Barbara Kurowska

DEVELOPING CREATIVE LINGUISTIC ACTIVITY IN PRE-SCHOOL
CHILDREN
Barbara Kurowska
Cracow
Pre-school period is an extremely important stage of a child’s development.
A child is then subject to methodical and systematic educational influences
stimulating their development in all the spheres, which is important for their
later educational career.
One of the goals of modern education is to stimulate and support creativity
and to motivate children to engage in broadly defined linguistic activity, which
is also a kind of training which shapes desired personality traits and facilitates
acquisition of creative approach1. Creativity is the best and sometimes the only
way to meet ever-new needs of a human being and an optimal factor in their
personality development2, therefore, from the earliest years of life, children must
be trained to solve open (alternative term: creative) problems willingly and
courageously3.
Creative behaviour is a special kind of personal activity aimed at going
beyond one’s own experience, attempting to create something new. Under
favourable conditions, creativity can be manifested through any of a person’s
activities and in all the periods of their life4. Creative nature of activity in preschool children involves the following aspects: processing through play the
reality they discover in continuous exploration, and the search for solutions to
various problems they are concerned about5.
Therefore, generating conditions favourable for manifestation of creative
attitudes and development of internally motivated creative activity in general,
should be one of the tasks facing the teachers of children in this age group.
According to A. Brzezińska6, conditions favourable for manifestation of
such activity can be achieved through implementation of educational activities at
three levels - material, emotional and methodological. The first means allowing
children to engage in creative activities using various “materials", the second
means creating an atmosphere that ensures a sense of security, the last - the
organization of creative activity by stimulating and inspiring.
The basis for development of creative activity in a child, including
linguistic activity, is also striving to make them manifest their creative attitude,
1
Czelakowska D., Stymulacja kreatywności językowej dzieci w wieku wczesnoszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii
Pedagogicznej, Kraków 2005, s. 5-6.
2
Kujawiński J., Teoretyczne podstawy rozwijania twórczej aktywności uczniów klas początkowych, [w:] Jakowicka M.,
Kujawiński J., Twórcza aktywność uczniów klas początkowych, Wydawnictwo WSP, Zielona Góra 1989, s.64
3
Ibidem, s.64.
4
Ibidem, s. 55-56.
5
Przetacznik – Gierowska M., Rola języka w aktywności twórczej dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym, „Psychologia
Wychowawcza” 1/1986.
6
Ibidem s. 62.
i.e. predisposition to create which, as a potential quality, exists in all people of
all ages and is dependent on socio – cultural environment7. The criteria for the
creative attitude proposed by Guilford and Lowenfeld include the following
features: sensitivity to problems, perception of the unusual, openness and
fluidity of thought, the ability to quickly adapt to new situations and respond
effectively to change, originality, the ability to transform and attribute new
meanings, abstracting ability, and coherent organization8. A child who manifests
a creative attitude is therefore characterized, among other things, by: the ability
of magical and mystical thinking, openness to new solutions, courage and selfconfidence, inventiveness, willingness to fantasize and improvise, the ability to
focus on tasks, spontaneous behaviour and the ability to enjoy activities. Every
child is equipped with these characteristics, therefore it is enough to use them
properly9, so that they are manifested in their everyday lives. This can be done
by a creative teacher, who can reveal a child’s, often hidden, creative potential.
The possibility to shape a creative attitude in children is determined by
certain recommendations for teacher behaviour. The following examples of such
recommendations can be listed:
1.
Supporting innovative learning in children.
2.
Acknowledging creativity and curiosity in children.
3.
Creating situations that trigger creative thinking.
4.
Teaching tolerance for new ideas and creative personalities10.
5.
Allowing children to present their creative ideas.
6.
Accompanying children while they engage in their creative and
original activity.
7.
Giving the possibility to choose the kind and way of acting.
8.
Creating a sense of security and showing pupils full acceptance11.
9.
Allowing children to expressively communicate their thoughts,
allowing unrestraint communication and developing creative linguistic activity.
It is important not to forget that children would never have enough time to
hear, learn and remember all the different sentences, all formulas which they
use spontaneously, therefore, they must construct, i.e. invent (...) through
experimental mistakes12.
Creative linguistic activity in pre-school children
What is meant by creative activity in children in the area of language is the
7
Gloton R., Clero C., Twórcza aktywność dziecka, WSiP, Warszawa 1985, s. 49.
Ibidem., s. 54 – 55.
