Conclusions and further tasks

A preschool child is able to recall the routes used every day based on several experiential residues such as visual, auditive, tactile, verbal, emotional experience. Later, besides these experiential residues, different visual reference points also appear (e.g. shop, school, gate) that play an important role in a child’s orientation. We also have to add that these orientation points are very personal. However, in our sample we could also see that, from the age of six, children used not only orientation points but place names as well as directions in their narratives (e.g. menni kell egyenesen, utána kicsit jobbra az Iskola utcán / you have to go straight then to the right in Iskola Street). According to our results, between the age of six and eight there are quatitative and qualitative changes in the cognitive development of the children which is reflected in their way of talking about places.

I am confident that this brief overview will help to raise awareness of the importance of studies within the area, and I hope my work will serve as a good

foundation for further research on a larger sample and in different types of settlements e.g. in towns, cities and villages.

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Abstract

This paper seeks to report children’s way of talking about their area in a measurable way. Our research is being carried out within the early childhood research group at the University of Debrecen and is also part of an international research project called Journey to School (Plymouth University). Another goal of the paper is to explore the development between different age-groups. In our research we asked 48 children who attend kindergarten (they are aged 5-7). We also asked 52 children who attend first and second class in a primary school in Hungary (N=52; S=7.98). The aim of the interviews (2014) is to compare the way these children talk about the way they get to nursery or primary school. We also want to investigate what they use in narratives – whether these are names or orientation points.

In exploring the way children get to know their home town, several sources have been used: drawings, interviews, and chatting with children. Our research helps us to see what is meaningful to children in their surroundings. We came to realize that at the age of six children start to use place names as well as orientation points, enabling them to more accurately verbalize their cognitive map.

Keywords: Children aged 5–9, socio-onomastics, narratives