“Now I’ve got you …”
Successful language promotion needs a foundation
by Dr. Eliane Perret, Psychologist and Special Education Teacher
The discussion (and the astonishment and alarm) about the lack of German language skills among Swiss schoolchildren has been a recurring theme for years – and it is still relevant today. Speech therapy kindergartens are making painstaking decisions as to which of the many registered children they are able to accommodate, and speech therapists might double their working hours. This is not just about children from other language backgrounds who enter kindergarten or school with rudimentary German skills; many Swiss pupils also have inadequate language skills, and the gap in classrooms between highly proficient students and those with significant language deficiencies is widening considerably. How can this problem be addressed? Various solutions are being discussed time and again. Unfortunately, the focus is usually on structural changes: smaller class sizes, individualised learning programmes, teachers specialised for these children, language courses for toddlers and non-native speakers, mandatory attendance at playgroups and daycare centers, and so on.
Surprisingly little attention is paid to the numerous research findings that meticulously demonstrate how a child learns language and what their family and school environment may contribute to supporting them in this crucial developmental task. This research would provide important insights for family life and for the design of language instruction in kindergarten and schools. However, this is often overlooked in current measures, which is why the following article aims to broaden the perspective.
Language – a bond between people
“The mouse is enjoying the evening stillness. But suddenly there is a smell of fox. And then there is a noise …” This is how a picture book by Lorenz Pauli and Kathrin Schärer begins.1 Have you not become curious about what is going on and what the story might be of the mouse and the fox? Many children feel the same way when they hold beautifully illustrated, engaging picture books in their hands. They gaze in wonder at the pictures and, full of curiosity, allow themselves to be taken on a “journey” through the story. This is an opportunity for every child, because the ability to fully utilise language is crucial for a child’s socio-emotional and cognitive development. Language connects children with their fellow human beings and is an extraordinarily complex structure with many facets. A “marvel that distinguishes humans from all other living beings,”2 as the Viennese physician and psychologist Alfred Adler (see box) aptly described it in the early decades of the 20th century: “The development of human language […] presupposes this contact between human beings. It arose from this intimate bond and, moreover, it is also a new bond for connecting the individual with others.”3 Adler thus anticipated many current research findings, because today’s language teaching should by no means simply be about being able to order a hamburger with toppings at McDonald’s or to communicate at work.
Picture books – an invitation to dialogue
Picture books are an important tool for parents, caregivers, and teachers today, as they help them to introduce children to the mysteries of language, for example, when they sit together on the sofa with a picture book or gather in a circle in kindergarten or the classroom. The picture and story – in our case, about the mouse and the fox – then become an invitation to a dialogue that encourages attentive listening and the sharing of one’s own thoughts and questions. “Why does the mouse disappear through the cellar window? Why does the fox lick his lips?” “I hope the mouse gets away from him.” “I think the little mouse is so cute, don’t you think so too?” The pictures not only help to first recognise their connection to the words, and then to follow the plot and understand the course of a story, but in particular those pictures designed with many details awaken children’s joy in storytelling and encourage lively exchange with others. Today, it is often emphasised that children playfully expand their vocabulary, internalise linguistic structures, practice sentence formation, and learn to use correct grammatical forms in such situations. This is true, but it by no means adequately captures the value of picture books and, above all, shared conversation for the language learning process.
Language – a gateway to culture
Language is fundamental to being human and opens the way for a child to connect with its fellow human beings, its environment, and the culture which it was born into and which it will grow up into — guided by its caregivers. Here, the significance of language skills extends far beyond individual life choices, as it creates a link to the achievements of previous generations and to our own culture. How did our grandparents, our ancestors in general, live? What was their daily life like? What did they do when someone was sick? When were schools “invented”? How did the technological advancements that are “normal” for us today come about? What difficulties did people have to overcome? Were there wars back then? Why? …
Such questions, and many others, already spark great interest in young children. This is extremely important, because in their conversations with us, children not only practice their linguistic expression but also learn about the thoughts and creations of present and past generations. Language then becomes the medium for intellectually and emotionally accessing and appreciating the roots of their own culture. In this way, their interest grows in delving into the many literary and philosophical works that human history has produced in word and image. They understand the path of technological achievements and learn to assess what has contributed to the progress of humanity and what were (and are) dead ends. Only when such testimonies can be linguistically understood and grasped can they be available to the next generation to support them in solving the pressing problems of today. Is it not characteristic of our time that this important, supra-individual, and culture-bearing aspect of language is being fatally neglected in families and schools?
Human interaction is required
Learning linguistic expression is therefore an irreplaceable part of a child’s personality development for many reasons. This is precisely why children must be enabled to carefully acquire, practice, and comprehensively cultivate their ability to express themselves with words – both at home and at school. This also applies to children whose first language is not German. When they start kindergarten or school, they can only successfully navigate this expansion of their environment if they feel secure and emotionally at home in their first learned language. This “interpersonal” language learning process can never be replaced by a digital medium, no matter how technically sophisticated. Alfred Adler stated: “Language can only be practiced and vocabulary can only be acquired in a social environment where the child has connections and also establishes communication.”4 This statement has since been confirmed by many current research findings. 5
Thinking needs language
Among the many facets of the language learning process is its close connection to a child’s cognitive development. In short: differentiated thinking needs language! The complexity of this developmental task becomes clear when we return to the story of the mouse and the fox and witness how the Pippilothek (i. e., the library with its treasure trove of books) becomes a lifesaver for the mouse. “The mouse scampers around a shelf, and the fox follows. Suddenly the mouse stops: ‘Psst! We’re in a special place. No one is supposed to be disturbed here. And you’re disturbing us terribly!’” What a clever idea the mouse must have had!
