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October 20, 2022
What is language development, and how do we promote its maturation effectively?
Main, P (2022, October 20). Language Development: a teachers guide. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/language-development
Language development in children is a foundational process through which they acquire the ability to understand and express themselves using speech. It begins even before birth, with infants recognizing the rhythm and pitch of their mother's voice, and continues throughout childhood as they progress from babbling and gestures to forming coherent words and sentences. This process is essential for developing the cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for effective communication.
Three key aspects of language development shape a child’s growth: the progression from auditory recognition to verbal expression, the role of language in fostering cognitive and emotional understanding, and its significance in laying the groundwork for literacy and interpersonal relationships. Children first learn to decode spoken language before mastering reading and writing, highlighting the critical link between early oral language skills and later academic success. Language also facilitates problem-solving, comprehension, and emotional expression, equipping children to understand their world and emotions. Moreover, strong language skills help children build connections, empowering them to form and sustain meaningful relationships.
This article will explore how language evolves, the principles of fostering its development, and the strategies educators and caregivers can use to optimize children’s communication abilities.
From birth until age five, infants quickly develop telegraphic speech. The developmental stages of language skills are universal. The age and rate at which a child passes each spoken language milestone varies considerably. Thus, a child's spoken language skills development must be compared to norms, not other children. Girls can acquire language more rapidly than boys.
Language development is a fundamental indication of brain growth and maturity. After age five, speech skills acquisition becomes more difficult for the majority of children and it indicates the language disorders among infants. Typically, receptive language development (the capacity to perceive speech) advances more rapidly than expressive vocabulary development (the ability to communicate).
There are two known principles of spoken language development. In referential language development, children begin learning language skills by speaking single words before combining them into two-word mini - sentences and, subsequently, three-word phrases. In the early stages of expressive vocabulary development, children produce extended, incomprehensible babbles that imitate the cadence and rhythm of adult speech. The majority of children employ a mixture of these techniques and easily achieve phrasing outcomes.
Language development milestones are a significant tool for monitoring children’s language development. While there is a vast range of ‘normal’ months of age, every child learns at their own speed, missing a milestone may be an early warning that your child is failing to hear, comprehend or utilize language skills. Infants, throughout language development, may face problems therefore, milestones are indicators of when a child is struggling in a certain area of speech development.
Milestones of language and child development for infants aged 0 to 2 years:
The theories of child development and speech acquisition describe how humans acquire grammatical structures, words, and expressions of child-directed speech. When we speak about vocabulary development, we are referring to the process through which children and young children grow to comprehend and convey spoken language during childhood and infancy. Many meanings exist for the word or phrase language. One of them refers to a communication system that transmits information from one person to another using words and complex sentences.
The manner in which a person learns terminology has long been the subject of discussion and speculation. Some thinkers argue that spoken language is acquired via a child's upbringing (nurture). Others believe that Children are born with the natural aptitude to acquire a language skills, independent of their family or environment (nature). Here are given the major developmental theorists of the world.
Major Language Developmental Theorists:
When considering theorists and theories of speech development, B.F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky are among the theorists who have made significant contributions to spoken language development.
B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) was a prominent American psychologist, Harvard professor, and proponent of the behaviourist theory of learning, according to which learning is a 'conditioning' process in an environment of stimulation, reward, and punishment. Skinner differentiates between informal learning, which happens spontaneously, and formal education, which relies on the instructor producing ideal patterns of stimulus and response (reward and punishment), or "operant conditioning."
The ideas of B.F. Skinner centres on behaviour and operant conditioning. He thought that behaviour is acquired by reinforcement. For instance, if a dog performs a trick and his owner rewards him with a treat, he will likely repeat that behaviour in the future since it was positively reinforced.
Skinner also developed a method called token economies, which involves giving rewards to a subject in exchange for certain behaviours. For example, if a dog barks at strangers, you might offer him a treat instead of scolding him.
Noam Chomsky was born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955. He is known for his contributions to cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, and linguistics. He is one of the leading figures in modern linguistics. He is often referred to as the father of generative linguistics.
Noam Chomsky is one of the most important nativist theorists who has helped change linguistics in the 1950s and 1960s by seeing language profiles as a uniquely human, biologically-based cognitive skill. During the 1960s, Chomsky questioned the notion that the human mind is a "blank slate" and opposed the behaviourist hypothesis since toddlers acquire "impoverished linguistic input" (baby babble) as they grow up.
Chomsky's work explores the biological foundation for speech acquisition and says children have intrinsic linguistic ability. Chomsky calls this a "language learning device." He thinks children learn spoken language skills naturally. In the absence of formal language, he thinks children would build their own system of communication. All children make the same verbal blunders, regardless of the vocabulary skills they learn. Chomsky believes in a "universal grammar" that all human communication share grammatical laws. His study does not reveal brain regions or genetic bases for humans' natural linguistic aptitude.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist and key figure in child development. He is notable for his theory of cognitive development, which examines how children's minds grow. Swiss researcher Jean Piaget linked language skills acquisition to cognitive development. He said a child must grasp a topic before learning its verbal form.
