Margaret Martlew

Language use, role and context in a five-year-old *

To explore the relationship of language use and speech adaptation to role and context the spontaneous speech of a boy aged 5; 6 was recorded in three different situations: playing alone, playing with a friend of the same age, and playing with his mother. Several analyses were made of the speech transcripts to examine the relationship between context and language use. The nature of play episodes was also investigated. The findings suggest that role play has an important function in the development of a childs ability to communicate effectively, and that a childs awareness of his own role and the expectations he has concerning social interactions lead to modification in language use.

The precursors of writing: Graphic representation in preschool children

Abstract Preschool childrens representational abilities were investigated in relation to their ability to use their knowledge of graphic notation. The children were given a series of tasks requiring the graphic notation of objects. They were grouped on the basis of their responses as to whether or not they showed representational abilities and knowledge of letters/symbolic forms. Comparisons in tasks in the nursery showed the representational groups had superior metalinguistic skills and were older. Literacy tasks given in school showed superior ability for groups using letters/symbolic forms. The children came from similar backgrounds, could draw and knew some letters. Their responses showed varying constructs about the appropriate graphic notation to use in the referential tasks. We suggest some children incline to being literacy experimentalists which facilitates their acquisition of literacy. Educational implications are discussed.

Relationship between children's counting ability and their ability to reason about number

The work presented here compares two groups of three- and four-year-old children who differ in their school entrance age and consequently in the social expectations of what they should know at these particular ages. The comparison was made in order to assess the effect of children’s counting ability on their ability to reason about number. An experiment was designed to make sure that children who succeeded were basing their answers only on the operation performed. The experiment included a set size with more items in it than any of the children would supposedly be able to count. Also, some of the tasks combined addition and subtraction with lengthening and shortening and homogeneous sets were used to avoid the possibility of an answer being based on the presence or absence of a specific item. Three possible outcomes were predicted and the results obtained were analysed in the light of these. The results support the conclusion that young children may reason about number even without having represented it and that children’s counting ability does not necessarily underlie their capacity to identify number-relevant operations but rather that the ability to make number-based judgements develops independently from the knowledge of counting.RésuméLe travail présenté ici a permis de comparer deux groupes d’enfants de 3 et 4 ans, ayant commencé leur scolarité à des âges différents et qui, par conséquent différent aussi par les attentes sociales concernant leurs connaissances. La comparaison a été faite de façon à estimer, chez les enfants, l’influence de la capacité de compter sur leur capacité de raisonner sur les nombres. Une expérience a été réalisée pour s’assurer que les réussites des enfants sont uniquement dues à l’opération réalisée. Dans cette expérience un des ensembles à dénombrer comportait un nombre d’élément excédant les capacités de dénombrement des enfants de cet âge. En outre, les tâches utilisées combinaient addition et soustraction avec augmentation et diminution et, pour éviter que la réponse repose sur la présence ou l’absence de certains éléments, on a utilisé des ensembles homogènes; Les résultats obtenus ont été analysées fonction de trois hypothèses initiales. On peut conclure que de petits enfants peuvent raisonner sur nombre même s’ils ne savent pas représenter. Leur capacité de comptage n’est pas forcément à l’origine de leur capacité d’identifier des opérations numériques applicables; la capacité de produire des jugements sur le nombre se développe indépendamment de la connaissance du processus de comptage.

Beginning to read and write; an exploratory study of young children's understanding of metalinguistic terms and graphic conventions

Interest in the acquisition of written language has followed several lines of investigation. A number of studies have extended Vygotsky’s (1962, 1978) thesis that writing has its roots in gesture, drawing and symbolic play (Luria 1978, Graves 1983, Gundlach 1982, Dyson 1982, de G6es & Martlew 1983). Some children appear to acquire initial skills with few apparent problems. Spontaneous experiments with writing have been observed before any apparent instruction has been given (Bissex 1980) and a few children have shown an ability to produce written communications before they can read (Chomsky 1979). Writing, however, is a complex representational system. It changes the focus from language used instrumentally (Hakes 1980) to language-asobject (Cazden 1976). Visible language can be manipulated, words broken down into smaller elements, or letters built up into syllables and words. Relating speech to written language, as in the identification of phonemes within words and syllables, requires a certain level of cognitive maturity (Read 1983) and can be a major stumbling block for most children (Liberman et al. 1977). Furthermore, Reid (1966) and Downing (1979) have shown that children do not have clear notions about the activity of reading or fully comprehend the basic terminology used in the course of instruction. Terms such as letter, sound, word, space, etc. are used by adults to facilitate children’s understanding of written language. These are metalinguistic terms in that they require the child to think or talk about language. It is this aspect of development which we are focusing on in this study as we explore young children’s emerging metalinguistic awareness of basic terminology and their understanding of conventions such as spacing and punctuation. We can focus on the term ’word’ to illustrate children’s developing metalinguistic awareness. Papandropoulou & Sinclair (1974) studied word comprehension in young children and observed interesting developmental trends. They found that children from four to five years did not distinguish conceptually between ’word’ and the object or action referred to, thus showing little or no ability to reflect on language. From five to seven years, children regarded words as ’names’, but not till they were over seven did

The integration of a child with cerebral palsy into a mainstream nursery

ABSTRACT A child with cerebral palsy was observed from October to December for the two years he attended a mainstream nursery. His younger sister joined his class in his second year and observations were extended to include her. The behavioural categories used in the analyses focused on social participation and involvement in the nursery environment. The interactions of the cerebral palsied child, particularly compared with those of his younger sister, showed he spent much of his time solitary and unoccupied. Though he would stay close to groups of children and adults, his interactions were more adult‐ than child‐based and any complex play usually occurred with adults. There were some changes over the two years which could probably have been enhanced by a more structured approach. His activities and visual focus were predominantly object‐ rather than peer‐based, which suggests the potential for social learning from non‐handicapped peers was not being utilized.

Book Reviews : Developing Awareness of Print: a Young Child's First Steps Towards Literacy. Shirley Payton (Educational Review, Offset publication number two, University of Birmingham, 1984). Pp.117. £3.00. ISBN 0 7044 0700 0

collection but am concerned that microanalysis continues to be used in circumstances where precision and objectivity are necessary. The book is a useful collection of clearly written articles. There are gaps in content if this were to be a comprehensive account of the origins and growth of communication. As Snow in her ’afterword’ points out the articles often fail to acknowledge the importance of culture. Similarly, I would have liked

Book Reviews : Learning through Interaction: the Study of Language Development. Gordon Wells (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1981). Pp. 304. Hardback, £22.50, ISBN 0 52123774 2. Paperback, £6.50, ISBN 0 52128219 5:

years, a book in fact aimed at a fairly specialized audience. Instead, I discovered a much more discursive approach and wide ranging content. The contributors give an overview of significant aspects of early language development within a socially based framework. All the authors support the importance of conversational interaction and a broad notion of context for a full understanding of language development. Consequently the book will have a wide general appeal as it provides a lucid and stimulating coverage, interesting to those looking for discussions on the interrelationship of language development and social context, and organized in a manner