Such conversational prompts challenge and foster children’s thinking skills, their ability to express themselves, and their creativity. Alfred Adler commented: “Logical thinking is only possible on the condition that there is language, which, through the possibility of concept formation, enables us to make distinctions and create concepts that are not private but common property.”6 Engaging in joint deliberations and practicing thinking is therefore also indispensable for a child’s cognitive development. In addition to family conversations, dialogic learning should therefore once again take centre stage in the language learning process. The collaborative development of subject material within the classroom community, often neglected today, should thus regain a central place in classroom activities for the benefit of all. Here, individual reflections converge, are weighed against each other, and conclusions are drawn. This is a training ground for democratic coexistence, a conditio sine qua non, given the global conflict zones. Now we can certainly comprehend what Alfred Adler already noted in the 1930s: “Language is a bond between two or more people to convey what they mean. We owe this work of art to the collective and can understand that it could only develop where there was interest in the other person.”7 In other words, family and school are important places for language development.
But what about the Pippilothek?
Perhaps you would now like to know how the story of the mouse and the fox ended and what role the Pippilothek played in it. Knowing this is – for now – reserved for me, as I enjoyed looking at the picture book right up to the last page. But for now, let me just say this: The fox asked the mouse, “What is a Pippilothek?” “A place with lots of books, books to borrow. And books are needed to experience things, to learn things, and to come up with other ideas,” replied the mouse. Would a trip to the library or bookstore not be a good starting point for a conversation with children, right now? •
1 Pauli, Lorenz; Schärer, Kathrin. (2011). Pippilothek??? Eine Bibliothek wirkt Wunder (Pippilothek??? A Library Works Wonders). Zurich: Atlantis Publishing. ISBN 9-7837-15206-202
2 Adler, Alfred. (2009). Understanding Human Nature. Bad Hersfeld: Libri. p. 40 (of the German edition)
3 Adler, Alfred. (1929/1982). Psychotherapie und Erziehung, Band I: Ausgewählte Aufsätze 1919–1929 (Psychotherapy and Education, Volume I: Selected Essays 1919–1929). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. p. 122 (German edition)
4 Adler, Alfred. (1930/1974). Die Technik der Individualpsychologie 2 – Die Seele des schwererziehbaren Schulkindes (The Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. p. 181
5 for example, Ainsworth, M.D.S.; Bowlby, John; Buchholz-Kaiser, Annemarie; Herzka, Heinz Stefan; Hobson, Peter; Spitz, René A.; Tomasello, Michael
6 Adler, Alfred. (2009). Understanding Human Nature. Bad Hersfeld: Libri. pp. 40–41 (of the German edition).
7 Adler, Alfred. (1931). Der Sinn des Lebens. In: Adler, Alfred. (1982). Psychotherapie und Erziehung, Band II: Ausgewählte Aufsätze 1930–1932. (What Life Should Mean to You. In: Adler, Alfred. (1982). Psychotherapy and Education, Volume II: Selected Essays 1930–1932). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. p. 74
Alfred Adler (1870–1937)
(Bild Wikipedia)
ep. Alfred Adler was born on 7 February 1870, in Penzing, then a suburb of Vienna, as the third child of a Jewish grain merchant. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1895. After completing his medical studies, Adler initially worked as a psychiatrist and ophthalmologist. In 1902, he joined Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Society and became one of his early collaborators. However, through keen observation, he soon developed theories that differed significantly from Freud’s drive theory. From 1911 onward, Adler broke away from Freud and founded his own school of Individual Psychology. From 1916 to 1918, he served as a military physician in the First World War.
His experiences in the war profoundly influenced his theoretical development. Unlike Freud, he did not see the cruelty of war as an inherent human characteristic. As he explained and argued in his 1919 work “Die andere Seite (The Other Side)”, humans must be seduced or even forced to go to war.
In the post-war years, serious social problems had arisen as a consequence of the war and had to be solved. The neglect of many young people presented an urgent educational and psychological problem that required immediate attention. Adler therefore placed greater emphasis on questions of pedagogy and special education and sought ways to apply his theoretical approach in educational practice.
With lectures for teachers, counselling centres for doctors, social workers, teachers, and students, educational counselling centres, and the implementation of individual psychological principles in the Vienna school reform, Adler and his students had a broad and highly successful sphere of influence.
As early as 1926, Adler travelled to America for a series of lectures. From 1935 onward, he relocated his work entirely to the USA, but continued to undertake intensive lecture tours in various European countries. He died in 1937, during one of these trips, in Aberdeen, Scotland. Adler’s psychological and pedagogical legacy remains incomplete to this day, even though it could provide many answers to existing problems.