How to Promote Expressive Language in Early Childhood Education

 

It is important to know how to promote expressive language in early childhood education because it will help develop literacy in children. Expressive language can easily be promoted through many experiences and activities. This article will discuss several methods on how to promote expressive language in early childhood education.

It is important to provide children with opportunities to use expressive language in early childhood education classrooms. Expressive language should be stimulated in a nurturing environment, and children should be encouraged to communicate. Patience, acceptance, and respect are important factors in teaching early childhood children how to use expressive language (Wortham, 2005). Here are some tips on how to promote expressive language in early childhood education.

1. Help children pronounce words appropriately and help increase vocabularies of early childhood students. Increasing vocabulary can be achieved by introducing students to new words regularly.

2. Encourage students to use complete sentences when speaking (Wortham, 2005). This includes the use of adjectives, adverbs, propositions, and clauses.

3. Promote expressive language by encouraging students to continue communication with each other until they are accurately understood.

4. Help students learn how to use language in an expressive manner by interpreting emotions and motivations. Also help early childhood students figure out problems by suggesting hypothesis, relating events, and predicting possible outcomes (Wortham, 2005).

5. Using expressive language is not limited to emotion. Students should be taught to use language to describe sizes and amounts. The use of adjectives to make comparisons and contrasts is also recommended when intending to promote expressive language in early childhood education.

6. Allow children to use expressive language in many different settings and with a variety of people (Wortham, 2005).

7. Classroom arrangement should allow students to have areas where communication is necessary and used often. Playing and discussing activities is an excellent way for early childhood children to learn how to use expressive language. These activities will promote expressive language development, and teachers should encourage this use by being in constant communication with the students (Wortham, 2005).

8. Pretend is a very important part of learning how to promote expressive language in early childhood education. When children use their imagination to create play themes in the classrooms they must use an extensive amount of expressive language to communicate their ideas to peers. This method of using expressive language should be promoted in the early childhood education classroom.

9. Teachers can also promote expressive language by discussing previous and future activities with students. Dramatic reenactments of events or stories are also an excellent way of encouraging expressive language in early childhood education.

Teachers must know how to promote expressive language in early childhood education. This type of language will increase a child's reading comprehension and literacy.

Reference:

Wortham, S. C. (2005). Early Childhood Curriculum: Developmental Bases for Learning and Teaching (4th Edition) (4 ed.). Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall.