Learning Through Language in Early Childhood

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Learning Through Language in Early Childhood
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Clare Painter
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:368
ISBN/Barcode 9780826478726
ClassificationsDewey:401.9
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Publication Date 1 March 2005
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Language is a child's major tool for learning about the world. Through the taken-for-granted interactions of everyday conversation, a child not only learns the mother tongue, but uses it as a resource for thinking and reasoning. This book presents a rich naturalistic case study of one child's use of language from two-and-a-half to five years, drawing on systemic functional theory to argue that cognitive development is essentially a linguistic process and offering a new description and interpretation of linguistic and cognitive developments during this period. The case study examines the child's changing language in terms of its role in interpreting four key domains of experience - the world of things, the world of events, the world of semiosis (including the inner world of cognition) and the construal of cause and effect. It shows how new linguistic possibilities constitute developments in cognitive resources and prepare the child for later learning in school.

Author Biography

Clare Painter is Honorary Associate in the Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney, Australia.