çukurova university the institute of social sciences department of

ÇUKUROVA UNIVERSITY
THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
THE MATCH/MISMATCH BETWEEN LANGUAGE USED IN CHILD
BOOKS AND ACTUAL LANGUAGE USED AS MEASURED BY TURKISH
CDI
Emel UÇAR
MASTER OF ARTS
ADANA, 2008
ÇUKUROVA UNIVERSITY
THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
THE MATCH/MISMATCH BETWEEN LANGUAGE USED IN CHILD
BOOKS AND ACTUAL LANGUAGE USED AS MEASURED BY TURKISH
CDI
Emel UÇAR
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice SOFU
MASTER OF ARTS
ADANA, 2008
To the Directorship of the Institute of Social Sciences, Çukurova University.
We certify that this thesis is satisfactory for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in
the Department of English Language Teaching.
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice SOFU
Member of Examining Committee: Prof.Dr.Yaşare AKTAŞ ARNAS
Member of Examining Committee: Asst. Prof. Dr. Aynur KESEN
I certify that this thesis conforms to the formal standards of the Institute of Social
Sciences.
…/……/……
Prof. Dr. Nihat KÜÇÜKSAVAŞ
Director of Institute
P.S: The uncited usage of the reports, charts, figures, and photographs in this thesis, whether original or
quoted for mother sources, is subject to the Law of Works of Arts and Thought No: 5846
NOT: Bu tezde kullanılan özgün ve başka kaynaktan yapılan bildirişlerin, çizelge, şekil ve fotoğrafların
kaynak gösterimeden kullanımı, 5846 sayılı Fikir ve Sanat Eserleri Kanunu’ndaki hükümlere tabidir.
I
ABSTRACT
THE MATCH/MISMATCH BETWEEN LANGUAGE USED IN CHILD BOOKS
AND ACTUAL LANGUAGE USED AS MEASURED BY TURKISH CDI
Emel UÇAR
Master of Arts, English Language Teaching Department
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice SOFU
August 2008, 111 pages
Choosing the right book for the appropriate age level has great importance and
effects on children’s development of vocabulary and grammar acquisition. In the child
books, the language used above the vocabulary and grammar level of the child will
surpass the benefits of reading books to children. For this reason, so as to choose a
child book, being aware of the language of the child has great importance. The first aim
of this study is to reveal if the vocabulary 8-30 month old children use as determined by
Turkish CDI match with the vocabulary present in thirteen child books written for 0-3
years of age and chosen from four different publishers. Another aim of this study is to
investigate if the grammatical forms that 16-30 month old toddlers use match with the
grammatical forms that are present in the child books. In addition, this study also aims
to explore if the grammatical forms that children are able to produce increase as their
lexicon grows.
After addressing the issues of terminology and definitions, related literature
focused on the studies and theories on the comprehension and production of children,
acquisition of lexicon and grammar and the contributions of reading books to children.
It also focused on the history of the data collection tool of the present study: CDI.
Turkish CDI is a parental report method therefore, Turkish adaptations of CDIs were
handed out to the parents and they were asked to fill in the checklists that provide to
follow the comprehensive and productive vocabulary and grammatical development of
their children.
The results show that vocabulary items such as sound effects, toys, body parts,
small household items, furniture and rooms, people, verbs and postpositions are present
both in the books chosen and child vocabulary as measured by Turkish CDI. However,
in the child books, words in animals, vehicles, clothes, outside items, words about time,
II
description words, pronouns, question words and quantifiers categories do not match
with the words that are produced by children.
In an overall evaluation, our results indicate that the grammatical items that are
present in the child books do not match with the grammatical items that are produced by
16-30 month old toddlers. There are also additional grammatical items that are
frequently produced by toddlers, but do not take place in the child books such as,
suffixes for negation, causative, passive, unergative, reported past in simple past.
Lastly, the relationship between the lexicon and grammar growth of 16-30 month
old toddlers was investigated. The results show that as children get older and expand
their vocabulary, the number of grammatical morphemes they use increases.
Keywords: Comprehensive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, grammatical forms,
child books, Turkish CDI.
III
ÖZET
ÇOCUK KİTAPLARINDA KULLANILAN DİLİN TÜRKÇE CDI İLE
ÖLÇÜLEN GERÇEK DİL İLE UYUMU / UYUMSUZLUGU
Emel UÇAR
Yüksek Lisans Tezi, İngiliz Dili Eğitimi Ana Bilim Dalı
Danışman: Doç. Dr. Hatice SOFU
Ağustos 2008, 111 sayfa
Uygun yaş seviyesi için yapılan kitap seçiminin, çocukların sözcük ve dilbilgisi
edinimine büyük etkisi ve önemi vardır. Çocuk kitaplarında, çocuğun sözcük ve
dilbilgisi seviyesinin üzerinde kullanılan dil, çocuklara kitap okumanın faydalarını
ortadan kaldıracaktır. Bu nedenle bir çocuk kitabı seçmek için, çocuğun kullandığı dilin
farkında olmanın büyük önemi vardır. Bu çalışmanın ilk amacı, 0-3 yaş çocukları için
yazılmış ve dört farklı yayın evinden seçilmiş on üç çocuk kitabında kullanılan
sözcüklerin 8-30 aylık çocukların Türkçe CDI ile belirlenen sözcük dağarcıklarıyla
eşleşip eşleşmediklerini ortaya koymaktır. Bu çalışmanın diğer amacı, çocuk
kitaplarında kullanılan dilbilgisi yapılarının 16–30 aylık çocukların kullandıkları
dilbilgisi yapılarıyla eşleşip eşleşmediğini araştırmaktır. Buna ek olarak, bu çalışma
ayrıca çocukların kelime dağarcığı genişledikçe, üretebildikleri dilbilgisi yapılarında bir
artış olup olmadığını araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır.
Terminoloji ve tanımlara değindikten sonra, çocukların sözcükleri anlama ve
üretmeleri, sözcük ve dilbilgisi edinimleri ve çocuklara kitap okumanın katkılarıyla
ilgili literatüre odaklanıldı. Çalışma ayrıca veri toplama aracı olan CDI’ın tarihçesine
de değindi. Türkçe CDI bir ebeveyn rapor etme yöntemidir, bu yüzden CDI’ın Türkçe
uyarlamaları ebeveynlere dağıtıldı ve onlardan çocuklarının sözcükleri anlamaları ve
üretmelerini göz önünde bulundurarak sözcük kontrol listelerini doldurmaları istendi.
Sonuçlar gösteriyor ki, ses efektleri, oyuncaklar, vücut bölümleri, küçük ev
aletleri, mobilyalar ve odalar, insanlar, eylemler ve yer bildiren sözcükler
kategorilerindeki sözcüklerin hem seçilen kitaptaki sözcüklerde hem de Türkçe CDI ile
belirlenen çocukların sözcük haznesinde bulunduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bununla birlikte,
çocuk kitaplarında bulunan hayvanlar, araçlar, kıyafetler, evin dışı ile ilgili sözcükler,
zamanla ilgili sözcükler, tanımlayıcı sözcükler, zamirler, soru sözcükleri ve miktar
IV
bildiren sözcükler kategorilerindeki sözcükler, çocukların ürettikleri sözcüklerle
eşleşmemektedir.
Genel bir değerlendirmede sonuçlar gösteriyor ki, çocuk kitaplarında kullanılan
dilbilgisi yapıları, 16–30 aylık çocukların ürettikleri dil bilgisi yapılarıyla
eşleşmemektedir. Çocuklar tarafından sıklıkla kullanılan ancak kitaplarda bulunmayan
olumsuzluk eki, ettirgen, etken yapı, öneri ve görülen geçmiş zamanın rivayeti gibi dil
bilgisi yapılarıyla da karşılaşılmıştır.
Son olarak, 16–30 aylık çocukların sözcük dağarcığı ve kullandıkları dilbilgisi
yapıları arasındaki ilişki araştırıldı. Sonuçlar gösteriyor ki çocuklar yaşça büyüdükçe ve
kelime haznelerini genişlettikçe, kullandıkları dilbilgisel eklerin sayısı artmaktadır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Anlanan sözcük haznesi, söylenen sözcük haznesi, dilbilgisel
görevi olan sözcükler, Türkçe CDI.
V
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest and most sincere gratidude to my thesis
advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice Sofu for her expert comments, constructive feedback,
constant support, professional advice and giving her valuable time throughout the
preperation of this thesis.
I would also like to express my thanks to Prof. Dr. Yaşare Aktaş Arnas and
Assist. Prof. Dr. Aynur Kesen for excepting to be a part of my thesis commitee.
I owe special thanks to Feyza Türkay for her support and materials provided. It
is my pleasure to meet her.
I wish to express my special thanks to the people who looked after my son while
I was busy with this thesis.
My heartfelt thanks go to my son, Kerem, for being a good boy and leaving the
nights to me for the preperation of this thesis. I hope to read this thesis with him some
day.
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................I
ÖZET...............................................................................................................................III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................V
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................IX
LIST OF APPENDICES................................................................................................XI
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background to the Study.............................................................................................1
1.1 Statement of the Problem……………….....………………..…...……….…...........3
1.2 Purpose of the Study …..................................................…………...……........……3
1.3 Research Questions.....................................................................................................4
1.4 Limitations .................................................................................................................4
1.5 Operational Definitions……………………………….....…………..….........……..4
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction …………………………………………………............……...….…..6
2.1 Comprehension versus Production……………………………............…...…….....6
2.2 Acquisition of Lexicon ……………………………………………….…... ………8
2.3 Acquisition of Grammar……………………………………..…………..………..11
2.4 History of the Macarthur Communicative Development Inventory……..……..…13
2.5 Contributions of Reading Books to Language of Children…………………….…15
VII
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………..….….…...17
3.1 Participants and Setting……………………………………………………….……17
3.2 Instruments……………………………………………………………….…….…..18
3.2.1 Macarthur Communicative Developmental Inventory………........................18
3.2.2 Proposed Form of Turkish CDI …………………….………..…...................19
3.2.3 The Child Books ……………………………………………...…..………….21
3.3 Data Collection……………………….………………………………...………..…23
3.3.1 Application of the CDI……………………………….....….…………...…..23
3.3.2 Analysis of the Child Books………………………………..….…………….23
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.0 Introduction ………………………………………………..………...……….........25
4.1 Comparison of the Language used in the Child Books and Turkish CDI…….…....25
4.1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………..………………25
4.1.1 Comparison of the Words both in the Child Books and Turkish CDI….…....25
4.1.2 Grammatical Analysis of 13 Child Books........................................................49
4.1.3 Comparison of Grammatical Items both in the Child Books and Turkish
CDI…………………………………………..……………………………....53
4.1.4 Growth of Grammar Parallel to Lexical Development………...……..……..56
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
5.0 Introduction ………………………………..………………………………..….…61
5.1 Conclusions …………………………………..………………..……………….….61
5.2 Implications for ELT……………………………..……………….….…………….64
VIII
5.3 Suggestions …………………………..……………………………………....……65
REFERENCES…………………………………..………………………..….……….66
APPENDICES……………………………………………..……………….………….72
CURRICULUM VITAE…………………………………………………………….111
IX
LIST OF TABLES
TABLES
PAGE
Table 3.1. Lexical items in the Toddler Scale of Turkish CDI compared with
the MacArthur CDI……………………….………………………………19
Table 3. 2. Lexical Items in the Infant Scale of Turkish CDI Compared with
the Macarthur CDI…………………………………………………………20
Table 3.3. The Child Books…………………………………………………………….22
Table 4.1. Sound Effects and Animal Sounds…………………………………………27
Table 4.2. Animals……………………………………………………………………..28
Table 4.3. Vehicles……………………………………………………...……………...29
Table 4.4. Toys……………………………………………………….………………..30
Tablo 4.5a. Food and Drink……………………………………………………………31
Table 4.5b. Frequently Used Food and Drink Absent in the Child Books…………..…32
Table 4.6a. Clothes …………………………………………………………………….33
Table 4.6b. Clothes Absent in the Child Books…………………….………………….33
Table 4.7. Body Parts…………………………………………………..………………34
Table 4.8. Small Household Items……………………………………..………………35
Table 4.9. Furniture and Rooms………………………………………………………..36
Table 4.10. Outdoor Items..........…………………………………...…………………..37
Table 4.11. Places to Go………………………………………………………………..37
Table 4.12. People………………………………………………………..…….………38
Table 4.13a. Games and Routines…………………………………………….………..39
Table 4.13b. Games and Routines Absent in the Child Books………………..………..40
Table 4.14a. Verbs……………………………………………………………..……….41
Table 4.14b. Other Verbs Frequently Used by Children; Not Present in
the Child Books………………………………………………..…………43
Table 4.1. Description Words………………………………………………..…..……..44
Table 4.16. Words about Time…………………………………………….…………...45
Table 4.17. Pronouns…………………………………………….……………….…….45
Table 4.18. Question Words…………………………………….………….…………..46
Table 4.19. Prepositions………………………………………….………….…………48
X
Table 4.20. Quantifiers………………………………………….…………..………….48
Table 4.21. Examples and Numbers of Tense Morphemes Used in the
Child Books………………………………………………………………..50
Table 4.22. Examples and Number of the Case Markers Used in the
Child Books..................................................................................................51
Table 4.23. Inflectional Morphemes and Their Numbers Used in the
Child Books………………………………………………….…………….52
Table 4.24 Tense Suffixes …………………………...………….……….…….………54
Table 4.25 Case Markers………………………………...…….………….……………55
Table 4.26 Comparison of Other Grammatical Items both in the Child Books
and Turkish CDI………………………………..…………………..….…..55
Table 4.27 Grammatical Items that do not Exist in the Child Books ………...…...…...56
Table 4.28 Numbers of Production Vocabulary of 16-18 and 28-30 Month Old
Toddlers …………………………………………………….……..…..…..57
Table 4.29 Production Numbers of Grammatical Items Between16-18 and 28-30 Month
Old Toddlers …………………………….…………….…………………...58
Table 4.30 Production Numbers of Verbs and Tense Morphemes Produced by 16-18
and 28-30 Month old Toddlers…………….………..………………….….59
XI
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX
PAGE
Appendix 1: Texts of the Child Books...........................................................................63
Appendix 2: Turkish CDI Infant Scale .........................................................................66
Appendix 3: Turkish CDI Toddler Scale ......................................................................82
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background to the Study
Language acquisition has been the concern of linguists for a long time. By the
age of three years, a normally developing child has completed the great majority of its
language scaffold, for this reason, it is the most ideal time to trace the development of
language.
Children have already begun their language careers by the age of 3-4 months
with babblings and single vowels. Then they combine the vowels with the consonants
with more meaningful responses in the communication with the others (between 6 to 12
months). By the age of 8 months, comprehension has already started but children are
not capable enough to join the conversation with systematic strings of words. After 12
month of age, they begin to start struggling for producing single word utterances. They
have a limited vocabulary repertoire until 16 months. It is possible to follow the
“vocabulary spurt” in every language acquisition somewhere between 16 and 24
months. Then comes the “grammar spurt” between 24 and 30 months of age. This
sequence endorses the proposal that language is constructed not triggered (Marchmann,
2004). Devescovi et al. (2005) studied on the relationship between grammatical and
lexical development comparing 233 English and 233 Italian children aged between 1;6
and 2;6 by using MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). They
found out that there is a correlation in the vocabulary size and Mean Length of
Utterance of both English and Italian children. Marchman and Bates (1994, in Dixon
and Marchman, 2000), propose that “grammatical principles emerge in a system that
has built up a sufficient lexical base to support the further abstraction of grammatical
regularities, that is, a critical mass” (p. 204). In other words, the growing lexicon
provides the foundation for grammar learning, and contributes fundamentally to the
organization of increasingly complex grammatical forms.
Although the path beginning from the sounds leading to words and grammar has
universals in child language development, the developmental sequence above is not
exactly the same in every language. There are some differences in this process as a
result of the structure of languages. For example because of the inflection system of
2
Turkish, children are able to add grammatical components at the end of words (such as
time suffixes). Aksu-Koç and Slobin (in Slobin 1985) point out that by the age of 24
months or earlier, inflectional system appears and noun inflections and much of the
verbal paradigm is acquired by Turkish speaking children. That is, even at one word
stage, children are able to make “one word sentences” with tense and person suffixes.
From the initial stages of their language career, children tend to follow and join
the conversation by using single sounds with the reinforcement of their care-givers.
Getting familiar with the music of the language, they need no reason to make noise.
However much the child is exposed to the language, he becomes professional in using
the sounds, words and components of a speech. Children are exposed to adult to child
speech, motherese, which has some special features. Clearly articulated utterances with
pauses between words and phrases and exaggerated intonation contours to signal
questions, imperatives and statements is some of the phonetic features of motherese
speech. The very restricted vocabulary has concrete reference to “here and now” (Clark,
2003). There are also few incomplete sentences, more imperatives and questions and
shorter sentences.
Children are also exposed to adult to adult speech of any kind by people around
the setting. Having the features of motherese speech, reading books to children is one of
the best ways not only to learn a language but also to have an idea of the outer world.
Manczak (2003) sates that reading “sparks children's creativity and imagination;
introduces them to new people, places, and ideas; builds their vocabulary and
strengthens their use of language; and clarifies difficult situations and troublesome
feelings.” In those books, there are simple sentences and vocabulary that is similar to
the setting the child is exposed to language in his immediate environment.. Just as in
motherese speech, there are repetitions of words and sentences. The subject does not go
far from the immediate situational context. It is also a very special time span shared
between the child and the parent, and has huge contributions to the child’s
psychological growth.
On the road of being professional in using the language, the child uses many
strategies automatically, such as making up words and suffixes, errors and self
corrections. This process brings the child to the acquisition of linguistic forms and the
child gets a metalinguistic awareness that is “the ability to focus attention on language
and reflect upon its nature, structure and functions” (Garton and Pratt, 1998, in Sofu,
2003, p. 271). Sofu (2003) claims that literacy accelerates metalinguistic awareness.
3
She proves that “in homes where adults read books or talk to their children about books,
stories, and language in particular, metalinguistic awareness develops earlier” (p. 279).
1.1 Statement of the Problem
There has been respectable research on the comparison of the acquisition of
comprehensive and productive vocabulary of children in other world languages (i.e.
Fenson et al.,1994; Caselli, Casadio and Bates,1999; Hamilton, Plunkett and Schafer,
2000; Bletes et al., 2008) by using MacArthur Communicative Developmental
Inventory (CDI), a standardized parental report system .
CDI is on the process of being adapted to Turkish. This will be one of the initial
studies applied to Turkish child language acquisition by using the proposed form of
CDI. The results will be the normative data for the development of Turkish child
language.
The relationship between the lexical growth and grammatical development has
also been a matter of investigation. Surely, it is impossible to think of grammar apart
from words. Any rule based device has a certain amount of lexical material to work on
(Bates and Goodman, 1997). The matter is how tight the relationship between lexical
and grammatical growth is.
There are numerous child books on the shelves of the bookstores and
supermarkets. However, there is not enough investigation for the suitability of the
language used in these books for the proposed age groups. Determining the vocabulary
and grammar knowledge of the children by Turkish CDI, ten of these child books have
been investigated and the results are compared on the basis of the vocabulary and the
grammatical items in both Turkish CDI and the child books so as to determine the
appropriateness of the child books for the proposed 0-3 years of age group.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
The first aim is to compare the vocabulary used in the books with the actual
vocabulary of the children between 8-30 months of age determined by Turkish CDI.
The second aim of this study is to investigate the grammatical forms used in the
ten child books selected from three different publishers proposed for children between
0-3 years of age and compare the results with the grammatical items that children are
able to produce as determined by Turkish CDI.
4
The last purpose of this study is to investigate if the grammatical morphemes
that 16-30 month of age toddlers produce increase as their age and the lexicon increase?
1.3 Research Questions
Four research questions are generated:
1.
Do the vocabulary children between 8-30 months of age use as indicated by
Turkish CDI match with the vocabulary present in thirteen child books written for 0-3
years of age?
2.
Do the grammatical forms children between 16-30 months of age use as
indicated by Turkish CDI match with the grammatical forms present in thirteen child
books?
3.
Do the grammatical morphemes that 16-30 month old toddlers use increase as
their age and lexicon increase?
1.4 Limitations
In this study, the language used only in 13child books is investigated. Three of
themare word books for infants and ten of them are for children up to three years of age.
Education level of the mothers and gender of the children are not taken into
account during the data analysis. However, mothers’ level of education may have given
cues on the acquisition of words and morphemes.
As CDI is a printed format to see only if the word is comprehended and
produced, it is not known if a word is acquired earlier than the other. More importantly,
we do not know the child’s intention of using a word. Because the child may use a
word for different objects and concepts that he may make overgeneralizations.
1.5 Operational Definitions
The MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory: The MacArthur
Communicative Developmental Inventory (CDI) is a standardized parent reporting
system used to assess monolingual children’s lexical growth and communication skills
between the ages from 8 to 30 months.
