The Importance of Creative Language Interaction in Early Childhood Education

By Isabelle Girolamo

Childhood is an important time for learning and skill acquisition. Children’s early educational experiences, especially in second-language acquisition, often leave a lasting impact. Creative Language Interaction Classrooms (CLIC) are designed with this idea in mind. CLIC lessons draw heavily from the Natural Approach developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell, Total Physical Response popularized by James Asher, Lev Vygotsky’s concept of play as learning practice, Alice Omaggio Hadely’s affirmation that context is imperative to acquisition and Merrill Swain’s arguments that positive emotions facilitate learning. CLIC pairs simple materials (such as paper and tape) with fun physical tasks that encourage second language acquisition in early childhood without relying on internet access, digital materials, or screen-based media. CLIC workshops prioritize movement, props, and tangible objects using Total Physical Response and confluent pedagogical approaches, making a positive impact on language development by focusing on childrens’ natural inclinations. 

Total Physical Response (TPR) utilizes physical engagement to facilitate language acquisition, according to the creator of TPR, James Asher. A study conducted by Kothar Talib Al Harrasi focused on the implementation of TPR activities in a first cycle of acquiring English as a second language before moving on to the more traditional second cycle that focused on reading and writing in English in schools around Oman. What they found was that TPR techniques, including singing and movement, resulted in students being more engaged and having a heightened understanding of beginner level vocabulary as well as basic commands, “TPR listening activities and their physical requirements are more comprehensible and include everyday language that is used in communicative situations in comparison to other listening activities based on the transactional type of exercise in which the students listen to conversations, interviews, or presentations and then answer a set of questions that test their comprehension.” (Al Harrasi 39). While many conventional language classrooms rely on drills or a pattern of listening or reading and responding to questions to be corrected by the instructor, this transactional approach to learning is less effective at engaging students and is widely seen as “boring” by many students. CLIC workshops are designed to bring excitement and involvement into the classroom in a way that young learners can easily grasp without fear of correction.

TPR fosters “a motivating environment by encouraging students to participate and involve themselves in actions, which build their enthusiasm as they feel free to move around” (Al Harrasi 37). It encourages students to associate words and phrases with specific actions. Al Harrasi argues that seeing and repeating physical actions connected to vocabulary aides recall: “this method is linked with the ‘trace theory’ in psychology, which implies that the more the target language is associated with physical actions, the stronger its recollection is in the memory.” (37) TPR is a vital part of CLIC workshop activities and it is especially effective when used alongside confluent pedagogical tactics. In CLIC workshops, students are given the opportunity to play an active role in language lessons. For example in the Los Colores (Colors) workshop, students participate in various matching activities that require them to get up and move around the room. They use paper manipulatives to match the item to its color using the vocabulary they just heard in Spanish. These activities are fun and exciting to the students and are also important in facilitating second language acquisition. The physicality of CLIC activities not only creates a strong recollection of the word and its associated action through TPR, it also gives students a greater sense of purpose in the classroom as they are directly involved in the sorting, identifying, and matching activities that are being presented in the lesson.

Confluent education is the “process of holistic learning, involving body, mind, emotion and spirit.”, according to Art Johnson, a proponent of confluent pedagogies. All aspects of a person should be involved in the learning process, not just the brain. As stated by Cecille Meltzer and Eva Scwenke in their study on the influence of confluent educational techniques in art courses and their effects on vocational training, confluent education focuses on “meaningful experiences and individuals’ discoveries and the use of these to enhance the outcomes of teaching, through linking the learner’s cognitive (intellect, activity of the mind in knowing) and affective experiences (feelings, emotions, attitudes and values)” (8). Confluent education is personal to the student and relies on their emotions and beliefs instead of solely being influenced by the traditional cognitive aspects of education. Using “Confluent education techniques encourage[s] a classroom atmosphere that students find both safe and empowering” it is also shown that when in a confluent educational setting, “Students also score significantly higher on reading, writing, and oral communications skills.” (Johnson). CLIC workshops are designed to make students feel comfortable and excited while acquiring new skills. 

Our workshops combine cognitive and social-emotional learning to make the most of children’s inclinations and abilities to quickly learn new information. In Partes de la Cara (Parts of the face) (see corresponding exhibit page), students are encouraged to find different parts of the face around the room after hearing the Spanish vocabulary and pointing to the nose, ear, mouth, etc. The features hanging up for students to choose are intentionally silly and unusual and would not necessarily be seen on an actual human face. Students are encouraged to be creative and choose features that interest them and they are also asked to put them in the correct places on the blank face print out they are given. This activity combines emotional learning with the corresponding cognitive ideas about the facial feature vocabulary and where they belong on the face. The students have fun and learn the vocabulary for the parts of the face fluidly this way. The confluent educational tactics used in the workshops result in students being comfortable and excited about learning which leads to them being more engaged and likely to acquire a second language. By combining traditional ideas about the role of cognition and intellect in education with innovative, emotional activities and experiences students in CLIC workshops enjoy well-rounded educational experience without the overuse of digital devices and screen-based teaching. 

As Merrill Swain, a notable Second Language Acquisition researcher stated, “Emotions are socially and culturally derived and, along with cognition, they mediate learning.” (196) CLIC makes the most of children’s innate creativity and inclination towards movement and combines emotional learning with cognition in second language acquisition. The use of physical movement and tangible objects to facilitate second language acquisition for children is what makes these workshops successful. When children are allowed to be creative in an open and confluent environment, where they receive instructor support without judgment, they are much more likely to flourish and learn the skills and information that will serve them for the rest of their lives. As stated by May Summer Farnsworth, Professor of Spanish and creator of CLIC, the aim is always to inspire joy and confidence in the students, “by fostering connections between children’s play practice and second-language acquisition”. 

Works Cited

Asher, James J. TPR World, www.tpr-world.com/. Accessed 10 July 2024. 

Al Harrasi, Kothar Talib. “Using ‘total physical response’ with Young Learners in Oman.” Childhood Education, vol. 90, no. 1, 23 Dec. 2013, pp. 36–42, https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2014.872513. Accessed 10 July 2024. 

Farnsworth, May Summer. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, July 2024. 

Johnson, Art. “Confluent Education.” Context Institute, 15 Sept. 2011, www.context.org/iclib/ic06/johnson/. Accessed 10 July 2024. 

Krashen, Stephen D, and Tracy D Terrell. The Natural Approach Language Acquisition in the Classroom, 1983, www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/the_natural_approach.pdf.

Meltzer, Cecilie, and Eva Schwencke. “Arts-Based Learning in vocational education: Using arts-based approaches to enrich vocational pedagogy and didactics and to enhance professional competence and identity.” Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, vol. 26, no. 1, 2 May 2019, pp. 6–24, https://doi.org/10.1177/1477971419846640. Accessed 10 July 2024. 

Swain, Merrill. “The inseparability of cognition and emotion in Second language learning.” Language Teaching, vol. 46, no. 2, 28 Nov. 2011, pp. 195–207, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444811000486. 

Citation: 

Girolamo, Isabelle, “The Importance of Creative Language Interaction in Early Childhood Education,” Spanish and Hispanic Studies Digital Gallery at HWS, July 11, 2024, https://galeriahispana.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spanish-for-children/the-importance-of-creative-lan.