ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the areas of attention control, listening skills, memory and phonological awareness, which, while not language skills in themselves, are all vital precursors to language and learning. Attention control refers to the ability to focus on a task and switch attention between activities. Language learning requires a fairly mature level of attention control. Similarly if listening skills are poor, the child will find it difficult to learn new vocabulary and to acquire more sophisticated language skills. The child will need to play games that develop turn-taking skills. A child who is unable to do this will be at a considerable disadvantage. The role of short-term auditory memory is also of great importance for it allows the child to hold and process information. The child who has memory difficulties will be unable to respond to follow instructions within the classroom and may well go on to have difficulties with reading.