Comprehensive Vocabulary: It stands for the words that the child is able to
understand when uttered to him/her in a conversation. It is also known as “receptive
vocabulary”.
5
Productive Vocabulary: It is the words that a child is able to say. It is also
named as “expressive vocabulary”.
Child Books: In this study, “child books” refer to the books prepared for
children between 0 to 3 years of age.
6
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
In this chapter a detailed inquiry on the comprehensive and productive
vocabulary of children is done. The acquisition of lexicon and grammar is also
explained. Furthermore, studies done by using CDI are exemplified. Contributions of
reading books to children are also stated in this chapter.
2.1 Comprehension vs. Production
By the time children start to understand what is said to them, they are only able
to reply them by gestures and strings of sounds. Firstly, it is physically impossible as
their vocal tracts are not improved enough to have control over them. They are not also
on that level of comprehension mentally. Clark (2003) summarizes the process as
follows;
For production, one needs to retrieve from memory not only the relevant
word for the notion to be expressed but also the relevant articulatory
specifications for producing an auditory sequence that will be recognized.
To produce recognizable words, children have to discover correspondences
between articulatory patterns that result. Getting sounds and sound
sequences right takes time. And producing multisyllabic words and longer
expressions requires that children attend, check their own current
productions against their representations for comprehension, and try again
whenever they detect a mismatch between them (p. 127).
As a result it is possible to talk about an asymmetry between comprehension and
production of vocabulary. Then can it be assumed that errors in production take us to
the errors in comprehension? Thomson and Chapman (in Kuczaj 1986) provided
children who had overextended words in production with a forced choice
comprehension in which they were asked to indicate which of a pair of objects was an
exemplar of an overextended term. Each pair of objects consisted of an appropriate
exemplar and an object to which the child had overextended the term in production. In
this situation, in 40% of the cases, children either overextended the term in both
7
comprehension and production, and in 60% of the cases they overextended the term
only in production. In their similar study, Fremgen and Fay (1980 in Kuczaj 1986)
presented that results were more straightforward and none of the children tested
overextended words in comprehension that they had overextended in production.
It can be suggested that the comprehension is not always more accurate than
production. Rice (1984) suggested that when the word is easier to recall than its
concept, there occurs production before comprehension. Kuczaj (1986) suggests that
both comprehension and production must be considered in accounts of lexical
development. He states that “in production, children have in mind the concept to which
they intend to refer, and must choose from the words they know in order to try to
succeed at their referential attempt. In comprehension, children attempt to recognize
the words that they hear and then determine the concept to which they refer” (p. 102).
Parallel to this, Clark (in Kuczaj 1986) suggests that production is not simply the
inverse of the comprehension. According to her,
Production requires an active search for available words and expressions combined
with evaluation of whether they are appropriate to label the concepts to be
conveyed and to call up these concepts in the addressee. Comprehension requires
recognition of a word as known, followed by a search for the conceptual category
usually picked out by that term to arrive at the speaker’s intended meaning (p.102).
Goldfield and Reznick (1992, in Plunket and Shafer) argue that prior to the
development in the productive vocabulary of children in the second half of their second
year, an accelerated rate of growth can be observed in children’s receptive vocabulary.
According to the results of their research, Bates and Goodman (1995) state that all three
domains (word production, word comprehension and grammar) follow a dramatic,
nonlinear pattern of growth across the age range of 8 to 30 months with initial growth of
comprehension at 8 months of age, then production growth starting at 12th month and
the growth of grammar from 18th month on.
Parallel to these, there are a number of studies on the prior development of
receptive vocabulary to the productive vocabulary. Hamilton, Plunkett and Schafer
(2000) studied on vocabulary development of British infants. The CDI is delivered to
the parents of 669 children aged between 1;0 and 2;1. According to the results of
parental reports, children are able to comprehend more CDI items compared to the
production level of the same age. They comprehend about 26% of the CDI items (an
average CDI wordlist of 402 items) at the age of 16 months, but they are only able to
8
produce about 2,6% of the items. It is proved that comprehension level of British
children at the age of 16 months is higher than their level of production vocabulary.
There are similar studies on other languages that result similarly. Caselli,
Casadio and Bates (1999) did same kind of a research by comparing the lexical
development of English and Italian infants. According to the results, word production
means are far behind the means for comprehension of words both for English and
Italian. There are only slight differences between the same age levels of both languages
and the levels of comprehension and production.
The same kind of research was done by Fenson et al (1994, in Bloom, 2000).
They asked parents how many words their children were able to understand and how
many they produced. According to the report, it is concluded that eight month olds have
a median receptive vocabulary of about 15 words with children in the top 15 percent of
understanding over 80 words. Ten month olds are reported to have a median receptive
vocabulary of 35 words with children in the top 10 percent understanding over 150
words. The results indicate the priority of comprehension vocabulary to the production
vocabulary ay early ages of acquisition.
In a recent study, Bletes et al. (2008) compared the productive to the
comprehensive vocabulary of Danish children aged between 0;8 to 1;8 months. In their
study they found out that there is an asymmetry between the comprehension and
production vocabulary of infants. According to the results, the Danish children have a
median comprehension score that increases from seven at age 0;8 to 232.5 words at age
1;8.
2.2 Acquisition of Lexicon
According to Chomsky (in Foley and Lust, 2004, p. 16), knowledge of language
is constructed along a course that is “determined by genetic instructions under the
triggering and shaping effects of environmental factors.” To know the meaning of a
word is to have a “certain mental representation or concept that is associated with a
certain form” (Bloom, 2000 p.17). That is having the concept and mapping the concept
on to the right form brings to the meaning of a word. Clark (2003) states that:
Children’s initial hypotheses about word meanings arise from the
conjunction of social and conceptual knowledge. The people around them
direct their attention and offer them utterances about what is at the locus of
that joint attention; and doing this, adults tend to focus on objects and events
9
in the here and now since these are highly accessible and allow them to
ensure that they and their children are both attending to the same things (p.
68).
In one way or another, despite the differences in the acquisition of order of some
components of language, children acquire their first language. Words can be learned
without a straight spatial and temporal cooccurance between the word and meaning. It
is inevitable to accept the benefit of mapping to learning the meaning of a word.
However, Bloom (2000) argued that taking the word learning of the blind children it can
be proposed that children do not need a full complement of sensory abilities. Landau
and Glietman (in Bloom, 2000) also proved that language of blind children was
indistinguishable from that of sighted children by the age of three.
Approving what a child says or giving feedbacks help the child to acquire the
language. However, Chomsky’s negative evidence such as explanations, correction of
wrong sequence, or ungrammatical sentences do not have much to add to the
knowledge. For example, in some cultures, children are not accepted as a counterpart of
speech until a certain age. This also proves that feedback is not inevitable to learn word
meanings.
Children’s first words have peculiar characteristics. They resemble the adult
language, but they have some differences both in usage and in production. The first
words have depraved but related phonology of the words of adult language. “Be” can
be interpreted as “ver” (give) in Turkish.
They also tend to make overextension that is appointing more than one meaning
to an entity when they do not know the right word. For example “mama” (food) can be
used for every kind of food they see or eat. As children lack the semantic distinction,
“mama” can be used both as a noun and the verb “to eat”. It can be suggested that
children have the concept of that being, know that is something else but “they apply
words from their limited lexicons that best fits the context” (Clark, in Kuczaj, 1986).
Children’s first words refer to immediate concrete environment that is the speech
does not go beyond the context in early stages of word production. Barrett (1986)
studied on early context bound productions and claimed that they are related to actions,
social routines or to perceptually salient events which occur frequently in the everyday
experience of the young child. Parallel to this Bloom (2000) suggests that many early
words refer to middle sized objects, things that can move or be moved. He lists the first
words of English speaking children as names for specific people (mama,dada), animals
10
(dog, cat), toys (ball, block), articles of clothing (sock, shirt), other artifacts (fork,
chair). There are names for substances (juice, milk), names for parts, typically body
parts(nose, foot), modifiers (hot, more) words that refer to actions or changes (up,
allgone) and routines that are linked to social interactions (bye bye, peek-a-boo). Soon
after verbs appear (go, make), prepositions (in, on) and more abstract terms
(kitchen,nap).
Acquisition of words does not depend on the frequency of usage all the time.
Although closed class morphemes like “a” and “the” are frequently used than any other
particular object name, they are harder for children to process and do not appear early in
production.
According to Aksu Koç and Slobin (in Slobin, 1985) as a highly inflected
language, acquisition of Turkish has some basic differences from English. They state
that in Turkish, “nouns are case marked for genitive, accusative, dative-directional,
locative, ablative, comitative-instrumental and depretive (without)”. These suffixes are
also added to pronouns, demonstratives, question words and derived nouns. In the same
way they point out that verbal affixes mark voice, negation, modality, aspect, tense,
person and number. This enables children use composed words and convey more
meanings by using less words separately. Parallelly, Sofu (1995) states that; even the
total number of verbs are fewer than 50 at the age of two, as “various types of particles
denoting tense, person, causation, reflexiveness, reciprocity, negation… etc. are affixed
to verbs and attributing them a lot of meaning, children may easily express themselves
with fewer verbs but with the application of multiple suffixes for different meanings.”
Until 24th month of age normally developing children acquire the derivational and
inflectional morphemes that come after verbs and nouns.
In Turkish, although the neutral word order is SOV, subject can be deleted and
suffixed to verb. In a sentence, a noun and a verb carries many of the separate
components of a sentence compared to English. This composed structure let speakers
convey more than one component in a word. A word can even be a sentence at least
with a tense and person suffix. “The regularity of the inflectional morphemes that they
generally have one function and case markers are suffixed to the question words
simplifies language acquisition and leads fewer mistakes” (Sofu, 2004).
11
2.3 Acquisition of Grammar
Starting from the earlier stages, at each stage of development “the child has an
internally consistent, rule governed cognitive system –a grammar, with specific
properties that can be studied” (Fromkin, 2000). After the spurts in both comprehension
(between 12-16 months) and production (between 16-24 months) it is possible to trace
the spurt of grammatical forms from 18th month on. As it is impossible to look for
grammar without some lexical components, it is inevitable to assume that lexical growth
precedes the growth of grammatical function words. The same kind of difference in the
order takes place in the acquisition of grammar as well.
Grammatical system is defined as a highly differentiated entity comprising
vocabulary, morphology (inflectional and derivational), syntax and the communicative
functions that are expressed by these aspects of language structure (Fletcher and
Garman 1986). Barrett (1999) states that the grammatical rules decide how the words
and morphemes in a language can be combined organized and sequenced to produce
well formed and comprehensible sentences in order to encode particular meanings.
Morphology can be defined as “word-structure analysis” (Baker and Derwing, in
Fletcher and Garman, 1986). They state that a word involves “meaning modifying
elements such as prefix, suffix, infix, or even a separate root, and a root or stem element
that carries the meaning”. In this word structure analysis, the meaning modifying
elements are divided into two areas: inflectional and derivational. Inflectional
morphemes do not make any change in the meaning of the stem, such as plural –s in
English. But derivational morphemes make an entirely different and new word such as
adding “-er” to the verb “read” both changes the lexical category of the word from verb
to noun, and changes the meaning.
In 1962, Brown and his colloquies started a longitudinal study on the
development of English as first language. There are three preschool children whom
they named Adam, Eve and Saarah. Data is gathered from the transcriptions of the
spontaneous speech of the child with their mothers (rarely with fathers) at home.
Trying to classify all the grammatical rules and analyzing the speech accordingly
is time and effort consuming, it is also not as possible as it can be thought. Brown
ordered 14 grammatical morphemes according to their developmental sequence.
According to the results, Brown (1973) concluded firstly that “the developmental order
of the fourteen morphemes is quite amazingly constant across three children
12
(Adam,Eve, Sarah)” (p. 135). It is also concluded that while order of development
approaches invariance, rate of development varies widely. At the age of 2;3 Eve had
attained criterion on six morphemes and is close to it on three others. On the contrary,
Adam and Sarah attained criterion on no morphemes at all and most were completely
absent from their speech.
Nevertheless, “children learning languages that have rich morphology, learn
morphology earlier in the course of language development than the children acquiring
morphologically impoverished languages (Berman,1986, in Hoff, 2005). Morphology is
learned relatively late by English speaking children because it is not as salient or
important part of the grammar.
In studies of children acquiring morphologically richer languages including
Finnish, German, Luo (spoken in parts of Kenya), and Kahuli (spoken in Papua New
Guinea) the telegraphic quality of children’s early word combinations are higher
(Brown,1973; Mills, 1985; Shieffelin, 1985 in Hoff 2005).
Morphology is salient part of grammar in Turkish. As Turkish is very
systematic, morphologic mistakes are rare. Inflectional morphemes are added to the
verbs even in the one-word stage. Early utterances are short and simple but
grammatically they resemble adult language. It can be proposed that because of the
earlier acquisition of suffixes, development in the grammar of Turkish child language
starts earlier with the development of lexicon. Children acquiring Turkish produce
inflected forms (words with grammatical morphemes) before they combine words
(Aksu-Koç& Slobin, 1985). A system that is regular and predictable as Turkish let
children make fewer mistakes and learn easier.
During the early stages, children have figured out many of the properties of their
particular target grammar such as word order (SOV in English). It is universally true
that sentences must have subjects, but languages differ with respect to whether the
subject must be lexically realized or not. In English the subject of a sentence must be
pronounced because of the relative poverty of subject agreement morphology which
only marks agreement for third person singular subjects and only in the present tense.
Some languages such as German have the subject agreement affixes but do not allow
null subject pronouns.
However, languages such as Italian and Turkish let null subjects, which are the
subjects that can be hidden and need not be pronounced as the hearer understands it
through the agreement inflection on the verb and from the context. The verb usually
13
has a subject agreement suffix on it indicating person and the number of the subject.
Such a one word utterance “gelmedik” includes subject, the number of subject, tense,
and negation that stand as separate components in its English equivalent “we did not
come”.
Gel - me - di - k
Come- neg. - past – 1st pers.plr.
This composed structure of Turkish lets early speakers convey more than one
thing at a time.
2.4 History of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory
The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) is a standardized
parental report tool that is used to assess monolingual children’s lexical growth. It is a
tool for creating recognition. “It is designed to sample a child’s language, providing an
index of words the child uses.” (Anderson and Reilly, 2002, p. 84) Parents check the
words that their child uses from the checklists they are handed out for periods lasting
between 15 and 45 minutes. The CDI contains two scales: Infant Scale which is used for
infants from 8 to 16 months of age and designed to measure word comprehension, word
production and gesture. Toddler Scale is used for toddlers aged from 16 to 30 months.
It is used to assess the word production and various aspects of early grammar.
Time is between 8 to 30 months scale because this is a crucial period in which
children make the passage from first words to grammar.
Berman (2004) states that by
the age of three children have acquired the basic regularities (phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic) of the target language irrespective of the language or languages
to be learned.
In their recent study, Bletes et al. (2008a) studied on the early language
acquisition of 6112 Danish children by using the Danish adaptation of CDI. They
presented the language development of children on the age range of 0; 8 to 3;0. They
also discussed the acquisitional implications of the role of the sound structure for
Danish children.
Matial, Dromi, Sagi and Bornstein (2000) also adapted CDI into Hebrew. They
detected the early lexical development of Hebrew speaking children. They found out
that “prior to the emergence of productive morphological and syntactic abilities, young
Hebrew-speaking children do not demonstrate language specific patterns of vocabulary
14
growth” (p. 44). They investigated the correlation of Hebrew CDI vocabulary size and
age. The results indicate that the number of children’s vocabulary increases as their age
increase.
This is the first time that CDI will be used for an investigation in Turkish
acquisition. The adaptation of CDI has been done by a group of researcher including
linguists, a psychologist and special educationist. Pilot study is in progress by the same
group with a limited number of children.
There are criticisms for the limitations of this tool. Caselli, Casadio and Bates
(1999, in Tomasello and Bates, 2001, p. 80) state limitations of this parental report
technique on the ability to investigate the details of grammar. They claim that it can
never replace traditional free speech or experimental measures for expanding their
knowledge of lexical and grammatical development. Still, they accept that it is possible
to learn something about the relative onset and growth of adult word classes providing
working hypotheses for more focused observational and experimental studies.
Tomasello and Mervis (1994) argue that MacArthur CDI lacks face validity and
may encourage over-inclusive responses. There is also another common criticism that
parents lack specialized training in assessing language.
In spite of these criticisms, the CDI format has proven to be extremely reliable
(internal consistency, r = .96; test-retest, r = .95). It also has a high validity (concurrent
validity range from .40 to .83; predicative validity range from .60 to .80). Anderson
and Reilly (2002) suggest “because the CDI uses a recognition format, with the words
that already printed on the page, the person completing the CDI does not have to rely
solely on recall to identify the words child produces.”
Because of its cost effectiveness, ease of administration and high validity and
reliability the English CDI has been adapted to numerous languages ranging from
Spanish to Chinese and lastly, Turkish. Yet it is also argued that comparisons based on
the CDI provide an unfair test of cross-linguistic differences as the CDI is originally
developed for English and adaptations to other languages may be strongly biased
toward English. Nevertheless, Caselli, Casadio and Bates (1999), defend that all
adaptations are true adaptations of the CDI, not the translations of the English scales.
They add that items are drawn from the existing literature on early development of that
language and they are also pre-tested with parents who are native speakers of that
language and their advice is asked about which items to be added or dropped.
15
2.5 Contributions of Reading Books to Language Of Children
According to Hepler, Hickman and Huck (1989), reading to children has
countless benefits such as developing their imagination, giving them new perspectives
on the world and developing insight to human behavior. Taylor and Strickland (in Apel,
Ehren, Silliman, Stone , 2004) state that reading to children has benefits both for parents
and children including:
1. bringing together members of the family;
2. providing opportunities for parents and children to learn about themselves
and gain a deep understanding of one another;
3. giving parents and children an opportunity to explore commonplace events
and exceptional happenings;
4. providing children with the opportunity to develop language and literacy
skills and values in ways that are meaningful to them (p. 162).
In his study, Irvin (1960, in Hepler, Heckman, Huck, 1989 ) indicates that
systematic reading of stories to infants will increase the spontaneous vocalization of 30
month old children. In this study, after the 15 to 20 minutes of daily reading and talking
about the story and the pictures with the child, the experimental group began to vocalize
significantly more than the control group.
In another study, High et al. (2004) enrolled 153 families with infants between
the ages of 6 to 25 months. There were 77 intervention and 76 control families. The
intervention group was instructed to involve in the shared reading activities for their
children. According to the results, the children who were read books by their care
givers had higher receptive and productive vocabulary results than the ones who were
not. In a similar study with 41 two year olds, DeBarshe (1993, in Let’s Read literature
review) found that mothers who began reading to their children earlier had children with
greater receptive language abilities than the ones who did not read to their children.
In one of the most significant studies on home reading environment’s impact on
child language development, Hart and Risley (1995, in Henrickson and Wasik, eds.
Apel, Ehren Silliman, Stone 2004) observed children from infancy to age three in three
income levels (low, middle, high income). They found that children of middle and high
status families have higher oral language skills. It is clearly stated that children who are
read more have significantly larger vocabulary. In the same study, it is also stated that
children from low income families enter kindergarten with a listening vocabulary
16
(receptive or comprehensive vocabulary) of 3000 words, whereas children of middle
income families had 20,000 listening vocabulary when they entered kindergarten. It can
be concluded that the quality of parent child verbal interaction is a predictor of
children’s language skills.
Reading to children from the earlier stages of their lives also help them learn to
read earlier. In her study Durkin (1966, in Hepler, Heckman, Huck, 1989 ) it is found
that children who learned to read before entering school had been read to from the age
of three or before.
17
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
In this chapter, an overall design of the study will be presented, giving detailed
information about participants and setting of the study, the instruments, CDI and the
adaptation of the CDI into Turkish and the application of it. There will also be
information about the child books used in this study.
3.1 Participants and Setting
In this study, there are 149 children aged between 8 and 30 months. They speak
Turkish as their native and only language, except one in the Infant Group. The Infant
Scale has been applied to the children aged between 8 and 16 months; and the Toddler
Scale has been applied to the children aged between 16 and 30 months.
In the Infant Group there are 57 children ranging in age from 8 to 16 months. 29
of the infants are male; 28 of them are female. Education level of the mothers is
ranging from primary school to university level. Three of the mothers are graduates of
primary school. Eight of them are graduates of secondary school which has been a must
in Turkey for about ten years. The number of mothers, who were graduated from high
school is 21. Lastly 25 of the mothers are university graduates.
Most of the families,
whose parents are graduates of primary school, are from low socio economic level.
Both or one of the parents work and they earn the minimum wage. Families, whose
parents are graduates of university, are commonly from middle socio economic level.
Children from low income families are often looked after by their mothers at
home. Working parents leave the child with a caregiver, someone either from or out of
the family.
