Vocabulary development in preschool children: methods and techniques

Tags: Development, Speech development
The development of a child’s speech is an important area of ​​preschool and school education. And one of the criteria for success is a rich vocabulary (the number of words that a child can use during communication).

To avoid delayed speech development, it is necessary to enrich the baby’s vocabulary from the first year of life. Classes aimed at expanding and activating the vocabulary should be conducted not occasionally, but daily. Only with regular and systematic vocabulary work will you be able to raise an erudite and intellectually developed child.

Features of children's dictionary by year

1–3 years

A one-year-old baby knows and can use 5–9 one- or two-syllable words (“give”, “ma-ma”, “pa-pa”, “la-la”). In the next 2 years, his vocabulary quickly expands due to the words that his parents use in everyday communication, and reaches 800–1000 lexical units.

Thematic categories that a child aged 1–3 years operates with:

• names of family members, names of pets;
• names of toys, surrounding household items (dishes, furniture, food);
• names of 5–10 animals and plants;
• names of seasons and weather phenomena (“rain”, “snow”, “sun”).

The basis of a three-year-old's vocabulary is nouns with specific meanings and verbs. Adjectives and adverbs are not used at this age: the child cannot use words to describe an object or his emotional state.

4–5 years

During this period, a qualitative leap occurs: the child’s vocabulary is enriched with new thematic groups and reaches a volume of 1900–2200 words.

New thematic categories in a child’s dictionary at 4–5 years old:

• emotional experiences, feelings and emotions (“cheerful”, “angry”, “sad”, “offended”);
• qualitative characteristics of objects (“big”, “green”, “cold”);
• diminutive forms (“mommy”, “brother”);
• names of baby animals (“kitten”, “duckling”).

At 5 years old, a child learns the basics of word formation. Now he can create groups of words with the same root using prefixes and suffixes: “water” - “water”, “goose” - “gosling”, “table” - “table”. At the same time, he realizes not only the relatedness of such lexical units, but also their differences (“a goose is an adult bird, and a gosling is a baby”).

5–7 years

The child’s vocabulary increases approximately 2 times: now its volume is about 3000–4000 words.

Thematic groups that a child aged 5–7 years should use:

• time intervals (“minute”, “hour”, “year”), days of the week, months and seasons;
• spatial concepts (“top”, “bottom”, “left”, “right”);
• numerals (from 1 to 10, sometimes up to 100);
• first and last names of parents, close relatives, famous writers;
• some social science terms (“country”, “Motherland”, “people”, “labor”, “Russia”), names of city attractions and holidays (“New Year”, “Birthday”, “Christmas”);
• professions and sports, colors and shades, parts of the human body, natural phenomena;
• household items (clothing, shoes, hats, toys, dishes, furniture, hygiene products), vehicles (water, land, air);
• domestic and wild animals, plants, fruits, berries, vegetables, flowers;
• words with a general meaning (“animals”, “transport”, “dishes”);
• emotional-evaluative words with the meaning of a person’s feelings and experiences.

Before enrolling a child in first grade, almost all schools conduct testing, which includes an assessment of the child’s speech development. That is why it is so important to identify gaps in the knowledge of a future first-grader in advance and eliminate them in a timely manner.

Development and enrichment of vocabulary in preschool children

Bibliographic description:

Pavlova, I. Yu. Development and enrichment of vocabulary in preschool children / I. Yu. Pavlova.
— Text: direct // Pedagogical skills: materials of the I International. scientific conf. (Moscow, April 2012). - Moscow: Buki-Vedi, 2012. - pp. 212-215. — URL: https://moluch.ru/conf/ped/archive/22/1934/ (access date: 01/18/2022). Problems and tasks of speech development in preschool children have always been relevant. At all times, great attention has been paid to the development of children's speech. The importance of speech in the development of a child’s personality is so great that the tasks of its formation occupy a special place in education.

The word introduces a child to the world of people, helps to understand it and get used to it, helps to realize oneself as an individual and become an active participant in the life of society. The word is the child’s main means of communication and form of self-expression. It serves as a means of regulating his behavior. With the help of words, the child learns about the natural and objective environment.

In preschool age, a child must master a vocabulary that would allow him to communicate with peers and adults, study successfully at school, understand literature, television and radio programs, therefore preschool pedagogy considers the development of vocabulary in children as one of the important tasks of speech development.

A dictionary is the lexical composition of speech that a person uses. The dictionary is divided into active and passive. The volume of the active vocabulary of any person is less than the volume of the passive one.

The development of vocabulary during the normal development of a child is given in the table:

Quantitative growth of vocabulary according to Stern

The data in the table shows that in preschool children, vocabulary development occurs especially quickly, like at no other age.

A special feature of a preschooler’s dictionary is its significantly smaller volume compared to an adult’s dictionary, since the volume of accumulated information about the environment is significantly inferior to the volume of knowledge of an adult.

For vocabulary development, constant communication between adults and children is important. The volume and quality (accuracy, imagery) of a preschooler’s vocabulary depend on how complete his communication is. Therefore, parents need to introduce their child to new objects, phenomena, and their names. It is important to talk with the preschooler, ask questions, and create situations in which possible shortcomings in the child’s understanding and use of words will be revealed. An active family lifestyle provides fertile material for expanding vocabulary: excursions to the theater, circus, zoo, etc.

