Language Development Interview

Language development is a process whereby kids get to understand and communicate language in their early childhood life. Therefore, language development begins early, with gestures, sounds, sentences, and words. Parents and teachers can support language development by talking with their children and responding whenever they communicate (Ferjan Ramírez, Lytle & Kuhl, 2020). Sharing stories and reading books is also an excellent way to develop a child’s language. However, the most excellent way for kids to begin learning a language is by interacting with children in their classrooms or with adults at home. Language development is a fundamental part of preschool learning; this paper will focus on interview questions that enhance language development and the three ways to meet the preschool needs to support their language development.

In a classroom setting, teachers are responsible for planning activities that require learners to have teacher-student or student-to-teacher interactions. Piper (2012) affirms that language development improved by conducting more classroom activities in which kids select themselves rather than the tutor choosing the learners. Kids learn by observing what they hear from people. Thus, oral language is an excellent strategy for developing language in children (Piper, 2012). Therefore, I decided to interview Mr. Johnson Carson, the lead preschool teacher at San Lorenzo Community Church Preschool and Kindergarten. He has taught for over five years and enjoys teaching young kids. For the interview, I selected five questions from the list, and Mr. Carson provided numerous information while answering the questions below.

Interview Questions

Question 1. There Are Many Approaches For Working With Children Learning A Second Language. Which Approach Do You Believe Works Best?

In Mr. Carson’s class, he has two second language students. He believes so much in the mantra Lingua pen. This pen possesses a pointer that is utilized with a book. With it, the teacher can use a pen with a book to teach the child English words or terminologies. The student is also to ask numerous questions. For these questions, Mr. Carson states that he answers them by pointing to the charts and things within the classroom, and he ensures the child repeats the words after him in English. From this strategy, Mr. Carson says one of the student’s parents confirmed that his child had learned so much from school and his second language learning was fast and easy.

Question 2. What Are Some Forms Of Language Assessment That You Use With Children?

In Mr. Carson’s class, he uses three language assessments, diagnostic or pre-assessment, summative, and formative, for his learners. In the pre-assessment or diagnostic, the teacher conducts a pre-assessment exam when the learners come in for the first time. The school also offers each learner a DIAL-4 exam. Mr. Carson and his assistant examine a child through the test to determine how knowledgeable the child is. Concurrently the DIAL-4 also executes the same, and both pre-assessment results and DIAL-4 are used to create goals for the child monthly. Summative assessment is also used but after the instructional period. Learners are provided worksheets and sometimes divided into small groups or teams to get feedback. Formative assessment is also used. It is often used during instructional time because it concentrates more on observation.

Question 3. What Language Skills Is Your Class Currently Working On?

Within any classroom, there are only four language skills used. These skills include speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Listening skill entails receiving sounds, comprehending the message communicated in the sounds heard, analyzing the message then replying to it. Reading skills invokes the capability to understand the meaning of a message or text. They include recognition of words, fluency, decoding, and vocabulary. Writing skills is about the knowledge and skills linked to expressing opinions through written words, while speaking is the skill that enables a student to communicate. It offers the ability to convey information verbally and in a manner that the audience can understand. Since learners’ capability to learn a language is different, all these four skills are used in a classroom, as Mr. Carson states. He teaches four-year-old kids to ensure that they are listening or attentive in daily tasks. They are taught how to write their names and identify letters and numbers, and mostly he uses flashcards and charts and asks questions daily to incorporate all four skills.

Question 4. How Would You Partner With Parents To Encourage Their Support In The Development Of Language?

As a preschool teacher, Mr. Carson said he prepares frequent conferences with parents and organizes cultural events involving parents, children, and the community. In addition, he encourages parents and family members to read with their children and ask them questions from the books. This way, parents are engaged in the language development of their children.

Question 5. What Features Of Your Physical Space Promote Language Development?

Mr. Carson stated that he enjoys assisting learners in finding connections with the language they desire to learn. Thus, in his class, he uses flashcards for most things. For instance, if they are working on shapes, colors, picture words, numbers, and letters. In addition, the entire class engages in handwork activities to promote language development and labels everything within a classroom. These physical features are presented in flashcards, pictures, or labels, to enhance language development.