There are 92 children in the Toddler Group, their age ranging from 16 to 30
months. There are 53 male and 39 female participants in this group. Two of the
mothers have never had education. 16 of them are graduates of primary school. Five of
the mothers completed secondary school degree. Mothers who graduated from high
school are 29. Lastly, 40 of the mothers are graduates of university in this group.
Families come from three income levels: low, middle, high income levels. Different
18
from the Infant Group, in this group, some of the working parents leave their child to a
kindergarten.
Participants are from Adana, Osmaniye, Eskişehir, Ankara and Istanbul. The
data is collected for the pilot study of Turkish CDI. Participants are especially the
children of the colleagues, neighbors and relatives of the surveyors. People have also
helped the researcher to find children for the study and directed to the families who
have children aged between 8 to 30 months.
The mothers who had computers in their homes and higher education degree
have filled in the report in their homes. Even so, they have been given a briefing about
the report individually beforehand.
For the mothers who had low education degree or the ones who did not have
computer in their homes, the report has been filled in a suitable time and place, mostly
in their homes. The items have been asked one by one and the answers have been
checked by the researcher.
3.2 Instruments
3.2.1 MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventory
CDI is a parental report system, thus it is filled in by the mothers of the children
as mothers are the closest person to the child. According to Bates et al. (1994) there are
680 words in English CDI. 280 of them are nouns (animal names, vehicles, toys, food
and drink, clothing, body parts, small household items, and furniture and rooms); 166
predicates (verbs and adjectives); and 102 closed class words (pronouns, question
words, prepositions and locations). The report is divided into two scales according to
the age of the children: Infant Scale and Toddler Scale.
In the Infant Scale, there are two parts: early words and, actions and gestures. At
the beginning of the list there is a short questionnaire asking the first signs of
understanding, utterances that the child comprehended and the beginning of speaking.
Then, there is a long list of words and mothers are asked to decide if their child is able
to comprehend or both comprehend and produce the given word. Then in the third part,
mothers are asked if their children are able to do the gestures in the list. For example it
is asked if their child is able to point at something for requesting that object. There are
three choices; “not yet”, “sometimes” and “often”. For other parts they are asked to
answer the questions by using yes or no.
19
In the Toddler Scale, there are two parts as well: the words that the children
produce and sentences and grammar. In the first part, parents are asked to decide if
their child is only able to produce the given word. At the end of the first part, parents
are asked five questions on how the child uses the words. For example if s/he is talking
about something that has already happened in the past or about something or someone
that does not exist in the present setting. Then the sentences and grammar part is
applied. There are three ways of gathering information in these parts. First, there are
questions and mothers are asked to choose one of the three options: “not yet”,
“sometimes” and “often”. There are also two possible sentences that the child might use
in certain situations and mothers are asked to choose one. If neither is suitable for the
child’s level, they do not need to fill in that item. Another way is to tick the suitable
item on the given table.
3.2.2 Proposed Form of Turkish CDI
The MacArthur CDI has been adapted to Turkish by a group of researchers
who are professionals at linguistics, psychology and special education. In the
adaptation process, according to the cultural, linguistic, and developmental evidences,
some of the items have been omitted and some have been added.
There are 809 words in the proposed form of toddler scale of Turkish CDI. 128
items are added in Turkish CDI. According to the cultural and linguistic differences
some words are added such as “tarhana” (a kind of soup) to the food and drink category.
Also, the “helping verb” and “connecting verbs” categories in English CDI are omitted
as there is not such a lexical category in Turkish.
The number of items in the “Food and Drink” category is significantly more than
the English CDI. This is because the Turks give importance to the cuisine and meal
times, and have very rich menu of recipes. The most significant difference is in the
action verbs category. There are 66 more verbs in the toddler scale of Turkish CDI.
Table 3.1. Lexical Items in the Toddler Scale of Turkish CDI Compared with the
MacArthur CDI
Semantic Categories
English CDI
Turkish CDI
1. Sound effects and animal
12
16
2.Animals
43
40
3. Vehicles
15
15
sounds
20
Table 3.1 Continued
4. Toys
18
25
5.Food and drink
68
76
6. Clothing
28
41
7. Body Parts
27
30
8. Small household items
50
44
9. Furniture and rooms
33
32
10. Outside things
31
43
11. Places to go
22
27
12. People
29
39
13. Games and routines
25
44
14. Action words
103
169
15. Descriptive words
63
62
16. Words about time
12
13
17. Pronouns
25
24
18. Question words
7
13
19. Prepositions
26
22
20. Quantifiers and articles
17
26
21. Helping verbs
21
Omitted in Turkish CDI
22. Connecting words
6
8
Total:681
Total:809
In the Infant Scale, Turkish CDI has 80 more items than English CDI. “Food
and drink” and “Action words” categories have more items as in the Toddler Scale.
Table 3. 2. Lexical Items in the Infant Scale of Turkish CDI Compared with the
Macarthur CDI
Semantic Categories
English CDI
Turkish CDI
1. Sound effects and animal
12
16
2.Animals
36
24
3. Vehicles
9
8
4. Toys
8
9
5.Food and drink
30
50
6. Clothing
19
21
7. Body Parts
20
19
8. Small household items
36
31
sounds
21
Table 3.2. Continued
9. Furniture and rooms
24
36
10. Outside things and Places to
27
28
(In ‘Outside
16
go
11. Places to go
things)
12. People
20
27
13. Games and routines
19
35
14. Action words
55
71
15. Descriptive words
37
30
16. Words about time
8
9
17. Pronouns
11
14
18. Question words
6
9
19. Prepositions
11
13
20. Quantifiers and articles
8
10
Total:396
Total:476
3.2.3 The Child Books
It is inevitable to accept that reading to children adds a lot to their language
growth. It is possible to find child books for parents from all kind of socio economic or
education level. They can even be found on the shelves of supermarkets. However,
mostly educated or people who have high income buy these books to children (Sofu,
2003).
There are different kinds of books for children aged between 0 to 3 year olds.
Toy books, alphabet books, counting books, wordless books, and concept books are
some that can be classified. Concept books describe various dimensions of an object, a
class of objects or an abstract idea.
In this study, 13 child books have been examined. The books are from four
different publishers so as to exemplify the language used in the child books
homogeneously. The books are for children ages between 0 to 3 years old. One of the
books is for 2 to 3 year old children. It is an interactive book that tells the child join the
activities by showing the electronic devices in the house or pointing family members.
Repetition of words, phrases and sentences is the most significant characteristics
of the language used in these books. There are adjectives frequently used to define
nouns. In Turkish, verbs can have the suffixes of two tenses, they are called
22
“morphologically complex tenses” (Kornfilt, 1997). There are only two examples of
these verbs. In the majority of the sentences in the books verbs have simple tenses and
mostly present tenses are used related with the given picture and setting.
There are three different simple tense morphemes: simple present tense “yıka-rım” (I wash), present continuous tense “oku-yor” (He is reading), past perfect tense
“git-miş” (It had gone). In two different books of the same publishers for 2-3 year old
children, there are two examples of morphologically complex tenses: English past
continuous tense “duru-yor-du” (It was standing), past possibility “boğul-acak-tı” (It
would drawn)
Table 3.3 The Child Books
Publishers
Books
Aim
Theme
Marsık
Tırtıl Dizisi 1
To teach names of objects and
Animals dealing with small
actions
objects
To teach names of objects and
Animals spending time by the
actions
seaside
To teach names of objects and
Animals in action, doing daily
actions
routines
To teach vocabulary about health
A child telling the routines of a
Yayınları
Tırtıl Dizisi 2
Tırtıl Dizisi 3
YA-PA
Sağlığım
Yayınları
healthy life
Hayvanlar
Bu Kayık
To teach animal names and their
Animal sounds and characteristic
sounds
features
To teach vocabulary
A craw spending time on the
shore
Konuşmamı
To teach vocabulary and test
Ask for the places of objects and
Geliştiriyorum
children’s knowledge of objects
names of people
Bu Civciv
To teach vocabulary
A little hen’s adventures by the
river
ABC Kitapları-
To teach vocabulary
Oyuncaklarım
TUDEM
Oyuncaklar
Listing the names of toys under
the pictures
To teach vocabulary
Yayınları
Listing the names of toys under
the pictures
Yemek Zamanı
To teach vocabulary
Listing the names of toys under
the pictures
Net Çocuk
Ce-eee Haydi
To teach vocabulary and
Preparation for sleep by playing
Yayınları
Beni Bul
postpositions
little games
23
3.3 Data Collection
3.3.1 Application of the CDI
149 of the parents have filled in the report. The ones who have computers at
home and/or the ones who have high education degree filled in the report on their own.
They have been given a briefing individually for instructions. A face to face interview
is held with most of the mothers. Items have been asked by the researcher and checked
according to the answers. These are the mothers who have low education degree and/or
the ones who do not have access to computer in their homes.
Parents have been instructed to accept a word as existing in the child’s
vocabulary if it occurs in identical or derived morphological form. Action words have
been presented in the imperative form and parents have been instructed to mark a
lexical entry as existing in the child’s vocabulary when the child uses either root or
tensed forms of the same verb.
3.3.2 Analysis of the Child Books
Books for children naturally differ from the ones for the adult in the sense of
style, plot, setting, theme, characterization and point of view. They also differ among
them for literate or illiterate children. Books for children up to three or four ages are
peculiar in the sense of the language used, topics, illustrations even the material of the
books.
In the child books for children up to three years of age, illustrations should be
clear and have round shapes (Turla and Tür, 1999). They also point out that pictures
should be strong enough to summarize the event and the characters should be among the
familiar setting of the child, such as cats, dogs, babies, friends, food or toys.
Theme is another important issue in the child books. Şimşek (2004) states that
theme should be clear in the child books. It is also beneficial to have only one theme
that leads the child to the beauties of life, such as joy of life, love of humans and being
hard working. Nevertheless, there may not be a theme in the ABC books for infants as
there are only words under the pictures.
Characterization is another important point to be considered in the books for
children. As for the other components of a child book, characterization differs from the
ones in the books for adults. Children take the character of the book as a model for
themselves; therefore, the character should have a good personality. However, the good
24
sides of the character should not be exaggerated and lead the child to try to reach a
utopistic hero (Turla and Tür, 1999).
In this study, 13 child books are examined on the basis of the number of
grammatical function morphemes, semantic categories of the words and the length of
the sentences in the books. There are 17 different grammatical morphemes in the total
13 books such as past tense or plural morphemes. The words are chosen from 20
different semantic categories. And the longest sentence has six words: “Sabah uyanınca
bir bardak da süt içerim” (I drink a glass of milk when I wake up in the morning”.
25
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.0 Introduction
In this chapter, the results of parental reports applied to the mothers of 149
children aged between 8 to 30 months will be presented on the basis of grammatical
items and vocabulary of the children determined by Turkish CDI. Lastly comparison of
the findings and discussions on the language to be used in the child books will be
presented.
4.1 Comparison of the Language Used in the Child Books and Turkish CDI
4.1.0 Introduction
In this section, language used in the child books and the Turkish CDI is
compared. The comparison has been done in two aspects. First, the comparison of the
words that exist both in the child books and Turkish CDI is presented. Second,
comparison of the grammatical items that exist both in the child books and Turkish CDI
is stated.
4.1.1 Comparison of the Words Both in the Child Books and Turkish CDI
The tables below show the words that are present both in the child books
selected and in the Turkish CDI (TİGE). Words are categorized according to 20
semantic categories following the CDI. Ten of these categories comprise nouns (animal
names, vehicles, toys, food and drink, clothing, body parts, furniture, and rooms, small
household items, outside things and places to go, and people). There are additional
categories for sound effects and animal sounds, games and routines, verbs, adjectives,
pronouns, question words, prepositions, and locations, quantifiers, and words about
time. However, since we have not come across any word that goes into the “vehicles”
category in the child books, total vocabulary in the child books is categorized into 19
tables.
In all of the tables the words are listed according to their frequencies of
production both in Toddler and Infant Scale from the most frequently used to the least.
The scores are approached in two ways in the Infant Scale: Comprehension and
26
production. Mothers are only asked if their child produce that word in the Toddler
Scale. If none of the mothers checked an item as comprehended or produced, they are
scored as zero. Additionally, the number of words used in the books is shown at the end
of the tables.
Due to the characteristic of CDI, mothers are asked if their child comprehend or
produce a word. Therefore we do not have an idea on which word is comprehended or
produced before the other or the child’s intention of meaning while using that word.
Therefore we cannot know if the child uses the right word for the right object or
situation. These kinds of semantic analysis are out of scope of this study, so the referent
of the words are not investigated and evaluated.
The first group of words investigated in this study belongs to sound effects and
onomatopoeic animal sounds both present in the child books and TCDI. As can be seen
in the table (Table 4.1), “a” is the most commonly produced sound by infants. More
than half of the children in the Infant Group are checked to comprehend this sound. It is
the most basic sound that comes out without touching anywhere in the vocal tract.
Except from laughing or crying sounds, babies start to produce vocals from early
months on. Bauer (1985, in Kent and Miolo, 1996) analyzed the vocalizations of five
13-month- olds with respect to the syllable types used in phonetic transcriptions of the
infants’ utterances. In his study, he revealed that 60% of the syllable patterns are
constructed by a single vowel. Therefore “a” is the most frequently produced word and
sound in the Infant Scale. It is in the second line on Toddler Group with a production
rate of 87.1%, which is quite high and it can be accepted that toddlers are able to
produce this sound.
“Hav” is the most frequently produced word in the Toddler Scale and it is the
second common in the production in Infant Group. “Hav” is an onomatopoeic word
used by children when referring to “dog”. When we look at the use of dog in Table 4.2,
we see that it is comprehended by 52.6% of the infants. The results show that “hav”
and “dog” are used by more than half of the children in Infant Group and the majority of
children in Toddler Group.
For both groups, “mö” is the least frequently comprehended and produced
animal sound. It is the least produced animal sound in Toddler Group but 76% of the
children are reported to produce this sound which is not a low number.
27
Table 4.1 Sound Effects and Animal Sounds
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Number in
Child Books
Production
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
N
%
A
30
52.6
33
57.9
85
91.4
Hav Hav
1
Miyav
27
47.4
10
17.5
81
87.1
A
4
Hav hav
24
42
17
29.8
75
80.6
Me
4
Me
18
31.6
12
21
75
80.6
Miyav
4
Mö
14
24.6
7
12.3
71
76.3
Mö
1
In addition to using onomatopoeic sounds to refer to animals, children
comprehend and produce nouns referring to animals at early ages. In Table 4.2, 15 of
the animal names in the child books are present in TCDI. “Cat” and “dog” are the most
frequently comprehended animal names by the infants. More than half of the infants are
able to comprehend these two words. However “cat” and “dog” are only produced by
three infants. Clark (2003) states that children might extend the word “dog” to refer to
cats, sheep, horses and a variety of other four legged mammals. She also stated that
children make these overgeneralizations not because they do not know the right word,
but they are not able to access to the right word.
“Bird” is the most frequently produced animal name Toddler Group (75.3%). In
the same way, children may use “bird” for any flying object or creature like flies or
butterflies. In addition, “cat” is produced by 72% of the toddlers. This may have
various reasons such as being afraid of them, loving them or because of their interesting
sounds. They are all pets and available in babies’ environment.
In both groups, “tiger” is the least commonly used animal name. “Tiger” is
relatively a stranger to Turkish climax and natural life, and needs narrower
classification in the children’s minds (such as four legged, furry, and roaring), it is
acquired by few number of children in both groups. Although it is present in the books,
“tiger” is used only once.
“Bear” is the most frequently used animal name in the child books. Even
though toddlers are able to produce this word, only 6 of the infants are able to
comprehend and one of them is able to produce this word. “Duck” is the second most
28
frequently produced animal name however, it is not produced by any infants and 46 of
the toddlers are able to comprehend this word. On the contrary of these results, the
sound of duck, “vak” is comprehended by 13, produced by 8 of the infants. The
production number of toddlers for this sound is also high. 58 of the toddlers are able to
produce this sound. This is because parents use “vak” sound as it is fun and easier to
produce “vak” than “ördek” for “duck” . As “vak” is not present in the child books,
acquisition rate of this word is not stated in the tables. Although “cat, bird, dog and
fish” are among the most frequently used animal names by children, each of them occur
only once in the total ten books. Parallel to the low acquisition rate of “tiger”, it is used
only once.
Table 4.2 Animals
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehens
Production
Toddler Scale- Production
Number
N
in Child
%
Words
Books
ion
N
%
N
%
Kedi (Cat)
31
54.4
3
5.3
70
75.3
Kuş (Bird)
1
Köpek (Dog)
30
52.6
3
5.3
67
72
Kedi (Cat)
1
Kuş (Bird)
27
47.4
4
7
64
68.8
Balık (Fish)
1
Balık (Fish)
16
28
4
7
60
64
Ayı (Bear)
5
Kuzu (Lamb)
13
22.8
2
3.5
57
61.3
Köpek (Dog)
1
İnek (Cow)
13
22.8
1
1.8
55
59
İnek (Cow)
1
Tavuk (Hen)
12
21
1
1.8
50
53.8
Eşek (Donkey)
1
Ördek (Duck)
11
19.3
0
0
46
49.5
Tavuk (Hen)
2
Eşek (Donkey)
7
12.3
0
0
43
46.2
Ördek (Duck)
4
Ayı (Bear)
6
10.5
1
1.8
43
46.2
Tavşan (Rabbit)
2
Hayvan(Animal
6
10.5
0
0
42
45.2
Kelebek(Butterfly)
3
Tavşan(Rabbit)
5
8.8
1
1.8
46
39.8
Fare (Mouse)
3
Kurbağa (Frog)
5
8.8
0
0
36
38.7
Kurbağa (Frog)
3
Fare (Mouse)
3
5.3
0
0
-
-
Kuzu (Lamb)
3
Kelebek (Butterfly)
3
5.3
0
0
35
37.6
Hayvan(Animal)
1
Kaplan (Tiger)
2
3.5
0
0
19
20.4
Kaplan (Tiger)
1
There are 9 words for vehicles in the Infant Scale and 25 words for vehicles in
the Toddler Scale of Turkish CDI. On the other hand, there are two words for vehicles
in the child books. As it is presented in Table 4.3, “car” is the most frequently
29
comprehended and produced name for vehicles in both groups (68.4% in Infant Group,
75.3% in the Toddler Group). “Car” is boys’ favorite toy and frequently used vehicle
for transportation. For this reason, it is easier for children to comprehend and produce
this word.
Table 4.3. Vehicles
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Araba (Car)
39
68.4
3
Tren (Train)
9
15.8
0
Toddler Scale-
Number in Child
Production
Books
N
%
5.3
70
75.3
2
0
43
46.2
1
“Train” is another toy and vehicle in the children’s’ environment, even so,
comprehension rate is 15.8% for infants. In addition, none of the infants produce this
word. 46.2% of the toddlers are able to produce this word . Instead of the word “train”,
as in the case of “dog and duck”, people use “çuf çuf” and children are able to
comprehend and produce this sound slightly more than the word “train”. In the infant
group, comprehension rate of “çuf çuf” is 17.5% and none of the children are able to
produce it. In the toddler group, the production rate of this sound is 51.6%.
Another category of words in TCDI is “toys” represented in Table 4.4. In the
child books, there are 12 words for toys that are present in TCDI. Children comprehend
and produce the word “ball” more commonly than the other names for toys in the Infant
Group (77%). The number of children who produce this word is relatively higher than
the other word productions of infants. 10 of the infants produce “ball”.
Apart from its
being in their environment, children use “ball” to refer round shaped fruits or vegetables
(oranges, pumpkins), spherical earrings or beads (Anglin, 1983, in M. Barrett, eds.
Fletcher and MacWhinney, 1995). The second frequently used word for toys in the
Infant Group is “balloon” which is comprehended by 61% of the infants. However, it is
only produced by three infants.
In the Toddler Group, “doll” is the most frequently used word for toys. It is
produced by 83.9% of the toddlers. The number of production for “doll” is the same
with “baby” in both Infant and Toddler Groups (see Table 12). Since both of them are
30
named as “bebek” in Turkish. “Ball” (80.6%) and “balloon” (71%) sequentially come
after “doll” in this group.
It is clear from the table (Table 4.4) that “block” is a word that does not take
place in the majority of the children’s vocabulary. It is not included in the Infant
Group. It is also the least frequently used word in the Toddler Group. This may have
various reasons; children may name them “lego” or “yap-boz”. They may not be
introduced to this toy as children are not old enough to entertain themselves and join
pieces. The pieces do not mean anything separately at early ages. In time, they learn to
turn pieces into something new with the help of their imagination.
The last six words on the Toddler Group column do not take place in the Infant
Group. For this reason, it is not known if those words are comprehended or produced
by the infants.
Parallel to its high rate of production in Toddler Scale, “doll” is used seven times
in the child books. This is the highest number of usage in this category.