As speech and thinking develop, the gradually expanding vocabulary is systematized, ordered, developing into semantic fields or formations of words united by meaning.

R.I. Lalaeva highlighted the following directions for the development of the dictionary:

1. Dictionary expansion
2. Clarifying the meaning of a word
3. Development of the structure of word meaning
4. Formation of semantic fields and lexical systematicity
5. Expanding connections between words in the lexicon.

The method of speech development for preschoolers offers a type of activity that is structured in the form of a game. This facilitates the assimilation of material, develops auditory attention in children, and promotes correct speech perception.

Presenting material aimed at enriching the vocabulary in the form of a game teaches children to correlate a sound word with a picture or object, clearly pronounce simple and polysyllabic words, and answer questions.

The goal when conducting such classes is one: replenishment of vocabulary.

Teachers widely use didactic games, which not only allow for the comprehensive development of preschoolers, but also contribute to the development of vocabulary skills in children.

A didactic game is a multifaceted, complex pedagogical phenomenon: it is a gaming method of teaching preschool children, a form of education, an independent gaming activity, and a means of comprehensive education of a child’s personality. It is in didactic play that the child gets the opportunity to improve, enrich, consolidate, and activate his vocabulary.

Depending on the material, didactic games can be divided into three types: games with objects (toys, natural materials, etc.), printed board games and word games. It should be noted that all of these games can be successfully used to activate the vocabulary of preschoolers. Games with objects are most accessible to children, since they are based on direct perception, correspond to the child’s desire to act with things and thus get acquainted with them, in addition, the child willingly names the objects he sees.

The child begins to play these games at an early age and does not lose his interest in them throughout preschool childhood. In early preschool age, many games with toys are accompanied by movements, which corresponds to the characteristics of the child’s perception and thinking

The most complex are verbal games: they are not associated with the direct perception of an object; in them, children must operate with ideas. These games are of great importance for the development of a child’s thinking, since in them children learn to express independent judgments, draw conclusions and conclusions without relying on the judgments of others, and notice logical errors.

Verbal games are carried out mainly in older groups and are very important for preparing children for school, as they require and, therefore, develop the ability to listen carefully, quickly find the right answer to a question, accurately and clearly formulate their thoughts, and apply knowledge.

A didactic game as a form of teaching children contains two principles: educational (cognitive) and gaming (entertaining). The teacher is both a teacher and a participant in the game. He teaches and plays, and children, while playing, learn.

Game techniques for developing vocabulary in young children:

Game: "Cold - Hot."

Target:

Enriching your vocabulary with nouns

Content.

The adult asks the children to close their eyes, then hides the object and asks the question: “Where is the bear?” Children look for an object in the room at the prompt of an adult: “It’s cold. Colder. Warmer. Even warmer. Hot". A game of searching for a missing object helps children remember a new word.

Game: “Describe the object.”

Goals:

Expanding the vocabulary of adjectives, forming ideas about the subject.

Content.

An adult examines an object and points out its signs. For example, an adult examines an apple. It is yellow in color. The shape resembles a ball (it clasps the apple with the hands), the apple is round. It is large in size. If you stroke an apple, you feel that it is smooth. I press on the apple, nothing happens to it. The apple is hard. I’ll smell the apple: oh, how fragrant and fragrant it is. I’ll hold it in my hand and weigh it: the apple is heavy. I’ll cut a piece and taste it: the apple is sweet (sour, sweet and sour).”

Game "Wonderful bag"

Goals:

Expanding the volume of vocabulary, developing tactile perception, clarifying ideas about the characteristics of objects.

Equipment.

An elegantly decorated bag, small toys, the names of which belong to the same lexical group (“Dishes”, “Vegetables”, etc.)

Content.

First, children get acquainted with toys whose names belong to the same lexical group: they examine, name, and highlight their qualities. The first player puts his hand into the bag, feels for one toy, recognizes it and calls it: “I have a cup.” Only after these words can the child take the toy out of the bag, examine it and show it to all the children. If the answer is correct, the child takes the object for himself. Players take turns recognizing by touch, naming and removing objects from the bag. The one who collects the most toys wins.

Complicated version

(for older preschoolers): before taking an object out of the bag, it is required to determine its shape (round, oblong), the material from which the object is made (rubber, metal, rag, wood, plastic), the quality of the surface (smooth, rough, slippery) , cold).

Game “Mail”, “Decorate the Christmas tree”, “Magic tree”, “Thematic lotto”, “Dominoes”

Game "Parcel"

Goals:

Expanding the volume of the vocabulary, clarifying ideas about the characteristics of objects, developing coherent speech.

Equipment. Items, boxes according to the number of players.

Content. Each child receives a “parcel” (a box with an item inside). The first player begins to describe his item without naming or showing it. The item is presented after it is guessed.

Game "Analogies"

Goals:

Activation of nouns with a general meaning, development of understanding of generic relations between words (development of the conceptual component of the lexical meaning of a word)

Content.

