Thesis About Language

Following is an edited and abridged version of my dissertation for the certificate course in Professional Studies in Education from University of Bradford, UK in 2001.

Introduction:

The topic of my dissertation was, “Language Learning across the Curriculum for a Group of Six Years Old Children”. I have particularly focused on the importance of language in early years learning, and the role of an effective teacher to motivate the language learning process.

The dissertation research gave me an insight that, “Everything that happens to children effects their language development, with each new experience they add to their store of language (Dean J. 1992)”. Also, for me, it proved helpful in identifying my strengths and shortcomings as a teacher

As a matter of fact, children write the way they speak. “Spoken language develops well before the written language” (Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodgers) for a vast majority of children for whom writing is a struggle, talk is the most natural and flexible medium to express themselves and be part of the social world around them. Evidently ,during the lessons many times I observed that children participate enthusiastically in the oral discussion but encountered difficulties to put words into writing, even the high achievers, either sentence making, spellings, punctuation is a challenge for them or finding the appropriate vocabulary. One characteristic which is common in almost all of the theories about language learning is that “Learner should hear and speak the language first before seeing it in the written forms” (Teaching about Language in Primary

This would enable me to reward success and effort both. I shall make a serious endeavor to keep my expectations realistic because teacher’s expectations need to vary for positive motivation (Rogers 1982). “Children make learning their own by working on it, they lack experience not intelligence” (CIPSIE2001) while planning lessons, my preference would be to provide as much firsthand knowledge as possible.

“The effective way of a learning language is language in use” (Rebecca Bunting). The approach to language learning, which I find most appropriate, is to provide opportunities for the children to experience different text as it is particularly helpful in developing language skills. I would continue it and besides newspapers, fiction and nonfiction books I shall also include wrappers of different things, banners, names of shops and roads. I am hopeful that it would foster children learning and their understanding about the purpose of the different