Customer Reviews

The Meaning Makers: Children Learning Language and Using Language to Learn

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I first encountered this book while working on my Ph.D. many years ago. Now, as a full-time mom to two little ones, I find myself invoking what I learned from this book ALL THE TIME. It is an academic book, so it isn't exactly an easy read. However, this books is one of those classics that reinforces to me why we shouldn't be sending our little ones (2 and 3 year-old) off to preschool. Little kids need dialogue and real word situations to learn.

In fact, the knowledge contained in this book is one of the reasons why I am home schooling my children.

This book is a classic. I have been using it for many the last 25 years and it never goes out of date. It is the best source available for explaining in an accessible and useful way to early years teachers and parents how young children's language develops.

For a book about language and meaning, it is extremely difficult to derive anything from this book! While it includes examples of conversations including young British children and their development, they are only useful if you have had no exposure to children. The remainder of this book is dedicated to explaining how children develop the ability to express and create meaning, but is almost impossible to follow.

There are many great sources available for language development, but this is not one of them!