The adult invites the children to complete the word according to the example: fox is an animal, crane is a bird, or vice versa. The adult names a word of general meaning, the child comes up with a word of specific meaning (or vice versa): dishes - frying pan, flowers - dandelion, transport - truck, fish - catfish, insects - grasshopper. The one who never gets lost wins.

Game "Edible - Inedible"

Goals:

Development of the ability to highlight the essential features of an object (edibility, animation, etc.), clarification of the meaning of generalizing words, development of auditory attention, general motor skills.

Content.

The presenter says the word and throws the ball to one of the players. If a food item, fruit or other edible object has been named, the player needs to catch the ball. Otherwise, the player dodges the ball. The games “Living - Non-Living”, “Vegetables-Fruit”, “Wild Animals - Pets”, “Birds - Insects”, “Clothes - Shoes”, etc. are played in a similar way.

Game "I Know Five..."

Goals:

Activation of words with a general meaning, development of understanding of generic relationships between words (development of the conceptual aspect of the meaning of a word).

Content.

Children stand in a circle. The first player, who has the ball in his hands, begins the game with the word: “I” and passes (throws) the ball to the child standing next to him. The second player receives the ball, says the following word: “I know,” and passes the ball on. Third player: "Five." The next child of the Insects. Then each move is accompanied by the naming of one insect until five words of this group are named. The game continues.

Ball game "Associations"

Goals:

Expansion of vocabulary, development of speech associations, general motor skills.

Content.

The adult throws the ball to the child and names a specific feature of the object: “Red.” The child catches the ball, adds a word denoting an object that has this attribute (mac0), and returns the ball to the adult. Similarly: heavy - truck; prickly hedgehog, cold snow, tall - man, glass - glass.

It is possible to conduct a game based on the material of a specific lexical topic (with or without support from pictures). In this case, the adult agrees with the child that he needs to come up with words on a certain topic (for example, on the topic “Dishes”). In this case, corresponding pictures can be presented on the typesetting canvas. Approximate lexical material: deep - plate; blue - pan; small saucer; transparent - jug.

Game “I collected in the garden...”

Goals.

Expansion of vocabulary, development of auditory memory.

Content.

The adult starts the game by saying the sentence: “I picked cucumbers from the garden.” The child repeats the entire phrase and adds the name of his vegetable: “I picked cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden.” The next player repeats everything said by the previous participant and comes up with a third vegetable: “I picked cucumbers, tomatoes and onions from the garden.” Players participate in the game until the first mistake. The winner is the one who remains in the game last. Depending on the lexical topic, the sentence changes in content: “I collected... in the garden,” “I put it in the closet...”, “I saw on the street...”, “He lives in the forest...”, “In the kitchen there is...” » etc.

Game “Say it with another word”

Goals.

Formation of semantic fields, expansion of the dictionary of synonyms.

Content.

An adult names a phrase and asks a question: “Throw the ball. How can this action be called differently, in another word?” Samples of correct answers are given: “Throw the ball - throw the ball. Looking out the window - looking out the window." Children begin to select synonyms only after confirming their understanding of the task.

Ball game "Say the opposite"

Goals.

Formation of semantic fields, expansion of the dictionary of antonyms.

Content.

Children stand in a line facing the leader. The adult (leader) says the word and throws the ball to one of the players. The person who catches the ball must name the antonym (the word “enemy”) to the given word and return the ball to the leader. If the paired word is chosen correctly, the child takes a step forward. The winner is the one who quickly approaches the conditional line on which the leader is located. This child continues the game by inventing his own words.

Literature:

1. Alekseeva M.M., Yashina V.I. Methods of speech development and teaching the native language to preschoolers. – M.: 2000.
2. Bondarenko A.K. Word games in kindergarten. – M.: 1974
3. Borodich A.M. Methods for developing children's speech. – M.: 1981
4. Kolunova L.A., Ushakova O.S. Work on words in the process of speech development of older preschoolers // Preschool education. 1994 No.9.
5. Sokhin F.A. Speech development in preschool children. – M.: 1984
6. Tikheyeva E.I. Children's speech development. – M., 1992
7. Udaltsova E.I. Didactic games in the education and training of preschool children.-M.: 1976.
8. Ushakova O.S. Speech development classes in kindergarten. – M.: 1993
9. Ushakova O.S. Speech development of a preschooler. – M., 2001
10. Ushakova O.S., Strunina E.M. The influence of vocabulary work on the coherence of speech // Preschool education. – 1981 No. 2.
11. Elkonin D.B. Child psychology. – M., 1999
12. Shvaiko T.S. Games and play exercises for speech development. – M.: 1983

Key terms
(automatically generated)
: child, game, word, object, vocabulary, ball, vocabulary expansion, adult, player, content.

Ways to develop vocabulary

There is a generally accepted formula that describes the mechanism for replenishing a child’s vocabulary:

1. the child hears the word;
2. understands its meaning;
3. remembers the word (sends it to the passive vocabulary);
4. learns to use it in speech (translates it into active vocabulary).

It is on this universal formula that exercises and activities should be built to help increase the baby’s vocabulary. If even one link is missing, the necessary word will not become part of the child's vocabulary.