Table 4.4 Toys
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehens
Toddler Scale-
Production
Words
Number in
Production
Child
N
%
Books
ion
N
%
N
%
Top (Ball)
44
77
10
17.5
78
83.9
Bebek (Doll)
7
Balon (Baloon)
35
61
3
5.3
75
80.6
Top (Ball)
4
Oyuncak (Toy)
32
56
1
1.8
66
71
Balon (Baloon)
2
Bebek (Doll)
28
49
9
15.8
53
57.8
Oyuncak (Toy)
6
Kitap (Book)
23
40
1
1.8
51
54.8
Kitap (Book)
3
Kova
9
15.8
2
3.5
42
45.2
Kova(Bucket)
1
27
29
Küp(Cube)
2
26
28
Robot(Robot)
1
25
26.9
Uçurtma(Kite)
1
24
25.8
Lego
1
16
17.2
Kukla(Puppet)
1
8
8.6
Blok(Block)
1
In the following table (Table 4.5a), words that are present in the child books to
refer food and drinks and their percentages of comprehension and production in Infant
31
and Toddler Groups are indicated. Being dependent on their mothers to survive, food
and drink is vital for children. They always find a way to convey their need for them.
“Water” is naturally the most frequently used word in both group. In the Infant Group,
59% of the children comprehend and 15.8% of the infants produce this word. After
this, “banana” (49.1%), “bread” (45.6%) and “yoghurt” (45.6%) are the words that are
comprehended the most commonly by the infants. The word “Fruit” is comprehended
by 21% of the infants however; it is not produced by any of the infants. It is a broader
term and it is easier for children to learn and remember the lower level words of wider
categories (Clark, 2003). That is “banana” or “apple” are easier to learn for children
than the term “fruit”.
In the Toddler Group, the production number of “water” rises up to 78 children
(83.9%). “Milk” is another drink that is essential for children from infancy to
adolescence. The word is not so familiar with the infants (comprehension rate of 33%);
however 76.3% of the toddlers are able to produce this word. “Apple” and “bread”
(68.8%) are other commonly produced words in the Toddler Group. “Fruit” is also the
least frequently produced word by toddlers (37.4%).
By looking at the characteristics of the frequently comprehended and produced
words for food and drink, it is possible to comment that children use the words that they
can touch and eat or drink on their own.
Parallel to its being commonly acquired by children, “water” is observed to be
used six times in the child books. This is the highest rate of usage in “Food and Drink”
category.
Table 4.5a Food and Drink Present both in the Books and Turkish CDI
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehens
Toddler
Production
Words
Number
Scale-
in Child
Production
Books
N
%
ion
N
%
N
%
Su (Water)
34
59
9
15.8
78
83.9
Su (Water)
7
Muz(Banana)
28
49.1
1
1.8
71
76.3
Süt(Milk)
1
Ekmek(Bread)
26
45.6
2
3.5
64
68.8
Ekmek(Bread)
1
Yoğurt(Yoghurt)
26
45.6
1
1.8
64
68.8
Elma(Apple)
1
Elma (Apple)
20
35.1
2
3.5
60
64.5
Muz(Banana)
1
32
Table 4.5a Continued
Süt(Milk)
19
33
2
3.5
49
52.7
Makarna(Macaroni
1
Meyve(Fruit)
12
21
0
0
49
52.7
Yoğurt(Yoghurt)
1
Makarna(Macaroni)
11
19.3
0
0
32
37.4
Meyve(Fruit)
3
There are other food names that are not used in the child books but frequently
comprehended and produced by infants and toddlers (See Table 4.5b). Therefore, these
words can also to be used in the child books more frequently.
In the Infant Group, words are listed until %35.1of the usage. Less than this
number of usage does not let to make a suggestion that children are able to comprehend
or produce the words. On the other hand, %50.5 usage of the production rate is listed in
the Toddler Group.
Table 4.5b Frequently Used Food and Drink not Present in the Child Books
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler
Words
ScaleProduction
Comprehens
Production
N
%
ion
N
%
N
%
Bisküvi(Biscuits)
25
43.9
0
0
69
74.2
Çay (Tea)
Çorba (Soup)
25
43.9
2
3.5
61
65.6
Çikolata(Chocolate)
59
63.4
Şeker (Candy)
56
60.2
Yumurta(Egg)
54
58.1
Pilav (Pilaf)
52
55.9
Et (Meat)
51
54.8
Kek(Cake)
50
53.8
Patates(Potatoes)
47
50.5
Yemek (Food)
In Table 4.6a and b, the number of infants and toddlers comprehend and produce
names for clothing is presented. The only item for clothing found in the child books is
“hat”. It is comprehended by 33% of the infants but produced by only one infant.
However, more than half of the toddlers are able to produce this word. The
33
phonological difficulty of the Turkish pronunciation of “hat” does not let infants
produce this word less frequently.
Table 4.6a Clothes
Words
Infant Scale
Şapka (Hat)
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
19
33
1
1.8
Toddler Scale-
Number in Child
Production
Books
N
%
53
57
2
Additionally, as it can be seen in Table 4.6b, children are able to comprehend
and produce other clothing items to be used in the child books apart from “hat”, such as
“shoes, socks, slippers, nappy”. These are clothes that are frequently used in the child’s
physical environment.
Table 4.6b Clothes not Present in the Child Books
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehensio
Production
Toddler Scale-
Number of Usage in
Production
the Child Books
N
%
n
N
%
N
%
Ayakkabı(Shoes)
30
52.6
3
5.3
66
71
Ayakkabı(Shoes)
Bez(Nappy)
30
52.6
1
1.8
55
59.1
Çorap(Socks)
Çorap(Socks)
28
49.1
1
1.8
52
55.9
Toka (Buckle)
Terlik(Slipper)
15
26.3
0
0
50
53.8
Bez(Nappy)
50
53.8
Terlik(Slipper)
Another semantic category of words is “body parts” (See Table 4.7). In the
child books, names of body parts are mostly used to introduce new vocabulary. There
are six words for names of body that are both in the child books and in TCDI. “Hand”
is the most frequently comprehended word in Infant Group. Hands are babies’ first
toys. In front of their eyes, they struggle to make their nerves control hands’
movements for months. As soon as they use their hands to reach the objects, they hear
34
“take your hands off, give me your hand, hold it in your hand, or don’t touch your
hand”.
Tomasello and Farrar (1986, in Barrett) found that “the use of object names by
mothers to refer to objects which are already at the child’s focus of attention is
positively correlated with later vocabulary size” (p. 390). “Tooth” is the least
frequently comprehended word for body part in the Infant group (22.8%). In addition
“tongue” is comprehended by 24% of the infants but none of the infants are able to
produce it. More detailed body parts such as “neck” and “face” are not included in the
Infant Group.
“Hand” is also produced by the majority of the children in the toddler scale
(69.9%). “Tooth” and “ear” are other commonly produced words by toddlers. “Neck”
is the least frequently used body part. It may be because it does not have a significant
characteristic that takes attention of the children.
Parallel to the most frequently usage of “hand” in body parts category it takes
twice in the total child books investigated. Other body parts are used once in the child
books.
Table 4.7 Body Parts
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Number
Production
in Child
N
%
Books
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
El(Hand)
29
50.9
2
3.5
65
69.9
El(Hand)
2
Kulak (Ear)
19
33
1
1.8
63
67.7
Diş(Tooth)
1
Dil(Tongue)
14
24
0
0
58
62.4
Kulak (Ear)
1
Diş(Tooth)
13
22.8
1
1.8
49
52.7
Dil(Tongue)
1
37
39.8
Yüz (Face)
1
29
31.2
Boyun(Neck)
1
The next group of words investigated is words for small household items. As it
is seen in Table 4.8, “telephone” is the most frequently comprehended word in the
Infant Group (61.4%). With its music, colors and availability in the environment make
children grasp the word. “Glass” is the second most frequently comprehended word for
infants. It is another must for babies’ essential needs for drinking water or milk. After
their first year of age, they are very eager to hold the glass and drink themselves. It is
35
inevitable for children to grasp the meaning of these words in the environment. It is
also possible that children use the word “glass” for a request of milk or water. However
it is produced by only one infant. “Blanket” and “towel” are the least commonly
comprehended words in Infant Group. They are also produced by none of the infants.
“Bag” is the most commonly used word by the toddlers (64.5%). “Glass” is
produced by almost equal number of children (63.4%). In this group, “blanket” is the
least frequently produced word (32.3%). “Telephone is produced by quite many of the
toddlers (63.4%) Related to this, “alo” is the most commonly produced word by
toddlers (90.3%). Children tend to use this word both for a start of a conversation on
the phone and the telephone object as it is short and easy to articulate.
“Spoon, key” are other small household items that children are able to
comprehend and produce commonly. Generally, the small household items that are
commonly comprehended and produced by children are the ones that babies can touch,
use and hold in their environment.
Although “bag, glass, light/lamp” are among the most frequently used words by
children, they are used once in the child books. Surprisingly, “picture” is the most
commonly used word in the child books. It is used four times.
Tablo 4.8 Small Household Items
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler
Comprehens
Producti
ion
on
Words
Number
Scale-
in Child
Production
Books
N
%
N
%
N
%
Telefon(Telephone)
37
64.9
2
3.5
60
64.5
Çanta(Bag)
1
Bardak (Glass)
29
50.9
1
1.8
59
63.4
Bardak (Glass)
1
Işık(Light)
24
42
2
3.5
59
63.4
Telefon(Telephone)
1
Çanta(Bag)
15
26
1
1.8
54
58
Saat (Watch/Clock)
1
Resim(Picture)
14
24.6
1
1.8
49
52.7
Işık(Light)
1
Saat (Watch/Clock)
13
22.8
1
1.8
43
46.2
Havlu (Towel)
1
Battaniye(Blanket)
13
22.8
0
0
39
41.9
Resim(Picture)
4
Havlu(Towel)
5
8.8
0
0
30
32.3
Battaniye (Blanket)
1
36
In Table 4.9, frequency of words referring to furniture and rooms in the child
books are presented. “Television” is the most frequently comprehended word by infants
(63.2%). It is comprehended by more than half of the infants but it is not easy for them
to produce such a multisyllabic word in their one-word stage. Interestingly, “computer”
is a word that is acquired at early ages, however it is the least frequently comprehended
word for infants and none of the infants are able to produce this word.
“Door” is the most commonly produced word in Toddler Group with 65.5 %. It
is comprehended by 36.8% of the infants. Compared to the other words in the table
such as /televizyon/ and /bilgisayar/, it is easier to produce /kapı/. In the age of
technology, it is clear to see that television and computers are in the lives of most
children. 46 out of 92 children produce the word television in Toddler Group.
“Computer” is the least frequently produced word for toddlers.
There have also been other words used in the child books such as “bed, pillow,
door, bathroom”. These words are also among the most frequently used words for
furniture and rooms’ category in the whole TCDI lists.
Table 4.9 Furniture and Rooms
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Number
Production
in Child
N
%
Books
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Televizyon(Television)
36
63.2
1
1.8
61
65.5
Kapı(Door)
2
Yatak(Bed)
23
40
1
1.8
46
49.5
Televizyon(Television)
1
Yastık(Pillow)
22
38.6
2
3.5
46
49.5
Yatak(Bed)
1
Kapı(Door)
21
36.8
2
3.5
46
49.5
Banyo(Bathroom)
1
Banyo(Bathroom)
21
36.8
1
1.8
43
46.2
Yastık(Pillow)
1
Bilgisayar(Computer)
21
36.8
0
0
32
34.5
Bilgisayar(Computer)
1
The next group is words for outside things (Table 4.10). There are various
outdoor items to be used in the child books. However, in the chosen books, only “sand”
and “smoke” are included. “Smoke” is not introduced as an object, it is the name of a
dog in one of the child books therefore it is not included in this table. Then there is only
“sand” in child books that also exists in TDCI. It is comprehended by only 10.5% of
the infants and produced by one child.
37
“Sand” is produced by 38.7% of the toddlers. It is not a high percentage of
usage. It is clear that “sand” is not the best choice for the child books compared to
“flower” with a comprehension score of 40.4% in Infant Group and “tree” with a
production score of 57 in the Toddler Group.
Table 4.10 Outdoor Items
Words
Infant Scale
Kum (Sand)
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
6
10.5
1
1.8
Toddler Scale- Production
Number in Child
N
%
Books
36
38.7
2
As it is clear from the table (Table 4.11), only “sea” is used in the child books in
“places to go” category. The number of production rate for this word is very low in the
Infant Scale. It is comprehended by 21% of the infants. Furthermore, only two of the
infants produce this word.
The number of production rate rises in Toddler Group. 35.5% of the toddlers are
able to produce the word “sea”. In the books, “sea” is used as a name for place. Data is
collected from four cities in 3 geographical areas. Two of the cities are by the sea. It is
natural for children living far from sea, not to know the word “sea”.
Although they are not included in the child books, “atta” and “park” are among
the most frequently used words for places to go. “Atta” is comprehended by 70.2% of
the infants. It is not expected to be used in the child books, because it is only used in
child language at early months of speech production to refer to any outside place. Not
surprisingly, “park” is produced by 48.4% of the toddlers, as parks are places that
children love to spend time outside of the house.
Table 4.11 Places to Go
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehensio
Toddler Scale- Production
Production
N
%
33
35.5
Number in Child Books
n
Deniz (Sea)
N
%
N
%
12
21
2
3.2
3
38
Another category is names used for people (Table 4.12). It is not a surprise to
see the word “mother” as the most frequently used name in this table. It is both
comprehended and produced earlier than the other words in this group. It is
comprehended by 64.9%, produced by 57.9% of the infants. Besides, 95.7% of the
toddlers are able to produce this word. “Baby” is another name for people and it stands
in the second line for both groups. This word is also used for “doll” in Turkish.
“Friend” is comprehended by seven children in the Infant Scale and it is
produced by none of the children. Children become socialized as they grow up. They
start to learn to live and share in a social environment. As the infants are not socialized
as the older ones and depend mostly on their mothers, most of them do not comprehend
and produce this word.
Table 4.12 People
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Anne (Mother)
37
64.9
33
Bebek (Baby)
27
47
Kardeş (Sister/Brother
14
Arkadaş (Friend)
7
Toddler Scale-
Number in
Production
Child Books
N
%
57.9
89
95.7
3
9
15.8
78
83.9
5
24.6
1
1.8
44
47.3
2
12.3
0
0
32
34.4
1
In the child books, “baby” is used more often than the other names for people. It
is used 5 times and it is followed by “mother” (three times) and “sister/brother” (twice).
Another category is “games and routines” in Table 4.13a,b. It is impossible to
isolate child language acquisition from its social-interactional environment. Bruner
(1983, in Barrett) investigated some of the social interactional routines of prelinguistic
children (such as picture book reading, peek-a-boo, routine care giving activities such as
feeding, bathing and dressing). They reveal that during these activities, adults use
particular linguistic forms at predictable points that make up interactional formats.
They claim that such lexical forms, regularly occurring during ritualized events provide
39
children acquire not only event representations but also context bound and social
pragmatic words. “Having a bath” is one of the routines that regularly occurs in a
sequence. For this reason, “bath” is the most commonly comprehended and produced
word in both groups (See Table 4.13a). It is comprehended by 50.9% of the infants.
“Breakfast” is the least frequently comprehended word in this table. In addition it is not
produced by any of the infants.
“Bath” is the most frequently produced word in this table. It is produced by
48.4% of the toddlers. Although “music” is comprehended by 36.8% of the infants, this
word is produced by 28% of the toddlers. In addition to these, “song” is another routine
that has been observed to be used by children.
“Music” is used twice in the child books even though it has a low percentage of
comprehension and production. Other routines are observed to be used only once.
Table 4.13a Games and Routines
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Production
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Banyo (Have a bath)
29
50.9
9
Müzik (Music)
21
36.8
Şarkı (Song)
18
31.6
Number in
Child Books
N
%
15.8
45
48.4
Banyo
1
1
1.8
31
33.3
Şarkı (Song)
1
1
1.8
28
30
Kahvaltı
1
(Breakfast)
Kahvaltı (Breakfast)
13
22.8
0
0
26
28
Müzik (Music)
2
In the total list of “games and routines”, “no” is the most frequently
comprehended word by the infants (See Table 4.13b). After that, routines like “clap
your hands, bye bye, well done” are the most commonly comprehended ones. For
infants, “mama” is the most frequently produced word (49.1%). It is used for any kind
of food in early months of infants as they are in the oral period and care about their
needs to be satisfied. Their initial need is to be fed well besides being loved.
Parallel to the Infant Group, in the Toddler Group, “mama” (86%) is among the
most frequently produced words after “alo” (90.3%). As they grow up, children
become socialized. They like being approved and join daily activities and routines.
40
They feel comfortable when they have daily routines in their lives. For these reasons,
toddlers are able to produce many words for routines.
Using these words in the books, will make recognition of these routines. It will
be enjoyable for them to see and imitate these games and routines in interactive books.
Table 4.13b Games and Routines not Present in the Child Books
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Production
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
N
%
Hayır(No)
41
71.9
6
10.5
84
90.3
Alo
Alkış(Clapping
40
70.2
6
10.5
80
86
Mama(Demand for food)
Bay Bay(Bye)
37
64.9
13
22.8
80
86
Hadi (Come on)
Aferin(Well done)
37
64.9
2
3.5
77
82.8
Bay Bay(Bye)
Alo
35
61.4
18
31.6
76
81.7
Cıs(Sound for being hurt)
Mama
33
57.9
28
49.1
68
73.1
Kaka(Dirt)
Güle Güle(Bye)
28
49.1
1
1.8
62
66.7
Yok(No, not available)
Kucak(Hold in arms)
25
43.9
1
1.8
61
65.6
Gol(Goal)
57
61.3
Evet(Yes)
57
61.3
Alkış (Clapping hands)
54
58.8
Hayır(No)
54
58.8
Tamam(Ok)
50
53.8
Var(Available)
49
52.7
Güle Güle(Bye)
47
50.5
Öcü(Scary things)
40
43
Aferin(Well done)
hands)
Verbs are another group investigated in this study (Table 4.14a,b). There are 32
verbs that are present both in the child books and TCDI. Gleitman and Gillette (1995)
state that learning of verbs starts by the “explosion in the spoken vocabulary, including
sudden increase in the range of lexical types (…) at approximately 24th month of life”
(p. 416). Among the verbs used in the books, the most frequently used ones are
monosyllabic. “Look” is the most commonly comprehended verb by the infants (70%).
The next three verbs “eat, sleep (go to bed), drink” clearly indicate that children
41
comprehend the words that are the most frequently addressed to them so as to feed their
daily needs. “Swim” is the least frequently comprehended verb in the Infant Group. In
addition, three of the verbs that exist in the Toddler group are not included in the Infant
Group (wait, listen, be).
“Go, stop, look” are acquired earlier by children as they are monosyllabic and
easy to pronounce. They are sequentially the most frequently produced verbs in
Toddler Group. “Go” is produced by 75.3% of the toddlers. Apart from asking
someone to leave, this verb is also used to be taken away by the toddlers. However,
“have a bath/ be washed” is the least frequently produced verb in this group (14%).
In the child books, “go” and “make/do” are the verbs used the most commonly.
“Go” and “do” are used six times; “play” is used five times. “Play” is one of the
essential needs for children. They learn to share, respect to others, build their
personality and enlarge vocabulary. Playtimes are also a rehearsal for the new
vocabulary to be used. Children tend to use new vocabulary in the flow of the speech
during the playtimes. Those times are sources of joy and excitement. Therefore, “play”,
sometimes, becomes a magical word for children.
