Language Development

By Tracey Mardell,

Tracey Charlton,Carolyn Sloan,

and Julie Minto.

What is Language?

Symbols and a set of rules for combining them that provides a vehicle for the mind’s

communication with itself and the most important means of communication with

others.

Elements of Language

Phonemes: A single unit of sound of which there are 44 in the English language (30-50 in other languages).

Phonemes are combined to make morphemes (smallest unit of language) that have meaning, for example; cat, rug.Phonemes are represented by graphemes (written sound) as the written form of language.

Semantics: Meanings of words.

A child will learn that morphemes and words refer to objects, people, events etc. that they have a meaning.

Elements of Language

Syntactic: Syntax are grammatical rules which determine how words are combined and sequenced to produce meaningful sentences.Elliot (1999) states, “ Language is constructed through grammatical rules that every human brain is programmed to discover, given just a brief few years of exposure.” (p353).Pragmatics: “Pragmatics is the area of language function that embraces the use of language in social contexts (knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it – and how to “be” with other people)”.

Bowen, C.(2001) Semantic and Pragmatic Problems.

http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/spld.htm (accessed 21/03/06)

The first steps of language acquisition

The start of a child’s language development up to 13 months is often called the pre-linguistic period

as this is before the child develops words thathave meaning.

(Curtis and O’Hagan 2003 p.52)

The Pre-Linguistic Stage

In the womb Recognises mother’s voice and sounds of the environment;

Newborn The baby immediately finds it’s voice by crying when it is in need

i.e. feeding or a nappy change;

3 days Child prefers carer’s voice compared to stranger’s;

3-5 weeks Child starts to ‘coo’ starting to communicate through sounds;

1-2 months Babies imitate and respond to carer’s facial expressions and enjoy playing mutual sound games

using their voice;

4-6 months Babbling takes place and the child starts to say words like ‘mama’ ‘dada’ and ‘baba’. Child babbles along with the adult; Deaf babies babble too and scientists believe babbling is innate and is pre-programmed;

7-8 months Child learns the rules of conversation, listening and responding to the adult, i.e. ‘Peek a boo’ game;

8-10 months Child makes noises or movements to gain the adult’s attention;

Communicational actions are segmented into 2 areas:

Declarative gestures: Child points or touches the objects he wants,

Imperative gestures: Child tries to encourage others to satisfy it’s need (i.e. arms stretched out to be picked up). child starts to understand much more than it can say.

12 months The child understands more than it can say. (Curtis & O’Hagan 2003 p.52-53).

Early Conversations

Snow (1977) researched through numerous recordings of one sided conversations between the mother and baby and she concluded that;

Parents interactions are a key factor from the first day of life;

Burps, smiles and expressions are treated by the adult as if the child is trying to hold a conversation with them.

(Sylva & Lunt 1982 p.127)

The birth to three matters framework states that “Young babies

are sociable from birth, using a variety of ways to gain attention”

Dfes. (2002)

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/P0001836.pdf (accessed 24/02/06)

Sensory Motor Schemas

Piaget believed that the child has perception of things like apples, milk, hugging, jumping and belonging before they can speak any words. He believed that this was in fact the sensory-motor schemas that are evident in the first 2 years of life.

From this point on the child learns to link new words to these schemas as meaningful speech occurs. An example of this may be the child using the milk and cuddle words together and later learning information about the words that relate to these things.

(Sylva and Lunt 1982 p.132)

The Referencing Process

The ‘referencing process’ of the child’s language development, as it is known, is shown by the child learning how to start to name objects in it’s life and that they

have their own word that names them.

This could be demonstrated by the child learning the word ‘cat’ and realising that the word relates to the animal (object) and is not just an empty sound.

Meaningful speech can progress in time, where the child can use the word ‘cat’ to illustrate a variety of meanings in regards to their situation;

The child could use their new word ‘cat’ and really mean;

‘I want the cat’, ‘Come here cat’, ‘hello cat’, ‘look mummy cat’

(Curtis & O’Hagan 2003 p.54).

Telegraphic Speech

At the age of 18-24 months the vocabulary develops at a faster rate, and it can reach up to 50 words by the age of 2.

Small simple sentences are formed as the child joins these words together;Some examples may be:

‘more milk’ ‘Mummy go’ ‘Daddy car’

These sentences are more commonly known as telegraphic speech. Throughout theses sentences the child uses nouns, verbs and adjectives to describe what they need to say.It is worth noting that these sentences are not grammatically correct although the child still manages to put them in the correct order

(Curtis & O’Hagan 2003 p.54)

Our three year olds

Usually:

Find it easier to talk to adults

Have at least 3 word sentences

Use around 900-1000 words

Understand most simple questions

Verbs begin to predominate

Vygotsky’s Language Theory

“Children first use language to think aloud, processing their ideas, and that it is a later stage of development when children become able to internalise these thoughts”

Vygotsky (1986)

‘Innate Language Acquisition Devise’

Chomsky (1965) believed we have an device to hypothesise what form the answer would be. However, as language doesn’t always follow the same pattern it sometimes gets it wrong!

