting up a Language-rich Environment

The area is set up to add a variety of learning space where children can interact in small groups and display their mastery of art and craft, a reading corner where the teacher can provide guided learning and allow children participation in the classroom, a computer area, and a dramatic play center. In order to foster language acquisition, the first center I designed is the reading corner, which is also the central point in the entire instructional setting. The area contains the children desks and the teacher desk, where the children sit comfortable and engage in reading aloud, shared reading, and writing. The teacher’s desk is placed at the front wall to allow them to provide the children with the needed assisted learning. At this point, the children will rely on the teacher who will design the lesson plan and ensure that children abide by the classroom philosophy. My role as a teacher will be to facilitate reading, design and assigning children with learning activities, and supervise the learning session. 

The square rug located to the left of the classroom is created to emphasize reading and collaboration. In this corner, the square rug with beanbag chairs provides a comfortable and welcoming area that reminds children of their home. The purpose of the rug is to provide children with a reading area, where the teacher can take a book and read stories that reflect the interests of the learners, promote love for reading, independence, and self-exploration. This area also offers children a chance to reflect on the readings and encourages interactions and information sharing about what they learned. The role of the instructor will be to engage the children in reading by incorporating story-telling, offer an opportunity to the learners to read aloud and engage them in reflecting on the readings.  

Across the room and strategically placed is the computer area to provide access to various learning materials and necessary practice. The computer desks will allow students to access interactive learning through computer games and work collaboratively with their peers for improved learning. I integrated the computer center within the instructional setting because computers enhance language development in different ways. For example, the instructor can use a computer to introduce interactive learning and engaging materials for various learning activities. Children can also use computers to research different subjects, which play a significant role in nurturing sustained interest. Consequently, computers provide a rich-visual environment, which provides learners with visual clues to help in learning vocabulary in context and enhance understanding. The role of the teacher will be to enhance an active approach to learning. For instance, the teacher will be the one to select the learning programs, guide the children who need assisted learning and monitor their learning to ensure they are not exposed to inappropriate content. 

The other learning center that I integrated into the instructional setting design is the collaborative worktable. The worktable is designed to foster language development by giving children an area where they can interact in small groups. The area also doubles up as the art and craft area where students can paint, draw, or sketch. The art area is incorporated due to its benefits on language development. Firstly, art is a vessel for children to express their feelings, emotions, and thought to reflect their experience. Secondly, art will help students connect with language acquisition by exposing them to meaningful experiences and encourages them to participate actively in education. As Tavakoli (2012) believes, language acquisition comes naturally when students participate in activities where they can find meaning and purpose. Allowing children to express themselves and demonstrate knowledge through art and craft, the teacher helps them to convey and decipher meaning from artwork, which is not different to learning language structure. The role of the teacher will be to assign art activities linked with language acquisition to enhance learning. The teacher will also be responsible for providing materials and supplies to foster the use of art and craft in the classroom. Consequently, the instructor will also walk around and observe students as they go on with their work, provide assistance when necessary, and give positive feedback to encourage them.

Stages of Language Development Analysis

Usually, children utter their first word between nine months and one year onwards. From two years, children can utter simple phrases, and by three years, some can communicate using full sentences, amidst a few grammatical errors. By age five, the child should have developed basic language and be able to communicate clearly with few mistakes. According to Franzoi (2014), language acquisition takes place in different stages. The first stage is the cooing and babbling when newborns start vocalizing by producing phoneme sounds such as aaah or oooh. From the fourth to sixth month, infants begin babbling and vocally repeat phonemes such as baa-baa-baa or maa-maa-maa. By the time they reach ten months, children drop phonemes that are not part of the culture and maintain those similar to their culture’s language. The second stage is the single-word use, where children start uttering morpheme sounds that can also be identified as words. This usually happens from nine months to one year and is called the single-word stage because children can only utter a single word. Children also lack words for all the things around them and often end up using the same word for several different things. The third stage is the two-word use where children can use two separate words in a single sentence. The two-word use stage is also when children develop telegraphic speech. Children use multiple-word sentences but are likely to leave out some words. For instance, as Franzoi notes, instead of saying “I want to go outside,’ a child will say “want outside.” As children master the two-word use, they may begin using longer phrases, amidst several grammatical errors. After this stage, children go on to the next stage, which is the multiple-word sentence. The child can now use grammatical morphemes in the form of prefixes or suffices when communicating. They can also construct a sentence with a subject and a predicate, but with linguistic errors. At three years, children can use complex grammatical structures, with added elements such as conjunctions and prepositions.  The final stage in language development is when the child can construct adult-like language structures. At this point, the child can construct complex structural distinctions and can easily change the word order in the sentence where necessary.

