Topics in Early Childhood Education

Since preschoolers are poised on the brink of major language and literacy discoveries, anything adults can do to help them fulfill their potential will be very beneficial to their overall development. Thus, establishing a climate in the classroom in which children can freely and comfortable talk with peers and adults about their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences is very important. Teachers can benefit from learning about and practicing techniques that encourage meaningful "two-way" conversation with children.

Talking with children about things that are fascinating and interesting to them is the key to success. While this seems like a simple enough idea, it is surprising how often many adults take control of conversations with children in ways that stifle children's natural responses. Adults often talk to children in ways that give children little choice in the conversation--we ask them questions with just one right answer, or we bring up a conversational topic that has little to do with what the child is focused on at that moment. The list below describes conversational strategies often used with children that give control mostly to the adult as well as one strategy that gives children the opportunity to express their own interests.

• Enforced repetition--telling the other person what to say. "Joan, tell Paul that you like his shirt."
• Closed questions--asking questions that have only one right answer. "Tom, what color are you using to paint your fire truck?"
• Open questions--asking questions that could have many different answers, following each question with another. "Sean, did you get a new puppy? What is his name? What does he eat? Where does he sleep?" (Although open questions allow children to respond in a variety of ways, they are usually centered on topics adults are interested in rather than topics of children's choosing.)
• Contributions and acknowledgements--observations and statements a speaker initiates followed by a word, phrase, or gesture you make to let the speaker know you are listening.

The strategies listed above are based on basic principles of children's language development. These principles include:

• Language helps us to establish and maintain relationships with others.
• Children want to communicate, to understand, and to be understood.
• Language naturally unfolds as children mature and actively interact with their environment.
• Children's language becomes more complex over time as a result of natural, conversational give-and-take, not direct instruction and drill.
• Children learn language skill when significant people in their lives listen to them and respond with interest to their attempts to describe their intentions, thoughts, and experiences.

Preschoolers are powerfully motivated to communicate with others through conversation, but they still need lots of help and encouragement from observant caring adults. Teachers-and parents-are urged to rethink the ways they talk with children...how can you, using the strategies listed above, converse more effectively with children?