9
Bojakowska A., Mantyk W., Twórczość [w:] Krawczyk A., (red.), Jestem twórczy, Fundacja Rozwoju Dzieci im. Jana
Amosa Komeńskiego, Warszawa 2005, s. 12.
10
Dzionek E., Gmosińska M., Kształtowanie twórczych postaw dzieci pięcio – sześcioletnich. Scenariusze zajęć, Impuls,
Kraków 2009, s. 8.
11
Krzywoń D., Kraina kreatywności – sposoby przeciwdziałania rutynie w pracy z dziećmi poprzez ekspresję twórczą i
artystyczną, Oficyna Wydawnicza Humanitas, Sosnowiec 2008,s. 43.
12
Gloton R., Clero C., Twórcza aktywność dziecka, WSiP, Warszawa 1985, s. 227 – 228.
8
innovative character of their language behaviour, effective communication
abundant in creative elements at each level of language structure13. For a child it
is, as any creative activity, just pure joy of enterprise, a play, a pleasure derived
from discovering and processing ever-new areas of reality, the possibility of
self-fulfilment and expression of their emotional states and experiences14.
Linguistic and communication skills which are developmentally achieved
by pre-school children are fundamental to support such activity in them. A child
during this period greatly expands their vocabulary, improves their
conversational and narrative abilities. They learn to take into account their
interlocutor’s point of view, improve the ability to take part in a conversation.
They learn certain phrases which are used to initiate and maintain conversations,
they learn to listen and analyze the interlocutor’s utterances. They begin to use
social forms of expression in the form of questions and requests. They acquire
narrative skills15. As a result, they become conscious language users, which is
manifested by the following communication skills:
Reacting to verbal stimuli through language adequately to a
communication situation.
Communicating verbally their needs, experiences and states.
Influencing the environment through language and stating certain facts.
Describing the world, reconstructing sequences of events and creating
fiction.
Creating and contributing to the creation of texts of various functions,
lengths and structures16.
A child's creative attitude towards their language is associated with,
probably intuitive, understanding that a language is something unique. It evokes
a child's interest in different aspects and layers of a language, and makes them
treat it as a unique object of cognition. Creative linguistic activity of a child is
largely due to the desire to use language in play17.
After the analysis of children’s utterances in terms of creative linguistic
activity, several types can be distinguished: lexical, semantic, syntactic, and
textual. The first type of creativity is manifested by the occurrence of nonrecurring words, the second - by the occurrence of stylistic devices, such as
comparisons, personification, epithets, animalization, allegories and symbols.
Syntactic creativity is the presence of non-conventional syntactic structures:
inversions, ellipses, parallels, anaphoras, rhetorical questions. The indicators of
13
Krzywoń D., op. cit., s. 111 – 114.
Przetacznik – Gierowska M., op. cit., s. 17.
15
Kielar -Turska M., Średnie dzieciństwo. Wiek przedszkolny, [w:] Harwas – Napierała B., Trempała J., (red.), Psychologia
rozwoju człowieka. Charakterystyka okresów życia człowieka, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2004, s. 107-112.
14
16
Grochowalska M., Rozwijanie umiejętności komunikacyjnych dziecka w wieku przedszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Naukowe
UP, Kraków 2009, s. 36.
17
Przetacznik – Gierowska M., op. cit., s. 12, 14.
textual creativity include: fictionalization of utterances, their emotional
intensiveness, originality and complexity18.
Preparing a child for creative use of language can be defined as allowing
them to achieve a higher degree of competence in both linguistic and
communicative skills. The first type of competence is understood as
unconscious knowledge of a language structure and rules for making linguistic
units, as knowledge of vocabulary and grammar of a language that allows its
user to communicate with others. Communicative competence, on the other
hand, is manifested through certain communication skills: linguistic (the ability
to build grammatically correct sentences), social (the ability to choose language
devices appropriate to the recipient’s abilities and their function in the society),
situational (the ability to choose language devices appropriately to the situation),
and pragmatic (the ability to fulfil the conversation’s objective) 19.
Creative verbal behaviour of children does not include only free texts,
poems, short stories, but also a variety of reactions in everyday communicative
situations. Both creative and conventional linguistic behaviour is valuable,
depending on complex factors determining an act of communication20.
Prompting and developing creative linguistic activity may only be the
result of work of a creative teacher who knows and understands theoretical
justification of the need to encourage it, who has certain predispositions that
enable them to successfully formulate questions, tasks and problems which
inspire a spontaneous desire to speak21.
