Linguo-Statistical Analysis of Borrowed Words Used in School Textbooks and Children's Literature Books

• Authors: Viktorija Kuzina
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Introduction Pre-primary school and basic educational programmes pay attention to children's speech development, combining it with vocabulary development and acquisition of words meaning.As early as in kindergarten, favourable opportunities should be provided for the development of literary correct and rich language, and non-literate words should be eliminated from children's speech. The kindergarten curriculum claims that at the preschool age, children must acquire such a vocabulary, which can ensure communication by means of language, prepare them for successful learning at school, and foster perception of folklore, fiction, films, radio and TV programmes. While children are learning the language, words from their passive vocabulary can enter the active vocabulary, depending on the work done for language enrichment by adults. A very important task to be implemented by both parents and teachers is to open up the wealth of the literary language, which can be perceived through multiple sources - folksongs, fairytales, legends, proverbs, sayings, riddles. A major role is played by fiction in the process of personality development, because it immensely facilitates children's knowledge about the environment, adult and peers life, and about their ideas, actions and aspirations.Diminutives, exclamation words and sound verbs, serving efficiently for short emotional description of feelings, volition or reality and expressing their assessment, are widely involved by both adults and children in their language as well as used in genres of folklore and children literature.Children have to be able to use comparisons, synonyms, idioms, and foreign words, because in daily speech they are an integral components (they are widespread in fiction and in other styles, different language fields). Loan words help to acquire foreign language more easily, approach languages and promote understanding.Aim of the study The aim of this work is to discover the usage of foreign words in textbooks for primary schools because foreign words are crucial components of vocabulary.Materials and methods School textbooks, children's literature. Methods of applied linguastatistics, descriptive method and testing.Results As figures of statistics show there are quite a lot of foreign words which are used in textbooks for children in primary classes. Teachers think that a limited number of foreign words should be included in textbooks.Conclusions Primary attention at the teachers' studies courses is paid to teaching foreign methodology.

Keywords

EN

school textbooks; children literature; borrowed words; linguastatistical analysis

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Ad verba liberorum
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 96-103

Dates

published

2009-05-01

online

2012-08-21

Contributors

author

Viktorija Kuzina

• Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy, Riga, Latvia

References

• Birznieks, P. (1996). Valodas pievilcība un atbaide [Attractiveness and Inhibition of a Language]. Karogs. Nr. 1, 148. lpp. (in Latvian).
• Freiberga, I. (2006). Dzimtās valodas devalvācija un bērna attīstība pirmsskolas vecumā empīrisko vērojumu un teorētisko atziņu aspektā [Devaluation of the Native Language and the Child's Development During the Preschool Age as Seen from the Point of View of Empirical Observations and Theoretical Conclusions]. In: RPIVA III Starptautiskās zinātniskās konferences materiāli "Teorija praksei mūsdienu sabiedrības izglītībā" (135. lpp.). Rīga: RPIVA (in Latvian).
• Freidenfelds, I. (2006). Bērnu vairākvalodība kā laikmeta zīme [Children's Multilingualism as a Mark of the Epoch]. In: RPIVA III Starptautiskās zinātniskās konferences materiāli "Teorija praksei mūsdienu sabiedrības izglītībā" (142. lpp.). Rīga: RPIVA (in Latvian).
• Kaņepēja, R. (2003). Iepazīšanās ar apkārtni. Literatūra. Runas attīstīšana. Rakstīt un lasītmācīšana. Es gribu iet skolā [Getting Introduced to the Neighbourhood. Literature. Speech Development. Teaching to Write and Read. I Want to Go to School]. Rīga: LU, 58 lpp. (in Latvian).
• Kuzina, V. (1996). Bērnu vārdu krājuma bagātināšanas iespējas pirmsskolā un sākumskolā [Possibilities to Enrich Children's Vocabulary in Preschool and Primary School]. In: New dimensions in the development of society. Jelgava: LLU, 260. lpp. (in Latvian).

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10196-011-0012-3