Expression of Vocabulary Development of 3-4 Year Old Preschool Children

some vegetables, tubers, fruits (apples, grapes, custard apples, cabbage, carrots, etc.); Say the functions of some utensils and toys (pen for writing, eraser for erasing, etc.); Say some natural phenomena (rain, sunshine, wind, thunder, lightning, etc.). At this stage, children can also answer and ask questions: Who? What? Where? When? Name and describe objects through pictures; Retell events/stories seen/heard; Recite some poems, songs, nursery rhymes, and retell short stories.

Children's language is divided into two types: passive language (receptive language) includes words that children can only understand but cannot speak; active language (expressive language) includes words that children understand and use in communication and learning. Changing from passive language to active language (activating language) is the important content and task of language training for preschool children, especially 3-4 years old.

1.2.2.3. The word learning process of 3-4 year old preschool children

Studies on children's word learning process show that to learn a word, children need to go through the stages of listening → understanding → imitating → speaking.

Listening: The ability to listen is a prerequisite for language development. Children who can hear can speak - communicate and develop language. " In the preschool stage of 3 - 4 years old, children focus on listening and understanding sounds/speech. Listening and understanding sounds/speech are associated with specific objects and phenomena. Therefore, KPKH activities create opportunities for children to hear a word many times in real contexts with specific objects. This is a good environment for children to listen and understand specific words " [82].

Understanding: When a child establishes a connection between a heard speech sound and its meaning. A child's ability to understand words occurs in the following order: Understanding first words : Initially, the child understands the meaning of words limited to specific contexts, then is able to recognize familiar objects by name even when these objects are not in familiar places. Understanding nouns : Nouns describe an object that can be seen and manipulated, so they are easy for children to remember. Understanding verbs : Understanding verbs that reflect actions that children can perform themselves; actions that affect objects and actions that create changes in the environment. Verbs are more abstract than nouns, so they are more difficult for children to learn. Kindergarten children 3 - 4 years old can understand

The child's vocabulary and verb ratio are increasing, the child can combine nouns and verbs when speaking; Understanding words indicating attributes and space : Children understand adjectives (color, shape, size). Understanding prepositions : Spatial words such as "in", "on" and "under" are often acquired before the words "in front of", "between" and "below"; Understanding pronouns : By the age of 3, the child can correctly use pronouns such as "I/my", "my", "my" [82].

Imitation: Is the initial stage of word use. Children repeat words spoken by adults. 3-4 year old preschool children can imitate sentences of 5-6 words. Children's speech reflects the language color of adults living close to them. Therefore, to help children speak correctly, it is necessary to build a standard pedagogical language environment, especially the language environment at home and at school, preschool class [82].

Speaking: This is the final step in the child's word learning cycle, children can use words to communicate with people around them. It is necessary to create situations that stimulate children's need to speak. Children need to participate in communication activities, play, experience... to have many opportunities to listen, understand, imitate and speak. KPKH activities are one of the activities with many advantages in creating opportunities for children to communicate, play, experience to listen, understand, imitate, and speak [82].

1.2.2.4. Expression of vocabulary development in 3-4 year old preschool children

Based on the concept and characteristics of children's PTVT; the concept, tasks and content of PTVT for children, the manifestation of children's PTVT is considered in the following aspects:

STT

PTVT Mission

for kindergarten children 3-4 years old

Symptoms of PTVT in children

Accumulate the number of words needed for language communication

of children

Children's vocabulary increases, their vocabulary range expands... then the rate of vocabulary growth slows down with age.

Create word structure

reasonable type in

Children can name objects, phenomena (nouns), and describe

be active state of things phenomenon child

Maybe you are interested!

STT

PTVT Mission

for kindergarten children 3-4 years old

Symptoms of PTVT in children

Children's vocabulary

people (verb), describes the characteristics of

active state (adjective)

Help children grasp the meaning of words (words of passage)

receive)

Establish relationships between words and corresponding objects and phenomena. For example: When the teacher says the word orange, the children point to

hand on picture of orange

Help children use words in appropriate contexts

(expression)

Children can use words to express their thoughts and ideas appropriately in communication situations and help others understand them.

1.2.2.5. Developing vocabulary for 3-4 year old preschool children

* Concept of vocabulary development for 3-4 year old preschool children

The concept of PTVT is of interest to a number of authors. Depending on the research purpose, the authors emphasize different characteristics of PTVT. Trinh Thi Ha Bac emphasizes the process/method of implementation and the goals of PTVT: "PTVT for children is a planned and scientific organization to provide vocabulary, enrich vocabulary, improve the ability to understand the meaning of words, consolidate and activate vocabulary for children, and help children know how to appropriately apply that vocabulary in communication activities" [1, p.7].

The group of authors Hoang Thi Oanh, Pham Thi Viet, Nguyen Kim Duc emphasized the goals of PTVT: "PTVT for children is to help children grasp many words, understand the meaning of words and know how to use them in communication situations" [27, p.17].

