"Pedagogy of spoken language" in ECEC services and preschool

Theoretical knowledge on language development that have educators and the ideas that they are formed by observing and talking with the children, are the basis of educational practices and the experience of language socialization than children living in nurseries and preschools. From this premise, I conducted a research in a Italian nursery and preschool, in order to know early childhood educators’ ideas, beliefs and theories on language, its development in the first six years and how children become from learners into “competent speaker-listeners” (Ochs 2007) of language of his context. Research method is based on focus groups with educational staff at the nursery and preschool and together. Knowing what educators know, or think that they know, is key to stimulating formative, and therefore transformational, thinking that can enhance both the services (Bruner, 1996) and the children attending them. The research is inscribed in the area of educational field research on adults’ ideas about childhood, child development and education (Harkness and Super 1983; Bruner, 1996) and it is inspired by the field study model of action research. Data analysis shows that the issue of the language and its development have been neglected for a long time in educational services.. I have recognized a real educational need in ECEC services and preschool within the area of “pedagogy of spoken language”. Language is a crucial field of knowledge for all learning in childhood: it’s necessary to bring language back to a context where it most naturally and spontaneously develops and can be fostered