TalkTogether Blog

Contributing Author: Adhvika Shetty This article was written as part of the TalkTogether’s academic blog writing programme for early career researchers.  “Read books! It will help you speak well.” Many of us have been encouraged to adopt this practice in our everyday life. Reading texts involves the process of understanding spoken words that are written down. Research has shown that texts in books help with language development even before children begin to read formally [1]. One of the key components of language is vocabulary and this blog attempts to further discuss how exposure to books has been shown to promote vocabulary growth. The collective number of words that an individual knows and uses in their day-to-day communication either through words, signs or pictures is known as vocabulary. What then does vocabulary growth mean?  Comparing the language of two 6-year-olds after a visit to the supermarket captures to a small extent differences in vocabulary use. Child 1: “I w...

Contributing Author: Deeksha Prabhu This article was written as part of the TalkTogether’s academic blog writing programme for early career researchers.  Introduction Narrative skills are important language skills that help children to successfully communicate their thoughts and experiences. Narrative skills are also essential for children to tell their own stories as well as to retell stories they have heard. The development of narrative expression during story telling involves the understanding of various components in a story and organizing the events to form a complete story. Rich descriptions and evocative language are only possible when a child’s expressive language skills are well developed. Such narrative skills are believed to play a crucial role in determining literacy development as well as communicative competence, which together play a role in both social and academic success [1], [2], [3]. However, what is challenging for us is to select an appropriate tool to success...