Nguyen Thi Phuong Nga emphasized the process/method of impact when she said: "PTVT for children is a purposeful, planned activity to help children acquire vocabulary effectively" [24, p.74]. According to the author, PTVT for children is the basis of language development. The first language unit children use is the word. Kindergarten has the task of PTVT for children not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. Teaching children not only to know many words, but also to understand words, use words correctly, and eliminate bad and ugly words in children's speech.

From many different approaches when defining PTVT for children, the thesis understands:

Teaching skills for 3-4 year old preschool children is a purposeful and planned pedagogical process to help children increase the number of words, understand meaning (receptive skills) and use words (expressive skills) in different communication contexts.

* Vocabulary development tasks for 3-4 year old preschool children

PTVT for children includes two aspects: increasing children's receptive and expressive skills. Specifically:

- Accumulate the number of words necessary for children's language communication: Although the basic function of words is not communication, but without words, communication becomes difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to provide children with necessary vocabulary. These are words about the surrounding environment (at home, at kindergarten) necessary for children's personal life and relationships in daily activities, study, and play.

- Create a reasonable word class structure in children's VT: When teaching VT to children, it is necessary to pay attention to the reasonable word class structure. A large number of words with an unreasonable word class structure or a lack of certain word classes will make it difficult for children to express themselves. " For children aged 3 - 4, it is necessary to ensure enough word classes with a ratio of about: 38% nouns, 32% verbs, 6.8% adjectives, 7.8% adverbs, 4.7% modals, 3.1% pronouns, 2.5% numerals, 1.7% conjunctions... " [35]. As mentioned above, verbs often express activities that are close and related to children's daily needs, so it is necessary to increase the proportion of verbs in the word class structure, even higher than nouns.

- Help children understand the meaning of words: Understanding the meaning of words is an important part of language development. In preschool, this task includes: Helping children grasp the meaning of words based on accurately comparing them with surrounding objects, helping children understand the general meaning of words based on distinguishing the characteristic signs of things and phenomena, penetrating the world of figurative speech and knowing how to use them. In the process of communication, children gradually understand the meaning of words, even having many different meanings in one word (polysemous words) or many words with the same meaning (synonyms).

- Actively develop children's vocabulary: Children not only need to understand words but also need to be able to use them in communication. This is the process of turning passive words into active words. Using a word in many communication situations will make that word active in children's activities.

* Content to develop vocabulary for preschool children 3 - 4 years old

According to author Dinh Hong Thai, the process of forming VT is closely related to children's active cognitive activities; therefore, PTVT is closely linked to the process of developing thinking and the results of children's cognitive activities. Children must be able to explore and experience, especially language experience, so that the process of activating VT is effective. PTVT content must be included in all children's activities (studying, playing, living...) [36].

The content of PTVT is gradually complicated with the increase in age of children. This can be done in three steps: 1) Expanding children's VT on the basis of familiarizing them with the world of objects and phenomena that is gradually expanding; 2) Introducing words indicating attributes, qualities, and relationships on the basis of helping children understand more deeply about objects and phenomena in the world around them; 3) Introducing words indicating elementary concepts on the basis of distinguishing and generalizing objects according to basic signs. Author Dinh Hong Thai divides the content of PTVT by topic including: " Words about personal life, words about social life, and words about the natural world " [36].

In this study, PTVT focused on words related to the content of KPKH in kindergarten ( objects, natural phenomena, plants, animals and parts of the body ).

1.2.3. Organizing scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3-4 year old preschool children

1.2.3.1. Concept of scientific discovery activities

- Scientific discovery:

According to the Vietnamese Dictionary [29], “discovery is to find out, to discover something hidden, something secret” (p. 610); “science is a system of knowledge accumulated during the historical process and proven by practice, reflecting the objective laws of the outside world as well as human mental activities, helping people to be able to transform the real world” (p. 623). From that, it can be understood in general: KPKH is to find out, to discover secret, hidden knowledge to help people transform the real world.

According to Tran Thi Ngoc Tram and Nguyen Thi Nga: "KPKH with young children is too much"

"The process of children actively participating in activities of exploring and learning about the natural world. It is the process of observing, comparing, classifying, testing, predicting, reasoning, discussing, solving problems, making decisions..." [42, p.12]. Thus, although the expressions are different, in general, the above authors all believe that scientific research is to find and discover secret, hidden knowledge to help people improve the real world. Accordingly, for young children, scientific research is the process of children actively participating in activities of exploring and learning about the natural world. It is the process of observing, comparing, classifying, testing, predicting, reasoning, discussing, solving problems, and making decisions .

From the analysis of the above concepts, the thesis understands that: " Preschool children's scientific learning is the process of participating in activities to learn about the world around them through the processes of observation, experimentation, reasoning, problem solving ..."

