-One thing that I was wondering about this week's reading is how language development is integrated into lessons with different teachers. I think it would be interesting to sit in on different teachers to observe the different ways that they integrate language development into the way they teach their everyday lessons. I think it would especially be interesting for classes that aren't as verbally based like art, music, or physical education. Because these classes are more performance based I think it would be interesting to see how teachers would implement language developmental lessons in their class settings.
-A scenario in which something might be internalized by a child could be in a physical education situation. Teaching a skill such as shooting a free throw could be an example. When a PE teacher teaches a student this skill he/she gives the student cues to talk them through the skill. These cues are pointer finger on the air hole, bend your wrist until you see wrinkles, bend your knees, stand and release, then hand in the cookie jar. These can be simplified into the verbal cues of pointer, wrinkles, knees and hand in the cookie jar. The child repeats these to his or her self while practicing the free throw over and over until the muscle memory will automatically be internalized with the cues to the point where the child will no longer need to say them verbally. The scaffolding that is the cues fades away and the child can perform the action without having to make an effort to think about all of the steps.
Perhaps language development is something you can investigate in your own fieldwork! You could take notes on it and incorporate it into the Learning Theories in the Classroom Paper (just an idea...) Language is interesting for a few reasons. Understanding word meanings isn't something that develops biologically (some people think that use of grammar IS somehow evolutionary), so it requires memorization. Simple memorization, repetition, and many forms of encoding will allow for learning new word/symbol meanings. We will discuss that kind of information processing in a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that is interesting about language is that it is SO culturally determined. Children who do not use 'academic language' at home are always a step behind once they enter school and need to learn it quickly, or be corrected by the teacher each time....
I love your scaffolding/internalization example! In the middle of this learning, the child may even begin to speak out loud to note each of the cues, himself saying "pointer, jar, etc". Vygotsky says this is evidence that the child is internalizing.