Chapter 12 Summary: Language in Childhood & Teaching of Numeration
The Relationship Between Spoken and Written Language
⢠Written language serves dual purposes - Cultural tool for society and physiological aid for speech development
"Graphic language, therefore, may be considered from two points of view: (a) That of the conquest of a new language of eminent social importance which adds itself to the articulate language of natural man... (b) That of the relation between graphic and articulate language and, in this relation, of an eventual possibility of utilising the written language to perfect the spoken: a new consideration upon which I wish to insist and which gives to graphic language a physiological importance."
⢠Written language needs developmental period - Must develop independently before serving higher functions
"It is a question of giving to written language not only a physiological importance, but also a period of development independent of the high functions which it is destined to perform later."
⢠Writing is surprisingly simple - More direct than spoken language and uses external muscles
"Writing especially is surprisingly simple... the movements of writing are far simpler than those necessary to the spoken word, and are performed by large muscles, all external, upon which we can directly act, rendering the motor channels permeable, and establishing psycho-muscular mechanisms."
Two Stages of Language Development
⢠Lower stage prepares mechanisms - Establishes nervous channels between sensory and motor functions
"There are, therefore, two periods in the development of language: a lower one which prepares the nervous channel and the central mechanisms which are to put the sensory channels in relation with the motor channels."
⢠Higher stage utilizes mechanisms - Superior psychic activities use preformed language mechanisms
"And a higher one determined by the higher psychic activities which are exteriorized by means of the preformed mechanisms of language."
⢠Natural progression from sounds to words - Children progress from simple sounds to syllables to meaningful words
"We say that the spoken language begins with the child when the word pronounced by him signifies an idea; when for example, seeing his mother and recognising her he says 'mamma.'"
Critical Period for Language Formation
⢠Ages 2-7 are crucial - Language establishment happens during perceptual and motility period
"The development of articulate language takes place in the period between the age of two and the age of seven: the age of perceptions in which the attention of the child is spontaneously turned towards external objects, and the memory is particularly tenacious."
⢠Childhood defects become permanent - Language patterns established early are difficult to change
"It is well known that it is only at this age that it is possible to acquire all the characteristic modulations of a language which it would be vain to attempt to establish later... Thus also the defects acquired in childhood such as dialectic defects or those established by bad habits, become indelible in the adult."
Written Language for Speech Analysis
⢠Analysis requires fixed language - Transient speech must be materialized for analysis
"As grammar and rhetoric are not possible with the spoken language but demand recourse to the written language which keeps ever before the eye the discourse to be analysed, so it is with speech. The analysis of the transient is impossible."
⢠Visual signs enhance auditory perception - Seeing and touching letters clarifies sound perception
"In the teaching of the graphic sign corresponding to the sound... not only is the perception of the heard sound clearly fixedâseparately and clearlyâbut this perception is associated with two others: the centro-motor perception and the centro-visual perception of the written sign."
Correction of Language Defects
⢠Four types of corrective exercises - Comprehensive approach to language development
"But in my methods are to be found all exercises for the corrections of language: (a) Exercises of Silence, which prepare the nervous channels of language to receive new stimuli perfectly; (b) Lessons which consist first of the distinct pronunciation by the teacher of few words... (c) Exercises in Graphic Language, which analyse the sounds of speech... (d) Gymnastic Exercises, which comprise... both respiratory exercises and those of articulation."
⢠Prevention better than correction - Care for language development prevents defects
"I believe that in the schools of the future the conception will disappear which is beginning to-day of 'correcting in the elementary schools' the defects of language; and will be replaced by the more rational one of avoiding them by caring for the development of language in the 'Children's Houses.'"
Teaching Numeration Through Practical Methods
⢠Money as counting tool - Making change provides practical numeration practice
"The making of change is a form of numeration so attractive as to hold the attention of the child... No form of instruction is more practical than that tending to make children familiar with the coins in common use."
⢠Long rods for systematic counting - Materials provide concrete representation of number relationships
"Having taught numeration in this empiric mode, I pass to more methodical exercises, having as didactic material one of the sets of blocks already used in the education of the senses; namely, the series of ten rods heretofore used for the teaching of length."
⢠Understanding zero requires experience - Children must feel what "nothing" means through games
"It is necessary to make the child feel what we mean by nothing. To this end we make use of little games which vastly entertain the children... 'Don't do anything. You must sit still. You must not come at all, not any times. Zero times. No times at all.'"
Mathematical Operations Through Concrete Materials
⢠Ten as fundamental unit - Using rods to demonstrate addition and subtraction relationships
"The first exercise consists in trying to put the shorter pieces together in such a way as to form tens... 'Take one and add it to nine; take two and add it to eight; take three and add it to seven; take four and add it to six.'"
⢠Visual patterns reveal mathematical relationships - Even and odd numbers become apparent through arrangement
"From this arrangement, one sees at once which are the numbers which can be divided by twoâall those which have not an odd cube at the bottom. These are the even numbers, because they can be arranged in pairs, two by two."
Memory and Character Development Through Numbers
⢠Number memory games reveal character - Children's reactions to zero show individual differences
"It is most interesting to study the expressions upon the faces of those who possess zero. The individual differences which result are almost a revelation of the 'character' of each one."
⢠Self-control through numerical limits - Taking only required objects exercises will power
"I therefore consider this game more an exercise of will power than of numeration. The child who has the zero, should not move from his place when he sees all his companions rising and taking freely of the objects which are inaccessible to him."