Observation with comments

From the very birth of the baby, start talking to him: the baby must get used to the sound of human speech. Lesson options:

1. While walking, tell your baby everything you see. Try to make the story picturesque and figurative: use many adjectives, use synonyms. An example of a good description: “This is a tree. It is green, bright, with lush foliage. And how big, tall and majestic it is! This is a truly gigantic tree!” Try to comment on events emotionally: say how you feel from contemplating a rainbow or how you feel when a hot object touches your hand.
2. An eight-month-old child can already be taught about the structure of the body. Touch it and say: “This is a pen, your pen; little pink hand." Then show your hand and say: “This is my hand: look how big it is.” Remember to use as many adjectives as possible.
3. Organize a joint observation of something: a pet, an insect, a tree swaying in the wind, or something happening on the street. At the same time, comment on what is happening: “Look, a grasshopper is crawling along a leaf. Now he moved his paw. Funny, isn't it? Oh, that’s it, he galloped away.” If possible, let your child touch, smell, or even lick the observed object.
4. You can conduct several experiments with your child. Bring his hand to the cat’s fur and say: “This is a cat; It’s soft, warm and smooth.” Then invite the baby to hold a piece of ice and say: “This is cold, hard and wet ice.”
5. From the age of 2, you can purposefully introduce new lexical units into your child’s vocabulary. To do this, you must demonstrate the object to the child, say its name several times and make sure that the baby remembers it. Try to do it naturally. On a walk, as if by the way, show him a tree and say: “This is a spruce.” Point to another spruce and say again: “And this is a spruce.” Then, pointing to the tree, ask: “Do you think this is a spruce?” To make sure that your child remembers the word, point to the spruce and ask: “What kind of tree is this?”

Conversations

From the age of 3, the child already understands the meaning of the text and understands the content of poems and fairy tales that his mother reads to him. Therefore, you can discuss the books you read or the illustrations you viewed. Effective exercises:

• the child tells what is shown in the pictures and makes up stories based on them;
• the child answers questions based on the text he just listened to (good questions: who did you like best? what event do you remember? what would you do in the hero’s place? why?);
• the child describes an object in detail (parents can ask clarifying questions: what shape is it? what color?).

To learn the names of body parts and items of clothing, have your child describe himself or a doll.

Reading fiction

Be sure to read aloud to your child. After all, reading fiction is the most important way to enrich your vocabulary. Children who have loved books since childhood have more developed speech than their peers, are able to construct sentences correctly, and write essays better in school.

When reading a book to your child, try to pronounce words clearly, loudly and correctly, and avoid mistakes in articulation and emphasis. If there are unfamiliar words in the text, explain their meaning to the baby.

Methodology for enriching the vocabulary of children in different age groups.

The content of vocabulary work in preschool age is, first of all, determined by the fact that vocabulary is initially formed here, denoting elements of the culture appropriated by the child - material, intellectual, socio-normative.

First of all, children learn:

•everyday vocabulary: names of body parts, faces; names of toys, dishes, furniture, clothing, toiletries, food, premises;

•Natural history dictionary: words denoting phenomena of inanimate nature, plants, animals.

•Social science dictionary: words denoting phenomena of social life (people’s work, native country, national holidays, army, etc.);

•Emotional-evaluative vocabulary: words denoting emotions, experiences, feelings (brave, honest, joyful), qualitative assessment of objects (good, bad, beautiful); words, the emotional significance of which is created with the help of word-formation means (darling, little voice), the formation of synonyms (came - tangled, laughed - giggled); using phraseological combinations (run headlong); words, the actual lexical meaning of which contains an assessment of the phenomena it defines (decrepit - very old);

•Vocabulary denoting time, space, quantity.

Throughout preschool childhood in different age groups, the content of vocabulary work becomes more complex in several directions. V.I. Loginova identified three such areas:

•expanding the vocabulary based on familiarization with a gradually increasing range of objects and phenomena;

•learning words based on deepening knowledge about objects and phenomena of the surrounding world;

•introduction of words denoting elementary concepts based on the distinction and generalization of objects according to essential characteristics.

Vocabulary work in kindergarten is aimed at creating the lexical basis of speech and occupies an important place in the overall system of work on the speech development of children. By the end of senior preschool age, the child has accumulated a significant vocabulary. Continuing to solve the problem of enriching vocabulary (the vocabulary of a language, the set of words used by a child), special attention should be paid to the qualitative side of the dictionary: increasing the vocabulary through words that are similar (synonyms) or opposite (antonyms) in meaning, as well as ambiguous words.

Alekseeva M.M., Yashina V.I. There are two groups of methods: methods of accumulating the content of children's speech and methods aimed at consolidating and activating the vocabulary, developing its semantic side.

The first group includes methods:

a) direct acquaintance with the environment and enrichment of vocabulary: examination and examination of objects, observation, inspection of the kindergarten premises, targeted walks and excursions;

b) indirect acquaintance with the environment and enrichment of the vocabulary: viewing paintings with unfamiliar content, reading works of art, showing films and videos, watching television programs.

The second group of methods is used to consolidate and activate vocabulary: looking at toys, looking at pictures with familiar content, didactic games and exercises.

