Chapter 4 - Ways With Words

For our discussion we delved into Chapter 4 of Ways With Words. This chapter gave us a glimpse of how the children of Roadville acquire language. Family and community play a significant role in the initial stages of language development as parents are expected to consistently expose children to new words that relate to their environment. Over time the language becomes more specific and children are corrected on proper usage.
In Roadville, religion is the basis for how parents discipline and teach children the "right" ways to behave and learn. Memorization of bible verses and religious songs are used to measure children's knowledge. This can be somewhat misleading, since it does not demonstrate comprehension but can be useful down the line in grade school.
For the citizens of Roadville language reinforces the traditional values within the community, values that initiate even prior to the birth of the child.

QUOTES

Family

“Roadville parents see themselves as responsible for “training” their preschool children, and they plan ways and means to provide what they regard as appropriate experiences before their children go to school.” (pg. 145) 

“For Roadville parents, there is no substitute for their role; children need parents to train them. Extended family and trusted friends may reinforce the teachings of parents, but the critical functions rest with parents.” (pg. 146)

Religion

“The rightness of their behaviors and beliefs is, in their minds, in line with their religious teachings and the precepts of the Bible.” (pg. 139)

“These memorizing tasks are graded in difficulty, so that the youngest children learn the names of Bible characters, words of songs such as “Jesus loves me”, and move on to short verses, books of the Bible, short passages, and whole chapters or psalms by the time they reach junior high age.” (pg. 140)

“For many of the practices and precepts the church holds for language, a parallel ideal is expressed by parents. The church insists on verbatim performance as a prime way of showing off knowledge; parents demand verbatim performance from their children at home as a way of showing their learning.” (pgs. 143-144)

Society

“Children who are too young to engage in cooperative play are often put together in playpens, and there they babble and monologue to themselves in parallel play. Their mothers often intervene and try to get the two children to talk to each other, for example, to talk about the sharing of a toy rather than to squeal and tug.” (pg. 124)

“They have learned to use language to acquire the knowledge their community has judged they should know at their age and they have learned appropriate ways of expressing that knowledge.” (pg. 145) – Trackton and Roadville

*Right

“Children come to know they must be careful about following directions on the links between words and behavior; if they “say it right,” they show they’ve “got it right,” and they themselves are, in turn, “right.” (pg. 144)

Other Concepts

         traditional baby shower - representing the community values

        baby talk to relay instructions and advice to new mothers - secondary message

  word association that connects to their environment; applying a learned word  to relatable objects (pg. 122)

        word and sentence expansion - guided and controlled by adult (pg.124)

        questions as directives to discipline

         everything in its place - spaces having purpose (pg. 137)

       memorization skills to demonstrate knowledge

             expectations of language reinforce values (pg. 144)

Discussion Questions

1)  What is a parent’s role in the early stages of learning?

2)  What is the place of religion in learning? And how does it help or hinder learning and literacy?

3)  How does each community’s independent use of language affect their children?