The development of the motives for listening in the first language by preschool children

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The development of the motives for listening in the first language by preschool children

Eastern European psycholinguistic tradition indicates that any human activity, including speech, is always motivated (Leontiev, 1974). According to Leontiev (1974), there is no unmotivated activity. Unmotivated activity is not the type of activity that is devoid of the motive. On the contrary, activity is regarded as a phenomenon with subjectively and objectively implicit motives (Leontiev, 1974). Speech activity is usually guided not by a single motive, but by a system of motives, within which it is always possible to distinguish the dominant one that subsumes hierarchically lower motives (Leontiev, 1974).

According to the model of speech generation proposed by Leontiev and Ryabova (2008), the main role in speech comprehension and generation belongs to the motive. The motive acts as a mechanism for initiating the speech process, actualizing the intentions of the speaker, and directing the intentionality of an utterance. The significance of motives in speech activity increases in preschool children, because this age period includes a robust development of speech, the formation of both speech and language competence of a child, and the motivational variables of a preschool child. Arguably, a hierarchy of speech motives develops in preschool childhood. One of the variables in the hierarchy of motives is listening. Presumably, it is especially relevant to the preschool age group. Arguably, these motives eventuate earlier than the motives for speaking. The initial formation of these motives involves purposeful, perceived, reflective, intentional, and arbitrary actions that precede the development of the motives for listening (Leontiev, 1974).

Previous research is indicative of the importance of such aspects of listening, as speech comprehension in aphasic disorders (Luria, 1998; Glozman, 2012; Lapshina, 2010; Semenovich, 2002; Sobotovich, 2003; Tsvetkova, 2001; Zagzebzki, 2001; Thibaut, Rondal & Kaens, 1995; Boyle, Lindell & Kidd, 2013), decoding of logical and grammatical constructions (Glosman, 2012; Statnikov, 2015; Kalmykova, 2009; Rondal et al., 1988; Hurewitz, Brown-Schmidt & Thorpeetal, 2009; Choi & Mazuka, 2003; Barbosa & Nicoladis, 2016; de Ruiter et al., 2018), pre-schoolers' perception and understanding of phraseologisms (Mysan, 2014; Eliseeva, Gutsc & Marini, 2017 etc.), metaphors (Billow, 1981; Glucksberg, 2001), integral texts (Kalmykova, 2011; Morozova, 1947; Sedov, 2004; Young-Suk, 2016; Creel, Rojo & Paullada, 2016), the role of anticipation in the process of verbal perception of the speech message (Sedov, 2004; Federmeier, 2007; Huettig & Mani, 2015; Peelle & Sommers, 2015; Tavano & Scharinger, 2015). In particular, Kalmykova (2009) by examining the motives of speech activity of the children of senior preschool age has identified the specifics of these motives, the dynamics and trajectory of their development, peculiarities of the formation of sense forming, and sense-formulating motives of the purposeful statements at the pre-school stage of speech ontogenesis (Kalmykova, 2009).

While there is a rich research tradition of investigating of the process of listening and the associated variables, there is still insufficient data concerning the motives for listening by those preschool children, whose first language (L1) is Ukrainian. In an attempt to fill the gap in the state-of-the-art research, a novel objective of this study involves the establishment of those motives that stimulate the audiological processes in preschool children, whose L1 is Ukrainian. Specifically, the aim of the study that is further discussed in this article is to identify the development of the motives for listening by Ukrainian L1 preschool children.

The present psycholinguistic study was conducted at several preschool educational establishments in Ukraine. In total, 378 Ukrainian L1 preschool children aged between 5 and 5,5 y.o. took part in the experiment. Prior to the experiment, the caregivers' consent was obtained that allowed the experimenter to recruit children as the participants in the experiment. The caregivers were informed about the terms and procedures of the empirical study. In the process of testing, ethical norms and rules of conduct with were strictly adhered to. No children's rights were violated.

Theoretical premises of psycholinguistics were employed in the present study in order to elucidate the development and the peculiarities of motives for listening by Ukrainian L1 preschool children. Empirical methodology in the present investigation in volved the observation of the children's perception of verbal information, content analysis, motivation analysis that was indirectly judged by children, testing, the survey of children, the analysis of the children's judgments, problem - game method, and the method of questioning.