Of great interest are the views on the game of E.I. Tikheyeva, she considers play as one of the forms of organizing the pedagogical process in kindergarten and, at the same time, as one of the most important means of educational influence on the child.

Didactic games are a widespread method of vocabulary work. Play is one of the means of mental education. In it, the child reflects the surrounding reality, reveals his knowledge, and shares it with friends. A particularly important place in mental education is occupied by didactic games, the obligatory elements of which are cognitive content and a mental task.

A didactic game is a multifaceted, complex, pedagogical phenomenon: it is a gaming method of teaching preschool children, a form of education, an independent gaming activity, and a means of comprehensive education of a child’s personality. It is in didactic play that the child gets the opportunity to improve, enrich, consolidate, and activate his vocabulary.

A.V. Zaporozhets, assessing the role of didactic games, writes that it is necessary to ensure that didactic games are not only a form of assimilation of individual knowledge and skills, but also contribute to the overall development of the child and serve the formation of his abilities. Methodological techniques are divided into three main groups: verbal, visual and game. Verbal techniques are widely used. These include speech pattern, repeating, explanation, instructions, question.

1. Speech sample - correct, pre-thought-out speech activity of the teacher, intended for imitation by children. The sample must be accessible in both content and form. It is pronounced clearly, loudly and slowly.

2. Repeated pronunciation - deliberate repeated repetition of the same speech element (sound, word, phrase) with the aim of memorizing it.

3. Explanation - revealing the essence of certain phenomena or methods of action. It is widely used to reveal the meanings of words, to explain the rules and actions in didactic games, as well as in the process of observing and examining objects.

4. Directions - explaining to children the method of action to achieve a certain result.

5. A question is a verbal address that requires an answer. Questions are divided into main and auxiliary. The main ones can be ascertaining – “Who? What? Which? Which? Where? Where?" and search, requiring the establishment of connections and relationships between phenomena - “Why? For what? How are they similar?” auxiliary questions are leading and auxiliary. Questions are used in all methods of speech development.

Visual techniques - showing illustrative material, paintings, objects, showing a sample, methods of action.

Game techniques can be verbal and visual. They arouse the child’s interest in activities, enrich the motives of speech, create a positive emotional background for the learning process and thereby increase children’s speech activity and the effectiveness of classes.

Thus, in vocabulary work a combination of different methods and techniques is used, depending on the degree of children’s mastery of the word. The most effective method of vocabulary work with young children is didactic games.

The development of children's vocabulary occurs in the process of communicating with others in different types of activities. Everyday activities are of great importance for enriching and activating the vocabulary. Children learn vital everyday vocabulary. In connection with the education of cultural and hygienic skills, the formation of self-service skills, the child masters words denoting items of clothing, furniture, bedding and washing supplies, as well as their qualities and actions with them. The naturalness of communication situations in everyday life, the connection with sensory perception, and one’s own activity lead to the child quickly memorizing words and mastering the generalizations behind the words, based on essential features.

In their work activities, children's vocabulary is replenished with the names of tools, instruments, actions, qualities and properties of objects. Of particular importance is joint, collective work, in which various communicative situations arise and are specially created that require the use of appropriate words: planning work, discussing specific ways to carry it out, exchanging opinions during work, brief reports on the work performed. The game plays a big role in activating the vocabulary.

In role-playing games on everyday topics, everyday vocabulary is activated, in games on industrial topics - professional vocabulary; in construction games - words denoting the qualities and spatial arrangement of objects, as well as corresponding verbs. Children's creative artistic activities create exceptional opportunities for vocabulary development. Familiarization with various types of art, thanks to a combination of visual and auditory perception, a special emotional impact on the child’s feelings, broadens the horizons and enriches the vocabulary of children. Theatrical games, holidays and entertainment, participation in concerts and matinees help to activate the figurative vocabulary.

Vocabulary work is carried out in educational activities in all sections of the program. For example, in visual arts, children master the names of objects, equipment, materials, and their qualities; in physical education they help clarify and consolidate verbs of movement, etc.

Thus, vocabulary development is carried out in different types of activities. It is important to remember that for this it is necessary to guide the process of enriching and activating children’s vocabulary, using different methods of vocabulary work, taking into account the characteristics of each type of activity.

It is very important that work on the dictionary, begun in one type of activity, continues in another form, becoming more complex and modified, taking into account the laws of word mastery.

By older preschool age, children master vocabulary and other components of the language to such an extent that the acquired language actually becomes native. Here the formation of the core of the dictionary should essentially end.

Correct formation of the vocabulary of preschoolers serves as a means of full communication and personality development. Vocabulary, as the most important part of the language system, has enormous general educational and practical significance. The richness of the formed vocabulary of preschoolers is a sign of high speech development. L.S. Vygotsky O.

Thus, vocabulary work in kindergarten is aimed at creating the lexical basis of speech and occupies an important place in the overall system of work on the development of children’s speech. Successful speech development directly depends on the child’s sensory perception of the world around him and on his objective activities. For vocabulary development, constant communication between adults and children is extremely important.

