The language spoken at home is the key to success at school
The rich language spoken at home has a positive impact on a child's school success and educational life. Stating that children with parents who use long and proper sentences and abstract expressions in their speech are more successful at school, experts recommend that parents use descriptive expressions whenever possible when communicating with their children.
Üsküdar University Sociology Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan pointed out that the richness and content of the language spoken in the home environment affects the success of students throughout their school life.
Using a rich vocabulary
Noting that children whose parents can speak long and proper descriptive sentences with abstract expressions are much more successful in education life compared to their other friends, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said: "Studies show that parents in the homes of students who are successful in education use many more different words than the parents of unsuccessful children. It is seen that these parents enrich their conversations with plenty of adjectives and abstract expressions, and give answers to the questions asked by children that develop their curiosity."
Weak codes in families with low levels of education
On the other hand, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan emphasized that especially in families with low levels of education, stereotypical expressions are frequently used when talking to children and abstract thoughts are rarely expressed, "In families with low levels of education, unfinished and structurally weak sentences are often used. Emotions and thoughts cannot be fully expressed. Emotions and thoughts are mostly expressed with hand gestures."
Restricted responses restrict the child
Noting that children who grow up in these weak codes receive limited answers to the questions they ask their parents at home with expressions such as "It is forbidden, you cannot understand, that's how it is", Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan noted that this situation affects the development of the child and said, "For this reason, compared to the children of educated families who have mastered the complex code about life, children who grow up with weak codes are both less informed and less curious."
Language at school becomes harder to understand
Noting that children have difficulty responding to abstract and emotionless language used in teaching, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "The language used by the teacher is incomprehensible to the child this time. The child tries to interpret the language used by the teacher, which is full of complex, abstract expressions, but may fail to make the right interpretation. The linguistic expressions used by the child in exams are weak, they use a different language with their teachers and school administrators, they have many communication accidents and disciplinary problems arise. The child feels like they are in a foreign country where the same words are spoken with different meanings. They want to get out of there as soon as possible. While these children have less difficulty in education based on rote memorization, they have difficulty in modern education methods and may have great problems in grasping conceptual distinctions involving generalization and abstraction."
Explanatory expressions should be used when talking to the child
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan pointed out that families should use descriptive expressions and avoid imperatives as much as possible when talking to their children for their academic success.
Children's imagination should be enriched
Underlining that parents can contribute to the enrichment of their children's imagination and the development of their abstract thinking abilities by encouraging them to read more folk tales, epics, fairy tales, works from Eastern and Western mythology, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "Individuals who can think abstractly are both successful in education and innovative in business life, not imitative."
