The purpose of this study is to help two-year-olds gesture and their vocabulary by developing gesture language program using picture books, so that they can communicate effectively with others.
In order to develop the gesture language program using pi...
The purpose of this study is to help two-year-olds gesture and their vocabulary by developing gesture language program using picture books, so that they can communicate effectively with others.
In order to develop the gesture language program using picture books, four developmental steps were taken. In the first step, the basic direction of the program was established through theoretical investigations and conceptual thesis. In the second step, a basic survey was conducted among nursery teachers in order to find out toddler class picture book environment, the gesture language programs, and the level of requirement. In the third step, 13 picture books were selected for this research based on theoretical bases offered by Petty, Petty & Salzer(1994), Schikedanz(1986), etc., and a list recommended by ‘Children's Book Research Association’(2007), and through a survey among teachers. Then, Developed the contents of gesture language program for two-year-olds on the base of general process of curriculum development as establishing program goal, selecting contents, teaching-learning methods, and procedure, using the chosen picture books.
In the last step, as the first verification process, the program was first validated in its contents by 13 professionals in order to review the contents and the adequacy of the developed program. The program was practiced on toddlers, who did not belong to either experimental group or control group, using a random-selected picture book, and the whole procedure was filmed, to be validated by the professionals again as the second validated process.
To verify the effect of developed program, implemented pre-post-following test and designed for the test and controlled group. I Arranged 42 toddlers of two years old, in two day care centers located in Incheon, for the test and controlled group. For 21 toddlers in the test group, implemented 24 sessions of program and for 21 in the controlled group, implemented the education according to general program. As the measuring instrument, used PPVT-R (Lloyd & Leota, 1981) for vocabulary test and CSBS scale for gesture test. To use CSBS scale properly, amended and supplemented the scale of Kim eui hyang (2006) and then tested the contents' validity with experts. And also implemented t-test and ANCOVA with SPSSWIN 12.0 of statistical program to analyses the effect of the research.
When summarizing the results of this research, they are as followings.
First, it was shown that the average score of test group, which took the treatment with gesture language program using picture books, was higher than that of controlled group both in gesture and vocabulary and there was statistically significant difference between two groups. There was shown significant difference in all sub-factors of gesture including deictic, conventional, and representational gesture, and among them, representational gesture showed greatest difference in average score.
Second, as the result of pre-test and post-test, the treatmentreceived test group showed higher average score both in gesture and vocabulary than that of the controlled group in the post-test, and there was statistically significant difference within the group. There was shown significant difference in all sub-factors of gesture including deictic, conventional, and representational gesture, and among them, representational gesture showed greatest difference in average score.
Third, I implemented following test for vocabulary to verify the effect of increased gesture by the program on toddler's ability with maintenance. As the result of this, I could see that the test group showed higher average score in vocabulary than that of the controlled group, and there was statistically significant difference between groups. That is to say, The developed program by this research showed positive effect on toddler's gesture and vocabulary, and this increased gesture implies that it has the sustained effect on following vocabulary.
This study is to develop a gesture language program using picture books, apply it to the two-year-olds, and verify the effect of it on their gesture and vocabulary. As the result of verifying the effect of the program, it was shown that there were increased gesture and vocabulary of toddlers and also positive effect on following vocabulary.