Mastering a vocabulary solves the problem of accumulating and clarifying ideas, forming concepts, and developing the substantive side of thinking. At the same time, the development of the operational side of thinking occurs, since mastery of lexical meaning occurs on the basis of the operations of analysis, synthesis, and generalization. Poor vocabulary hinders full communication, and, consequently, the overall development of the child. Conversely, a rich vocabulary is a sign of well-developed speech and an indicator of a high level of mental development. Timely development of vocabulary is one of the most important factors in preparing for school.

15. Objectives, content and methods of working on the semantic side of a word in different age groups.

According to N. X. Shvachkin, the most successful explanation of the semantic nature of children's words was given by A. A. Potebnya, who believed that the meaning of the first words in children is not an action, not an object, but a sensory image. The first words are very peculiar. They are characterized by polysemanticism. The child, who was under Potebnya’s supervision, used the word “pooh” to call the cook and the pies she served him. These first words, in essence, are not yet words. A real word is born as a designation for an object and is associated directly with a gesture that points to an object.

Clear subject assignment does not arise from the earliest stages of a child’s life and is a product of development. Already from 10 to 11 months, according to F.I. Fradkina, the child begins to respond not only to the sound side of the word, but also to its content. At first, the child associates the word only with a specific single object (a child who always played only with a white ball was given two balls - a familiar white one and an unfamiliar large colored ball. In response to the question “Where is the ball?” the child always pointed only to the white ball ). Gradually, with the development of the ability to generalize, it begins to designate all objects of a given category.

The path of development of generalization in children was characterized by M. M. Koltsova1. According to her data, at first the word appears for the child only as a component of the complex influence of an adult, as a component of the whole situation, which includes gestures, intonation, and the environment in which this word is said. Then the word becomes an integrating signal, passing through a number of intermediate stages:

first degree of generalization - the word replaces the sensory image of only one object (doll -

only this doll).
The word coincided several times with the sensations from this thing, and a strong connection was formed between them. This degree of generalization is available to children at the end of the first - beginning of the second year of life;
second degree of generalization - the word replaces the sensory image of a number of homogeneous objects (doll

refers to any doll, regardless of its size, the material from which it is made, etc.).
The meaning of the word here is broader. This degree of generalization can be achieved by children by the end of the second year of life;
third degree of generalization - the word denotes several groups of objects that have a common purpose (toys, dishes

and so on.).
The word toys
generalizes dolls, balls, cubes, and other objects intended for play.
The signal meaning of such a word is very broad, but at the same time it is significantly removed from the specific images of objects. This degree of generalization is available to children aged three to three and a half years;
fourth degree of generalization - the word reaches the highest stage of integration. The word seems to give the result of the previous levels of generalization (the word thing,

for example, it contains generalizations that include the words
toys, dishes, furniture
, etc.).
The signal meaning of such a word is extremely broad, and its connection with specific objects is traced with great difficulty. Children reach this level of generalization only in the fifth year of life.
In order for a child to learn words of the first and second degree of generalization, it is necessary that the sound of the word spoken by the adult coincide in time with the child’s perception of the object or action that it denotes. Moreover, the smaller the child, the greater the number of such matches required. So, in the first year more than 50 - 70 repetitions are needed, while in the second year - no more than 10. The child’s actions with the named object are of great importance. The study by M. M. Koltsova convincingly proved that a word turns into a generalizing signal provided that a large number of motor conditioned connections are developed.

Scientists came to this conclusion based on an experiment conducted in two groups of children aged 1 year . For day they showed him an unfamiliar object - a book - 10 times for five seconds and said: “Book! Book!" Each time the children looked and turned their heads towards the book. This reaction was repeated 500 times.

With the children of the second group, one book was also used in the experiments, but with it the children performed the following actions: “Here is a book. Take a book. Open the book! etc. - a total of 20 different commands. In k - 1 year 3 months. In the first group, each child was given the word book,

and each required a motor response. These motor reactions were repeated only 50 times.

In control tests, children were presented with various objects (cubes, dolls, toy dishes) and several books, different in cover color and thickness. The instruction was offered: “Give me the book!” The children of the first group took one book, which they dealt with in the experiments. When they were asked for another book, they took the first item they came across. So the word is book

did not become a generalizing signal for them.

All children of the second group chose from the objects lying in front of them first one book, familiar from experiments, and then all the others. The word acquired a general meaning for them and began to refer to many similar objects.

The results of this experiment are of great pedagogical importance. They indicate what the methodology for developing vocabulary should be for children in the first years of life.

To develop higher degrees of generalization, it is necessary, when perceiving objects, to call them both a specific and a more general word {“This doll is a good toy. How many toys do you have - a doll, a car, and a ball!”).

After 4 - 5 years, children who speak speech attribute a new word not to one, but to many objects. Having learned ready-made words from adults and operating with them, the child is not yet aware of all the semantic content that they express. Children can learn the objective relevance of a word, but the system of abstractions and generalizations behind it cannot. There are many examples of discrepancies in the meanings of words in the speech of children and adults.