Table 4.14a Verbs
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Number
Production
in the
N
Child
Comprehension
Production
%
N
%
N
%
Bak (Look)
40
70
2
3.5
70
75.3
Git (Go)
6
Ye (Eat)
31
54.4
2
3.5
65
69.9
Dur (Stop)
3
Yat (Go to bed)
30
52.6
1
1.8
61
65.6
Bak (Look)
2
İç (Drink)
27
47.4
3
5.3
59
63.4
İç (Drink)
2
Git (Go)
25
43.9
1
1.8
57
61.3
Ye (Eat)
2
Yürü (Walk)
23
40.4
1
1.8
52
55.9
Koş (Run)
2
Dur (Stop)
22
38.6
2
3.5
51
54.8
Yat (Go to bed)
1
Koş (Run)
21
36.8
1
1.8
50
53.8
Giy(in) (Wear)
1
Giy(in) (Wear)
21
36.8
1
1.8
50
53.8
Oyna (Play)
5
Oyna (Play)
20
35
1
1.8
49
52.7
Ört (Cover)
1
Ağla (Cry)
20
35
1
1.8
46
49.5
Tak (Wear/put on)
1
Salla (Wave/Shake)
19
33.3
0
0
44
47.3
Vur (Hit)
1
Vur (Hit)
17
29.8
1
1.8
44
47.3
Çıkar (Take out)
1
Books
42
Table 4.14a Continued
Tara (Comb)
17
29.8
1
1.8
43
46.2
Ağla (Cry)
1
Gül (Smile)
17
29.8
0
0
43
46.2
Tara (Comb)
1
Sev (Love/Like)
16
28
0
0
43
46.2
Söyle(Say)
1
Yıkan(Be washed)
16
28.1
1
1.8
42
45.2
Oku (Read)
2
Söyle(Say)
14
24.6
0
0
40
43
Bekle (Wait)
2
Bağır(Shout)
14
24
1
1.8
39
41.9
Salla (Wave/Shake)
1
Çek(Pull)
13
22.8
1
1.8
39
41.9
Yap (Do/Make)
6
Ört (Cover)
11
19
0
0
38
40.9
Sev (Love/Like)
3
Çıkar (Take out)
11
19
1
1.8
38
40.9
Uyan (Wake)
1
Yap (Do/Make)
11
19.3
0
0
38
40.9
Yaz (Write)
1
Tak (Wear/Put on)
9
15.8
1
1.8
37
39.8
Gül (Smile)
1
Atla (Jump)
9
15.8
2
3.5
36
38.7
Yürü (Walk)
1
Gez (Wander)
9
15.8
0
0
36
38.7
Çek(Pull)
1
Oku (Read)
8
14
0
0
35
37.6
Atla (Jump)
1
Uyan (Wake)
7
12.3
1
1.8
35
37.6
Uç (Fly)
3
Yaz (Write)
7
12.3
0
0
34
36
Yüz (Swim)
3
Uç (Fly)
6
10.5
0
0
29
31.2
Gez (Wander)
2
Yüz (Swim)
4
7
0
0
27
29
Dinle (Listen)
2
Bekle (Wait)
-
-
-
-
24
25.8
Ol (Be)
2
Dinle (Listen)
-
-
-
-
23
24.7
Bağır(Shout)
1
Ol (Be)
-
-
-
-
13
14
Yıkan (Be washed)
1
Even though they are not used in the child books, “come, bring and take” are
frequently used by children (Table 4.14b). Clark and Garnica (1974; inWales, 1986)
revealed a comprehension test in which children had to use the contrast between
“come/go” and “bring/take”. These are deictic verbs as the motion is described by the
position of the speaker. Children were between 6 to 9 years of age. In their study, they
found out that “come” is easier than “go”, and “bring” is easier than “take”.
Furthermore, the former pair is easier than the latter pair of verbs. Parallel to these
results, “come” is the earliest and second most frequent verb that infants comprehend
(64.9%). It is not known if “go” is acquired later but it is clear that fewer children
comprehend this verb (43.9%). It is the same in the Toddler Group as well. “Come” is
the most frequently produced word (79.9%) and “go” is right after “come” in the
frequency of production (75.3%).
43
There are slight differences in the case of “bring/take” in the Infant Group. 32
of the infants (56.1%) comprehend the word “bring” and 33 of them comprehend “take”
(57.9%). It is not known if “take” is acquired before “bring”, only one more child
comprehends “take” in Infant Group. For Toddler Group, it is parallel with Clark and
Garnica. “Take” is acquired by 70 toddlers (75.3%) and precedes “bring” which is
produced by 64 toddlers (68.8%). In parallel to Clark and Garnica, the acquisition of
“come/go” precedes “bring/take” pair. However, these verbs are not observed in the
child books.
Table 4.14b Other Verbs Frequently Used by Children; Not Present in the Child
Books
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Production
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
N
%
Gel (Come)
37
64.9
9
15.8
74
79.9
Gel (Come)
Öp (Kiss)
35
61.4
7
12.3
73
78.5
At (Throw)
Al (Take)
33
57.9
9
15.8
70
75.3
Al (Take)
Ver (Give/Bring)
32
56.1
6
10.5
64
68.8
Ver (Give/Bring)
El salla(Wave hand)
31
54.4
2
2.5
63
67.7
(Canı) acımak (Be hurt)
Tut (Hold)
25
43.9
1
1.8
51
54.8
Tut (Hold)
In Table 4.15, words to describe nouns and actions comprehended and produced
by children and present in the child books are investigated. Comprehension rate of
these words in Infant Group are very low. “Beautiful” is the most commonly used
description word by infants. “Naughty” places at the end of the list and neither
comprehended nor produced by infants. Also, the word “White” is not present in the
Infant Group.
“Good” is the most frequently produced word in the Toddler Group with a
production rate of 38.7%. “White” and “huge” are the least frequently produced
description words by toddlers. In addition, “naughty” is not included in Toddler Group.
It should be considered that both “good” and “beautiful” have positive
meanings. They are used for encouragement of the states and actions. Children are
44
familiar with these words therefore they are able to comprehend and produce these
words more frequently than the others in both groups.
Even though it is not comprehended or produced in the Infant Group, “naughty”
is the most commonly used word in the child books (four times). It does not exist in
Toddler Group as well. Other the most commonly used words for description are
mentioned once in the child books.
Table 4.15 Description Words
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler
Words
Scale-
Number in
Child Books
Production
Comprehens
Production
N
%
ion
N
%
N
%
Güzel (Beautiful)
13
22.8
1
1.8
36
38.7
İyi (Good/Fine)
1
Kocaman (Huge)
7
12.3
1
1.8
34
36.6
Güzel (Beautiful)
1
İyi (Good/Fine)
5
8.8
0
0
31
33.3
Kırmızı (Red)
1
Kırmızı (Red)
3
5.3
0
0
23
24.7
Kocaman (Huge)
1
Yaramaz(Naughty)
0
0
0
0
23
24.7
Beyaz (White)
1
Beyaz (White)
-
-
-
-
-
-
Yaramaz (Naughty)
4
In Table 4.16, words about time are investigated. Children up to 30 month of
age are not capable of knowing time concept. They are interested in the time that they
are in, and do not need to name it. Even though they produce words for time, they
generally misuse them in conversation. For that reason, there are not so many words
about time in the child books. “Morning” and “night” are the only words about time
that exist in the child books. They share the same comprehension and production rates
in the infant scale. However, 35.5% of the toddlers produce the word “morning” and
33.3% of them produce the word “night”. These two words are generally used to give
hope and delay a child’s demands by parents, such as “we will go to park in the
morning” of “Dad will come at night”. In addition, “morning” is used twice; “evening”
is used once in the child books.
45
Table 4.16 Words About Time
Words
Infant Scale
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Sabah (Morning)
10
17.5
1
Gece (Night)
10
17.5
1
Toddler Scale-
Number in
Production
Child Books
N
%
1.8
33
35.5
2
1.8
31
33.3
1
It is clear to see from the table (Table 4.17) that the most frequently used
pronouns refer to the immediate context of the child. Loveland (in Fletcher and
MacWhinney, 1997) states that “while children begin early on the perspective shifts
inherent in the “I/you” contrast, they take time to master details of perspective marking
in locative, demonstrative and verbal forms”. For both Infant and Toddler Group, “me”
is at the top of the pronouns table. In the total pronouns tables for both groups, “I and
me” are the most frequently used pronouns in the Infant Group. But still the number is
low (“I” is comprehended by 28%, “me” is comprehended by 26% of the infants) and it
is not possible to make a generalization. In the Toddler group, “me, this, I” are the most
commonly produced pronouns, in the order of frequency. Parallel to this, in his
longitudinal study, Chiat (in Fletcher and Garman, 1996) found out that first person
singular (I, my, mine) and third person inanimate (it) pronouns were the first to be used
in English.
“This” is the most commonly used pronoun in the child books. It is used three
times in a serial of books named “This boat”. “You and him” are used twice, “me and
(to) you” are used only once in the child books.
Table 4.17 Pronouns
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Number
Production
in Child
N
%
Books
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
Beni (Me)
15
26.3
2
3.5
62
66.7
Beni (Me)
1
Sen (You)
14
24.6
1
1.8
54
58.1
Bu (This)
3
Bu (This)
12
21.1
2
3.5
27
29
Sen (You)
2
46
Table 4.17 Continued
Sana (To you)
8
14
25
26.9
Ona(Him)
2
Ona(Him)
4
7
24
25.8
Sana (To you)
1
In Table 4.18, comprehension and production scores of question words are
investigated. As children grow up, they start to wonder other dimensions of objects,
actions and states. They ask questions to have an idea about almost everything. In her
study, Sofu (1998) found out that children start to use question sentences as early as the
second year of their lives. They are able to make question sentences both by using
question words (what, who, where…) and question particle “-mi” after the word that is
desired to have information about.
There are three question words that are present both in the child books and
TCDI. Cho and O’Grady (1997) state that in English, “wh” questions are used gradually
between the ages of two and four. They note that the first wh question words to be
acquired are “what, where”, followed by “who, how, why”. It is also found out that
“when, which, whose” are acquired relatively late. Parallel to these findings, there are
similarities in Turkish. “Where” is the most frequently comprehended of all these three
question words in the Infant Group. But it is not produced yet. Only two of the infants
produced the question word “what” in the Infant group. “Why” is the least frequently
comprehended and produced question word in both groups.
Having a larger vocabulary, toddlers are eager to enlarge it by asking object
names. 55.9% of the toddlers produce the question word “what”. As they are not
cognitively mature enough for reasoning, “why” is produced by 24.7%of toddlers.
Table 4.18 Question Words
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Production
Comprehensio
Production
N
%
Number in
Child Books
n
N
%
N
%
Nereye (Where)
9
15.8
0
0
52
55.9
Ne (What)
4
Ne (What)
7
12.3
2
3.5
28
30.1
Nereye (Where)
4
Neden (Why)
2
3.5
0
0
23
24.7
Neden (Why)
1
47
In the total word lists of TCDI for both groups, “who” is the most frequently
comprehended question word by Infants (35.1%). “What” is still the most frequently
produced question word in the total question words table in the Toddler Group (55.9%).
In the child books, “what” and “where” are used four times. Such books are
interactive books that join the child into the reading activity by pointing or labeling.
In Table 4.19, prepositions present both in the child books and TCDI are
investigated. In Turkish, prepositions are used as suffixes added at the end of words.
Therefore they are called “postpositions”. A child, comprehending or producing a word
such as “burada” should also be accepted that he has the recognition of the suffix at the
end of the word. English equivalents of “in, on, under, behind” are used in combination
with the separate words and case markers.
Bura - da
Noun
locative
Alt -
ı -
Noun
acc.
n -
da
comb.
Loc.
sound
Evaluating the world from their own perspective, children are interested in
things that are near them. Clark (in Fletcher and MacWhinney, 1996) states that
English speaking children consistently take “here” (where the speaker is) to contrast
directly “there” (where the speaker is not) at around age four. But they start to use
prepositions as their vocabulary increases. “Here” is the most frequently comprehended
postposition in the Infant Group (45.6%). However, “in” is the least commonly
comprehended one. “On/at, behind, in” are produced by none of the infants.
“Here” is also the most frequently produced postposition in the Toddler Group
(44.1%). However, “behind” is at the end of the Toddler Group in the production.
“There” is not used in the child books but comprehension and production of it is
followed by “here” and “under” for both groups.
Although it is produced by 23.7% of the children, “behind” is the most
frequently used word in the child books. “Here” is the most commonly comprehended
and produced word by both infants and toddlers; however they take place only once in
the child books.
48
Table 4.19 Postpositions
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler
Words
Scale-
Number in Child
Books
Production
Comprehens
Producti
ion
on
N
%
N
%
N
%
Burada (Here)
26
45.6
1
1.8
41
44.1
Burada (Here)
1
Altında (Under)
17
29.8
1
1.8
34
36.6
Altında (Under)
4
Üstünde (On)
14
24.6
0
0
28
30.1
Üstünde (On)
1
Arkasında (Behind)
14
24.6
0
0
27
29
İçinde (In)
İçinde (In)
13
22.8
0
0
22
23.7
Arkasında(Behind)
5
Table 4.20 presents the comprehension and production scores of quantifiers that
are both in the child books and TCDI. Guasti (2002) states that in English, children are
able to comprehend and produce quantified sentences from about 4 years of age. By this
age, they are able to distinguish referential from quantified noun phrases. Parallel to
this, quantifiers do not frequently take place among Turkish infants’ vocabulary. In
Turkish, “işte” (here) is used when the speaker wants to label something. It is the most
frequently used word in the Infant Group (8.8%). However as the numbers are very
low, it is not possible to accept that quantifiers are acquired by the infants.
Furthermore, none of the infants are able to produce quantifiers.
In the Toddler Group, “çok”, meaning “many, much, a lot, plenty” in English, is
the most frequently produced word (53.8%). But “İşte” is not included in the Toddler
Group. “Gibi” meaning “as if/like” places at the end of the table in the Toddler Group
and produced by 16.1% of the toddlers.
Table 4.20 Quantifiers
Words
Infant Scale
Toddler Scale-
Words
Production
İşte (Here)
Comprehension
Production
N
%
N
%
5
8.8
0
0
N
%
50
53.8
Number in
Child Books
Çok (Many/Much/A lot)
1
49
Table 4.20 Continued
Çok(Many/Much/
4
7
0
0
19
20.4
Hiç (Any/None)
1
Hepsi (All)
4
7
0
0
18
19.4
Hepsi (All)
1
Hiç (Any/None)
2
3.5
0
0
15
16.1
Gibi (As/like)
1
Gibi (As/like)
-
-
-
-
-
-
İşte (Here)
3
A lot)
Even though it is the most frequently comprehended word by the infants, “işte”
does not exist in the Toddler Group. It is used three times in the books. Other
quantifiers are observed to be only once in the child books.
4.1.2 Grammatical Analysis of the 13 Child Books
Naturally, the language used in the child books has its own rules. It is clear to
see that repetitions of morphemes, words and phrases are commonly used in these
books.
There are examples of five different tenses in the books: simple past(-dı, -di, -du,
-dü, -tı, -ti, -tu, -tü), past continuous (-yordu), present continuous tense (-yor), past in
the future (-acaktı, -ecekti) and reported past tense (-mış). Repetition of tense
morphemes is commonly used in the books. For example, the present continuous tense
morpheme “-yor” used and repeated in the first three books (yapıyor, vuruyor, ağlıyor).
There are also examples of repetitions for simple present tense morpheme “-r”, such as
“yıkarım, içerim, yerim”.
There are a number of words that belong to different semantic categories such as
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, question words, routines and animal sounds.
Adjectives are frequently used to define nouns such as “sarı ördek, yaramaz kaz, şipşak
fare, yaramaz kaplan, kırmızı şapkası”.
As stated earlier, there are repetitions of words and phrases. In one book,
voices of animals are repeated (hav hav hav, miyav, miyav, miyav). There are also
repetitions of question particles and questions such as “arkasında mı?” (Is it
behind….?), “altında mı?” (Is it under…?) or “……. nerede?” (Where is …?) In one of
the books, the whole question sentence is repeated: “Bebek nereye gitmiş?”
In Table 4.1, examples of tense morphemes, the total number and percentages
of these morphemes in the books are listed. It is clear that present tense morphemes
(simple present and present continuous tense) are the most frequently used ones. This is
50
because children at these ages are mostly related with “here and now” Clark (2003).
During the shared reading times, parent and the child talk about the pictures and
children frequently ask endless questions on what is happening or what the character is
doing on the picture. As most of the children do not have enough access to past or
future they frequently misuse “tomorrow, yesterday, two days ago or later” words.
Consequently, conversation is held around immediate time, place and context, that is by
present continuous tense.
For the past tense morphemes, Simple Past tense is used most frequently as it is
easier to use and convey the meaning of past. Past continuous tense is rarely used in the
books; the total number is five. There is only one example of the expression of
“hearsay” (-mIş, -miş), as children are not ready to talk about things that they did not
witness. If they have to use it, simple past tense is more accessible for them. There is
only example of past possibility, which is used as “past in the future” in Turkish. As
children still have problems on using simple tenses, it is hard to see the morphologically
complex tenses in their conversation repertoire.
Table 4.21 Examples and Numbers of Tense Morphemes Used in the Child Books
Tenses
Examples from Child Books
Total Number
%
of Usage
Simple Past Tense “-dı, -di,
Durdu, baktı, dedi, kondu, gitti, atladı, kurtardı,
14
18
-du, -dü, -tı, -ti, -tu, -tü”
koştu, kahramandı, alkışladı, uçtu
Present Continuous Tense
Hazırlıyor, yapıyor, yerleştiriyor, söylüyor,
42
55
“-yor”
ağlıyor, vuruyor, oynuyor, okuyor, kesiyor,
5
6
Gitmiş
4
5
Girilir, çıkarır, kullanırız, yüzer, yaşar, meler,
20
26
yapıştırıyor, çıkarıyor, takıyor, güneşleniyor,
yüzüyor, topluyor, yazıyor, çekiyor, gülüyor,
dinliyor, tamir, ediyor, yiyor, uyuyor, pişiriyor,
yıkanıyor, tarıyor, yürüyor, izliyor, giyiniyor,
içiyor, düşürüyor, duruyor, bekliyor, geziniyor,
diyor
Past Continuous “-yordu”
Diyordu, çırpınıyordu, bekliyordu, ağlıyordu,
duruyordu
Reported Past
“-mış, -miş, -muş, -müş”
Simple Present Tense “-r”
koşar, anırır, bağırır, gıdaklar, miyavlar, havlar,
korur, severim, yerim, oynarım, olur, içerim,
yıkarım
51
Table 4.21 Continued
Past in the future
boğulacaktı
1
1,3
“-ecekti,-acaktı”
Total:76
Commands are salient in the child language in Turkish. Before learning to add
suffixes to verbs, using only the stem of a verb is enough to make command sentences.
In the books, there are eight commands: uyu, (ses) çıkarma, salla, ört, söndür, söyle,
göster. One of them “(ses) çıkarma (don’t make noise)” is a negative command.
Negative sentences are not done by using “-me, -ma” suffixes in the books. It is
provided by using the word “yok” (no, not available). There is only one example for
negation in the total ten books. Importance of being positive to children on every way is
supported by using negative language least.
Case markers are categories that state the relationship of a noun with the other
words. In Turkish, case markers show the relationship of the noun with the following
word. There are examples of five case markers in the child books. Accusative case is
the most frequently used one. It is used for determination and indication. As a result,
using accusative case make children feel that there is something definite and concrete in
the conversation. It consists of 34 percent of the total 79 usages of case markers. It is
used twenty seven times. Ablative case is the least used case marker. It is only used
once.
Table 4.22 Examples and Number of the Case Markers Used in the Child Books
Case Markers
Examples from Child Books
Total
%
Number of
Usage
Dative “-e, -a”
kapıya, ona, nereye(4 times), sana, suya
15
19
27
34
(twice), yatağa, dereye, gezmeye, kayığa
(twice)
Accusative “-ı, -i, -u, -ü”
Çantasını, dilini, gözlüğünü,fotoğrafları,
resimleri,dilini,kitapları, tüylerini, suyunu,
bardağı, elimi, yüzümü, dişlerimi, yapmayı,
yemekleri, meyveleri,beni., kayığı, sesini,
hangisini, isimlerini, kardeşi,
kelebeği,ışıkları, baloncukları,onu,üstünü
arkadaşı
52
Table 4.22 Continued
Locative “-de, -da”
Arkasında, burada, altında, nerede, kumda,
19
24
kumsalda, suda, içinde, kahvaltıda
Ablative “-den, dan”
Nereden
1
1,2
Genitive “-ın, -in, -un, -ün”
Annemin, suyun, eşyaların, hayvanların,
17
21
senin, adın, soyadın, civcivin, saatin,
perdenin, kitabın, yastığın, battaniyenin,
şemsiyenin, topun, bloklarının, havlunun
Other morphemes are decided and detected according to the grammatical items
in the CDI. As a result they can be listed in five categories: suggestive marker referring
to second person singular, plural, possessive, conjunction morphemes and yes/no
question particles.
In Turkish, question sentences are constructed in two ways. First one is using
question words at the beginning of the sentences such as “what”, “when”, “who”. Other
way is to add “mi” particle at the end of the word that is related to the desired
information. According to Sofu (1998), acquisition of question sentences is regular and
easy as questions do not need a syntactic change.
Table 4.23 Inflectional Morphemes Used in the Child Books
Inflectional Morphemes
Examples from Child Books
Total Number
%
of Usage
Plural “-ler, -lar”
Dişlerimi, yemekleri, meyveleri, hastalıklardan,
16
45
Altında mı? Arkasında mı?
9
25
Possessive “-(i)m
Elimi, yüzümü, dişlerimi, annemin
4
11
Conjunction “-(ı)nca, -
Uyanınca, fırçalayınca
2
5,7
Conjunction “-yla” (with)
Bilgisayarla, suyla
2
5,7
Suggestive Marker “-sene”
Yüzsene, gitsene
2
5,7
köpekler, kediler, resimlerdeki, hayvanların,
bunlar, kardeşleri, görenler, ışıkları, geceler,
oyuncaklar, bloklarının, baloncukları
Yes/No Question Particle
“mı? mi?”
(i)nce” (meaning “when”)
53
In this study, yes-no question particles consist of 25 % of the morphemes in the
Table 4.23. However, there is no question formulated by a question word in the total
thirteen child books.
