Early Language Learning: Little Words Have a Big Impact
Little words have a big impact on early language learning. We may take many words for granted or skip over words when talking to a child. These important words act as the building blocks of language and help kids learn new words and use their words effectively. For example, adjectives and prepositions play a big role in how kids build knowledge of the world and make sentences.
In this post, we break down the different types of words and how kids use them. We also explain why these words make a big impact on early language learning and how you can help at home.
Adjectives and Early Language Learning
Adjectives or ‘describing words’ play an important role in early language learning. These words help kids learn and know the world around them. We call this ‘world knowledge’ or ‘concept knowledge.’ When children describe different objects, they know more about it and can relate to it in different ways.
For example, when a child describes a dog, they might talk about its fur, its color, that it walks on four legs and barks. They often use describing or ‘telling words’ to say this. The more children describe what they see, the better their conceptual knowledge. This also helps kids retain words they learned and relate to new words.
Every time a child sees an objects they get to learn its different features. For example, we may say a ball is ’round’ and ‘bouncy.’ It might also call it ‘fun.’ A car might get called ‘fast’ and a turtle, ‘slow.’ These features connect with the features of other words. We continue building what we know about words.
By helping kids use describing words, you help them better learn words and remember those words they already learned. They then use this world knowledge to interact with the world and continue learning.
Prepositions and Early Language Learning
Prepositions also play a big role in early language learning. Prepositions provide kids with a way to make longer sentences that connect to objects. For example, we might say, ‘I send a letter to the man.’ In this example, ‘to’ connects to ‘the man.’
We might also say, ‘The girl puts the shoes on her feet.’ Without the preposition ‘on,’ the sentences changes to ‘The girl puts the shoes.’ Children may leave off these important words and struggle to understand them. These words act as important building blocks in language. With prepositions, kids get to make longer and more complex sentences.
Without prepositions, many sentence types cannot be
used. These words provide a critical role for sentence building. We find syntactic prepositions like in ‘the world of dance.’ Others get used to show spatial distance as in ‘above the house’ or temporal concepts as in ‘before the game.’
Pretend play offers families an excellent way of practicing these words at home. Please see below to learn how to practice these words with your child at home.
Articles and Early Language Learning
Articles, such as ‘a,’ ‘an’ and ‘the’ may get overlooked by parents and professionals alike. However, growing research shows that these words help kids learn to identify how others words get used. When children hear the word ‘the’ with nouns, they learn the type of noun. For example, they might hear ‘the house’ but would never hear ‘the Peter’ or ‘the Katie’ when talking about a person.
Articles provide kids with a powerful way of learning the different types of nouns, which helps early language learning. Knowing the differences between nouns also helps with how they group the words, as well as how they get used with other words.
When talking with your child, include articles in your sentences and give extra emphasis to these words. By bringing attention to these words, you show your child that the words matter and how to use them.
Verbs and Early Language Learning
Verbs play one of the most important roles in early language learning. These words show actions and they connect all the words in a sentence. They also help kids get their message across, even if they don’t use other words or struggle to make whole sentences.
Verbs come in many different forms. These words give sentences their tense and tell when an event happened. Verbs should get special attention during early language learning to give kids a way of combining words. When children know verbs, they get a way of putting all the nouns they know into complete sentences.
Verbs also serve a social function. When young kids experience language difficulty, verbs give them a way of getting their wants and needs met. For example, if a child can request using the word ‘want’ they can ask for many things that they need, such as in ‘want water’ and ‘want play.’ Verbs get used even as single words! If a child says ‘want’ and points to or looks at a toy, we know what they mean.
Children start with simple verbs, and present progressive verbs that end in ‘ing’ such as in ‘walking’ and ‘cooking’ and then build to other verb tenses later. Pretend play offers many opportunities to use verbs with your child. We talk more about this below.
What Are Core Words?
All of the words we’ve talked about so far are actually core words. These words act as critical language building blocks. They give kids a way of using a small number of words to make a lot of sentences. Kids use core words in many different places as well. These words help kids build sentences, talk with peers and get their wants and needs met.
Core words don’t include nouns. While many families might only focus on nouns, these words offer less possibilities when it comes to putting words together.
Core words include articles, prepositions, adjectives and verbs. Children may know many nouns but struggle to put those nouns together with verbs and other core words.
Core Words vs. Fringe Words
Fringe words include mostly nouns. While core words may appear as the only important words given their usefulness and popularity, fringe words are also important. Children cannot make sentences with only fringe words, but they serve an important role in vocabulary learning and social skills.
Fringe vocabulary include those words specific to situations or topics. For example, ‘Christmas,’ ‘Store’ and ‘Dinosaur’ all count as fringe words. These words allow kids to talk about topics they love and learn the importance of different situations and events, such as Holidays and hobbies. They also allow kids to grow their social skills and relate to peers by talking about certain topics.
If child struggles to learn language, core words get priority, though fringe words should get attention at the right times as well.
How to Help Kids Learn These Words at Home
While children may struggle to use some or all of the words we talked about, practicing at home helps children learn more.
Pretend play acts as one of the best ways for kids to learn language skills. When playing with your child, treat the play as an opportunity for them to learn. Use the best approach by narrating what you and your child say. Pretend play gives many chances to use all of the different words shared above. Storybook reading also provides an excellent way for parents to support language learning.
For example, when playing pretend kitchen, use phrases like ‘I cook it,’ ‘I put it in the bowl,’ and ‘The brown cookie tastes good.’ Try creating your own phrases based on what you and your child do during play. Importantly, ask fewer questions! Only 10% of language practice with your child should include questions.
If a child experiences difficulty learning new words and putting words together, reach out to a licensed speech therapist for support. Language disorders cannot be treated without the direct and supportive intervention of a speech therapist.
Conclusion
Adjectives, prepositions, articles and verbs all play a big role in early language learning. These words act as the building blocks of language. They help kids remember words they already know and learn new words. They also help kids build world knowledge and make complex sentences. Children need these critical words to succeed in developing complex language.
Speech-language pathologists treat language challenges. If your child struggles with using these words or putting their words together, speak with a speech therapist today. We provide services to all PA residents at this time.