In a poetic form, she showed the features of A. Barto’s children’s speech: “I don’t have enough warmth,

- she told her daughter.
The daughter was surprised: “Do you freeze even on summer days?” “You won’t understand, you’re still young,” the mother sighed tiredly. And the daughter shouts: “I understand!” - and drags the blanket.”
There are numerous cases of erroneous word usage, transfer of names from one subject to another, narrowing or, conversely, expanding the boundaries of the meanings of words and their application. The narrowing or expansion of the meanings of words by children is explained by the fact that they do not have sufficient knowledge about those objects and phenomena that are called these words. Moreover, the understanding and use of words by children aged 3 to 5 years depends not only on the degree of generalization, but also on how often these words are used by the adults around them and how the activities of children with the corresponding objects are organized (research by A. Bogatyreva). Most correctly, children understand and use words that denote specific objects that they use (doll, drum, watering can, brush, toys, clothes).

The basis for mastering the meanings of words is the functional attribute of the object. That is why, in the absence of a word, children often resort to interpretations indicating the purpose of objects: case -

“spectacled man”, “glassed woman”;
watering can -
“watering can”;
furniture
- “they sleep there”;
car -
“to drive”;
seat -
“to sit down”, etc. And even generalizing words, in the sound image of which the general functional characteristic of objects is fixed, children learn earlier than others, similar in degree of generalization
(toys - to play, clothes
-
to wear, shoes
-
to put on shoes).
The least learned words are those that denote phenomena that are more distant from children. For example, people -

“It's at the market.
Everyone goes and buys”; trouble
- “this is a girl who doesn’t have an elegant dress”;
follower -
“some kind of hunter is following the trail”;
rocket launcher -
“this lady flies on a rocket.”

, N. X. Shvachkin drew attention to the following features of understanding the meanings of words by preschoolers:

1. First of all, in the perception of a preschooler, each object should have a name peculiar to it. Therefore, the child searches in the meaning of the word for a literal reflection of the object or phenomenon to which the word refers (5-year-old Adik answered his own question “Why are these workers called carpenters?”

replied:
“They score tightly”).
2.

The child seeks a direct connection between the sound and meaning of a word and “rebels” against the unmotivated combination of sounds in a word.
This explains the preschooler’s need to modify the sound form of words: instead of crackers - “kusariki”,
instead of
policeman - “ulitsiner”.
The child seems to be looking for the meaning of the word in the sound itself.

3. The child puts a living, tangible image into the meaning of the word (Kolya in the 4th year of the front garden

called it
“half a kindergarten”).
4. The preschooler has a tendency to give a literal meaning to the words he pronounces: he calls the pilot “airplane”,

In his opinion, you can fly in a hot air balloon or on a glider, but an
“airplane pilot”
flies only in an airplane!

Children do not immediately learn figurative meanings of words. First, the basic meaning is learned. Any use of words in a figurative meaning causes surprise and disagreement among children (having heard the expression “he goes to bed with roosters”,

the child objects:
“No, they will peck.”)
The meanings of children's words are dynamic. L. S. Vygotsky drew attention to the fact that the same word, while identically related to objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, “means” different things for a child of different ages and different levels of development. He showed that at different stages behind the meaning of a word there are different forms of generalization. If at the early stages of a child’s development, emotional-figurative components predominate in the meanings of words, then gradually with age the role of logical components increases. For a child aged 3 - 5 years, the central place is occupied by the process of mastering the clear objective assignment of words and their specific meanings, and at 5 - 6 years - the system of so-called everyday concepts, but in which emotional-figurative, visual connections still dominate.

Thus , in its concretely related form, the meaning of a word arises before the concept and is a prerequisite for its formation. The concept denoted by the word, being a generalized image of reality, grows, expands, deepens as the child develops, as the sphere of his activity expands and becomes more diverse, and the circle of people and objects with which he comes into contact increases. In the course of its development, the child’s speech ceases to be dependent on the sensory situation.

By older preschool age, children master vocabulary and other components of the language to such an extent that the acquired language actually becomes their native language. Here the formation of the core of the dictionary should essentially end. At the same time, “semantic and, in part, grammatical development remain far from complete”2.

Clarification of the semantic content of words by the age of 6–7 years is still gaining momentum. This is associated with the assimilation of new knowledge about the world and with the emergence of an aesthetic attitude towards words and speech in general. At first, children unconsciously use metaphors in their speech. (The child watches the mashed potatoes being prepared: “Why are you hollowing out the potatoes? Why are you pushing them apart?

potatoes
?
I saw you were pushing her now. In older preschool age, cases of conscious use of metaphors are observed
(“What big grapes! Like balloons!”1).
The vocabulary of preschoolers is actively enriched by words “invented” by them (“pretty”, “naked”, “ma-zelin”).

Word creation is the most important feature of children's speech.
Facts collected by psychologists, teachers, and linguists indicate that the period from two to five is characterized by active word creation in children.
Moreover, new words are constructed according to the laws of language based on imitation of the forms that they hear from surrounding adults. Word creation is an indicator of the mastery of the morphological elements of a language, which are associated with the quantitative accumulation of words and the development of their meanings. An important task of education and training is to take into account the patterns of mastering the meanings of words, to gradually deepen them, and to develop the skills of semantic selection of words in accordance with the context of the utterance.