The development and the peculiarities of the motives for listening in 5 year old children were studied according to such criteria, as 1) awareness (the perceived reason underlying the speech acts of listening); 2) stability (durability of preserving the intensity of the motive, the power of its expression, domination in the choice of the subject (object), which induces and determines the choice of the direction during the listening); 3) autonomy of the motive emergence (motivation to listening and perception, related to satisfaction of the needs of the recipient). The choice of the appropriate parameters was substantiated by the contention that

Motives are inseparable not separated from consciousness. Even when the motives are not perceived by a person, they are, figuratively speaking, included in his consciousness, but only in a special form - the emotional color of action. Motivates give to a conscious reflection the subjective color, which expresses the value of the reflected for the subject himself, his personal meaning. Therefore, in addition to its main function - the function of excitation, the motives have the function of making sense. (Leontiev, 1983: 211-212).

The stability of the motive is based on the person's needs and does not require additional reinforcements. Its stability is expressed in the ability to be stored for long periods of time (Bozhovich, 1972; Markova, 1990). The independence of the motives for listening is manifested in the independent, arbitrary, intended manifestation of processes, and not stimulated by other people in external contexts.

In the present research, the following set of psycholinguistic techniques was employed:

1. The method of creating a situation of choice (Kalmykova, 2009). The aim of the method was to investigate whether the child is aware of underlying cause of speech activity in listening.

2. The method of direct diagnosis of motives (Kalmykova, 2009). The aim of the method was to determine the domination of a certain motive in the needs-affective area of the child's psyche.

3. The method of the analysis of children's judgments about the importance of listening and the reasons for their own listening (Kalmykova, 2009). The aim of that method was to investigate whether the experimenter's motivation for children's speaking and listening was related to the needs of the child-recipient.

4. The method of determination of the certain motive domination in the needs-affective area of the child (Gutkina, 2000). The aim of the method was to study the dominant motive.

5. Projective method «Addition» (Akimova, 2005). The aim: definition of motivation.

In order to study the development of motives for listening by Ukrainian L1 preschool children, the method of creating a situation of choice was used, as it was necessary to identify those children, who selected among the proposed activities (speech and non-verbal) the audiative one. For that purpose, the game situation «Choice of Activity» was created. Its aim was to find out the place of listening in the preferences of children. In the course of its decision, it was offered to choose the situation, reproduced in the picture, in which they would like to appear. The pictures depicted children who were engaged in different types of activities: 1 - «gaming activity»; 2 - «listening to the literary work»; 3 - «visual activity»; 4 - «the work of children in nature»; 5 - «constructive activity».

Subsequently, the immediate psychodiagnostics of the motives was carried out. In this way, the domination of a certain motive in the need - affective area of the child's psyche was investigated. The procedure involved a choice of different by value motives of listening. As a result, it was evident what caused the children to choose the direction of listening activity. The List of motives involved the following ones: You like to listen to the interlocutor (story), because: a) you want to know something new, interesting; b) you can get new knowledge; c) you can tell other people what you have heard; c) you can correctly answer the teacher's questions; d) it is necessary to understand what the interlocutor says (what about is said in a story).

In order to study the dominant motive in the needs-affective area of the child, the child was invited into a room, where toys were displayed on the tables, and the child was asked to examine them. Then, the experimenter read a fairy tale, which the child had not heard before. At the most exciting place of the fairy tale, it was interrupted and the child was asked what the child wanted to do, e.g. to play with toys on the tables, or to listen to the fairy tale to the end.

Thereafter, a survey was conducted, which aimed at examining the judgments about the importance of listening and the reasons for their own listening. The survey was aimed at investigating whether the incentives of the experimenter were related to the children's speech and listening with satisfaction of the child-recipient's needs. The following questions to the children were used: «What would be better for you: to listen or to tell yourself?»; Option 2: «Listen or do something different?»); b) do the preschoolers understand the practical value of listening skills?; c) do the children understand the reason behind the listening behavior? (Questions to the children: «Why do you like to listen to the story?»); d) how stable are the motives? (it was determined on the basis of the duration of maintaining the intensity of the motive, the strength of its expression, the domination of the choice of subject (object), which induced and determined the choice of listening focus).

