In his second post on developing thinking skills, Herbert Puchta explores the first of three models aimed at explaining what the thinking process consists of, how children’s thinking skills can be developed and what teachers can contribute to their development.
Model 1: Language and the development of cognitive tools
This model, developed by Kieran Egan on the basis of Vygotsky’s work, stresses the focal role that the child’s language development plays in understanding the world through the use of language-based intellectual tools or capacities. The teaching of literacy, according to this model, can be made more efficient through our understanding of the concept of cognitive tools and through applying these insights to what we do in the classroom. It’s not difficult to see that this model – although designed for mother-tongue literacy development – has significant relevance for the foreign language class as well.
Egan (1997) postulates that a person’s intellectual growth happens naturally, through the acquisition of certain intellectual qualities (he calls them ‘developments’) deeply rooted in our cultural history. In order for an individual’s intellect to grow appropriately, the development of certain ‘cognitive tools’ is essential. Here is a very basic summary of his insights, which are relevant as a basis for understanding how the human mind develops during childhood.
Rhythm and rhyme
In pre-literate days, people were expected to have the ability to remember pieces of text of sometimes epic length. Rhythm and rhyme were important mnemonic devices in that process. In the same way, it is through rhythm and rhyme that children start remembering chunks of language from an early age, and they usually develop enormous joy through repeatedly hearing (and later speaking along with) the same rhymes over and over again. This way, children begin to develop an understanding of patterns – the sound patterns of language first – and form the cognitive tools needed for the understanding of structures.
Images and imaginative thinking
For the young child, there is no borderline between reality and imagination. If the teacher uses a glove puppet, to name one example, a six-year-old recognises it as a puppet, and yet, as soon as the puppet starts ‘talking’ (through the teacher’s voice of course), the child goes into a dreamlike state of mind – and is convinced the puppet has become alive.
Such imaginative processes lead to the creation of images in the child’s mind. This is important, because understanding oral (and later written) language requires not only knowledge of words, but also the ability to create and use mental images, enabling the learner first to understand texts in the foreign language better and later to recall more information from these texts. There is clear evidence that learners who are at ease with creating lots of images while listening to (or later reading) a story, for example, remember more language from the story.
Humour and small talk
Using humour in the foreign language class is more than having something to laugh about, and engaging in small talk is not just an exchange of linguistic formalities – both are actually very important for the development of the child’s cognition. Children love jokes, and trying to understand jokes and punch lines is often the child’s first attempt at thinking about language. The ability to understand double meanings, puns and word play are important building blocks of the child’s cognitive development, as is the ability to engage in small talk.
The latter has an important social function and that is why children need to learn to take part in it. However, successful participation in small talk situations is also important because it strengthens the child’s self-image and gives the child a feeling of social security and acceptance. Being accepted by their teacher and classmates is an extremely important experience for the child, and at the same time it is a precondition for developing social relationships and friendships.
Read the other posts in this series:
Developing young learners’ thinking skills #1 – developing and applying thinking skills
Developing young learners’ thinking skills #3 – Story thinking
Developing young learners’ thinking skills #4 – Multiple intelligences
Developing young learners’ thinking skills #5 – Combining the teaching of thinking and language