Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Theory and Methodology of Preschool Education, Moscow Pedagogical State University, Academician of the International Academy of Sciences of Pedagogical Education, Moscow, Russia
Background. Modern society places high demands on the level of language training of children, starting from an early age, which makes it relevant to search for effective methods of speech development and children’s awareness of the phenomena of language and speech. The problem of speech development in the process of speech education at the stage of preschool childhood involves a new consideration of the issues of children’s respect for their native language, which is due to the importance of mastering its national specifics, familiarization with the language as a national treasure. In addition, the development of semantics in speech contributes to the general intellectual development of children, laying the foundation for the subsequent development of more complex language structures and concepts.
Objective. To determine the optimal ways of forming the semantic aspect of speech development in the process of speech education of children in their seventh year of life.
Sample. The study involved 54 children aged 6–7 years (preparatory group for school), attending the preschool department of school No. 1517 in Moscow. The children were divided into two groups: experimental (1EG, 28 children) and control group (2EG, 24 children).
Methods. The diagnostics developed by O.S. Ushakova and V.I. Yashina (Ushakova, Yashina, 2023) were used to assess the level of proficiency in different aspects of speech. The associative experiment was conducted using the methodology developed by researchers at the Speech Development Laboratory of the Research Institute of Preschool Education (Ushakova, Strunina, 2004). The level of logical thinking development was revealed according to the methodology developed by psychologists at the Research Institute of Preschool Education of the Russian Academy of Education under the guidance of L.A. Venger (Diagnostics.., 1978). The level of speech development of older preschoolers was determined by the method of E.A. Smirnova (Smirnova, 1987).
Results. It has been experimentally proven that understanding the meaning of a word is a key moment in speech ontogenesis. To master the meaning of a word means to master the method of reflecting the essential features of an object (phenomenon) for a given society, fixed in the language. The study also shows that if the semantic aspect becomes the center of constructing a coherent statement (description, narration, reasoning), which develops in conjunction with solving all speech tasks in the curriculum, older preschoolers master the ability not only to correctly compose a coherent story, but also to competently construct any utterance. Russian language holidays play a special role in the development of linguistic and communicative abilities of older preschoolers (namely, this role is played by the semantic aspect of children’s speech development), which combine all speech problems and cultivate love and respect for the native language from early childhood.
Conclusions. The use of semantic content in the classroom has an impact on the speech and cognitive development of older preschool children. Without special training in the speech of children, even of the older preschool age, there is an inadequate use of semantic units in speech situations or in the construction of texts of any purpose under the influence of extralinguistic (non-linguistic) factors.
Relevance of the article. Studies aimed at studying the cognitive aspect of the development of language ability in preschoolers show that the center of the development of language ability is the semantic component that underlies the linguistic development of a preschool child, which includes not only expanding the vocabulary, but also educating children to pay attention to the content of the word, its semantics, enriching connections with other words, because in monologue speech, the meaning of a single word interacts with the semantics of the entire utterance. The formation of coherent monological speech is the central task of the speech development of a preschooler. The work on the meaning of the word, the expansion of the semantic field, the use of the associative principle of vocabulary assimilation, the formation of linguistic generalizations in the assimilation of the grammatical structure of speech develop in preschoolers the arbitrariness and awareness of speech, the ability to sel ect accurate and expressive means when constructing coherent utterances of different types. These provisions apply to mastering not only the native language, but also any other language.
The aim of the study. To summarize the results of research conducted for more than twenty years in the kindergarten No. 215 (then – the preschool department of school No. 324 in Moscow).
Progress of the study. The research conducted under the leadership of F.A. Sokhin, O.S. Ushakova, V.I. Yashina was aimed at developing the theory of language acquisition in preschool childhood, organically combining pedagogical, psychological and linguistic aspects in theoretical analysis and experiment. These studies have shown that children, starting from the younger preschool age, show great interest in language reality, “experiment” with words, create new words, focusing on both the semantic and grammatical side of the language. A necessary condition for their linguistic development is a gradual awareness of linguistic phenomena, i.e. the development of children’s metalanguage activity, which leads to a genuine mastery of the richness of the language.
