Summary: | This essay aims to study how preschool teachers with big groups of small children believe they are working to give every individual child stimulation and challenges in its language and communication development in accordance with the curriculum. The method I chose to use consists of quantitative interviews with preschool teachers. I based my studies on a sociocultural aspect and Lev Vygotskij’s theories on language, learning and the teacher’s role. The results from the interviews and analyses around these theories were presented based on the definition of the terms ’stimulate’ and ’challenge’, the preschool teachers’ working method, challenges in the work itself and the influence from the organization. Based on previous research, I then went on to discuss the different aspects that became evident through my analysis. The discussion involved the preschool teachers’ perceived working methods, the importance of the teacher’s attitude, the importance of the organization and the body language of the child. My conclusion was that when it comes to giving every child an opportunity to be stimulated and challenged in their language and communication development, the teacher’s attitude is the most important factor. I could also establish that what prevents preschool teachers from having an attitude encouraging language development is that small children demand a lot of communication time with the teachers, something that is not always possible with a group containing many children. Finally, I made a recommendation based on my opinion that a separate curriculum for small preschool children should be implemented, where the body language of the children have a central role in stimulating and challenging every child’s individual language and communication development.
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