Projective techniques were used to determine motivation. To that end, the children were encouraged to finish the teacher's statements like: «It is important for me to be able to listen, because…»; «If I'll listen carefully, then…», «I always listen carefully because…».

The results of the data analysis revealed thatout of the total number of 378 children, who participated in the experiment, 15,4% had an objective need to listen to the opinions of other people. The remaining number of children (84,6%) needed the material items necessary for meeting their vital needs, in particular in toys that can be obtained for a fair listening of a fairy tale (44,2% - n=167), in games that can be played after listening carefully to the fairy tale (40,4% - n=153).

The majority of the children does not experience an objective need for the ideal subject - listening and understanding of the heard thought - the indispensable conditions for the normative functioning of the listening, the natural life-predetermined need in communication and speaking and the dynamic formations that provide the semantic development are unformed. The primary interest in preschoolers is caused by such kinds of children's activities, as playing, drawing, and designing. The lack of speech-auditing needs in 84,6% of children delays the timely development of the motivation of sense formation, significantly restricting the possibility of selfexpression updating (both verbal and non-verbal) in communicative verbal interaction.

15,4% of children (n=58), who showed the need to listen and understand the perceived information in the situation of directed at them attention when select from offered to them motives the most significant for them, showed the following results.

The findings that preschoolers' listening is guided by the cognitive motives related to the ability of learning something new, interesting (100%), new knowledge (100%), and learning something in order to tell others, e.g. friends, parents. about what they heard (86,2%). In 50% of the cases, the need for knowledge is prevalent in order to answer correctly the questions of the educator on the content of what they have heard. 8.6% of children associate the chosen motives with the perfect subject - sense-formation.

All 378 children completed the task of filling-in the proposed fragments of sentences. In this task, the following data have been obtained: 38,6% of children (n=146) are aware of the underlying causes of their listening (see Table 3). 48,4% of children (n=183) do not understand the reasons behind their listening. They are guided by arguments that are not sense-formulating. 13% of children (n=49) generally refused to explain the reasons for their listening.

Table 3 shows that 38,64% of children are aware of the underlying causes of their listening. 5,8% of children (n=22) completed the statement «It is important for me to be able to listen, because…» with the arguments related to the acquisition of new knowledge and knowledge of interesting: «Because I want to learn something new» (Olia M.), «Because I'm interested in learning something new» (Vitalik N.). On given to the children a part of the statement («I always listen carefully, because…») were received judgments like: «Because the teacher tells and we can find something new» (Yura M.), «Because when the teacher read us fairy tales, we must carefully listen, because there in the fairy tales something interesting about animals is told. And I will know something about the animals» (Ira P.).

5% of children (n=19) exhibit the awareness of listening in conjunction with the importance of their future schooling, e.g. «Because in school will be necessary to listen to the teacher what she tells» (Oksana V); «Because soon I'm going to go to school, and there will be lessons and the teacher will tell us different things, and we will listen» (Sasha P.); «I will soon go to school and listen to a teacher, and then I will tell the teacher what she told us. And if I listen carefully, I will hear a lot of interesting things and I will know everything» (Andriy S.).

3% of children (n=11) linked the cause of listening with the following need to answer the interlocutor: «In order to answer correctly» (Natalka K.), «Because it will be necessary to answer» (Kostia B.), «Because, I at first will listen, and then, when the teacher ask me, I will answer her» (Oksana Zh.), «Because I listen, and then I answer something» (Ruslan A.).

In 1,6% of preschoolers (n=6), at the basis of the awareness of the reasons for listening there is an importance to listen the other person, because he wants to speak - «another person wants to say something».

