Browsing by Subject "kuvakommunikointi"

Language is both tool for learning and the object of learning. This makes language learning vital for young learners. Kindergarten teacher is obliged to support children’s development of language learning. There are a lot of different ways to support language development, one of them is graphic support. Studies show that long-lasting and systematic graphic support helps the progress of language skills. This objective of this thesis was to study how kindergarten teachers use graphic material on their job with children with normal language development and with children who might have a language impairment. Thesis analyses also kindergarten teachers’ view and opinion on using graphic materials. Material was gathered by using cooperation network and was executed as theme interview. Results showed that graphic material was mostly used to help with daily routines and help to perceive timeline. Graphic material was used in same situations as with the whole group. Children with possible language impairment were specially considered. Long-termed and systematic use of the images was believed to help children’s language skills and to help the children to use images independently. This is in line with previous information. Some of the kindergarten teachers found that their use of graphic material was too petite, and the use of different images was too difficult. Different graphic materials were seen helpful in pre-planned situations, such as going through program for the day, but difficult in spontaneous moments of everyday life.