The website of Jacqueline E. Alexander

REVISITING PLUGGING THE EARLY LANGUAGE SKILLS GAP

#research | The importance of nursery rhymes for early language learning and child development

Disparities in #languagelearninginearlychildhood led me to develop a set of #nurseryrhymes (following traditional tunes/new rhythm) to fill the gap in #resources for #earlylanguageeducation

A social initiative to fill the development, word & associated learning gap...

REVISITING

PLUGGING THE EARLY LANGUAGE SKILLS GAP

The importance of nursery rhymes for early language learning and child development

Disparities in #languagelearninginearlychildhood led me to develop a set of #nurseryrhymes (following traditional tunes/new rhythm) to fill the gap in #resources for #earlylanguageeducation

As a primary school teacher, with a masters in psychology and child development, my teaching experience and research made me aware of a deleterious gap between children’s school entry language skills. Whilst accepting that some children may be born with or develop specific needs, the research questions posed were borne out of a desire to investigate and if necessary, find ways to address this early language development anomaly. This work was extended to more fully examine the role of rhyme in child development.

Following publication of Wizzy’s Words, a social initiative to plug the prevailing early language skills gap…

I was approached by a number of people interested in exploring how the rhymes could be used further to promote active learning. For example, see the guest blog post and review by learning differences specialist, Mary Mountstephen. This interest led me to conduct further research. The focus being on exploring the question ‘Do nursery rhymes represent a key to early language learning and development?’ My initial literature review established the importance of school entry oral vocabulary and that rhyme represented a key resource for developing this. The follow up review sought to establish if rhyme and the early sharing of nursery rhymes played a key role in both early language development, i.e., oral vocabulary development and child development more generally. In my second literature review the if, how and why nursery rhyme/rhyme exposure contributes to early language and child development was explored.

A brief research overview is provided below. Importantly the second review highlighted that exposure to nursery rhymes from birth promotes language development and development across all domains of child development. My research shows that matching suitable rhymes with graded actions following developmental milestones will enable parents to use and understand the benefits of sharing rhymes actively from birth. The findings may be presented in a second book in the future. However, in the current economic climate, I hope to provide free resources, twinning selected rhymes with graded movements for the baby, toddler and preschool+ stages, on the Wizzy’s Words website in the spring of 2023.

A literature review addressing the question:

Do nursery rhymes represent a key to early language learning and development?

Jacqueline E. Alexander*

Key words:

nursery rhymes, language development, child development, parenting, pedagogy

Overview

This review builds on and extends the findings from the literature review: Plugging the Early Language Skills Gap, Jacqueline E Alexander, 2020. The question being addressed was whether the importance of language development from birth was being overlooked. The 2020 review ascertained that, opportunities for creating an early, language rich environment for infants, especially in terms of oral vocabulary development, before school entry, were being missed. This has led to a number of children continuing to enter school unprepared for reading and learning. The review revealed that rhyme was deemed to be a key resource for promoting early language and child development. Despite, a wealth of rhyming books for infants being available, one dedicated to oral vocabulary development was not evident. Consequently, based on the review findings and language development data, a new resource Wizzy’s Words was developed and published. A book of 70 rhymes for today.

Since publication of Wizzy’s Words, the author has continued to examine supporting evidence for the if, how and why, nursery rhymes contribute to early language and child development. The aim of this follow-up review was to consider contemporary, pedagogic and scientific research to answer the research question: Do nursery rhymes represent a key to early language learning and development? Based on the findings of this second literature review the answer is a resounding yes. However, it would appear that the nature and rhythm of rhyme is the key factor in determining successful language and development outcomes. The review highlights the importance of harnessing rhyme and rhythm to promote rhythm perception, a key indicator for successful ongoing learning.

Nursery rhymes and rhyming stories are practical, accessible, universal, early years, educational resources. Furthermore, if rhyme holds a key, to filling the well documented early language skills gap, then ways to make this known and exploit the benefits need to be found. Dissemination of this work, to parents, child care providers and educational practitioners is essential.

On the basis of this second review, a companion book to Wizzy’s Words will be developed. The second book will retain its focus on oral vocabulary development. However, it will twin a selected number of rhymes with graded movements, in line with developmental milestones. A book to couple the mind and body for learning and acknowledging the important role that rhyme plays in all domains of learning, for all children.

*A full copy of the research is available from the author by emailing a request to - wizzyswords@gmail.com

WIZZY’S WORDS

Available in all formats for today | paperback eBook Audiobook

For preferred retailers | http://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/young-children/wizzys-words

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PLUGGING THE EARLY LANGUAGE SKILLS GAP

An overview of my research, completed before and leading to the development of Wizzy's Words book, ebook and audiobook. Although Wizzy's Words evolved from observations of those children that were in danger of being 'left behind', I developed Wizzy's Words so that it will provide all children with an appropriate level of language support up until school entry and beyond.

Disparities in #languagelearninginearlychildhood led me to write modern #nurseryrhymes to fill the gap in #earlylanguageeducation

PLUGGING THE EARLY LANGUAGE SKILLS GAP

A literature review addressing the question:

Is the importance of language development from birth being overlooked?

Jacqueline E. Alexander*

As a primary school teacher, with a masters in psychology, my teaching experience and studies have made me aware of a deleterious gap between children’s school entry language skills. Whilst accepting that some children may be born with or develop specific needs, the research question here is borne out of a desire to investigate and if necessary, find ways to address this early language development anomaly.

Overview

This review explores historical and contemporary empirical research, appertaining to the apparent presence of and effects of, children entering school with lower language skills than their peers. Extensive evidence of a negative and life-long relationship between poor school entry oral vocabulary and educational outcome was found. This evidence was examined in light of interventions aimed at remediating for school entry language disparities and highlighted the limitations of school entry remediation. An inherent problem with the remediations examined, apart from Reading Recovery, appears to be a focus, even initially, on a child’s reading vocabulary development. Indeed, The National Curriculum for English, values fidelity to a synthetic phonics programme underpinned by written, rather than spoken word frequencies. This does not appear to be the best starting point for a child that enters school with a poor oral vocabulary. The review findings, indicated that too many children are still being left behind and that the child entering school with a poor oral vocabulary will struggle to catch up with their peers’ language skills. It is acknowledged that a range of factors influence language development outcomes and that much further research is needed. Nevertheless, the answer to the research question posed: ‘Is the importance of language development from birth being overlooked?’, is that for too many children the answer is clearly yes. The review findings indicate a need to go beyond reporting the effects of the ongoing language skills gap between children at school entry and develop materials to promote early oral vocabulary development from birth.

*A full copy of the research is available from the author by emailing a request to - wizzyswords@gmail.com

Key words: language learning in early childhood, early language development, early language education, early language strategies for parents

Follow the development of Wizzy's Words on

Facebook Twitter Instagram

For preferred retailers | http://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/young-children/wizzys-words

Available in all formats for today | paperback eBook Audiobook