Among the stages of language development, the one that interests me is the fourth stage, where the child can construct complex grammatical structures. At this point, the child’s brain is a vessel that needs modeling and is ready to take information. Children at this age can speak more words and answer questions. They can also hold a conversation and interact with people apart from their peers. It is also at this stage when children join pre-school, and their language development is ready to soar as they try to combine words into longer sentences.

Literacy Lesson Plan

Subject: Oral Language and Vocabulary

Grade: Pre-K

Topic: Teaching Language and Vocabulary as part of encouraging student literacy and language development

Duration: The lesson will last between 45 minutes to 1 hour

Learning Goals/ Objectives	Students will be able to sing songs and rhymes that contain rhythm and rhyme to help with speech and literacy developmentChildren will be introduced to easy symbolic sounds that produce fun sounds that will be incorporated during games or looking at booksChildren will participate in motivating sound games assisted by the teacherStudents will be able to recognize, pronounce, and understand new words used in the lessonChildren will be able to use the computer and play interactive games for language developmentChildren will participate in yes or no game to help them understand and ask questions Children will participate in making scrapbooks of favorite of familiar things by cutting out pictures
Standards	Students must be able to comprehend text Students should be able to participate in classroom activitiesStudents must demonstrate comprehension of classroom activities and be able to practice them independently
Materials	Scissors, papers, collection of scrap materials, instructional materials for the teacher
Introduction	I will begin the lesson by greeting the children and welcoming them to the instructional setting. We will also sing one pre-school song to get them warmed up.
Lesson Development	Monday: nursery rhymes, symbolic soundsTo begin the lesson, I will introduce nursery rhymes to the children and encourage them to join in the singing. Music is a great way to involve children and can be used to enhance speech and language development. The songs will focus on intonation and a beat that helps with aspects of language development. Some of the songs that I will use include “I’ve got two” and “Hands” by David Kisor.After engaging the children in the singing session, I will then introduce symbolic sounds to help build their vocabulary with words such as beep beep, or moo to relate to a specific object or animal that makes the sound.For assessment, children will gather around the square rug and sing along with their peers. The teacher will intervene from time to time to correct any mistakes.Tuesday: Nursery rhyme songs, motivating sound games, and participate in yes or no gameBefore starting the lesson, children will participate in singing nursery rhymes, and I will assess if they can recall the words.After this, children will participate in motivating sound games to motivate them to make sounds. Such motivating games will include prompts like, “… ready… steady…. GO! Kick the ball” then the teacher will start from the beginning with “ready… steady…” and observe if the children step in and complete the sentence.In the yes and no game, I will be able to help the children understand and ask a question. First, I will start by asking them questions such as “Are you a girl?” Then I will encourage the children to ask me questions that require me to answer with a yes or a no.  Wednesday: Use Computer and Play Interactive GamesThrough guided practice, the children will access educational websites designed to offer preschool-aged children opportunities to polish their speech and language skills. The teacher will login into storyplace.org, which is a website that contains several online games. Through the guidance of the teacher, children will choose a theme and start having fun with the interactive game.Thursday: Art & CraftThe learning activity will be based on previous day’s computer session. I will take the children through what they learned the previous day. Children will then be expected to gather on the collaborative worktable and put into art and craft what they observed in the computer game. Friday: Making Scrapbooks of Familiar ThingsI will cut into pieces different things such as fruits, food items, and toys cut from paper. The children will be expected to pick the scrap pieces and make a scrapbook. It does not have to have any definite form or make sense. The idea is to have the children participate in art and craft.
Closing:	The children will have an opportunity to participate in activities that encourage speech and language development. The will also have a chance to learn new vocabulary that is needed in their language acquisition as they participate in these activities.
Personal Reflection:	I will perform formative assessment throughout the lesson by checking for the ability to follow directions and to perform the activities.Reflection: Children will have several opportunities for interaction between the teacher and their peers. They will be able to practice their speaking skills throughout the lesson. They will also have a chance to use the computer for interactive learning to redefine their speech and language development. Students who need additional help will be given special attention by the teacher and sent home with assignments so that they can practice more with their parents.

