Talking Technology: Language and Literacy in the Primary School Examined Through Children’s Encounters with Mechanisms

Language plays a pivotal role in teaching and learning across the curriculum. This article embraces an examination of certain dedicated terms within technology education that children may encounter as part of their primary school experience. Four language-related issues are explored. The first of these concerns the difficulty that may be experienced in defining certain technological terms. The second concerns the ways in which primary school children use their own versions of terminology to describe specific artifacts and functions. The third issue concerns the role of some manufacturers and publishers in employing inappropriate terminology within educational products. The final issue revolves around the psycho-social development of language in young children and the contribution this may make to the acquisition of appropriate technical terms. These issues are woven together to form a complex linguistic tapestry with implications for classroom practice.