1 mouse 2 mouses 3 mouses

Pragmatics within Pre-school

Are developing competency in:

phonology semantics and syntax.

Becoming aware of pragmatics.

Language Enriched Environment

Reading to them

Encouraging mutual story telling

Experience rich, colourful, expressive, varied and culturally diverse language

Opportunities for interaction with others

Value talk

“Children will become confident speakers if talk is valued in the setting and they are encouraged to want to communicate”

Curriculum Guidance for the foundation stage (2001)

‘The National Curriculum’ and ‘The Framework’ for teaching

The ‘framework for teaching’ (DfEE, 1998)

sets out teaching objectives for

Reception to Year 6, to enable pupils to

become fully literate.

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was

introduced in 1998 as a method of raising

standards and providing a more coherent approach to

all teaching and learning of literacy.

Communication

‘The key skills of communication includes skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Skills in speaking and listening include the ability to speak effectively for different audiences; to listen, understand and respond appropriately to others; and to participate effectively in group discussions.’

(National Curriculum, 2000)

Speaking, Listening and Learning

Language is an integral part of learning and oral language, in particular, having a key role in classroom teaching and learning.

Children’s creativity, understanding and imagination can be engaged by discussion and interaction.

In their daily lives, children use speaking and listening to solve problems, speculate, share ideas, make decisions and reflect on what is important.

How we use language

Communication skills may be used in more than one language –including signing and first languages that can also involve use of communication aids for some children.

Communication also includes visual and kinaesthetic modes as well as oral and auditory ones.

Strands for speaking and listening

SPEAKING

being able to speak clearly and to develop and sustain

ideas in talk

LISTENING

developing active listening strategies and critical skills in

analysis

GROUP DISCUSSION AND INTERACTION

taking different roles in groups, making a range of contributions and working

collaboratively

DRAMA

improvisation and working in role, scripting and

performing, and responding to performances

Organising and supporting classroom talk

snowballing

adult in rolemini-presentations

thought shower

individual thinking time

home groups

role-play

talk in pairs

jigsawing

hot-seatingA/B talk partners

information-gap

Making it work within a classroom

The Role of the Teacher

Choose questions and topics that are likely to challenge children cognitively. Expect children to provide extended answers which will interest others in the class. Give children time to formulate their ideas and views. Provide models of the patterns of language and the subject vocabulary to be used. Vary responses to what children say; debate with children, tell and ask them things

in order to extend dialogue. When children give incorrect answers ask them to explain their thinking and then

resolve misunderstandings. Introduce and teach appropriate terminology for discussion. Give children linguistic prompts to support their talk, especially in more formal

presentations.

(DfES, 2003)

Whose Theory?

Chomsky: Language Acquisition Devise (LAD)A child is born with specific knowledge. Chomsky believed this to be a defined area of knowledge separate from cognitive development.

Skinner: Language is a matter of conditioning, suggesting that it is learnt through reinforcement and reward.

Piaget: Language is an outgrowth of general cognitive development. A child’s general cognitive development has the ability to manipulate symbols, which emerges towards the end of the sensori-motor period.

Bruner/Vygotsky: Emphasise the importance of social interaction within which language development takes place. Social interaction is a support system which backs up the child’s predisposition to acquire language.

How Does Language Develop?

Is language independent of other areas of cognition or dependent upon general cognitive abilities?

Are children programmed for the specific task of learning language?

Bibliography

Bowen, C.(2001) Semantic and Pragmatic Problems.

http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/spld.htm (accessed 21/03/06). Chomsky, N (1965), Aspects of a theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Curtis, A. & O’Hagan, M. (2005) Care and Education in Early Childhood, A student’s guide to

theory and practice London: Routledge Falmer. DfEE/ QCA (2001) Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. London: QCA Publications. DfES/QCA (2004) Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching in the Primary years. Crown

copyright. DfES/ QCA (2003) Speaking, Listening, Learning: working with key stages 1 and 2. London: QCA

Publications. DfEs (2002) http://www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/P0001836.pdf (accessed 24/02/06). DfEs. (2002) Surestart : Birth to Three matters, A skilful communicator (birth to three)

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/_doc/P0001836.pdf (accessed 24/02/06). Elliot, C. (1999) Early Intelligence London: Penguin Press. http://images.google.com http://microsoft.com Snow, C. E., The development of conversation between mothers and babies, journal of child language, 1977, vol.4. Sylva, L. & Lunt, I. (1982) Child Development: A First Course Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Vygotsky, L. (1986) Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.