Lesson 2: Language Development: Prepared By Kinsley Ng Sen Fa, Segi College Penang, Program Dece

Lesson 2: Language development

prepared by Kinsley Ng Sen Fa, Segi College Penang, Program DECE

Nativism

Nuturism / maturationism

- Children are born with an innate propensity for language acquisition

- Believe in natural unfolding of children without direct teaching from adults

-Noam Chomsky theorized that children were born with a hardwired language acquisition device (LAD) in their brains - Universal Grammar: a set of innate principles and adjustable parameters that are common to all human languages

Theories of language acquisition

- Language acquisition is shaped by environmental forces, specifically in response to reward and punishment

Constructivism - Children construct new language concepts for themselves rather than through external sources

Behaviorism

Interactionism - View child development and learning take place between children and their environment – provide assisted and scaffolding learning

Alphabet knowledge

Concepts about print

Writing of name

Strong predictors of literacy development

Phonological awareness

Invented spelling

Oral language (expressive, receptive, vocabulary)

Telegraphic

prosodic

- A characteristic to include only the crucial words, as if for a telegram

- The child’s use of voice modulation and word stress to give special emphasis and meaning

Between 10 -22 months considered normal range

First sentence

(two words or more) -Approximately 1.5 years

Adult-child interaction is the key. Adult-adult talk is the main inhibitor

Easier to pronounce words and important people or object

First word Holophrase sentence – one word sentence

It carries a lot of meaning – the task of adults is to be responsive and guessing the baby’s complete thoughts

2

1

3 500 Words

11,000 Words

1,500 Words - Long sentences - Make up stories

Discuss stories

800 Words

- Use contractions (won’t, can’t) - Prepositions (in, on) - Make up words

-Keeps asking - Consonants may be substituted with one another

200 Words - Always ask “what dat?” - Want objects named

2 words / week -looks, points and say 1 or 2 words

First word - Usually noun

4

5+

Overlapping concepts “Overextension” – calling all 4 footed animals “dog”, all toys are “ball” Metalinguistic awareness Realize language as an object itself

Running commentaries / Inner speech Categories in children’s thinking

Lack of clarity Articulation problem – especially some consonant blends

Self-talk or private speech of they are doing

Repetition Promote enjoyable mimicking and helps children to remember

Negatives -Started in toddlers’ years -May say “no” to everything - means non-existence, rejection and denial

Impact words -Children realize some words evoke unusual reaction from others -It gets others’ attention and children used it over many times -Name calling and offensive words -Violent language learnt from TV

Questions -Toddlers raise their voice to indicate questions (daddy drink?) -Wh-questions (where, why, when) appear in 2-3 yrs old

Created words •Occasionally children created words that only understood among themselves