A creative teacher, wishing to enrich their students’ experience in the
sphere of linguistic activity, should include in the educational process the activelearning teaching approach. Its essence is perfectly illustrated by the following
thought by Confucius: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I will remember,
let me do it and I will understand” 22.
Active-learning teaching approach develops creative thinking and problem
solving, it enriches children’s experience, prompts their cognitive activity, trains
them to take responsibility for their own behaviour and at the same time conveys
rules of efficient communication and teaches negotiation skills. It helps to learn
how to express personal opinions and how to communicate effectively. It gives
the basis for facilitating creative linguistic activity in children.
Among specific techniques recommended to be used when working with
pre-school children the following examples can be indicated: Six Thinking Hats
by Edward de Bono, Brainstorm, and Storyline technique.
18
Krzywoń D., op. cit., s.111.
Porayski – Pomsta J., Umiejętności komunikacyjne i językowe dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu
Warszawskiego, Warszawa 1993, s. 8-10.
20
Niemiec B., Konwencja i twórczość w językowej komunikacji dziecka w młodszym wieku szkolnym, [w:] Twórcza
aktywność uczniów klas początkowych, Wydawnictwo WSP, Zielona Góra 1989, s. 143.
21
Warsicka A., Rozwijanie twórczej aktywności językowej uczniów klas początkowych, [w:] Twórcza aktywność uczniów klas
początkowych, Wydawnictwo WSP, Zielona Góra 1989, s. 149.
22
http://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Konfucjusz– data dostępu 29.05.2011
19
An interesting idea to use when working with children might also be verbal
activities using creative thinking method. Among these the following can be
mentioned as especially valuable: Attribute List, Similarities, Metaphors,
Associations, Bricolage – with objects or words, Personal Analogy, What Would
Happen If .. Using these techniques not only motivates children to think and
express themselves creatively, but also develops their linguistic and
communicative competences and stimulates creative linguistic activity.
Developing creative linguistic activity in children can be seen as striving to
shape their ability to creatively transform and expressively create fluent
utterances of original content, form and method of expression, but
fundamentally it is stimulating children to engage in enthusiastic and unreserved
linguistic activity.
Bibliography:
Bojakowska A., Mantyk W., Twórczość [w:] Krawczyk A., (red.), Jestem
twórczy, Fundacja Rozwoju Dzieci im. Jana Amosa Komeńskiego, Warszawa
2005.
Czelakowska D., Stymulacja kreatywności językowej dzieci w wieku
wczesnoszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii Pedagogicznej, Kraków
2005.
Dzionek E., Gmosińska M., Kształtowanie twórczych postaw dzieci pięcio
– sześcioletnich. Scenariusze zajęć, Impuls, Kraków 2009.
Gloton R., Clero C., Twórcza aktywność dziecka, WSiP, Warszawa 1985.
Grochowalska M., Rozwijanie umiejętności komunikacyjnych dziecka w
wieku przedszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UP, Kraków 2009.
Kielar -Turska M., Średnie dzieciństwo. Wiek przedszkolny, [w:] Harwas –
Napierała B., Trempała J., (red.), Psychologia rozwoju człowieka.
Charakterystyka okresów życia człowieka, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,
Warszawa 2004.
Krzywoń D., Kraina kreatywności – sposoby przeciwdziałania rutynie w
pracy z dziećmi poprzez ekspresję twórczą i artystyczną, Oficyna Wydawnicza
Humanitas, Sosnowiec 2008.
Kujawiński J., Teoretyczne podstawy rozwijania twórczej aktywności
uczniów klas początkowych, [w:] Jakowicka M., Kujawiński J., (red.), Twórcza
aktywność uczniów klas początkowych, Wydawnictwo WSP, Zielona Góra 1989.
Niemiec B., Konwencja i twórczość w językowej komunikacji dziecka w
młodszym wieku szkolnym, [w:] Jakowicka M., Kujawiński J., (red.), Twórcza
aktywność uczniów klas początkowych, Wydawnictwo WSP, Zielona Góra 1989.
Porayski – Pomsta J., Umiejętności komunikacyjne i językowe dzieci w
wieku przedszkolnym, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa
1993.
Przetacznik – Gierowska M., Rola języka w aktywności twórczej dzieci w
wieku przedszkolnym, „Psychologia Wychowawcza” 1/1986.
Warsicka A., Rozwijanie twórczej aktywności językowej uczniów klas
początkowych, [w:]
http://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Konfucjusz– 15.12.2012