Language Cognition: A Parent-Child Language Play Program Using Picture Books

The end of the year is a time when families spend more time together. Reading books is a great way for parents to connect more deeply with their children and support their language development while at home .

Today, I'd like to introduce you to the "Word Play Program Using Picture Books" produced in collaboration between Seoul National University's Department of Child and Family Studies, Language Cognition Research Institute, and EBS :)

This program aims to promote story comprehension and phonological awareness development in children who struggle with Korean. It introduces optimal reading methods. Drawing on a paper from the Department of Child and Family Studies at Seoul National University and a video produced by EBS, we'll examine the key features, effects, and implementation methods of the word play program.

Choi Na-ya, Choi Ji-soo, Noh Bo-ram, & Oh Tae-seong. (2021). The effects of a parent-child word play program using picture books on reading interaction, story comprehension, and phonological awareness in 4-year-old children. Journal of Cognitive Development Intervention, 12(1), 71-102.

What is the horse play program?

The Word Play program strengthens linguistic interaction between parents and children by reading picture books together. Beyond simply reading books, the goal is to comprehensively develop children's language skills through a variety of language activities.

This program, developed in collaboration between the Language Cognition Lab of the Department of Child and Family Studies at Seoul National University and EBS, was designed to enhance children's literacy skills. Word play encourages children to think about speech sounds, helping them develop phonological awareness.

The Effects of Play Programs on Reading Interaction

As a result of examining the interaction between children and their parents before being exposed to the word play program through the broadcast ' EBS Your Literacy Part 4 - The Secret that Changes My Child ', it was revealed that most parents read books for the purpose of teaching interaction, that is, to help their children learn.

When reading books focuses on 'studying Hangul' rather than expanding the language or enjoying reading, children end up avoiding it more and thinking Hangul is difficult.

If you watch the broadcast, you can see that reading books while playing with words greatly develops children's story comprehension and phonemic awareness. Today, let's take a look at a few ways to read books to children.

 

I like it when you read books like this!

1. Follow the reading according to your child's interests.

We're talking about sweet potatoes and then you suddenly tell us about your trip to the vineyard?

If a child starts talking about something unrelated to the book while reading, adults can try to correct the child by reading the words in the book again. However, what's truly important is to expand the child's curiosity and make the act of reading itself enjoyable. Therefore , if the child talks about something slightly different from the book, try to connect the topic to the book and have a conversation.

For example, "Sweet potatoes are oddly shaped. Then what are grapes? They're round!" or "If you say sweet potatoes backwards, they're round. If you say grapes backwards, what are they? Dopo?"

2. Please tell the story by looking at the pictures rather than the text.

It's said that children who don't know how to read or aren't interested in reading listen to the story by looking at the pictures in a storybook. Help your children tell the story by looking at the pictures .

"What's going on?" "Wow, this turtle is really big. Where's the smallest animal?" etc. Use plenty of expressions from the book to explain while looking at the pictures.

3. Sing the simultaneous text as a song.

When children sing along, they become more interested in the poem and pay closer attention to the letters. Start by reading short, easy poems together, and then work together to figure out how to sing them. As children sing, they will learn the lyrics and understand the letters within them.

4. Expand what you learned in the book into games or quizzes!

Game 1: What word ends with "gigi-gija"? Isn't this a song you've probably sung at least once as a child? If there's a word that appears repeatedly in a book, let's play a game together to find letters that start or end with the same sound!

Game 2: Play Twenty Questions using expressions from the book. For example, you could ask questions using various onomatopoeias and mimetic words, such as, "The back legs are longer than the front legs. The fur is fluffy. It jumps around a lot. What kind of animal is it?" and have the children guess the answers!

Game 3: There's also a word chain game that families can take turns playing! You can take turns saying the words one by one, but you can also write the words from the book on pieces of paper, cut them out, and string them together like a train in the order of the words. It's like a puzzle.

Today, we learned about a great word play program to enjoy with your children at home during the holidays. Don't think of language learning as simply "studying" or "learning," but rather as a fun activity that can be enjoyed like playing with words.

I hope you'll develop your literacy skills through word play, and that you'll spend a warm, cozy time with your children this holiday season, creating many happy memories for both parents and children. Have a happy holiday season, and please join us at Everbloom next year!

Happy New Year^^