In 23,2% of children (n=88), at the basis of recognizing the importance of listening are the reasons connected with establishing themselves in the social world (first of all, before adults). Firstly, it is the need to recognize them as adult obedient children: «Because the teacher will say that I'm dutiful and do not twist as she speaks» (Ulyana B.), «Because when I listen, then the educator tells me that I am obedient» (Misha G.), «Because in that case I am obedient, and when my mother reads me a fairy tale she praises me» (Masha P.). Secondly, there is a desire to receive approval from the adults for good behavior during the listening: «Because the teacher praise me when I am listening» (Roman R.), «Because I will be told by the teacher that I am good today, because I listen, do not talk, but listen to a fairy tale» (Kolya M.), «Then the teacher praises me, says that I am fine fellow» (Andriy A.).

48,4% of children (n=186) have substantiated these reasons by arguments that are not sense-formulating, for example: «Everyone listens and I also listen» (Oksana Zh.); «Because the teacher says,… well… there is a need to listen to a fairy tale» (Vitia K.); «Because I love listening to fairy tales so much» (Denis G.); «Because it is necessary to listen… as someone speaks» (Tanya M.); «Because I like to listen» (Lida R.); «Because I listen to the fairy tales when I my mom reads and when the teacher reads… in the kindergarten» (Katia B.); «Because the teacher told us so that we would listen to the fairy tale. Then, she reads a fairy tale, and we listen» (Sveta D.); «Because I sit on a chair and listen, and the teacher reads us. And I put my hands on my knees and listen» (Lena Ya.).

13% of children (n=49) generally refused to explain the reasons for their listening.

In determining the dominant motive, it was established that the majority of children (from 378 of preschoolers who participated in this type of the experiment) are guided by game motifs (68,2% - n=258); 31.8% of preschool children (n=120) - by a cognitive motive in the situation of choosing the desired activity (listen to a fairy tale or play).

19% of children (n=72) have stable motives, in 81% of preschool children (n=306) they are unstable, changing. 12,4% of children (n=47) have independent motives, which helped to bring their speech tasks to the logical end, comply with the conditions for their implementation.

This study has revealed multiple variables involved in the motives of listening development in children of the senior preschool age, which was conditionally recorded in 4 levels.

To the high level of the motives of listening development were assigned 9,0% of children (n=34), who have a positive motive as a subject of communicative and speaking needs, as the need for senseforming development. The directness of their listening is directly dependent on the speech motive. They have stable motives, as well as a strong motivation of achievement.

To the average level of the motives of listening development were referred 12,3% of children (n=48), in which the communicative and speaking needs, as the needs of the understanding of other people's opinions are not sufficiently expressed, however, others - non-ideal -objects of need prevail; the speech motive is not at the required stage of development in order to become an objectified need; this is the degree on which the meanings of the speech needs are only begin and the primary acquisition of it is specification as the need for sense-formation. Motives are unstable, non-independent, mostly due to training tasks. This is the state of the initial development of the speech motive.

1 - high level of motivation development: 9,0% (n=34);

2 - average level of motivation development: 12,6% (n=48);

3 - below the average level of motivation development: 52,6% (n=198);

4 - low level of motivation development: 25.8% (n=98).

To a level below the average, 52,6% of children (n=198) were identified, which did not reveal the motives of forming meaning, that induced listening; their perception and understanding is polymotivated, it is excited by several motives, predominantly non-verbal ones; the need for communication and speech comprehension are not associated with subsequent speech behavior; the communicative and speaking needs in the sense of the heard remain uncertain and not specified.

To a low level of the motive of listening development were assigned 25,5% of children (n=98), in which the auditing needs in meeting communicative requests are realized only in non-verbal kinds of activities.

The present research involved the development of motives for listening by Ukrainian L 1 preschool children aged between 5 and 5,5 y.o. It was found that the overwhelming number of children was at the stage of initial improvement of the speech motive as the need for sense formation. It can be assumed that the motives for listening were unstable and non-independent. The perception and understanding of speech was simultaneously prompted by several motives, among which the game motive dominated. A characteristic feature of listening was polymotivated and included several motives, mostly non-verbal ones (game, intellectual, cognitive, and social). The needs for communication, perception and speech comprehension were not associated by children with the subsequent speech behavior. Only a small number of preschool children exhibited the motive associated with sense formation. However, it remained unstable, changeable, as it was dominated by the non-verbal motive that remained a prevalent variable in the cohort of participants.

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