ABSTRACT
In this chapter the focus is on the role of language, particularly spoken language, and communication, in young children’s thinking and understanding. We look at the curious, inquiring minds of young children, and at their efforts to make sense of their world, through talking, questioning, playing and interacting with others, in the contexts of home and early childhood settings. Thornton suggests that the development of language is ‘the most striking achievement of infancy’ (2002:42). How this happens and how children acquire language remains a contested area, and theories to account for the acquisition of language are briefly considered later in the chapter. The main interest here, though, is in the relationship of language to children’s thinking, and on the role of language as a tool for thinking (Vygotsky 1978, 1986), which can be used ‘to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events’ (DfEE 2000:58).