Language Reflection

Language Structure

Language is the ability to produce and understand spoken and written words. Human language is complex and involves phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics all working hand in hand to generate useful communication between children and adults. According to Unruh and McKellar (2017), phonemes are the elementary sounds of language and the basic building blocks of spoken language. Morphemes are phonemes combined into larger units and can be a word or part of a word such as a suffix or prefix. Majority of the English words are single morphemes, which can be turned into two-morpheme. Syntax describes the language structure and ways in which words are put together to construct sentences. The syntax is also defined as the aspect of grammar that guides word combination and arrangement to form phrases and sentences. Semantics refers to the study of word and sentences meaning. It involves the way words represent external objects and events, which form the basic material for language acquisition. Pragmatics is the appropriate use of language in different contexts and settings. For instance, as Unruh and McKellar points, a father can instruct his child to eat his vegetables, but cannot do the same to an adult beside him at a party. Additionally, when the brain gets an auditory, it must first pull the sentences and analyze it as phonemes, morphemes, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. After the processing, the brain can then synthesize the speech to get a coherent understanding of the speech. In the context of language development, understanding language structure is necessary for instructors to help children develop the ability to use language as a means of communication. 

Supporting Children Language Acquisition

The early childhood years are critical, since, at this time, the children’s brains are keen and quick to absorb information. My work as an educator is to support children language acquisition. Within the instructional setting, I will strive to create a language-rich environment that is safe and secure to motivate children to participate in language development activities. Outside the instructional setting, I will facilitate language acquisition by working together with their parents through newsletters, home assignments, home visits, and other communication techniques that are possible. Consequently, I will adopt three strategies to support children language acquisition effectively. Firstly, instead of using language to teach children, I will engage them using language communicatively and socially. Secondly, I will use language often to weave it into their everyday activities. Thirdly, I will ensure that children have the opportunity to watch and listen to me speak to others to instill in them the value of language and strengthen their perception of language.

Language Resource File

Goodson, B., Layzer, C., & National Institute for Literacy. (2009). Learning to Talk and Listen: An Oral Language Resource for Early Childhood Caregivers. National Institute for Literacy. 1775 I Street NW Suite 730, Washington, DC

The article gives a comprehensive guideline to early childhood caregivers and teachers on ways that children develop the ability to communicate their thoughts and needs. The book is especially important to preschool teachers because children’s understanding of words and sentence structure are critical foundational skills for later reading. The book uses research-based practices focused on helping children learn new vocabulary, construct complex sentence structures, and express ideas and thoughts to enhance their understanding of language.

Whitehead, M. R. (2010). Language and literacy in the early years 0 – 7. London: SAGE.

Communication and language learning is often viewed as patterns for a vast range of human learning strategies and achievements. The role of early childhood educators includes examining theories put forward by linguistics and reviewing some trends to make informed decisions about their practice. This book describes contemporary approaches to the study of communication and language acquisition from 0 to 7 years. The book is important because it covers communication, language, and literacy for early years foundation stages. 

References

Franzoi, S. L. (2014). Psychology: A discovery experience. Australia: South-Western.

Goodson, B., Layzer, C., & National Institute for Literacy. (2009). Learning to Talk and Listen: An Oral Language Resource for Early Childhood Caregivers. National Institute for Literacy. 1775 I Street NW Suite 730, Washington, DC.

Mora-Flores, E. (2011). Connecting content and language for English language learners. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.

Tavakoli, H. (2012). Dictionary of language acquisition: A comprehensive overview of key Terms in First and Second Language Acquisition. Tehran; Iran: Rahnama Press.

Unruh, S., & McKellar, N. A. (2017). Assessment and intervention for English language learners: Translating research into practice. Cham, Switzerland : Springer.Whitehead, M. R. (2010). Language and literacy in the early years 0 – 7. London: Sage.