Factors that promote vocabulary development in lower grades elementary school students

Besedni zaklad pomembno vpliva na človeka kot individualno bitje, saj vpliva na naše misli, besede in dejanja. Pomembno vpliva tudi na to, kako nas vidijo drugi, saj s svojimi besedami odražamo svojo osebnost, svoje znanje, razgledanost in izobraženost. Starši si za svoje otroke želijo, da bi znali jasno izražati svoja stališča in mnenje, se znali postaviti zase in bili uspešni. Večji besedni zaklad je gotovo eden izmed dejavnikov, ki k temu veliko pripomore. Osnova besednega zaklada so besede, ki so obenem tudi osnova govora. Otrok govor najprej posluša in razume, šele nato ga začne uporabljati. Njegova prva komunikacija je jok, sledijo gruljenje, bebljanje, faza izgovorjave po govornem vzorcu, geste in kretnje. Med 12. in 20. mesecem otrok izgovori prvo besedo. Postopoma se uči novih besed, tvori fraze in preproste povedi ter sčasoma oblikuje vse bolj celovite povedi. Na učenje novih besed pomembno vpliva otrokovo okolje v prvih letih njegovega življenja. Le-tega močno oblikuje predvsem mama, ki lahko z ustreznimi odzivi in zgledom spodbuja razvoj govora. Očetovi vlogi se v literaturi namenja zelo malo pozornosti, so pa raziskovalci opazili razlike v komunikaciji z malčkom med materjo in očetom. Raziskovalci kot ugodne dejavnike za razvoj besednega zaklada navajajo višjo izobrazbo matere in očeta, dober literarni zgled staršev (branje staršev, obiskovanje knjižnice in kulturnih ustanov), skupno branje ter prvo- in edinorojenost. Pri spolu dajejo prednost deklicam, pri katerih naj bi se govor razvil hitreje, obenem pa naj bi se tudi starši z njimi pogovarjali pogosteje in v komunikaciji z njimi bolj artikulirani svoj govor. Vrtec naj bi ugodno vplival predvsem na otroke staršev z nižjo izobrazbo oz. otroke iz manj spodbudnega okolja. Vpliv naštetih dejavnikov smo preverili v raziskavi, ki je zajemala 62 domišljijskih spisov, s katerimi smo pridobili informacije o stopnji besednega zaklada, ter 62 anketnih vprašalnikov za starše in učence, s katerimi smo pridobili podatke o preučevanih dejavnikih (izobrazba staršev, nekateri vplivi kakovosti družinskega okolja, skupno branje, (ne)obiskovanje vrtca, število otrok v družini in spol otroka). Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da sta se kot dejavnika, ki spodbudno vplivata na večji besedni zaklad otrok, izkazala višja izobrazba matere in očeta ter spol otroka. Pogosto obiskovanje knjižnice in kulturnih ustanov sta se izkazala za statistično pomembna le na podlagi odgovorov staršev ne pa tudi otrok. Pogosto branje staršev, skupno branje staršev in otrok ter število otrok v družini se v naši raziskavi niso izkazali za statistično pomembne dejavnike. Prav tako glede na rezultate raziskave ni statistično pomembnih razlik med otroki, ki so vrtec obiskovali in tistimi, ki ga niso. Tudi starost otrok ob vstopu v vrtec v našem vzorcu ni povezana z besednim zakladom otrok. Ugotovili smo tudi, da imajo učenke 3. razredov večji besedni zaklad od svojih vrstnikov, medtem ko razlike med spoloma učencev 5. razredov niso bile statistično pomembne. Od tod smo sklepali, da se razlike v besednem zakladu deklic in dečkov v našem vzorcu s starostjo zmanjšujejo. S spoznanji iz literature in rezultati raziskave želimo starše, vzgojitelje in učitelje spodbuditi k zavedanju o pomenu njihove vloge ter jih motivirati k ustvarjanju okoliščin, ki bodo prispevale k večjemu besednemu zakladu otrok.Vocabulary has an important impact on man as an individual being, since it influences our thoughts and acts. It has also an important impact on how we are perceived by others, since with our words, we express our personality, our knowledge and education. Parents want for their children to be able to clearly state their views and opinion, stand up for themselves and be successful. Greater vocabulary is definitely one of the factors that contribute to it. The basis of vocabulary are words, which are at the same time the basis of speech. The child first listens and understands speech and only after this he starts using it. His first communication is through crying, which is followed by babbling, a phase of pronunciation according to the speech pattern, gestures and signs. Between the 12th and 20th month, the child speaks his first word. He gradually learns new words, forms phrases and simple sentences and gradually forms increasingly comprehensive sentences. Learning of new words is importantly influenced by the child’s environment in the first years of life. This is particularly formed by the mother, who can with proper responses and her example encourage the development of speech. In literature, the role of the father is given very little attention, but researchers have observed differences in the communication between the toddler and the mother and father. As favourable factors for the development of vocabulary, researchers state higher education of the mother and father, great literary example of parents (reading of parents, visiting of the library and cultural institutions), joint reading and being born first or being an only child. In terms of gender, researchers favour girls, in which speech is known to develop quicker and at the same time, parents talk with them more often and articulate their speech more while communicating with them. The kindergarten is supposed to have a favourable impact particularly on children of parents with lower education or children from a less encouraging environment. We checked the impact of the mentioned factors in our research, which included 62 fantasy essays, with which we obtained information about the level of vocabulary, and 62 survey questionnaires for parents and pupils, with which we obtained data about the studied factors (education of parents, some influences on the quality of the domestic environment, joint reading, (not) attending the kindergarten, number of children in the family and the gender of the child). The results of the research showed that higher education of the mother and father and the gender of the child have proved to be the factors that have an encouraging impact on greater vocabulary of children. Frequent visiting of the library and cultural institutions did prove to be statistically important only on the basis of the answers of parents, but not the children. Frequent reading of parents, joint reading of parents and children and the number of children in the family did not prove to be statistically important factors in our research. In terms of the results, there are also no statistically important differences between children, who attended the kindergarten, and those, who did not. In our sample, the age of children when entering the kindergarten is also not connected with the vocabulary of children. We also found that female third graders have a greater vocabulary than their male peers, while the differences between genders were not statistically important in fifth graders. Based on this, we assumed that the differences in the vocabulary of girls and boys in our sample decrease with age. Based on the findings from literature and our research results, we want to encourage parents, educators and children to be aware of the importance of their role and to motivate them to establish such circumstances that will contribute to greater vocabulary of children