Introduction
Children’s language development is critical for the emergence of skills such as thinking, speaking, expressing thoughts, and understanding the world around them. Speech delay is a significant concern as it can affect a child’s self-perception and ability to integrate with peers. Parents and teachers should prioritize helping children develop language abilities. By age five, the child should master the basic language competencies. However, in the case of the EAL/D theory, the learning of tongue skills can be complicated. Adapted reading allows children to progress in learning English as an additional language.
Language as an Important Component in Child Development
Acquiring language skills is an essential component of a child’s development. Language is one of the five main areas of child development (Cheung et al., 2022). Children must go through several stages as they grow up to understand how the particular environment works and how they should act when faced with a problem. This concept applies to language learning even if the child only studies a language as a means of communication. (Van Den Berghe et al., 2019). The child’s development, especially in terms of thinking and speaking abilities, is influenced by cognitive and language development.
Language is a system of rules that involves understanding words, phrases, and sentences. To fit into society, children must master language and voice recognition to communicate successfully with parents and peers (Boit et al., 2020). By the age of 5, children should be able to speak in coherent phrases, and their speech should be understandable to adults. Communication with parents influences the development of speech skills at this age.
Language learning is the basis for understanding the world and its components. Suppose children are familiar with a particular word. In that case, it allows them to form fundamental ideas about parts of the world around them and develop an associative link between abstraction and a real phenomenon.
Children improve their reading abilities as part of language development (Golinkoff et al., 2019). Reading stimulates creativity, improves understanding, and broadens one’s horizons. A larger vocabulary is also associated with improved creativity, global understanding, and language acquisition. By age five, a child should be able to read adapted, simple texts.
From infancy, children begin to recognize sounds and develop basic language. The language reaches almost complete development at 4-5 years old. Language acquisition before age five can be defined as the basic use of language (Ronderos et al., 2022). Acquiring a language involves learning without formal education, but listening to how others speak it in society. Every healthy child usually learns a language gradually and unsystematically.
As the child grows, the language will develop more fully and perfectly. By age five, a child should reach the fifth phase of speech development, the stage of adult grammar (Goodluck and Kazanina, 2020). The child goes through three stages of language acquisition: phonological, syntactic, and semantic; the assimilation of these elements co-occurs.
Parents play the leading role in a child’s language development. In addition, children must develop social skills for successful language acquisition. In educational institutions, the teacher provokes the development of language skills. Teachers should offer their students a lot of practice in language learning (Yuliansyah, 2021). Children communicate during educational activities between students and teachers to obtain information and exchange ideas.
EAL/D Theory
EAL/D students have a complex language skill set, and English is integral to the script. Their linguistic background is interconnected and integrated into the overall picture of the world, despite their degree of English proficiency. Multilingual learner integrates their knowledge of multiple languages and dialects, enriching communication in all available languages. EAL/D students need to be taught with the understanding that multiple languages are integrated into every aspect of the children’s lives. Comprehension in the context of EAL/D includes knowledge of the language, metalinguistic skills, and cultural perception of the world.
By age five, children who know English as an extra language may already be able to distinguish between native and non-native language use. However, in their minds, several mastered languages complement each other, depending on the context of communication. A child who knows several languages can better analyze the situation and build stronger associative ties.
EAL/D students realize the importance of language choice for expressing ideas and interacting with others. On a subconscious level, such children better understand the structural language features and differences. Children develop multilingual skills through formal and non-formal education. Such children better understand different languages’ text structures, grammar, and vocabulary, and have conceptual knowledge obtained through different languages.
The Importance of Quality Children’s Literature
Quality children’s literature makes a significant contribution to the development of a child’s language skills. My Place, a book by Nadia Wheatley with illustrations by Donna Rawlins, is an example of such literature. This is the story of an Australian neighborhood told from the perspective of the young people who have lived there for many years.
The book is accompanied by colorful illustrations and is organized in a timeline that begins in 1988 and moves back until colonization begins (Smith, 2021). Twenty-one children looked into the past to show their community’s changes and stable phenomena. Indigenous Laura and Barangaroo are the first and last voices in history, creating their stories. The book attracts children’s attention; the story and accompanying pictures have established themselves as required reading materials in Australian schools.
Telling a place’s history through children’s eyes is an ideal approach. Children can associate themselves with the declared characters, thereby easily assimilating information. The adaptation of the story for a children’s audience and vivid illustrations make the book an ideal aid for language learning. The authors of the book state that My Place is an exciting historical journey for children; for readers, it can be helpful in an educational sense (McKinnon et al., 2020). Children studying the cultural context in an understandable and accessible way broaden their horizons.
Textual issues continue to be relevant to the Australian national and state curriculum, contributing to the popularity of My Place. The book can explore English, history, geography, and personal and social competencies curriculum topics. For example, teachers or parents can use the book to easily explain to children the importance of combating climate change (Kissel et al., 2019). Depicting multiple perspectives spanning time and culture helps to understand Australia’s diverse past. Emphasizing to children how each person sees the world uniquely contributes to the development of empathy.
My Place depicts changes in Australian history in demographics, traditions, family life, diversity, and acceptance of migrants and First Nations. Children can gain insight into themselves by exploring a multicultural background. Australian stories such as My Place are easily transferred to many parts of Australia and project personal experiences (Kissel et al., 2019). The topics raised in such books are close and understandable to a large part of Australian society.
Using My Place for children’s education makes a significant contribution to expanding knowledge about their origins, history, and culture. The book’s timeline covers the stories, accomplishments, and events of First Nations and the experiences of women, young people, and immigrants (Alidina et al., 2020). In addition to reading, My Place is suitable for reflecting on one’s own experience. A five-year-old child can be asked to describe a significant place in their life similarly, which will help create strong cultural bonds.
The appeal of My Place to children and adults, its ongoing educational and social value, and the availability of high-quality additional resources have contributed to the book’s educational legacy. Such literature helps children develop reading skills and immerse themselves in the cultural context. The presence of characters of different identities allows many children to find representation, associate themselves with characters, and perceive information better. My Place significantly contributes to establishing cultural links, teaching history, and instilling awareness of the importance of diversity.
Conclusion
Language is a means of communication and a way of studying the world. As children grow and develop, they acquire communication skills and build associations with things around them through language. By age five, a child usually acquires language as a means of communication. The correct development of the child necessarily includes the accumulation of language competencies.
Children who learn English as another language use the diversity of languages to build cultural bonds and improve communication methods. For such children, supporting their cultural identity and encouraging the development of several languages is essential. High-quality literature allows children not only to master the skill of reading but also to broaden their horizons. My Place is an example of such literature that provokes the development of identity in children, emphasizes empathy, and provides historical and cultural knowledge in an accessible form.
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