Language Support Program

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Module 2.1 Language and language frameworks

What is language?

Language is a system of communication that uses symbols, shared by a culture or community, to convey meaning. Oral language uses spoken symbols (i.e. sequences of speech sounds) to make words, which represent objects, actions and ideas. Generally, words are arbitrary symbols that hold meaning for the users of the language because of the shared nature of the language. The symbols are associated with the meaning of the words only in the associations that we make between the words and the concepts to which the words refer.

The rules for how these words are combined into sentences and discourse is the grammar of the language. People can combine words in ways they have never heard before to construct new sentences, and to communicate new meaning. The ability to use language to construct and communicate new meaning is a key feature of language, and is uniquely human.

Most children acquire language without being specifically taught. There is a strong innate drive to language learning, with rapid development particularly between the ages of three and five years.

 

Language learning and cognition

Oral language development is intimately connected with cognition. Language gives the child an opportunity to think out loud (e.g. this puzzle might fit because it’s got blue on the end). ‘Self-talk’ links words, actions and ideas, and facilitates planning and critical thinking. The ability to consciously attend to the way we think is often described as metacognition or ‘thinking about thinking’.

Oral language supports learning across the curriculum. Language helps children to integrate new information, ideas and experiences into their existing framework of knowledge and beliefs. It also assists in making sense of the ‘new’, so that they can change and expand what they already know. When they express their ideas, justify their opinions and hear the responses of others, they are required to accommodate alternative ideas and modify their thinking.

Oral language underpins literacy. It is the primary language mode and students’ comprehension of written language across the curriculum will depend on their underlying oral language ability. Social recognition is most often given to achievement in the written language mode. However, because students need to follow teacher instruction, understand and participate in oral discussions and learn to ask questions, oral language will continue to be the most important avenue for gaining information in the classroom.

Early instruction in literacy assumes a complex and abstract level of language that may not be present when the child begins school. Literacy learning requires metalinguistic awareness or ability to ‘think about language’. Predictive skills are required to evaluate possible word meanings within the context of the sentence as spoken sounds are mapped onto the letters that represent them. Students with language difficulties may not have the ability to use this metalinguistic awareness, and require explicit teaching and modelling in thinking about language.

Professional learning activities

  • Use reflective learning techniques

Are you familiar with the terms used above? Use a reflective journal to build your vocabulary about language learning. These terms are defined in the glossary and will be used throughout the modules. A full glossary of all key terms used in the Professional Learning Guide is in Appendix 1.

If you completed Module 1, you will have completed ‘Resource 1.1 Student observation activity’. This enabled you to reflect on a student who may be experiencing language difficulties. Think about and compare what you have recorded about the student’s language skills with the description of language development in the Early and Middle Years of Schooling.