Abstract:

Teachers and parents often have very distorted or completely false images of today's children. They are lacking information about current research findings on the cognitive development of today's children, as well as the specific features of development of their speech and thinking. The author of this article focuses on this topic and uses the study Children’s Preconcepts Of Linguistic And Literary Literacy At The Threshold Of Education (ICERI 2015, Seville, Spain) as a basis for interpretation of the research findings of the VEGA-project No. 1/0598/15 of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic. The aim of this research, which objective is to understand children's preconceptions about phenomenon of language literacy, has the ambition to reveal the prevailing trends in the area of the development of thinking and speech with 5-6 years old children. As a research tool we used a structured interview, which mainly focused on the semantics of children's testimonies and the level of their language skills. By using qualitative research methods we have coded and categorized the statements in order to find out how children understand the selected terms that represent the phenomenon of language literacy. The research also has a methodological goal - to provide teachers with current findings and provide them with models on how to identify child development through objectified methods of the research model UCD-ACR-NIM (Understanding Child's Development As Core Of Reflection Via Narration Inside Mind).

Keywords:

Children's preconceptions, Language, Thinking, Language literacy, Preprimary and Primary education.