Evaluation of the language development characteristics of children educated in pre-school education institutions

Language development is very important for preschool children as it affects all areas of life. The aim of this research is to evaluate the opinions of preschool teachers about the language development characteristics of 36-69 months old children studying in pre-school education institutions. The research is in the nature of a descriptive survey model. The universe of the research consists of 848 pre-school teachers working in the pre-school education institutions of Diyarbakır Province in the Spring Semester of the 2020-2021 Academic Year. The sample of the research consists of 282 pre-school teachers working in 38 pre-school education institutions affiliated to Diyarbakır City Center in the 2020-2021 academic year. In the research, the Language Development Characteristics Questionnaire for 36-69 Months-old Children, consisting of 60 items and consisting of 4 parts, was used. In the first part of the questionnaire, there are statements about the personal and professional work of preschool teachers regarding the variables of gender, seniority and class size. In the second part of the questionnaire, there are statements about language development in 36-48, 48-60-month-old children in the third part and 60-69 month-old children in the fourth part. The findings of the research can be summarized as follows: Preschool teachers stated that 36–48-month-old students can tell the direction of the sound, form sentences with 3-4 words, ask questions such as "why, how, who", use plural suffixes in their speech, participate in conversation, verbally express their feelings and understand the functions of objects. detected. Preschool teachers stated that 36-48 month old students use past tense expressions, nouns, verbs, personal pronouns and adjectives. Teachers also stated that most of the students' statements were understandable, they followed two or three consecutive instructions (specifying how to do a job), they sang songs and nursery rhymes to themselves, answered questions about their daily work, and told two events in the order in which they occurred. they have been detected. While the efficacy perceptions of pre-school teachers regarding ODGÖ (36-48 months old) did not show a significant difference in terms of "gender" and "seniority" variable, it was determined that they differed significantly in terms of "class size" variable. Preschool teachers were able to answer questions about short, simple stories of 48-60 month-old students, say the characteristics of the voice (such as the sound being thin-high, high-low, long-short) and the source of the voice, and they could say "always" sentences with 4-5 words. level have been found. While the efficacy perceptions of preschool teachers regarding ODGÖ (48-60 months old) did not show a significant difference in terms of "seniority" and "class size", it was determined that they differed significantly in terms of "gender" variable. It has been observed that preschool teachers use humor in the speech of 60-69 month old students, form sequential and compound sentences, use verbs suitable for the subject in their sentences, make sentences of 6 or more words, and form sentences in the past tense, present tense and future tense. In addition, students use words such as "because, now, later" in their sentences, use demonstrative and personal pronouns and adverbs of time, use grammatical rules mostly correctly, say the antonyms and synonyms of some words, homophones, "picture, object or events". It was determined that they told meaningful stories by establishing a relationship between them, they knew the written materials around them, they knew that writing means something, they participated in conversations about the place of reading in daily life, and they pretended to read by looking at the pictures in the book. In addition, in the study, it was determined that the efficacy perceptions of preschool teachers regarding CFQ (60-69 months) did not show a significant difference in terms of "gender", "seniority" and "class size". Teaching activities through drama and games can be given more place in the learning process for pre-school students. Likewise, focusing on activities such as songs, poems, fairy tales and nursery rhymes will be beneficial for the language development of pre-school students. Key Words: Language, language development, language development in preschool children, language development features.