Oral Language And Body Language Essay

INTRODUCTION

Language is a complex tool used by humans to convey meaning, express emotion and pass down information, it is a multi-faceted entity that is found in many forms. Language does not just mean the spoken language used in everyday life to express intent, ask questions, identify objects and convey feelings, but includes body language, such as facial expression and hand gestures, and written language. Body language is used both consciously and unconsciously to express emotion and feeling without speaking and can be combined with oral language to enhance or change meaning. Written language allows humans to visually record information, pass down ideas and connect people from great distances. These are by no means the only forms that language

Lev Vygotsky theorised that children develop thought processes through the internalisation of verbal social interactions (McDevitt, 2014), meaning that the ability to create mental symbols and understanding of objects and events is inextricably linked with exposure and understanding of language. From infancy children are taught the names of objects, phenomena and feelings through a combination of oral and body language. For example, a parent may see that a child is grasping for a toy rubber duck and say aloud “Oh, do you want the duck? I’ll get you the duck” while pointing at the toy. The repetitive use of the word ‘duck’ combined with the physical action of pointing at the toy duck teaches the child that name of the object is ‘duck’. The child is creating a mental symbol for the toy duck that it can use to identify it in the future, effectively learning the meaning of the word ‘duck’. This association of objects and events with the words that identify them, and consequently learning to verbally use these words, allows children to communicate effectively and begin to internalise language to become complex thought processes. (O’Donnell, 2016). The process of internalisation is the evolution of an external activity that a child experiences into a complex, internal mental process, and the internalisation of language is an important cognitive

The ability to receive information when not physically present with another person has enabled humans to communicate in a global way that was previously impossible (Gee & Hayes, 2011). Children learn to use written language from an early age, generally from their parents teaching them letters and numbers until they begin formal education in early primary school. The ability to read and write exposes children to written language in every aspect of their lives, they encounter written words every day and as they develop they are increasingly able to understand them and apply meaning to the things that they describe. As children grow up the types of written language that they experience change and as their understanding of written language increases the level of difficulty and content of the texts that they are exposed to increases as well. In early primary school children begin to read and write short words and sentences, the written language that they encounter is found in brightly coloured picture books and posters in the classroom. As they progress through formal schooling they begin to read and write short stories, they learn how to write reports and use technology such as computers and tablets to access written information and eventually learn to write essays and scientific reports, understand