Background: In the history of early childhood education (ECE), language is viewed as key in teaching and learning. Children in the ECE are mostly confined to verbal communication which, to a certain extent, restricts their imagination and inventive ability. Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, initiated the Hundred Languages of Children (HLC) as a pedagogical approach to enable children to interact and communicate. Aim: This study aims to explore the role of HLC through the experiences and views of the four ECE practitioners in the Gauteng province. Drawing on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, the author argues that ECE children possess different kinds of minds, and therefore they learn in different ways. Setting: Two Early Childhood centres in the Gauteng Province of South Africa were selected for this study because they had adopted Malaguzzi’s HLC approach to constructing concepts to help children structure knowledge and organise learning. Methods: The author used one-on-one interviews to get ECE practitioners’ experiences on using Malaguzzi’s HLC. To corroborate the interviews’ data, the author conducted classroom observations and document analysis. Results: The participants viewed Malaguzzi’s HLC as an enabler to meet the requirement of the two sets of curricula from the Department of Social Development (the National Curriculum Framework for children from 0 to 4 years) and from the Department of Basic Education (the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement for 5-year-old children). Conclusion: The findings show a paradigm shift, as children become active constructors of their own knowledge.

中文翻译：

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探索马拉格齐奇的“儿童百种语言”在幼儿教育中的作用

背景：在幼儿教育（ECE）的历史中，语言被视为教学的关键。在欧洲经委会中，儿童大多只限于口头交流，这在一定程度上限制了他们的想象力和创造能力。雷焦·艾米利亚（Reggio Emilia）教育哲学的创始人洛里斯·马拉格齐（Loris Malaguzzi）提出了“百种儿童语言（HLC）”作为一种使儿童能够进行互动和交流的教学方法。目的：本研究旨在通过豪登省四名欧洲经委会从业者的经验和观点来探讨高级别立法的作用。作者利用加德纳的多元智能理论，认为儿童早教具有不同的思维方式，因此他们以不同的方式学习。设置：选择了南非豪登省的两个幼儿中心进行这项研究，因为他们采用了马拉格齐奇的HLC方法来构建概念，以帮助儿童构造知识和组织学习。方法：作者使用一对一的访谈来获得ECE从业者使用Malaguzzi的HLC的经验。为了证实访谈数据，作者进行了课堂观察和文件分析。结果：参加者认为马拉加兹的HLC是满足社会发展部（0至4岁儿童国家课程框架）和基础教育部（课程评估）两套课程要求的推动力和针对5岁儿童的政策声明）。结论：研究结果显示了范式的转变，