4.1.3 Comparison of Grammatical Items Both in the Child Books And Turkish
CDI
In this part, the number of tense morphemes in the child books and number of
children produced these morphemes are analyzed. According to the results, there are
seven tenses inquired in the Toddler Scale including simple present, past and future
tenses. In addition to these, there are two morphologically complex tenses:
GelCome
(I)yor-
Present Reported
Prog.
Gel-
muş
miş-
Come Reported
Past
Past
ti
Simple
Past
However, there are six different tenses used in the child books including one
morphologically complex tense:
Gid-
ecek-
ti
Go
Future
Simple past
In Table 4.24, the production number and percentage of time suffixes present both
in the child books and the TCDI are presented. Although present progressive suffix “yor” is used the most frequently in the child books (see Table 4.1), simple past tense
suffix “-dı” is the most commonly produced time suffix by the toddlers. In the child
books, present progressive suffix “-yor” is also used in a narrative style in the context.
It is inevitable to accept that children are interested in the immediate context that they
are in. However, in Turkish, simple past tense suffix “-dı” is acquired earlier and used
more frequently in conversation with children. Aksu-Koç (in R. M. Weist, in Eds. P.
Fletcher and M. Garman, 1996) stated the reason as this suffix is used for either
54
“ritualized” responses to questions or action verbs used after the completion of an
activity.
Table 4.24 Tense Suffixes
Time Suffixes
Production in Toddler Scale
Usage in the Child Books
N
%
N
%
“-dı” Simple Past Tense 70
75.2
14
18
“-yor” Present
50
53.8
42
55
“-mış” Reported Past
34
36.6
4
5
“-r” Simple Present
32
34.4
20
26
progressive
In Table 4.26, production rate of case markers that are present both in the child
books and TCDI Toddler Scale are indicated. There are case markers in every
language, however, there are different affixes in different languages. In some
languages, such as English, it is done by the change in the pronoun. In Turkish, “bana
(bak)” is a dative pronoun made by the addition of “-a” at the end of the pronoun “ben”.
Due to the consonant harmony, “ben” turns to “bana” after taking dative case marker “a”. In English, there is the change of pronoun in “look at me”. “I” turns to “me” for
dative case. Accusative case is done by the addition of “-I” suffix to the same stem
“ben” (I). In Turkish “ben” (I) takes the suffix “-I” and pronoun is done accusative.
However, in English, without any change in the pronoun, “me” is used as accusative as
in “love me”.
Sofu (1989) found out that, children start to produce the nominative and the
genitive case markers before 18 months of age. However, the dative, the ablative and
the locative case markers are come across after 18 months of age for the first time,
between 16 and 25 months of age. She also stated that the accusative case marker is
observed to be produced after 25 months of age.
According to the results, it is clear to see that 58% of the toddlers produce dative
case. Locative is produced by 48.4% of the toddlers. It is early acquired and produced
by infants and toddlers with postpositions as in “iç-i-n-de” (in) and “üst-ü-n-de” (on).
Ablative is the least produced case by the toddlers (36.6%). It states moving away “ev-
55
den” (from house) or the source of an object or an action as in “anne-den aldım” (I took
from mom).
Table 4.25 Case Markers
Time Suffixes
Production in Toddler Scale
Usage in the Child Books
N
%
N
%
Dative “-e, -a”
54
58
15
19
Locative “-de, -da”
45
48.4
19
24
Accusative “-ı, -i, -u, -ü”
39
42
27
34
Genitive “-ın, -in, -un, -ün”
34
36.6
17
21
Ablative “-den, dan”
23
24.7
1
1.2
Table 4.26 presents the grammatical items that are both in the child books and
Turkish CDI. According to the results, even though plural suffix “-lar” is the most
frequently used item in the child books (see Table 4.23), possessive “(I)m” is the most
frequently produced suffix by toddlers (65.6%). On the other hand, “-(I)nca”
(conjunction meaning “when”) is the least commonly produced suffix by the toddlers
(4.3%).
Table 4.26 Comparison of Other Grammatical Items both in the Child Books and
Turkish CDI
Grammar Items
Production in Toddler Scale
Usage in the Books
N
%
N
%
Possessive “-(i)m
61
65.6
4
11
Yes/No Question Particle “mı?
36
38.7
9
25
Conjunction “-yla” (meaning “ile”)
31
33.3
2
5.7
Plural “-ler, -lar”
28
30.1
16
45
Suggestive Marker “-sene”
13
14
2
5.7
Conjunction “-(ı)nca, -(i)nce”
4
4.3
2
5.7
mi?”
(meaning “when”)
There are other grammatical items that take place in Turkish CDI but do not
exist in the child books. They are presented in Table 4.27. Among these items,
negation suffix “-ma” is the most frequently produced one by the toddlers (%48.4).
56
From early months on, children start to establish their personality. As they grow up and
start to live in a social context, they try to prove themselves as a unique personality.
Besides deciding their likes, they are eager to make people accept their dislikes. It is a
period that children say “no” for almost everything. This may be the reason why they
use negation suffix the most frequently.
Table 4.27 Grammatical Items not Present in the Child Books
Grammar Items
Production in Toddler Scale
N
%
Negative
45
48.4
Causative
44
47.3
Passive
25
26.9
Unergative “gelelim”
25
26.9
11
11.8
Conditional
10
10.8
Optative “-se, -sa”
9
9.7
Debitative “-ebilmek”
9
9.7
Reported Past Progressive“-
7
7.5
(Kertez, 1999)
Reported Past in Simple Past
“-mıştı”
yormuş”
Present progressive in reported past is the least frequently used morpheme by
toddlers (7.5%). Kornfilt (1997) expresses that the progressive is used for an event or
action that takes place at a given point in time, delimited very narrowly to that temporal
point. That temporal point is stated with reported past. Toddlers are not able to
produce such morphologically complex tenses frequently.
4.1.4 Growth of Grammar Parallel to Lexical Development
It is impossible to look at grammar without considering some lexical
components. In the literature, there are studies that claim there is a positive correlation
between the children’s age and vocabulary size. For example, Conboy and Thal (2006)
point out that the use of grammatical terms and the complexity of utterances are linked
to overall vocabulary development. Bates, Bretherton and Synder, (in Hoff 2001),
analyzed the data that they collected on language production and comprehension of 27
57
children aged from 10 to 28 months. They found that measures of their lexical
development at ages 13 and 20 months are strongly related to measures of their
grammatical development at 2 years of age. As a result, it can be proposed that the
correlation between lexical and grammatical growth go hand in hand from early ages
on. That is, the use of grammatical morphemes increases as the child’s lexicon
develops.
As it can be seen in Table 4.28, the number of words that children produce
increases as their age increases. There are 13 children in 16-18 month olds’ group;
however one of them is excluded from this comparison as all of the items are marked
for this participant. There are 16 children in 28-30 month old group. So as to equate
the two groups four of the participants are excluded from the comparison. Therefore,
12 children from each age range (between 16-18 and 28-30 months) are chosen to
indicate the increase in production vocabulary. According to the comparison results,
the average number of words that are produced by 16-18 month old toddlers is 65
words. On the other hand, the average number of words that are produced by 28-30
month old toddlers is 397 words. As stated in section 1.0, there is a vocabulary spurt
after 16 months and it is possible to trace the sudden increase in the production
vocabulary.
Table 4.28 Numbers of Production Vocabulary of 16-18 and 28-30 Month Old
Toddlers
Participants
Number of Production
Participants
Number of Production
(28-30 Month Olds)
Vocabulary
(16-18 Month
Vocabulary (Average 65
Olds)
Words)
Arda K.
129
Melih
678
Yunus
119
Naz
675
Hatice
99
Ece
614
Sude Naz
75
Bilge
566
Avni
73
Salih
428
Aleyna
68
İlayda
409
Arda D.
59
Cansu
387
Yağmur
40
Aksel
380
Selim
38
Tuna
289
Eylül
37
Sude
195
Doruk
36
Hacı
78
Ali
10
Efecan
71
(Average 397 words)
58
Devescovi et al. (2005) found out that age and vocabulary size correlates with
the children’s MLU, but they claim that the contribution of the vocabulary size to
grammatical development is larger. In this study, it is also found out that as the age and
the number of words that children are able to comprehend and produce increases, there
is an increase in the number of grammatical morphemes. The improvement in the usage
of tense suffixes can be seen in Table 4.29. The number of children who produce
present progressive suffix “-yor” is 14.2% between the ages of 16 to 18 months.
However, 76.4% of the toddlers produce the same suffix between 28 to 30 months of
age. It is the same in the production of case markers. 37.5% of the toddlers aged
between 16-18 months are able to produce dative case marker. In the production of 2830 month old toddlers, the number rises up to 70.6%.
It can also be seen that number of words and morphemes increase as the child
develops lexically. Toddlers between 16 to 18 months of age are able to produce at most
two word utterances. In those utterances, there are at most three morphemes. However,
when they are between 28 to 30 months of age, the number of words that they are able
to use in an utterance is 9 at most. The number of the morphemes in those utterances
rises up to 18.
It is wise to accept that children are able to use more grammatical items as their
lexicon develops. As they grow up, they are also able to use longer utterances with
increasing numbers of grammatical morphemes.
Table 4.29 Production Number of Grammatical Items between 16-18 and 28-30
Month Old Toddlers
Grammatical Items
16-18 Months (Average
28-30 Months (Average
65 production
398 production
vocabulary)
vocabulary)
N(13)
%
N(16)
%
Command
8
57.1
15
88.2
Sımple Past “-dı”
7
50
14
82.3
Dative “-e,-a”
5
35.7
12
70.6
Possesive “-im”
4
28.6
12
70.6
Present Progressive “-yor”
2
14.2
13
76.4
Locative “-da”
2
14.2
11
64.7
Negation Suffix “-me”
2
14.2
10
58.9
Accusative “-I”
1
7.1
11
64.7
Unergative for 1st Person Plural “-elim”
1
7.1
11
64.7
59
Table 4.29 Continued
Command for 3rd Person Singular “-sın”
1
7.1
11
64.7
Reported Past “-mış”
1
7.1
9
53
Simple Present “-ar”
1
7.1
9
53
Ablative “-den”
1
7.1
8
47.1
Conjunction Meaning “with/and” “ ile”
0
0
11
64.7
Yes- No Question Particle ”-mı”
0
0
10
58.9
Causative
0
0
9
52.9
Conjunction Meaning “While/As” “ –iken”
0
0
6
35.3
Optative
0
0
6
35.3
Reported Past in Simple Past “-mıştı”
0
0
5
29.4
Reported Past Progressive “-yormuş”
0
0
4
23.5
Passive
0
0
4
23.5
Conditional
0
0
3
17.6
Conjunction Meaning “When/As” “ –(ı)nca”
0
0
1
5.9
So as to be more specific on the subject, the increase in the number of verbs and
the number of tense morphemes added to the verbs are indicated in Table 4.30. It can
be seen in the table that toddlers between 28-30 months of age are able to produce more
verbs and tense morphemes than 16-18 month olds in general. 16-18 month old
toddlers are able to produce at most three tense morphemes with less number of verbs.
Toddlers between 28-30 months of age are able to produce at most six tense morphemes
with more verbs than 16-18 month group.
Table 4.30 Production Numbers of Verbs and Tense Morphemes Produced by 1618 and 28-30 Month Old Toddlers
Participants
Number of
Number of Tense
Participants
Number of
Number of Tense
(16-18 Month
Verbs (169
Morphemes
(28-30 Month Olds)
Verbs (169
Morphemes
Olds)
verbs)
(7 Morphemes)
verbs)
(7Morphemes)
Sude Naz
70
1
Melih
169
6
Hatice
26
1
Ece
147
5
Arda K.
25
1
Salih
128
4
Yunus
22
1
Bilge
113
7
Avni
7
3
İlayda
105
4
Aleyna
7
2
Aksel
85
2
Eylül
7
0
Sude
71
3
60
Table 4.30 Continued
Arda D.
6
0
Tuna
63
2
Doruk
5
0
Naz
53
6
Yağmur
5
0
Cansu
38
2
Selim
4
0
Hacı
12
2
Ali
0
0
Efecan
0
0
In such a comparison, it can be seen that the overall number of verbs and tense
morphemes increase as children get older. On the contrary of the results, there are
specific examples that point the opposite of our claim. For example, one of the
participants in 16-18 months age group, Avni, is able to produce three tense morphemes
even when he is able to produce seven verbs. On the other hand, another participant in
28-30 months age group, Sude, is also able to produce three tense morphemes; however
the number of verbs she is able to produce is 71. Therefore it is not always possible to
claim that children are able to produce more tense morphemes as they get older and
produce more verbs. Personal differences must be taken into consideration.
61
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
5.0 Introduction
In this chapter an overall conclusion of the study will be presented. The answers
of the research questions will be laid out briefly. There will also be the implications for
ELT and suggestions for further research.
5.1 Conclusions
The first aim of this study is to investigate the language used in 13 child books
and make a comparison of the vocabulary in the books with the actual language used by
the children as determined by Turkish CDI. This study also aims to compare the
grammatical items used in 13 child books selected from four different publishers with
the actual language used in the grammar section of the Turkish CDI. Lastly, this study
investigated the increase in the grammatical morphemes of 16-30 month old toddlers
with age.
The participants of the study are 149 children aged between 8 to 30 months.
Children have been divided into two groups according to their ages. 8 to 16 month old
children have been applied Infant Scale; 16 to 30 month old children have been applied
Toddler Scale. There are 57 children in the Infant Group. There are 92 children in the
Toddler Group. Data have been collected from five cities in Turkey: Adana, Ankara,
Eskişehir, Istanbul and Osmaniye. Mothers were interviewed either face to face or they
were asked to fill in the scale on their own.
On the basis of the aims, three research questions have been formulated. The first
research question is:
1. Does the vocabulary children use as indicated by Turkish CDI match with the words
present in 13 child books?
The words in Turkish CDI and the child books have been compared according to the
20 semantic categories in Turkish CDI and their frequencies of usage have been
presented in detail on the tables in section 4.2.1. The words used in the child books
chosen and TCDI generally match in this respect. We are able to find vocabulary items
that are present both in the books chosen and child vocabulary as measured by Turkish
62
CDI in the categories such as sound effects, toys, body parts, small household items,
furniture and rooms, people, verbs and postpositions. However, There is not a perfect
match in the rest of the categories. That is, in some of the categories, not even 30% of
the children comprehend or produce the frequently used words in the child books, such
as animals, vehicles, clothes, outside items, words about time, description words, words
about time, pronouns, question words and quantifiers
As the number of the books is
restricted to 13, the words in the books does not comprise the majority of the words in
Turkish CDI. Among the available ones, the frequency of usage has been presented in
comparison with Turkish CDI. In categories such as clothes, games and routines and
verbs, there are significant number of usages that did not exist in the books. These
results imply, there are more frequently used words by children than the available ones
in the books. Using them in the child books will make the language used in the books
more meaningful for children.
In the child books, verbs are the most frequently used words. There are not verbs in
the books for infants, as there are only names of the objects under the pictures. Verbs
are more than the words in other categories as they state the action in the books. As
Şimşek (2004) states, in the child books, a vivid and active style should be used with
short and regular sentences. This active narration style is provided by the use action
verbs.
Even though there were more items on “clothes” and “places to go” categories in
Turkish CDI, there was only one example in the books for these categories (şapka ‘hat’
and deniz ‘sea’). This result point out that there are more frequently used additional
words to be used in the child books.
The second research question is:
2. Do the grammatical forms children use as indicated by Turkish CDI match with the
forms present in 13 child books?
The answer to this research question is presented in two aspects. Firstly, the results
related to the grammatical items in the child books, then, the match between the
grammatical items on the books chosen and the grammatical items that can be produced
by toddlers as determined by Turkish CDI is presented.
There are six different tenses used in the child books (Simple Past, Present
Continious, Simple Present, Reported Past and Past in the Future). Present Continuous
Tense is the most frequently used tense in the child books. 55% of the tense suffixes
are Present Continious Tense suffix “-yor”. This tense is not only used to state the
63
present action, it also used to maintain the narrative style in the story. Suffix for past in
the future “-yordu” is the least frequently used time suffix in the books (1.3%). In the
books for children, there are morphologically complex tenses; however, they are not
frequently used as children are not linguistically mature enough to understand and
produce these tenses.
In the books chosen, there are five case markers: “dative, accusative, locative,
ablative and genitive” case markers. Among these, accusative case marker “-I, -i, -u, ü” is the most frequently used one. However, ablative case marker “-den, -dan” is the
least frequently used case marker.
Other grammatical morphemes used in the child books are “plural suffix “-lar”,
yes/no question particle “-mı?” , possessive suffix “-(I)m”, suggestive marker “-sene”
and conjunctions “-(I)nca” (meaning “when”) and “-yla” (meaning “with”). Plural
suffixes “ler, -lar” are the most frequently used morphemes in the child books (45%).
The two conjunctions and suggestive marker are the least frequently used morphemes.
Each of them is used twice and consists of the 5.7% of the total morphemes.
Conjunctions are not preferred to be used in the books frequently because the sentences
should be short for children not to lose their interest and miss the beginning of the
sentence (Şimşek, 2004; Şirin, 1998). There are also eight command sentences that are
made by using only the verb stem.
On the other hand, there are some differences in the frequency of usage between the
grammatical items in the books and children’s productions determined by Turkish CDI.
Even though there are six different tenses in the child books, four of them are present in
Turkish CDI (Simple Past, Present Continuous, Reported Past and Simple Present
Tense). Clark (2003) points out that a child’s interests and needs are limited to their
immediate time and setting, that is “here and now”, therefore it is natural for children
produce present tenses in their speech. Even though, Present Continuous Tense is the
most frequently used tense in the child books, according to the Turkish CDI results,
Simple Past Tense suffix “-dı” is the most frequently used tense morpheme by toddlers.
Our study also illustrated that even though the accusative case marker is the
most frequently used case marker in the child books, it was found out that the dative is
the most frequently produced case marker by the toddlers. According to the Turkish
CDI results, the locative case marker is the second most frequently produced case
marker by 16-30 month old toddlers. These findings are parallel to Sofu (1989) who
64
stated that the dative and the locative case markers are come across after 18 months of
age for the first time, between 16 and 25 months of age.
In the child books, plural suffix is the most frequently used morpheme.
Nevertheless, possessive suffix is the most frequently produced suffix by the toddlers.
In addition, the suggestive marker “-sene” is not included in the Turkish CDI.
Therefore, it is not determined if this marker is produced by toddlers.
There were grammatical items that did not take place in the child books such as
suffixes for negation, causative, passive, unergative, reported past in simple past,
conditional, optative, debitative and reported past progressive. These were included in
Turkish CDI and it was found out that negation suffix “-ma” is the most frequently
produced one by the toddlers. It is also found out that suffix for reported past
progressive “-yormuş” the least frequently used one by the toddlers.
In an overall evaluation, our results indicate that the grammatical items that are
present in the child books do not match with the grammatical items that are produced by
16-30 month old toddlers. There are also additional grammatical items that are
frequently produced by toddlers, but do not take place in the child books.
The third research question is:
3. Do the grammatical morphemes that 16-30 month old toddlers use increase as
their age and lexicon increase?
According to the results of the present study, it was found out that the number of the
grammatical morphemes and their frequency of usage increases as the children between
16-30 months of age get older. This is an expected result. Many of the studies (Conboy
and Thal, 2006; Devescovi et al, 2005; Bletes et al, 2008) also indicate that, as children
get older, they expand their vocabulary and parallel to this, they are able to produce
more grammatical items.
5.2 Implications for ELT
Studies show that children who are read books from infancy to age three have larger
vocabulary than the children who are not read books (Hart and Risley, 1995). Sofu,
(2003) also found out that, in homes where adults read book and talk about the events in
the books with children, the awareness of the language structure and functions, that is
metalinguistic awareness develops earlier. It is also found out that reading books to
children makes them do exercises on listening, mimicry, and language (Turla and Tür,
1999). They also point out that reading book to children makes them have interactions
65
with the written language and help to facilitate the passage from pictures to written
language.
There is not a checklist in front of the mothers that will help to choose a book for
their child’s language level. In the light of the findings of this study, parents have the
chance to detect the vocabulary and the grammar of their children and decide to choose
the right book for their language level.
Another group of audience that we have in mind is the writers of child books. On
the contrary to the belief that writing child books is easy, there are many issues to be
considered when writing a child book. Being aware of the language of the infants and
toddlers, writers of the child books are able to make an index of the vocabulary and
grammar forms of the children and use the language in the child books appropriately for
different ages.
In addition to mother tongue education, teaching English to children as early as they
start to speak is more frequent than in the past. Being aware of their vocabulary
repertoire and teaching language by using known information to unknown will make
teaching more effective. Cook (2000) points out that children’s level of proficiency in
the native language including oral language and metalinguistic development, affects the
acquisition of a second language. In the process of teaching English, using short stories,
riddles and songs including the vocabulary that children are able to comprehend and
produce helps children make meaningful learning.
5.3 Suggestions
The present study shed light on various aspects of child books. The benefits of
reading books to children and the language to be used in the books are presented.
