Alternative and augmentative communication in the context of foreign language learning in preschool children

Abstract

In this work the attention is drawn on to the possible benefit from the implementation of a relatively new combined communication technique in glottodidactic methods in working with preschool children. The technique is about reading stories translated into symbols (PCS, WLS or Bliss) which are used as part of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in working with people with special communication needs. The proposal of this work is based on the results of scientific research which are related to the importance of reading stories to children by adults, especially in the child’s first years of life, and scientific research related to the use of books translated into AAC symbols in working with people with special communication needs. Considering that in the first years of learning a foreign language, regardless of the child’s age, on one hand there is inevitably a discrepancy between their intellectual level and their spheres of interest and on the other hand there is a discrepancy between their intellectual levels and the degree of their knowledge of a foreign language, teachers and educators are often faced with the challenge of finding adequate materials, because understandable texts are most often not interesting to children, while those texts that might be interesting children do not understand. This is particularly evident during the preschool age, because at that age children do not enter the process of learning a foreign language consciously and with intention, and therefore it is very important to stir up their interest in the teaching material. This work considers multiple possible benefits of reading stories translated into symbols and suggests the implementation of concrete research in practice.