The research results also showed that enriching the dictionary includes not only expanding its scope, but also educating children to pay attention to the content of the word, its semantics, clarifying the meanings of words, expanding the connections of the word with other words. Along with the semantic side of the word, the problem of lexical compatibility of words also plays an important role, which makes it possible to close the mastery of the semantics of the word with the development of coherent speech.
Conclusions. The formation of elementary awareness of the phenomena of language and speech is one of the most important tasks of both speech and linguistic development, starting fr om preschool age, therefore, we consider this aspect to be central in the initial development of a linguistic personality and understanding the meaning of a word, which is the basic unit of language and the basis of a child’s cognitive development, determines the essence of the development of his language ability.
This article presents the linguistic and narrative development of Tatar-Russian bilingual children. The issues of narrative development in Tatar-Russian bilingual preschool children have not been investigated so far, and this is the first attempt to analyze children’s abilities to construct narratives in both languages.
The aim of the work is to analyze the narratives of Tatar-Russian bilingual children and to show their lexical richness using the ratio of lexeme types (TTR) and average sentence length in the narratives. Thus, we plan to find out which language is dominant in bilingual children.
The study involved 2 groups of children aged 4–5 and 5–6 (10 children in each group) who had to compose narratives in both languages – Tatar as a native language and Russian as a second language – by looking at two series of pictures. The total number of stories analyzed was 40 – 20 in Russian and 20 in Tatar. The Tatar language was tested by a native speaker – teacher of a Tatar language at the kindergarten and the testing in Russian was done by one of the authors who is Russian speaking. All the narratives were recorded, transcribed and analyzed in both languages.
Results showed that the children have Russian as a dominant language. However, often narrating in Russian the children were using Tatar words, which show that their vocabulary is not so rich. The knowledge of the children in Tatar language is limited. They vocabulary and the number of sentences per story were limited.
The study, although limited, gives us an inside view the pragmatic aspect of the language of the Tatar -Russian bilingual children. In order to develop balanced bilingualism among the children it is not enough to have few hours lessons in the kindergarten. It is known that the development of the narrative abilities by children in generally is a good bridge to their literacy in primary classes. It is important their narrative abilities to be developed in both languages. Some American and European researchers found out recently that parents reading books in the mother tongue of bilingual children helps them to acquire the literacy in their second language.
Relevance (context) of the subject of the article. The system of Russian preschool education occupies a leading position in the world. It began to take shape in the last century. The article discusses the views on the development and education of preschoolers by researchers of child psychology and preschool pedagogy who worked at the Institute of Preschool Education of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, created by A.V. Zaporozhets. Zaporozhets attached particular importance to the upbringing of a child in the first years of life, when the foundations of a future personality are laid, when, under favorable pedagogical conditions, various practical, mental and artistic abilities develop most intensively; moral ideas, feelings and habits begin to form, which later develop into a person’s character.
Description of the research progress. The author examines the activities of various laboratories of the Institute, which investigated the problems of education, development and upbringing of children of early and preschool age. Pedagogical, psychological and physiological studies conducted at the Institute of Preschool Education in collaboration with other scientific institutions of the country were aimed at solving these problems.
Research results. Zaporozhets created a theory of sensory and mental development of a child recognized in world science, which is the basis for solving the problems of preschool education. Under the leadership of Zaporozhets, the concept of preschool education was developed and studies of the upbringing and education of children of early and preschool age were carried out, which proved that every normal child has enormous potential psychophysiological capabilities. The task of teachers, in opinion of Zaporozhets, is to create optimal pedagogical conditions for the realization of these opportunities, and in the course of assimilation of social experience, not only the child is enriched with known knowledge and skills, but also the formation of his/her abilities and personality qualities are carried out. The staff of the Institute prepared a “Kindergarten Education Program”, on the basis of which the upbringing and education of children in all preschool institutions of the country was conducted.