Figurative Language Case Study

1. In what ways does the language environment change when a child enters the primary grades?

• The primary years mark changes in children’s language environment in three major ways: children spend more time in non-home settings with nonrelatives, school settings increasingly involve formal instruction and academic English, and children begin to read independently and thus experience new genres and written language structures.

2. Identify the key issues in the controversy about phonics instruction.

• The current controversy involving phonics instruction appears to center on two questions: “How much knowledge of letter-sound connection is necessary for the development of conventional reading and writing?” and “Can sufficient phonological knowledge be acquired by children through informal, indirect instruction,

How does a child’s comprehension of figurative language indicate more complex semantic knowledge?

• A child’s comprehension of figurative language indicate more complex semantic knowledge comprehending and using figurative language requires a special understanding of semantic knowledge because the meaning of a word is used to create a comparison between two objects or settings. Primary children begin to realize that figures of speech are not always meant to be taken literally, and if they are taken literally, an amusing situation develops.

9. Describe the ways in which primary children are better able to participate in conversations.

• Children are better able to take into account what their listeners know when engaged in conversation. Primary-age children are also better able to maintain a conversational topic, produce polite direct and indirect request, and make adjustments in their speech in response to requests for clarification from others. Primary children become more aware of the intent of indirect requests and the appropriate response to such requests. Primary children are also able to reflect more on their actions as well as others’