Interview Analysis

Indeed, the interview was enjoyable and very informative. Mr. Carson gave very easy-to-understand answers, which were direct, and answered the given interview questions. Not all children have the same capability in language learning. Therefore, it is significant for teachers to use diverse ways to encourage language learning and development. Laubscher & Light (2020) support this view by stating, “to meet each child’s need, it is imperative to understand and know the style that best fits every student to enable the teacher realize their weaknesses and strengths”. It was impressive and convincing when Mr. Carson highlighted and explained in detail the four fundamental skills for helping children in language development. These skills were writing, speaking, reading, and listening. Nobody can claim that these four skills are not mandatory and critical in any classroom, especially for developing children’s language early. Without them, it will be difficult for the teacher to improve the learner’s language development. The formative, summative, and diagnostic language assessments highlighted were valuable and concurrent to language development. The teacher cannot identify the learner’s progress, strengths, and weaknesses without proper assessment.

Supporting Language Development

There are several strategies or ways of meeting preschool students’ needs to support their language development. One of these ways is developing a reading center within the classroom. Such a reading center enables kids to get access to various literary tools and books to help them practice writing and reading (Şimşek & Işıkoğlu Erdoğan, 2021). This will then improve or enhance their comprehension and vocabulary skills. Reading also enhances children’s imagination and comprehension, allowing them to explore words in their own way. The second strategy is to read stories and ensure children act them out (Ferjan Ramírez, Lytle & Kuhl, 2020). It can be done by sending home a newsletter to parents on a specific book the kids have been reading throughout the week and having them read it to their parents while utilizing their imaginations and dramatizing some parts of the story. The last way is through music and singing. Singing numbers, days of the week, alphabets, and counting songs can help children develop language quickly. As they listen to or sing these songs in class, they slowly start repeating or singing after the teacher, which helps in language mastery.

Conclusion

Language development is critical for kids; thus, starting at an early age is essential. Language development in children entails several steps, and the teacher often wants to ensure they are developing good speaking and listening skills and are meeting the child’s needs in language development. Some of the listening skills preschoolers need to achieve are understanding what is said to them and understanding simple words like dog and cat. In addition, speaking skills include uttering in complete sentences with a minimum of four-letter words, naming correct colors, and singing familiar songs. The parents are the first teachers to their children, their role is to observe their children and realize if they are developing language skills appropriately and as per their age. Vickers (2017) argues that language development allows preschool kids to use images and imagination as part of their thinking to help them talk about present, past, and future events. Therefore, in general, language development is vital to young children. The foundation they have in the early stages predicts their future language enhancement.

References

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lytle, S. R., & Kuhl, P. K. (2020). Parent coaching increases conversational turns and advances infant language development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(7), 3484-3491. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1921653117.

Laubscher, E., & Light, J. (2020). Core vocabulary lists for young children and considerations for early language development: A narrative review. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 36(1), 43-53. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07434618.2020.1737964.

Piper, T. (2012). Making meaning, making sense: Children’s early language learning. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Şimşek, Z. C., & Işıkoğlu Erdoğan, N. (2021). Comparing the effects of different book reading techniques on young children’s language development. Reading and Writing, 34(4), 817-839. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11145-020-10091-9.

Vicker, J. (2017). Importance of Language Development in Preschoolers. Retrieved from https://howtoadult.com/importance-language-development-preschoolers-6736003.html.

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Question

Much of the knowledge we gain comes from our learning through personal experiences. For this assignment, you will spend time talking with an experienced preschool teacher, discussing the support of language acquisition and language developmental stages in the classroom.

Language Development Interview

To prepare for your assignment,

Review Chapters 5 and 6 of the class text.
Locate two scholarly sources related to language development.
Select five of these Language Development Interview Questions to ask your chosen experienced preschool teacher.
Download the Language Development Interview template Download Language Development Interview template to complete this assignment.
In your three to five-page paper

Compose a brief introduction that will allow your reader to follow its organization and the focus of your discussion (one to two paragraphs).
Document the interview. Either provide the video recording (with permission) or write the questions and corresponding answers.
Analyze the provided interview responses using your knowledge gained, the textbook, and at least two other resources to substantiate or refute their answers. You can elaborate on or against their responses to further strengthen your own understanding.
Propose three ways you will meet the needs of preschool children to support their language development using the provided answers and your knowledge.
List your references in APA Style (Links to an external site.) on a separate references page at the end of your document.
Note: You will be asked to refer to this interview when composing your Final Presentation for this course, where you will propose three strategies you might implement to support the language development of children in your learning environment. You will want to refer to strategies you learn from this interview as well as any you discover in your readings. You may want to look ahead to the Final Presentation directions located in Week 5 to understand how you will adapt this assignment to fit those requirements.

The Language Development Interview paper

Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.).
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions and conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Writing Center resources.
Must use at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed, or credible sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this University of Arizona Global Campus Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Writing Center for specifications.

Language Development Interview