Comprehension of “Before” and “After” by the Young Child

Abstract

“When children enter a structured school environment they are, often for the first time, required to follow sequential directions rather explicitly” (Barrie-Blackley, 1973, p. 164). Clauses joined with time connectives are commonly used by teachers in explanations, directions, and requests to children. Some children have little difficulty following these temporal directions. Many young children are able to carry out the commands through selective ignoring of the time connectives either from practice—“washing hands after painting”—or by observing the nonverbal actions of the adult or peers to see what is expected (Hatch, 1971). These contextual clues may be largely responsible for the child’s comprehension of the directions even though he or she does not have a real understanding of some of the temporal words.