This study did not consider the education level of the parents or the impact of
home reading environment on the acquisition of vocabulary or grammar. Therefore,
trying to determine any kind of correlation between the education level of the parents or
the impact of home reading environment on child’s language acquisition might be
worthwhile.
This study investigated the most available child books on the bookstores. In
addition, a further investigation on the appropriateness of the language used in the best
seller child books will undoubtedly be meaningful.
66
REFERENCES
Aksu Koç, A. & Slobin, D. I. (1985), “Acquisition of Turkish”, In D. I. Slobin (Ed.).
The Cross-Linguistic study of Language Acquisition, (p. 839-878),
London: Lawrence Earlbaum
Aksu-Koç, A. (1986), in R. M. Weist, “Tense and aspect”, in P. Fletcher and M.
Garman, (Eds.). Language Acquisition, (pp.376-374), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Anderson, D. & Rielly, J. (2002), “The MacArthur Communicative Development
Inventory: normative data for American Sign Language”, Journal of
Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 7/2, 83-106
Anglin, J. M (1983), in M. Barrett “Early Lexical Development”, in P. Fletcher and B.
MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook of Child Language (pp. 362-392).
Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Baker, J. W. & Derwig, B. L. (1986), “Assessing Morphological Development”, in P.
Fletcher and M. Garman (Eds.). Language Acquisition, (pp. 326-338),
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barrett, M. (1986), In S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.) The Development of Word
Meaning. New York: Springer- Verlag
Barrett, M. (1999), “An introduction to the nature of language and to the central themes
and issues in the study of language development”, in Barrett, M. (Ed.).
The Development of Language, (pp. 1-24) UK: Psychology Press
Bates, E., Bretherton, I. & Snyder, L. (2001) in Hoff, E., Language development,
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thomson Learning
Bates, E. et al. (1994), “Developmental and stylistic variation in the composition of
early vocabulary”, Journal of Child Language, 21, 58-123
Bates, E. & Goodman, J.C. (1995), “On the Inseparability of Grammar and the
Lexicon: Evidence from Acquisition”, in M. Tomasello and E. Bates
(Eds.). Language Development EssentialRreadings,(pp. 134-162)
Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Bates, E. & Tomasello, M. (2001), Language Development The Essential Readings,
Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Bauer, H. R. (1995), In R. D. Kent and G. Miolo, “Phonetic Abilities in the First Year
67
of Life”, in P. Fletcher and B. MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook of
Child Language (pp. 303-334). Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Berman, R. A. (1986), “A Crosslinguistic Perspective: Morphology and Syntax”, in E.
Hoff (Ed.). Language Development. Belmont, CA: WadsworthThomson Learning.
Berman, R. A. (2004), “Between Emergence and Mastery. The Long Developmental
Route of Language Acquisition”, in R. A. Berman (Ed). Language
Development Across Childhood and Adolescence, (pp. 9-34),
Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Bletes et al. (2008a), “The Danish Communicative Developmental Inventories: Validity
and main developmental trends”, Journal of Child Language, 35, 651669
Bletes et al. (2008b), “Early vocabulary development in Danish and other languages: A
CDI- based comparison”, Journal of Child Language, 35, 619-650
Bloom, P. (2000), How Children Learn the Meanings of Words. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press
Bornstein, M. H., Dromi, E., Matial, S. L. & Sagı, A. (2000), “The Hebrew
Communicative Developmental Inventory: Language specific properties
and cross-linguistic generalizations”, Journal of Child Language, 27, 4367
Brown, R. (1973), A First Language The Early Steps, London: Penguin Books
Bruner, J. S. (1983), in M. Barrett “Early Lexical Development”, in P. Fletcher and B.
MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook of Child Language, (p. 362-392),
Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Caselli, M. C., Casadio, P. & Bates, E. (1999), “Lexical Development in English and
Italian”, in M. Tomasello and E. Bates (Eds.). Language Development
Essential Readings, (p. 76-110), Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Chapman, K. and Thomson, C. (1986), in S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.).
The Development of Word Meaning, (p. 102) New York: SpringerVerlag
Chiat, S. (1986), in P. Fletcher and M.Garman (Eds.). Language Acquisition, (pp. 339374), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Cho, S. W. & O’Grady, W. (1997), in M. Dobrovolsky and F. Katamba (Eds.).
68
Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction, (p 437-471), London:
Longman
Chomsky, N. (2004), “Knowledge of Language as a Focus of Inquiry”, in B. C. Lust
and C. Foley (Eds.). First Language Acquisition The Essential Readings,
(p. 15-24), Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Clark, E. V. (1978), In S. A. Kuczaj, “Thoughts on the Intentional Basis of Early
Object Word extension: Evidence from Comprehension and
Production”, in S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.). The Development
of Word Meaning, New York: Springer-Verlag
Clark, E. V. (1996), “Later Lexical Development and Word Formation”, in P. Fletcher
and B. MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook of Child Language, (p. 393412), Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Clark, H. H. (1996), Using Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Clark, E. V. & Garnica, O. K. (1974), in R. Wales, “Diexis”, in P. Fletcher and M.
Garman (Eds.). Language Acquisition, (pp. 401-428), Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Clark, E. V. (2003), First Language Acquisition, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Conboy, B. T. & Thal, D. J. (2006), “Ties between lexicon and Grammar: Crosssectional and Longitudinal studies of bilingual toddlers”, Child
Development, 77/3, 712-735
Cook, V. (2000), Linguistics and second language acquisition: One person with two
languages, Oxford:Blackwell Handbook of Linguistics
Debarshe, B. D. (2004) in “Let’s read literature review”, Retrieved from
http://www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/ccch/LetsRead_ExecSumm.pdf on
August, 06, 2007
Devescovi et al. (2005), “A crosslinguistic study of the relationship between grammar
and lexical development”, Journal of Child Language. 32, 759-786
Durkin, B. (1966), in S. Hepler, J. Hickman, and S. C. Huck (Eds.), (1989), Children’s
Literature in theElementary School, Madison, WI: Brown and
Benchmark Publishers
Farrar, J. and Tomasello, M. (1986), in M. Barrett, “Early Lexical
69
Development”, in P. Fletcher and B. MacWhinney (Eds.). The
Handbook of Child Language, (p. 362-392), Oxford: Blackwell
Publications
Fay, D. and Fremgen, A. (1986), in S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.).
The Development of Word Meaning, (p. 102) New York: SpringerVerlag
Fenson, L. et al. (1994), In Bloom, P. (2000), How Children Learn the Meanings of
Words ,(p. 35), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Fletcher, P. & M. Garman (1986), Language Acquisition, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Fromkin, A. V. (2000), Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistics Theory, Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers
Garton, A. & Pratt, C. (1998), in H. Sofu (2003), “Metalinguistic development in
preschool children”, Studies in Turkish Linguistics, Bogazici University
Press
Gillette, J. and Gleitman, L. R. (1995), “The role of syntax in verb learning”, in B.
MacWhinney and P. Fletcher (Eds.). The Handbook of Child Language,
(pp. 413-428),
Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Goldfield, B. & Reznick J. S. (1992), in K. Plunket and G. Shafer, “Early speech
perception and word learning”, in M. Barrett (Ed.), (1999). The
Development of Language, (pp. 51-72), UK: Psychology Press
Guasti, M. T. (2002), Language acquisition. The growth of grammar. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press
Hart, B. & Risley, T. R. (1995), in B. H. Wasik and J. S. Henrickson, “Family
Literacy Practices”, C. A. Stone, E. R. Silliman, B. J. Ehren and K.
Apel (Eds.), (2004). Handbook of Language and Literacy. Development
and Disorders. (pp.154-174), New York: The Guilford Press
Hamilton, A., Plunkett, K. and Shafer, G. (2000), “Infant vocabulary development
assessed with a British communicative development inventory”, Journal
of Child Language, 27, 689-705
Hepler, S., Hickman, J. and Huck, S. C. (1989), Children’s Literature in the
Elementary School, Madison, WI: Brown and Benchmark Publishers
High, P. C. et. al. (2000), “Literacy promotion in primary care pediatrics: Can we
70
make a difference?”, Pediatrics, 105/4, 927–934
Hoff, E. (2001), Language development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thomson Learning
Irvin, K. (1960), in Hepler, S., Hickman, J. and Huck, S. C. (1989), Children’s
Literature in the Elementary School, Madison, WI: Brown and
Benchmark Publishers
Kertez, M. (1999), “Early verbs and the acquisition of Turkish argument structure”,
Unpublished MA Thesis, Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, Turkey
Kornfilt, J. (1997), Turkish, London, Routledge
Kuczaj, S. A. (1986), in S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.), (1986), The Development
of Word Meaning, (p. 102) New York: Springer-Verlag
Landau, E. & Glaitman, L. (1985), in P. Bloom (Ed.), (2000). How Children Learn
the Meanings of Words, (p. 26), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Loveland, K. A. (1995) in E. V. Clark, “Later Lexical Development and Word
Formation”, in P. Fletcher and B. MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook
of Child Language, (p. 393-412), Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Manczak, D. W. (2003), The Importance of Books. McKesson Health Solutions LLC
Marchman, V. A. & Bates, E. (1994), in Dixon, A. J. & Marchman, V. A. (Eds.),
(2007), “Grammar and the lexicon: Developmental ordering in language
acquisition”, Child Development, 78/1, 190-212
Marchmann, V. (2004), in R. A. Berman (Ed.). Language Development Across
Childhood and Adolescence, (pp. 9-34), Amsterdam:John Benjamins
Publishing Company
Rice, V. (1984), in S. A. Kuczaj and M. Barrett (Eds.), (1986), The Development of
Word Meaning, New York: Springer-Verlag
Sofu, H. (1989), “Acquisition of case markers in Turkish: A cross-sectional study”,
Unpublished MA Thesis, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey.
Sofu, H. (1995), “Acquisition of lexicon in Turkish”, Unpublished Doctoral
Dissertation, Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey
Sofu, H. (1998), “Acquisition of question words”, Studies on Linguistics (p. 90-98)
Sofu, H. (2003) “Metalinguistic development in preschool children”, Studies in Turkish
Linguistics. Boğaziçi University Press
Sofu, H. (2005), “Dil gelişim çalışmalarında yöntem sorunu: Otistik bir olgu
71
incelenmesi”, Presented in the 3rd Language and Speech Disorders
Congree held by Language and Speech Disorders Association, 2-4 June
2005, Ankara
Strickland, D. S. and Taylor, D. (1986), in B. H. Wasik and J. S. Henrickson, “Family
Literacy Practices”, in C. A. Stone, E. R. Silliman, B. J. Ehren and K.
Apel (Eds.), (2004), Handbook of Language and Literacy. Development
and Disorders. New York: The Guilford Press
Şimşek, T. (2004), Çocuk Edebiyatı, Konya: Suna Yayınları
Şirin, M. N. (1998), 99 Soruda Çocuk Edebiyatı, İstanbul:Çocuk Vakfı Yayınları
Tomasello, M. and Farrar, J. (1995), in M. Barrett, “Early Lexical Development”, in
P. Fletcher and B. MacWhinney (Eds.). The Handbook of Child
Language, (p. 393-412), Oxford: Blackwell Publications
Tomasello, M. & Mervis, C. B. (1994), “The instrument is great, but measuring
comprehension is still a problem”. Monographs of the Society for
Research in Child Development, 59/5, 77-83
Turla, A. & Tür, G. (1999), Okul Öncesinde Çocuk, Edebiyat ve Kitap, İstanbul:Ya-Pa
Yayınları
72
APPENDIX 1
TEXTS OF CHILD BOOKS
Marsık Yayınları: 0-3 Yaş Tırtıl Dizisi
Tırtıl dizisi 1
Sarı ördek çantasını hazırlıyor.
Kuzucuk resim yapıyor.
Pamuk kapıya vuruyor.
Yaramaz kaz ağlıyor.
Domuzcuk şarkı söylüyor.
Ayıcık kitapları yerleştiriyor.
Duman bilgisayarla oynuyor.
Şipşak fare kitap okuyor.
Yılan resim yapıyor.
Sakız resimleri kesiyor. (tavşan)
Tekir fotoğrafları yapıştırıyor.
Kurbağacık dilini çıkarıyor.
Tırtıl Dizisi 2
Sarı ördek şapka takıyor
Kuzucuk güneşleniyor
Pamuk kayak yapıyor
Yaramaz kaz yüzüyor
Domuzcuk midye kabuğu topluyor
Ayıcık mektup yazıyor
Duman top oynuyor
Şipşak fare fotoğraf çekiyor
Yılan gülüyor
Sakız müzik dinliyor
Tekir müzik dinliyor
Kurbağacık gözlüğünü tamir ediyor.
73
Tırtıl Dizisi 3
Sarı ördek kale yapıyor
Kuzucuk yemek yiyor
Pamuk uyuyor
Yaramaz kaz oyun oynuyor
Domuzcuk yemek pişiriyor
Ayıcık yıkanıyor
Duman tüylerini tarıyor
Şipşak fare yürüyor
Yılan televizyon izliyor
Sakız giyiniyor
Tekir meyve suyunu içiyor
Kurbağacık bardağı düşürüyor
Yapa Yayın
ABC Kitapları- Oyuncaklarım-0-2 yaş
Top, oyuncak ayı, küp, fırıldak. Oyuncak mutfak eşyalarım: kova, bez bebek, lego,
tren, balon, oyuncak araba, telefon, parmak kuklası, can simidi, bilye, uçurtma, robot,
topaç.
Sağlığım
Sabah uyanınca elimi yüzümü yıkarım
Sabah kahvaltıda bir bardak da süt içerim
Dişlerimi fırçalayınca inci gibi bembeyaz olur
Oyun oynarım banyo yapmayı çok severim
Annemin yaptığı yemekleri severek yerim
Meyveleri çok severim
Aşı beni hastalıklardan korur
Hayvanlar:
Köpekler havlar. Hav hav hav.
Kediler miyavlar. Miyav miyav miyav.
Kuş uçar cik cik cik öter.
74
Tavuk gıdaklar gıt gıt gıdak.
İnek mö diye bağırır.
Eşek anırır. Ai ai.
Tavşan zıplayarak koşar.
Koyun meler. Me öme me.
Balık suyun içinde yaşar.
Ördek suda yüzer. Vak vak.
Bu kayık 2-3 yaş
Bu, kayık. Kayık kumda duruyor.
Bu, deniz
Deniz kayığı bekliyor
Bu, martı. Martı kumsalda geziniyor. Martı durdu kayığa baktı.
Kayığa: yüzsene dedi. Kayık kumda duruyordu
Martı uçtu kayığa kondu. Ona: gitsene dedi
Kayık ağlıyordu
Deniz bekliyordu
Martı çırpınıyordu kayıkçı gelse diyordu.
Konuşmamı Geliştiriyorum(MEB kreş programına uygun) 2-3 yaş
Bu ne? Sesini çıkar.
Resimlerdeki eşyaların adlarını söyle. Saçımızı yıkamak/kurutmak için hangisini
kullanırız?
Göster! (Önce kitap sonra banyoda)
Hayvanların isimlerini söyle. Her biri Nasıl ses çıkarır?
Hangisi anne?
Hangisi kardeş?
Kardeşi göster.
Senin adın soyadın ne? Söyle
Ev: çatısı nerede? Kapısı nerede? Penceresi nerede? Nereden girilir?
Bu civciv
Bu annesi olan tavuk
Bunlar da kardeşleri
75
Nedense civcivin boynu uzun
Hiç arkadaşı yok
Yalnız geziyor
Dereye gitti suya baktı
A kelebek uçmuş dedi
Kelebek neredeyse boğulacaktı
Civciv hemen suya atladı. Kelebeği kurtardı, görenler koştu
Civciv kahramandı
Hepsi onu alkışladı.
Net Çocuk Yayınları
Ce-eee Haydi Beni Bul 1
Koca kulaklı tavşan nerede? Saatin arkasında mı?
Tik tak yatma zamanı. Haydi yatağa.
Yaramaz kaplan nerede? Perdenin arkasında mı?
Işıkları söndür üstünü ört.
Oyuncak bebek nerede? Kitabın arkasında mı?
Haydi uyumadan önce bir öykü okuyalım.
Oyuncak domuz nerede? Yastığın altında mı?
Bak sana iyi geceler diyor. Sen de ona el salla.
Oyuncaklar nerede? Battaniyenin altında mı?
Ses çıkarma, herkes uyuyor, haydi sen de uyu.
Ce-eee Haydi Beni Bul 2
Bebek nereye gitmiş? Şemsiyenin altında mı?
İşte burada. Haydi gel gezmeye gidelim.
Bebek nereye gitmiş topun arkasında mı?
İşte bebek işte kırmızı şapkası.
Bebek nereye gitmiş? Oyun bloklarının arkasında mı?
Bebek nereye gitmiş? Havlunun altında mı?
Suyla oynamak ne güzel.
Haydi baloncukları patlatalım.
76
Tudem Yayınları- İlk Sözcüklerim
Oyuncaklar
Ayı, küpler, araba, hayvanlar, bebek, top
Yemek Zamanı
Elma, meyve suyu, muz, yoğurt, ekmek, makarna
77
APPENDIX 2
TURKISH CDI INFANT SCALE
Çocuğun Adı-Soyadı: ____________________________
Cinsiyeti:___________
Doğum Tarihi:____________________________
Tarih: _____________
TÜRKÇE İLETİŞİM DAVRANIŞLARI GELİŞİMİ ENVANTERİ
(8-16 AY)
“8-16 ay arasında bebekler duydukları dildeki sözcükleri anlamaya ve dönemin sonuna
doğru da tek tek sözcükler üretmeye başlarlar. 8 aylık bu yaş diliminde gelişim hızlı
seyreder ve bu dönemin başındaki ve sonundaki çocuklar arasında dil gelişimi açısından
önemli farklılıklar görülür. Ayrıca çocuklar gelişim hızı açısından da farklılık
gösterirler. İngilizcede yapılan araştırmalar göstermiştir ki, kimi 10 aylık çocuk 11 tane
sözcüğü anlayabilirken kimisi 150 kadar sözcüğün anlamını bilebilmektedir. (Bu
yaştaki bir çocuğun üretebildiği sözcük sayısı ise 50’nin altındadır.)
Bu anket dil gelişimi açısından çok farklılık gösteren bu yaş dilimindeki çocuklar için
düzenlenmiştir. O yüzden bahsedilen davranışlar ve sözcükler henüz sizin çocuğunuz
tarafından kullanılmıyor olabilir. Bu nedenle bunun bir sorun olduğunu düşünmenize
gerek yoktur.”
“Bir sorunuz var mı?” (soru varsa cevaplandırınız)
“Peki, o zaman başlayabiliriz.”
BÖLÜM I: ERKEN SÖZCÜKLER
A. ANLAMANIN İLK İŞARETLERİ
Çocuklar konuşmaya başlamadan önce bildikleri sözcüklere veya ifadelere cevap vererek dili
anladıklarını gösterirler. Aşağıda bunlara ilişkin bazı örnekler verilmiştir. Sizin çocuğunuz
bunlardan hangilerini yapıyor?
Evet
Hayır
1. Adıyla çağırıldığında sese doğru dönerek ve bakarak
O
O
2. “Hayır” dendiğinde kısa bir süre için yaptığını bırakarak tepki verir.
O
O
3. “Anne/baba burada” dendiğinde onları arayarak tepki gösterir.
O
O
tepki verir.
B. İFADELER (tümce, sözcük öbeği)
78
Aşağıdaki listede çocuğunuzun anladığını düşündüğünüz ifadeleri lütfen belirtin.
anlar
anlar
anlar
Aç mısın?
O
Elleme / Dokunma.
O
Aç ağzını .
O
Uykun geldi mi?
O
Kalk.
O
Otur.
O
Dikkatli ol.
O
Bana ver.
O
Tükür onu.
O
Sessiz ol / Sus.
O
Kucağıma gel.
O
Dur.
O
Ellerini çırp / Alkış.
O
Öpücük ver.
O
Yatma zamanı.
O
Bezini değiştirelim.
O
Git ... getir.
O
Topu at.
O
Buraya gel.
O
Aferin.
O
Buraya bir kuş konmuş.
O
Evimize geldik.
O
Kıpırdama.
O
Gezmeye / atta gidelim.
O
Daha ister misin?
O
Bay bay yap / el salla. O
Yapma.
O
Bak/buraya bak.
O
C. KONUŞMAYA BAŞLAMA (KONUŞMANIN BAŞLANGICI)
1. Bazı çocuklar “papağan” gibidir ve yeni duydukları
şeyleri taklit ederler. Örneğin, siz “Anne şimdi işe
Hiç
Bazen
Çoğu Zaman
O
O
O
O
O
O
gidiyor” dedikten sonra “işe gidiyor” diyerek cümlenin bir
kısmını veya yeni öğrendikleri sözcükleri tekrar ederler.
Sizin çocuğunuz sözcükleri ne sıklıkta taklit ediyor?
2.Bazı çocuklar etrafta dolaşarak bildiklerini göstermek ister
gibi çevrelerindeki nesneleri isimlendirirler.
