Week 4 - McAnally + Schirmer

The McAnally article started with all the information about how a child's acquisition of language should be meaningful and natural, and it reminded me of some theories of language learning that are more like drills and non-meaningful repetitions. That, in turn, made me think of the ways that some people teach any student language - by following one person's model exactly. There are so many elements of language that I think would be almost impossible to cover by only focusing on one "main" aspect of language. I also agreed with the statement that many teachers often teach the correct "adult model of a sentence," instead of allowing children to be children, and follow a sentence model that is appropriate for them.

I think, generally and broadly speaking, I agreed with most of the principles for language learning, but when broken down to specifics, there were parts of all of these things that I did not totally agree with (but isn't that always the way?). I did like the "principles in practice" part of the article though, because I think it helped me understand exactly how to apply the principles in more direct ways, instead of me assuming that I got it and attempting to think about implementing those principles in a way that is completely not what was intended. I also really enjoyed reading the different models, and I think I personally find the alternative model to be most beneficial from my experience with children. Asking more questions to get more information from children of any age, whether they are forming coherent sentences or babbling in "baby talk," can really elicit language production when done appropriately.

Overall, the first part of the Schirmer reading (the one that started on p. 8) really helped me understand all the MLU information better (because I don't think I walked out of 415 with much of that knowledge). I also really enjoyed reading about how language develops in a more in-depth way, and I am glad to have the charts from that reading in my possession now (like the examples of the different semantic categories). I think that will make it easier for me to speak more professionally about my students' language skills, especially when setting language goals in IEP meetings. Also, and kind of randomly, I've always found Vygotsky's theory of inner speech to be fascinating. I definitely think it holds more truth than Piaget's ego-centric speech (which I often forget about because I find it a relatively inaccurate belief). I would love to see some research on "inner sign." Maybe someday! And the last section of the Schirmer reading (from the other set of pages) was another resource I'm glad to have in my possession, but I do think, to really understand it, I would need to see examples and practice doing it. That must be the kinesthetic learner in me!