According to Jean Piaget's theory of spoken language development, children acquire language via both assimilation and adaptation. Assimilation is the act of altering one's surroundings in order to incorporate new knowledge into a previously established schema (or idea). The act of modifying one's schema in order to adapt to a new situation is known as accommodation.
Piaget felt that infants must first grow intellectually before they can acquire a full grasp of the spoken word. According to him, Children first form mental structures (schemas) inside the mind, and from these mental structures, language development occurs.
Lev Vygotsky was born in Orsha, a city in the western Russian Empire, on November 17, 1896. In 1917, he got a law degree from Moscow State University, where he studied sociology, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, among other subjects.
The theory of language development proposed by Lev Vygotsky centered on social learning and the zone of proximal growth (ZPD). The ZPD is a degree of development attained when infants participate in social interactions with others; it represents the gap between a child's learning potential and actual learning.
Piaget's underestimation of the significance of social connections in language development was also proved by Vygotsky's hypothesis. Piaget's and Vygotsky's ideas are often contrasted, and both have been effectively used in the area of education.
Language development and literacy are unquestionably essential to the entire growth of children. It enhances capacity to communicate, express, and comprehend the emotions of children. Additionally, it enhances your child's capacity to think, improves effective communication skills and helps them build and sustain connections.
A child's spoken language development is intimately tied to his or her literacy. Numerous studies have been conducted on this issue, and they have all shown that early literacy is directly related to language development in early years-aged infants.
The relationship between the two is quite natural, long before a child learns to read words and identify symbols, facial expressions he or she develops and perfects the abilities necessary to comprehend how language functions. In addition, before the age of eight, infants understand that speech has patterns and symbols have meaning, laying the groundwork for oral child-directed speech and literacy development. Therefore, good phraseology development is essential for subsequent reading accomplishment.
However, many children have expressive speech disorders or language difficulties due to a variety of causes, resulting in ineffective vocabulary and they become late talkers that cause them to lag far behind their classmates. Consequently, sufficient exposure to organized and age-appropriate teaching throughout the early years of spoken language and literacy development assists in closing the gap in language impairment.
Reading and writing flow on a foundation of talk. Providing a bedrock of opportunities to practice speaking can be seen as a gateway to advancing literacy outcomes. If we really want to promote better grammatical structures in our students' writing, then we need to put more attention on promoting speaking opportunities for our pupils. Oracy can be seen as the ability of children to express themselves clearly through the spoken word. Many schools are now starting to promote this fundamental principle systematically across their institutions. Facilitating consistency in speech does take time, but many schools see positive outcomes in areas such as the use of complex grammar when they place oracy higher up the curriculum agenda.
Language development in children is a foundational process through which they acquire the ability to understand and express themselves using speech. It begins even before birth, with infants recognizing the rhythm and pitch of their mother's voice, and continues throughout childhood as they progress from babbling and gestures to forming coherent words and sentences. This process is essential for developing the cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for effective communication.
Three key aspects of language development shape a child’s growth: the progression from auditory recognition to verbal expression, the role of language in fostering cognitive and emotional understanding, and its significance in laying the groundwork for literacy and interpersonal relationships. Children first learn to decode spoken language before mastering reading and writing, highlighting the critical link between early oral language skills and later academic success. Language also facilitates problem-solving, comprehension, and emotional expression, equipping children to understand their world and emotions. Moreover, strong language skills help children build connections, empowering them to form and sustain meaningful relationships.
This article will explore how language evolves, the principles of fostering its development, and the strategies educators and caregivers can use to optimize children’s communication abilities.
From birth until age five, infants quickly develop telegraphic speech. The developmental stages of language skills are universal. The age and rate at which a child passes each spoken language milestone varies considerably. Thus, a child's spoken language skills development must be compared to norms, not other children. Girls can acquire language more rapidly than boys.
Language development is a fundamental indication of brain growth and maturity. After age five, speech skills acquisition becomes more difficult for the majority of children and it indicates the language disorders among infants. Typically, receptive language development (the capacity to perceive speech) advances more rapidly than expressive vocabulary development (the ability to communicate).
There are two known principles of spoken language development. In referential language development, children begin learning language skills by speaking single words before combining them into two-word mini - sentences and, subsequently, three-word phrases. In the early stages of expressive vocabulary development, children produce extended, incomprehensible babbles that imitate the cadence and rhythm of adult speech. The majority of children employ a mixture of these techniques and easily achieve phrasing outcomes.
Language development milestones are a significant tool for monitoring children’s language development. While there is a vast range of ‘normal’ months of age, every child learns at their own speed, missing a milestone may be an early warning that your child is failing to hear, comprehend or utilize language skills. Infants, throughout language development, may face problems therefore, milestones are indicators of when a child is struggling in a certain area of speech development.
Milestones of language and child development for infants aged 0 to 2 years:
The theories of child development and speech acquisition describe how humans acquire grammatical structures, words, and expressions of child-directed speech. When we speak about vocabulary development, we are referring to the process through which children and young children grow to comprehend and convey spoken language during childhood and infancy. Many meanings exist for the word or phrase language. One of them refers to a communication system that transmits information from one person to another using words and complex sentences.