- Scientific discovery activities:

The concept of scientific discovery activities is mentioned in the research of authors Hoang Thi Phuong, Hoang Thi Oanh, Nguyen Thi Xuan, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy. According to Hoang Thi Phuong: “The activity of exploring the surrounding environment is understood as the process of discovering new things, unknown things for children in objects and phenomena in the natural and social environment, through which children will acquire knowledge, skills and have the right attitude towards the surrounding environment. Through this activity, children are exposed to the environment, experience emotions, feelings, skills, behaviors, self-acquire knowledge about the surrounding environment, and at the same time have the opportunity to participate in preserving and protecting the surrounding environment” [33, p.65]. Thus, in this concept, author Hoang Thi Phuong believes that exploring the surrounding environment includes scientific discovery and social discovery. “Discovery” is: discovering new things, unknown things, thanks to which children can experience to acquire knowledge.

Authors Hoang Thi Oanh and Nguyen Thi Xuan believe that: “Science discovery activities are the activities that teachers create conditions, opportunities and organize activities for children to actively explore and discover interesting things about surrounding objects and phenomena. More importantly, through these discovery activities, children learn the skills of observation, comparison, classification, measurement, judgment, problem solving, conveying their opinions and drawing conclusions” [28, p.17]. This concept refers to the role of

Teachers are the ones who prepare, create conditions and opportunities for children to explore and discover the characteristics of objects and phenomena and emphasize the results of the activities which are the formation and development of cognitive skills, language... for children.

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy: “ KST activities are activities that require children to mobilize their senses to the maximum. The result of this activity is to arouse and nurture children's curiosity and desire to learn, stimulate the development of their senses, and provide children with simple, elementary scientific knowledge appropriate to their age; thereby developing children's cognitive skills such as: observation, comparison, guessing, reasoning, problem solving, cooperation... ” [38]. This concept emphasizes children's interest, belief, will... and skills.

From the analysis of the above concepts, the thesis understands that: " The scientific research activities of 3-4 year old preschool children are the process in which children directly participate in learning and exploring the world around them through their senses through many activities: observing, comparing, classifying, testing, doing simple experiments, discussing, etc.; thereby acquiring knowledge, skills and having the right attitude towards these objects."

Thus, the nature of scientific research activities is: (1) Children are able to manipulate and experience objects directly with their senses; (2) Children are placed in a state of curiosity and interest in exploring and discovering objects, so they always actively participate in discovery activities; (3) Children are able to explore and discover new things and unknown things; (4) Children acquire a lot of knowledge and develop language about the objects of exploration;

(5) Form and develop important skills such as: observation, comparison, guessing, teamwork, communication...; (6) Form emotions, feelings and positive cognitive attitudes in children.

1.2.3.2. Characteristics of scientific discovery activities of 3-4 year old preschool children

Scientific activities in preschool children aged 3-4 years old are to explore and discover objects and phenomena in the world around them so that children can recognize, name, describe, and use words in specific situations. Preschool children aged 3-4 years old explore the world around them by observing and directly feeling real objects or indirectly through other visual means.

The objects of scientific research activities of 3-4 year old preschool children are familiar objects and phenomena around them.

Thus, with its own characteristics, scientific research activities are one of the effective means of developing communication skills for 3-4 year old preschool children.

1.2.3.3. Advantages of scientific discovery activities for vocabulary development for 3-4 year old preschool children

- Scientific activities create a diverse environment for children to interact, observe, and recognize in order to accumulate vocabulary : Scientific activities create opportunities for children to interact with objects, animals, plants, natural phenomena, etc. Each object, event, and phenomenon will provide children with a rich source of vocabulary. Through experience, observation, and exploration of objects and phenomena, children form and develop awareness of objects with names, characteristics, activities, and properties. From the need to learn and explore the natural world in life, children want to learn about those objects, describe those objects, thereby increasing the number of children's words.

- KPKH activities stimulate children to interact and exchange to use words in sentences : When operating and experiencing directly on real objects, children are interested, curious, and eager to learn; actively participate in activities by being ready to accept new things, asking questions, knowing how to relate new knowledge with what they have known before to describe and explain what they have observed, explored, discovered, and tested... Through that, children are able to use words in specific meaningful contexts, that is, associating words with specific objects and situations; not only do they listen to teachers' explanations, but they are also given the opportunity to express their opinions and views on those objects. This helps children increase the number of words, understand the meaning and use words in different communication situations.

- Scientific research activities create opportunities for children to expand the scope of word usage : The characteristic of scientific research activities is that children can observe, compare, guess, work in groups, communicate, predict, reason, discuss, solve problems, make decisions... on specific objects; therefore, corresponding skills are formed and developed. In the process, teachers create many cognitive tasks with "problematic" situations that force children to mobilize what they already know to solve the problem they need to find. This

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