Sizin çocuğunuz bunu ne sıklıkta yapar?
D. SÖZCÜK DAĞARCIĞI KONTROL LİSTESİ
Aşağıdaki liste küçük çocukların sözcük dağarcığında sıklıkla yer alan sözcükleri
içermektedir. Biz, çocuğunuzun anladığı, ve de hem anlayıp hem söylediği sözcükleri
merak ediyoruz. Çocuğunuzun anladığı ama henüz kullanmadığı sözcükleri anlar
sütununda belirteceğiz. Çocuğunuzun anladığı ve kullandığı sözcükleri ise anlar ve
söyler sütununda belirteceğiz. Çocuğunuzun bir sözcüğü burada yazıldığından farklı
söylüyor olması bir şey değiştirmez (örneğin, balık yerine bayık veya çay yerine tay),
bu yine de onun sözcüğü bildiği anlamına gelir. Unutmayın ki aşağıdaki liste farklı
yaş gruplarındaki birçok çocuğun kullandığı sözcüklerden oluşmaktadır. Bu nedenle
eğer çocuğunuz şu an yalnızca bir kaçını biliyorsa bu bir sorun değildir.
79
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
Aaa
О
О
Havhav
О
О
Pisi-pisi
О
О
Cee
О
О
Hop/Hoppa
О
О
Şişt
О
О
Cıss
О
О
Mee
О
О
Uf
О
О
Çufçuf
О
О
Miyav
О
О
Vak vak
О
О
Düt
О
О
Möö
О
О
Vınn
О
О
Ham
О
О
anlar
anlar
1. ÇEŞİTLİ SESLER VE HAYVAN SESLERİ ( 16)
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
2. HAYVANLAR (24)
Arı
О
О
Fil
О
О
Kurbağa
О
О
Aslan
О
О
Hayvan
О
О
Kuş
О
О
At
О
О
İnek
О
О
Kuzu
О
О
Ayı
О
О
Kaplan
О
О
Maymun
О
О
Balık
О
О
Kedi
О
О
Ördek
О
О
Böcek
О
О
Kelebek
О
О
Tavşan
О
О
Eşek
О
О
Köpek
О
О
Tavuk
О
О
Fare
О
О
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
3. TAŞITLAR (8)
Araba
О
О
İtfaiye
О
О
Tren
О
О
Bisiklet
О
О
Kamyon
О
О
Uçak
О
О
Gemi / Vapur
О
О
Otobüs
О
О
О
О
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
О
О
Kalem
О
О
Kürek
О
О
Bebek
О
О
Kitap
О
О
Oyuncak
О
О
Boya
О
О
Kova
О
О
Top
О
О
anlar
anlar
Balon
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
4. OYUNCAKLAR ( 9)
80
anlar
anlar
ve
söyler
anlar
ve
söyler
anlar
ve
söyler
Armut
О
О
Havuç
О
О
Pilav
О
О
Ayran
О
О
Kahve
О
О
Pizza
О
О
Bal
О
О
Karpuz
О
О
Poğaça
О
О
Balık
О
О
Kek
О
О
Portakal
О
О
Bisküvi
О
О
Kiraz
О
О
Reçel
О
О
Börek
О
О
Kola
О
О
Simit
О
О
Çay
О
О
Köfte
О
О
Su
О
О
Çikolata
О
О
Kurabiye
О
О
Süt
О
О
Çorba
О
О
Limon
О
О
Şeftali
О
О
Dolma
О
О
Makarna
О
О
Şeker
О
О
Domates
О
О
Mandalina
О
О
Tarhana
О
О
Dondurma
О
О
Meyve
О
О
Tost
О
О
Ekmek
О
О
Muhallebi
О
О
Yemek
О
О
Elma
О
О
Muz
О
О
Yoğurt
О
О
Et
О
О
Pasta
О
О
Yumurta
О
О
Fındık
О
О
Peynir
О
О
Zeytin
О
О
Fıstık
О
О
Patates
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar
5. YİYECEK VE İÇECEKLER (50)
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
6. GİYSİLER (21)
Ayakkabı/ pabuç
О
О
Gömlek
О
О
Pijama
О
О
Bez (çocuk bezi)
О
О
Gözlük
О
О
Şapka
О
О
Boncuk
О
О
Kazak
О
О
Terlik
О
О
Ceket
О
О
Kolye
О
О
Tişört
О
О
Çorap
О
О
Manto/palto
О
О
Yelek
О
О
Düğme
О
О
Mayo
О
О
О
О
Elbise
О
О
Önlük
О
О
О
О
Gecelik
О
О
Pantolon
О
О
О
О
81
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
7. VÜCUT BÖLÜMLERİ (19)
Ağız
О
О
Diş
О
О
Meme
О
О
Ayak
О
О
Diz
О
О
Parmak
О
О
Bacak
О
О
El
О
О
Popo
О
О
Baş / kafa
О
О
Göbek
О
О
Saç
О
О
Bıyık
О
О
Göz
О
О
Yanak
О
О
Burun
О
О
Kol
О
О
О
О
Dil
О
О
Kulak
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
Anahtar
О
О
İp
О
О
Pipet/kamış
О
О
Ayna
О
О
Kağıt
О
О
Radyo
О
О
Bant (plaster)
О
О
Kaşık
О
О
Resim
О
О
Bardak
О
О
Kumanda
О
О
Saat
О
О
Battaniye
О
О
Kutu
О
О
Sabun
О
О
Biberon
О
О
Kürek
О
О
Süpürge
О
О
Çanta
О
О
Lamba / ışık
О
О
Şişe
О
О
Çatal
О
О
Makas
О
О
Tabak
О
О
Emzik
О
О
Örtü
О
О
Tarak
О
О
Havlu
О
О
Pil
О
О
Telefon
О
О
İlaç
О
О
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
8. KÜÇÜK EV EŞYALARI (31)
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
9. MOBİLYALAR VE ODALAR (26)
Balkon
О
О
Kapı
О
О
Pencere
О
О
Banyo
О
О
Koltuk
О
О
Sandalye/iskemle
О
О
Beşik
О
О
Lazımlık/Oturak
О
О
Televizyon
О
О
Bilgisayar
О
О
Masa
О
О
Tuvalet
О
О
Buzdolabı
О
О
Merdiven
О
О
Yatak
О
О
Çekmece
О
О
Minder
О
О
Yastık
О
О
82
Dolap
О
О
Mutfak
О
О
Yorgan
О
О
Fırın
О
О
Oda
О
О
Zil
О
О
Halı
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
(28)
anlar
10. EVİN DIŞI
Ay/ Aydede
О
О
Havuz
О
О
Sokak
О
О
Ağaç
О
О
Kar
О
О
Taş
О
О
Ateş
О
О
Kaydırak
О
О
Toprak
О
О
Bahçe
О
О
Kaza
О
О
Toz
О
О
Çamur
О
О
Kozalak
О
О
Yağmur
О
О
Çiçek
О
О
Köprü
О
О
Yaprak
О
О
Duman
О
О
Kum
О
О
Yıldız
О
О
Duvar
О
О
Ot
О
О
Yol
О
О
Garaj
О
О
Rüzgar
О
О
О
О
Güneş
О
О
Salıncak
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
11. GİDİLECEK YERLER (16)
Atta
О
О
Dükkan
О
О
Maç
О
О
Bakkal
О
О
Ev
О
О
Market
О
О
Cami
О
О
İş
О
О
Okul
О
О
Çarşı
О
О
Köy
О
О
Park
О
О
Dışarı
О
О
Kreş / Yuva
О
О
Pazar
О
О
Deniz
О
О
О
О
О
О
83
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
12. İNSANLAR (27)
Abi
О
О
Çocuk
О
О
Kral
О
О
Abla
О
О
Bebek
О
О
Nine
О
О
Adam
О
О
Dayı
О
О
Oğlan
О
О
Amca
О
О
Dede
О
О
Öğretmen
О
О
Anne
О
О
Doktor
О
О
Palyaço
О
О
Anneanne/ babaanne/
О
О
Hala
О
О
Polis
О
О
Arkadaş
О
О
Kardeş
О
О
Prenses
О
О
Asker
О
О
Kendi ismi
О
О
Şoför
О
О
Baba
О
О
Kız
О
О
Teyze
О
О
büyükanne
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
Aferin
О
О
Hoşçakal
О
О
Saklambaç
О
О
Alkış
О
О
Hadi
О
О
Sürpriz
О
О
Alo
О
О
Hayır
О
О
Şaka
О
О
Ayıp
О
О
İyi geceler
О
О
Şarkı
О
О
Banyo
О
О
Kahvaltı
О
О
Takla
О
О
Bay-bay
О
О
Kaka
О
О
Tamam
О
О
Çiş
О
О
Kucak
О
О
Teşekkür/Sağol
О
О
Dikkat
О
О
Mama
О
О
Uyku
О
О
Evet
О
О
Merhaba
О
О
Var
О
О
Gol
О
О
Müzik
О
О
Yeter
О
О
Güle-güle
О
О
Ninni
О
О
Yok
О
О
Günaydın
О
О
Öcü
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
13. OYUNLAR VE RUTİNLER (35)
14. EYLEM SÖZCÜKLERİ-I (79)
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
84
Acı (canı)
О
О
Çıkar
О
О
İç
О
О
Acık
О
О
Çiz
О
О
İn
О
О
Aç
О
О
Dokun
О
О
İste
О
О
Açıl
О
О
Doy
О
О
İt
О
О
Ağla
О
О
Dön
О
О
Kaç
О
О
Al
О
О
Döv
О
О
Kal
О
О
Anla
О
О
Dur
О
О
Kaldır
О
О
Anlat
О
О
Dök
О
О
Kalk
О
О
Ara
О
О
Düş
О
О
Kana
О
О
Atla
О
О
Düzelt
О
О
Kapat
О
О
At
О
О
Elle
О
О
Karıştır
О
О
Bağır
О
О
El salla
О
О
Kır
О
О
Bak
О
О
Geç
О
О
Kırıl
О
О
Bas
О
О
Gel
О
О
Kirlet
О
О
Başla
О
О
Getir
О
О
Kokla
О
О
Bat
О
О
Gez
О
О
Kopar
О
О
Bırak
О
О
Gıdıkla
О
О
Kork
О
О
Bin
О
О
Gir
О
О
Koş
О
О
Bit
О
О
Git
О
О
Koy
О
О
Bitir
О
О
Giy
О
О
Oku
О
О
Boya
О
О
Giydir
О
О
Ol
О
О
Boz
О
О
Gör
О
О
Otur
О
О
Bul
О
О
Göster
О
О
Oyna
О
О
Çağır
О
О
Götür
О
О
Öksür
О
О
Çarp
О
О
Gül
О
О
Ol
О
О
Çek
О
О
Isır
О
О
О
О
Çık
О
О
Islan
О
О
О
О
85
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
EYLEM SÖZCÜKLERİ-II (41) toplam 71
Öp
О
О
Söyle
О
О
Yakala
О
О
Ört
О
О
Sus
О
О
Yap
О
О
Patla
О
О
Susa
О
О
Yat
О
О
Piş
О
О
Tak
О
О
Yaz
О
О
Sakla
О
О
Tara
О
О
Ye
О
О
Salla
О
О
Taşı
О
О
Yedir
О
О
Sallan
О
О
Tut
О
О
Yıka
О
О
Sarıl
О
О
Uç
О
О
Yıkan
О
О
Say
О
О
Unut
О
О
Yırt
О
О
Sev
О
О
Uyan
О
О
Yut
О
О
Seyret
О
О
Üşü
О
О
Yürü
О
О
Sil
О
О
Ver
О
О
Yüz
О
О
Sok
О
О
Vur
О
О
Zıpla
О
О
Soy
О
О
Yak
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
Acı (lezzet)
О
О
Islak
О
О
Kuru
О
О
Açık
О
О
İyi
О
О
Küçük
О
О
Boş
О
О
Kapalı
О
О
Mavi
О
О
Büyük
О
О
Karanlık
О
О
Sıcak
О
О
Çok
О
О
Kırık
О
О
Soğuk
О
О
Cici
О
О
Kırmızı
О
О
Pis
О
О
Çirkin
О
О
Kirli
О
О
Tatlı
О
О
Güzel
О
О
Kocaman
О
О
Temiz
О
О
Hasta
О
О
Komik
О
О
Yaramaz
О
О
Hızlı
О
О
Kötü
О
О
Yeni
О
О
anlar
anlar
15. TANIMLAMAYA YARDIMCI SÖZCÜKLER (30)
86
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
16. ZAMANLA İLGİLİ SÖZCÜKLER (9)
Akşam
О
О
Gece
О
О
Sabah
О
О
Bugün
О
О
Hemen
О
О
Şimdi
О
О
Dün
О
О
Öğlen
О
О
Yarın
О
О
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
17. ZAMİRLER (14)
Bana
О
О
Senin
О
О
Sana
О
О
Ben
О
О
Şu
О
О
Herkes
О
О
Benim
О
О
O
О
О
Biri
О
О
Bu
О
О
Ona
О
О
Şey
О
О
Sen
О
О
Onun
О
О
О
О
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
18. SORU SÖZCÜKLERİ (9)
Kim
О
О
Neden
О
О
Nereden
О
О
Nasıl
О
О
Nereye
О
О
Niçin
О
О
Ne
О
О
Nerede
О
О
Niye
О
О
О
Arkasında
О
О
Burada
О
О
О
О
Şurada
О
О
İçinde
О
О
Üstünde/Üzerinde
О
О
Orada
О
О
О
О
İçeride
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
О
anlar
Altında
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
19. YER BİLDİREN SÖZCÜKLER (13)
Yanında
Dışarıda
О
О
Ortada
О
О
О
О
Dışında
О
О
Önünde
О
О
О
О
87
anlar ve
söyler
anlar ve
söyler
Daha
anlar
Aynı
anlar
anlar ve
söyler
anlar
20. BELİRLEYİCİ SÖZCÜKLER (10)
О
О
Öbürü/öbürsü
О
О
Yine /Gene
О
О
İşte
/
О
О
bir daha
О
О
Başka
О
О
Hepsi
О
О
Biraz
О
О
Hiç
О
О
Çok
О
О
О
О
О
О
88
BÖLÜM II. EYLEMLER VE JESTLER
A. İLK İLETİŞİM JESTLERİ
Bebekler ilk iletişim kurmaya başladıklarında, isteklerinin
anlaşılması için işaret kullanırlar. Çocuğunuzun bu günlerde
yaptığı işaretleri tanımlayan maddenin yanındaki seçenekleri
işaretleyin. (ANKETÖR OKUYACAKSA: “... işaretleri okuyacağım
listeden hangileri tanımlıyor belirtmenizi istiyorum” )
Çocuğunuz:
1. Elindeki bir şeyi size göstermek için elini size uzatır
2. Elinde tuttuğu bir nesneyi ya da oyuncağı uzatarak size verir
3. İlgisini çeken bir olaya veya ulaşamadığı bir nesneye
parmağını ya da kolunu uzatarak işaret eder.
4. Birisi ayrılırken (kendiliğinden) el sallayarak güle güle işareti
yapar
5. Kucağa alınmak istediğini belirten bir şekilde kollarını size
doğru uzatır
6. “Hayır” anlamında başını iki yana sallar ya da kafasını yukarı
kaldırır.
7. “Evet” anlamında başını öne eğer.
8. “Şıışşt /suss..” anlamında parmaklarını dudağına değdirir.
9. Elini açıp kapayarak veya kolunu uzatarak bir şey ister.
10. Uzaktan öpücük yollar.
11. Yediği bir şeyin tadının iyi olduğunu belirtmek için
dudaklarıyla “hımmm… yapar.
12. “Bitti /gitti” anlamında uygun işaret kullanır (örn.boş
avuçlarını gösterir, omuzlarını silker, vs..)
13. Kavanoz/ kutu kapağının açılması için ya da yapamadığı bir
şey için (işaret ederek) yardım ister.
14. Tuvalet ihtiyacının giderilmesi için (işaret ederek/.bezini
çekiştirerek) yardım ister
15. Sizin işaret ettiğiniz bir oyuncağa veya nesneye parmağınızı
/ kolunuzu izleyip bakar.
16. Kendine dikkat çekmek için annenin eteğini çeker/ ses
çıkarır.
Henüz
değil
Bazen
Çoğu
zaman
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
EVET
HAYIR
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
B. OYUNLAR VE RUTİNLER
Çocuğunuz aşağıdakileri yapabiliyor mu?
1. Cee /cöö oyununa katılır
2. Gıdı gıdı /geldi geldi kara kedi/ badi kara geliyor oyununa
katılır
3. Tel sarar /sar makarayı-çöz makarayı oyununa katılır
4. Fış fış kayıkçı oyununa katılır
5. Kovalamaca oynar
6. Şarkı söyler
7. Dans eder
8. Annenin söylediği diğer oyunlara * (BELİRTİNİZ) katılır
89
C. NESNELERLE EYLEM GERÇEKLEŞTİRME
Çocuğunuz gerçek nesneler veya oyuncaklarla aşağıdaki
davranışları gerçekleştirir mi veya yapmaya çalışır mı?
1. Kaşık veya çatalla yemek yer.
2. İçinde sıvı bulunan bir bardaktan içer.
3. Kendi saçını tarar veya fırçalar.
4. Dişlerini fırçalar.
5. Havluyla veya bir bezle elini, yüzünü siler.
6. Şapka giyer.
7. Çorap veya ayakkabı giyer.
8. Kolye, bilezik veya saat takar.
9. Kolunun üstüne başını koyup / gözünü kapatıp uyurmuş gibi
yapar.
10. Yediği bir şey sıcaksa üfler/ üf yapar.
11. Oyuncak uçağı tutup uçurur.
12. Telefonu kulağına tutar.
13. Çiçek koklar.
14. Araba veya kamyon iter.
15. Karşıya top atar.
16. Bir kaseden /şişeden bir diğerine su döker gibi yapar.
17. Bardağın içinde su varmış gibi kaşıkla karıştırır.
EVET
HAYIR
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
D. ANNE-BABA GİBİ DAVRANMA
Aşağıda çocuklarınızın bebekleriyle veya oyuncak hayvanlarla
yapabildiği eylemler var. Çocuğunuzun yaptığını gördüklerinizi
işaretleyin/söyleyin.
1. Yatağa yatırır.
2. Üstünü örter.
3. Biberonla besler.
4. Kaşıkla yedirir.
5. Saçını tarar.
6. Sırtını sıvazlar veya gazını çıkartır.
7. Bebeği arabasıyla dolaştırır.
8. Bebeği sallar.
9. Öper veya kucaklar.
10. Başına şapka, ayağına çorap veya ayakkabı giydirir.
11. Yüzünü, ellerini siler.
12. Onunla konuşur.
13. Bezini bağlar.
EVET
HAYIR
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
90
E. YETİŞKİN DAVRANIŞLARINI TAKLİT ETME
Çocuğunuz gerçek nesne veya oyuncaklarıyla aşağıdaki
hareketleri yapıyor mu veya yapmaya çalışıyor mu?
1. Süpürgeyle süpürür.
2. Anahtarla kilitler.
3. Çekiçle çakar.
4. Testere ile keser.
5. Bilgisayar klavyesinde yazar.
6. “Okur” (kitabı veya sayfalarını açarak).
7. Elektrik süpürgesi ile süpürür.
8. Çiçekleri sular.
9. Müzik enstrümanı (aleti) çalar (piyano, gitar veya flüt gibi).
10. Direksiyonu döndürerek araba kullanır/sürer.
11. Bulaşık yıkar.
12. Toz alır.
13. Kalem veya tebeşirle yazar.
14. Kürekle kazar.
15. Gözlük takar.
16. Ruj sürer / makyaj yapar.
EVET
HAYIR
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
F. YERİNE KULLANMA
Oyun sırasında, çocuklar bazen bir nesnenin yerine bir diğerini
kullanırlar. Örneğin, ayısını beslemek isteyen bir çocuk elindeki
legoyu elma yerine kullanabilir, bebeği ile oynayan bir çocuk bir
kaseyi şapka olarak kullanabilir. Siz çocuğunuzun bu tür
değişimler yaptığını gördünüz mü?
0EVET 0HAYIR
Yanıtınız evet ise, lütfen örnekleyiniz
DİĞER EKLEMELER
111
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name:
Emel UÇAR
Place and Date of Birth:
Adana- 17 November 1983
E-mail:
[email protected]
Educational Background
2008 (MA)
Çukurova University Institute of Social Sciences
English Language Teaching Department
1999-2003 (BA)
Çukurova University Faculty of Education
English Language Teaching Department
1996-1999
Adana Kız Lisesi
Experience
2008-…
Yüreğir Lisesi- Adana (English Teacher)
2005-2008
Merkez 19 Mayıs Lisesi-Osmaniye (English Teacher)
2003-2005
Toprakkale Lisesi-Osmaniye (English Teacher)
2002-2003
Adana Ticaret Odası Anadolu Lisesi-Adana (Student
Teacher)