The manner in which a person learns terminology has long been the subject of discussion and speculation. Some thinkers argue that spoken language is acquired via a child's upbringing (nurture). Others believe that Children are born with the natural aptitude to acquire a language skills, independent of their family or environment (nature). Here are given the major developmental theorists of the world.
Major Language Developmental Theorists:
When considering theorists and theories of speech development, B.F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky are among the theorists who have made significant contributions to spoken language development.
B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) was a prominent American psychologist, Harvard professor, and proponent of the behaviourist theory of learning, according to which learning is a 'conditioning' process in an environment of stimulation, reward, and punishment. Skinner differentiates between informal learning, which happens spontaneously, and formal education, which relies on the instructor producing ideal patterns of stimulus and response (reward and punishment), or "operant conditioning."
The ideas of B.F. Skinner centres on behaviour and operant conditioning. He thought that behaviour is acquired by reinforcement. For instance, if a dog performs a trick and his owner rewards him with a treat, he will likely repeat that behaviour in the future since it was positively reinforced.
Skinner also developed a method called token economies, which involves giving rewards to a subject in exchange for certain behaviours. For example, if a dog barks at strangers, you might offer him a treat instead of scolding him.
Noam Chomsky was born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955. He is known for his contributions to cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, and linguistics. He is one of the leading figures in modern linguistics. He is often referred to as the father of generative linguistics.
Noam Chomsky is one of the most important nativist theorists who has helped change linguistics in the 1950s and 1960s by seeing language profiles as a uniquely human, biologically-based cognitive skill. During the 1960s, Chomsky questioned the notion that the human mind is a "blank slate" and opposed the behaviourist hypothesis since toddlers acquire "impoverished linguistic input" (baby babble) as they grow up.
Chomsky's work explores the biological foundation for speech acquisition and says children have intrinsic linguistic ability. Chomsky calls this a "language learning device." He thinks children learn spoken language skills naturally. In the absence of formal language, he thinks children would build their own system of communication. All children make the same verbal blunders, regardless of the vocabulary skills they learn. Chomsky believes in a "universal grammar" that all human communication share grammatical laws. His study does not reveal brain regions or genetic bases for humans' natural linguistic aptitude.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist and key figure in child development. He is notable for his theory of cognitive development, which examines how children's minds grow. Swiss researcher Jean Piaget linked language skills acquisition to cognitive development. He said a child must grasp a topic before learning its verbal form.
According to Jean Piaget's theory of spoken language development, children acquire language via both assimilation and adaptation. Assimilation is the act of altering one's surroundings in order to incorporate new knowledge into a previously established schema (or idea). The act of modifying one's schema in order to adapt to a new situation is known as accommodation.
Piaget felt that infants must first grow intellectually before they can acquire a full grasp of the spoken word. According to him, Children first form mental structures (schemas) inside the mind, and from these mental structures, language development occurs.
Lev Vygotsky was born in Orsha, a city in the western Russian Empire, on November 17, 1896. In 1917, he got a law degree from Moscow State University, where he studied sociology, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy, among other subjects.
The theory of language development proposed by Lev Vygotsky centered on social learning and the zone of proximal growth (ZPD). The ZPD is a degree of development attained when infants participate in social interactions with others; it represents the gap between a child's learning potential and actual learning.
Piaget's underestimation of the significance of social connections in language development was also proved by Vygotsky's hypothesis. Piaget's and Vygotsky's ideas are often contrasted, and both have been effectively used in the area of education.
Language development and literacy are unquestionably essential to the entire growth of children. It enhances capacity to communicate, express, and comprehend the emotions of children. Additionally, it enhances your child's capacity to think, improves effective communication skills and helps them build and sustain connections.
A child's spoken language development is intimately tied to his or her literacy. Numerous studies have been conducted on this issue, and they have all shown that early literacy is directly related to language development in early years-aged infants.
The relationship between the two is quite natural, long before a child learns to read words and identify symbols, facial expressions he or she develops and perfects the abilities necessary to comprehend how language functions. In addition, before the age of eight, infants understand that speech has patterns and symbols have meaning, laying the groundwork for oral child-directed speech and literacy development. Therefore, good phraseology development is essential for subsequent reading accomplishment.
However, many children have expressive speech disorders or language difficulties due to a variety of causes, resulting in ineffective vocabulary and they become late talkers that cause them to lag far behind their classmates. Consequently, sufficient exposure to organized and age-appropriate teaching throughout the early years of spoken language and literacy development assists in closing the gap in language impairment.
Reading and writing flow on a foundation of talk. Providing a bedrock of opportunities to practice speaking can be seen as a gateway to advancing literacy outcomes. If we really want to promote better grammatical structures in our students' writing, then we need to put more attention on promoting speaking opportunities for our pupils. Oracy can be seen as the ability of children to express themselves clearly through the spoken word. Many schools are now starting to promote this fundamental principle systematically across their institutions. Facilitating consistency in speech does take time, but many schools see positive outcomes in areas such as the use of complex grammar when they place oracy higher up the curriculum agenda.