Vocabulary games

1. “Name the animal (plant, name, etc.).” Take the ball and place the children in front of you in a semicircle. Throw the ball to the children one by one: the child who caught the ball must name a word from a given thematic group and throw the ball back. The kid who couldn’t remember the word is eliminated from the game. The winner is the child who was able to stay in the game.
2. "Edible - inedible." The presenter says any word and throws the ball to the child. If the word denotes an edible object, the child catches the ball; if it is inedible, he throws it away. The exercise helps to understand how correctly the child has mastered the meaning of words. For example, if a child claims that a plate belongs to the group of edible objects, there is reason to think about it.
3. "Big small". The rules are the same as in the previous game. The presenter pronounces one word from a pair (“chair” or “high chair”, “table” or “little table”, “spoon” or “spoon”). If the child believes that the leader named a small object, he catches the ball, if it is large, he throws it away.
4. "Package". Each player receives a “package” with some item. The child must describe his subject in detail so that others understand what he is talking about.
5. "Analogies". Write the “equation” on the card: “A pigeon is a bird, a cat is a ?” The child must understand which thematic group the second word belongs to. This exercise helps you learn words with specific and general meanings.

Formation of active and passive vocabulary

It happens that a child knows a word, but does not use it. The reason often lies in the fact that the baby is not sure of its meaning. He just doesn't know in what context it can be used. The task of parents is to identify these “dead” lexical units and try to transfer them to the active stock (explain their meaning and show an example of use in speech).

Choose a variety of methods to build your child's vocabulary. Active and active children will enjoy playing with a ball: they will diligently remember the words, as long as the game continues. But calm children prefer listening to books and doing exercises with descriptions. And remember! A developed vocabulary is a guarantee of successful learning at school.

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Enriching the vocabulary of preschoolers

Based on the presented description of the stages of understanding concepts, it follows that the development of the vocabulary of children of primary preschool age occurs due to the frequent use of the same words and the addition of new ones. All parents teach their children to name objects and actions.

To help a child comprehend words as a second-level generalization, one must be given the opportunity to touch objects and act with them. It is important to establish as many conditional connections as possible. It is necessary to encourage action: take it, give it to me, turn it, open it, close it, etc. At the same time, you should say a new word repeatedly. For example, “take the pencil case”, “open the pencil case”, “what do you want to put in the pencil case?” This is how the word turns into a meaningful concept and is fixed in the memory of the preschooler.

It is necessary to move to the next level of generalization already in early preschool age. When spending time with your child, it is important to use any environment to increase his awareness.

For example, when pointing to a trolleybus, you need to note not only its “horns”, but also call it the general concept of transport. Immediately give an example of another type of transport and repeat it with your child. And practice this way with each group of concepts.

The development of the vocabulary of preschool children occurs through common and easily implemented methods:

• mastering new concepts
• consolidation of generalizing words
• use of associative series

If you stop using the word as a generalization, then very soon the preschooler will narrow its meaning. For example, a sofa will be considered furniture, while tables and chairs will remain apart; He will classify the usual cucumber and tomato as vegetables, but will forget about onions and beets.

The use of associative connections fills a child’s vocabulary well. “What kind of car do you have?” - and the preschooler begins to describe: “Beautiful, new, goes fast, with a body, blue...”. The more characteristics of any concept adults list, the more words will appear in the child’s descriptive speech.

Don't lose sight of your preschooler's verb vocabulary. It is harmful to perform actions in the presence of a child in silence! There is nothing difficult about talking through each step. Mom can silently lay out the cutlery and only say: “Now we’ll eat.” But nothing prevents you from voicing the whole process: “Let’s put a plate, pour some soup into the plate, put a spoon next to it, and now we’ll sit down to eat.” These methods are extremely simple, but very effective for speech development at 3-4 years old.

It seems to adults that these are completely ordinary words that the child will sooner or later master. And for a child, this is necessary material for replenishing his active vocabulary.

Techniques for developing vocabulary for older preschool children

As the child grows up, it is necessary to complicate and increase the verbal load. It is necessary to use new concepts more and more in speech, explain their meaning to children, and after some time ask about the meaning of new words. It is also important to complicate the content and form of the sentence, showing the preschooler an example of the use of words in speech.

6-year-old children should have a vocabulary of more than 3,000 words. At this age, the preschooler comprehends concepts related to time periods and spatial orientation, and is interested in abstract concepts.

Ways to develop the vocabulary of an older preschooler:

• Ask the child to explain how he understands the meaning of the word. In such explanations, children rely on the functional characteristics of the object and better remember new concepts (jump rope - a rope that they jump over; a meat grinder - chops meat into small pieces, etc.)
• Look for connections with already known concepts and classify them as a general group (turkey is a bird, a domestic animal)
• Introduce the preschooler to different meanings of words (homonymous series: braid, brush, ring, car, bow, etc.)
• Form comparative degrees of adjectives (tall - higher, beautiful - more beautiful, good - better)
• Pay attention to new words when reading fairy tales and other children's literature: explain the meaning, offer to repeat the word.

At preschool age, the core of the vocabulary is formed, which is also used by adults. If you miss this sensitive period, it will not be easy to catch up in the child’s speech development. People don't just speak with words. They think and reflect with their help. Expanding a preschooler's vocabulary means not only increasing his awareness, but also developing his thinking.