COMMUNICATION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Communication and Child Development



Literature Review of Communication and Child Development

Communication with Kindgarten Students

The communication with the Kindgarten students is a difficult but interesting process that needs the parents and schools teachers to adopt different strategies and techniques for making them to communication. The pre school or kindergarten students are usually not able to clearly speak or express their understanding to the teachers or to the parents even. Therefore it become difficult for them to understand what these kindergarten students are trying to make them believe.

Similarly, this difficulty in understanding the kindergarten students multiply when English is a second language for them. These students are more likely not to understand the initial instructions given to them as the English language is not considered to be their native or home language. Thus, it gets difficult for not only the students but also for the teachers to make such students understand about the language being used within the class. One main strategy that is adopted within the academic curriculum by the teachers is the usage of symbol for making such students understands about the English language.

The Impact of ESL Programs

Research shows that effective ESL programs have a dramatic impact on students' academic performance and success in school (Collier & Thomas, 2002: Cortez & Johnson. 20o8). In a resent study, Kieffer (2008) found that ELLs who entered kindergarten with oral proficiency in English showed significant success in reading achievement. In this study, ELLs who entered kindergarten with oral proficiency in English achieved reading scores similar to those of native speakers by fifth grade. However, ELLs who did not enter kindergarten with oral language proficiency in kindergarten showed significant gaps in reading. Even students who did not enter kindergarten with oral language proficiency bur gained significant English in kindergarten showed gaps in reading in fifth grade (kicfTcr, 20o8), conversely, students who entered school without oral English proficiency and did not participate in ESL had depressed reading scores. In fact, many of these students dropped out of school. Those who remained scored in the bottom 25th percentile in reading (Collier & Thomas, 2002). Thus, students' opportunities to participate in ESL programs are valuable to students and their success in schools.

Strategies for Kindergarten Teachers to instruct EAL Students

While a variety of information has been written to discuss the effective early literacy instructional strategies to use with students learning how to read, it does not specifically address what kindergarten teachers consider to be essential to the instruction of reading to English-as-a-Second-Language students who are learning how to read. Although the review of literature identifies how English-as-a-Second-Language students learn, it is unknown whether kindergarten teachers consider those instructional strategies as essential for ELLs to learn how to read. More than ever before in the history of education, the kindergarten teacher's skilful and effective instructional practices in teaching students how to read is a major issue in closing the achievement gap. The issue has become a primary focus for national and state ...