Source: https://fuzzyscience.wikispaces.com/Babbling
EARLY CHILDHOOD LANGUAGE DEVELPMENT AND LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
Arantxa Dominguez Acevedo
Assignment 3
CHLD 1 Child Development & Growth: Prenatal to Early Childhood
Professor: Bharti Dave Date: 02/14/2016
1. Introduction.
Language is a complex form of communication that has been used since 60,000
to 100,000 years [f]. Language is flexible and can change and develop through time. It
seems that humans are the only animals that produce language, not only
communication. The communication in humans starts from birth and develops in word
production when the children turn 1 year. This is the time the children pronounce the
first word. Researches have talked about stages of acquisition of the language [h]. It
starts from birth with crying and eye contact. Then it appears the prelingüistic stage
with bubbling and vocalization as a play. Around 1 year old, the baby makes the first
word with the intention of tagging something. At this point it starts the telegraphic
stage of the language and the spoken language grows exponentially. Around 24
months children start using short and clear sentences to more complex sentences [b].
By 5 years old, the children are competent in their native language.
Some theories try to explain the learning process of a language [h]. Nativist
Theories -‐with Noam Chomsky as the most representative theorist-‐, have postulated
that humans are ready for language since birth. Babies are ready to acquire and
develop any language. Furthermore they have created the concept of language
acquisition device (LAD) locate somewhere in the brain, to explain the readiness of
humans since birth. On the other hand, Social Theories -‐with Bandura as the most
representative theorist-‐, have proposed that children learn language through imitation
of sounds and words. But this theory has been disproved because if children just
imitate, how can humans create new songs and poems? The most accurate theory is
the Interactionist Theories. From this point of view, children need to interact with
other in order to learn language and communication rules. They need to practice,
speak and be spoken, in order to learn and develop language.
Because I believe that language is one of the most important capabilities in
humans, I am going to write about the early language development in children.
Furthermore, it is proved that interaction with speakers can trigger the language
development; I will also suggest some learning experiences that will help to improve
language development of our children.
2. Research.
Through the decades, several studies have been done and researchers have
foreseen the stages of language development. Furthermore, researchers have
summarized the findings in milestone charts. An example is the next image that
summarizes the stages of language development on children between 0 to 5 years old.
Language development. Source: http://www.ican.org.uk/
Even if the purpose of this article is not addressing concerning signs, I will
include some notes about this matter. Some researchers have identified some red
flags signs of development [b]. Specifically:
• Does not smile by four months of age.
• Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 12 months of age.
• Does not verbally imitate the names of familiar objects by 18 months of age.
• Does not use three-‐word phrases by age three.
As suggested in the book “Einstein never used flash cards”: “What’s the best
way to master language? Years of research provide the answer: it’s not with drills or
computer programs, but with daily conversation that gives the child motivation and
allows time to respond” [a]. That statement correlates with the interactionist theory.
Parents have the opportunity to be an active factor in the language construction of our
children. Additionally, knowing that, we should give learning experiences to stimulate
our children to develop through all the stages. I will suggest some learning experiences
in following sections of this article.
3. Impact.
The early language development has its foundations both in biological and
environmental influences.
Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Source: http://science-‐junkie.tumblr.com/post/78872975331/language-‐
and-‐the-‐brain-‐of-‐mr-‐tan-‐the-‐year-‐was
Researchers have identified two regions in the brain that are correlated with
language skills [e], one is Broca’s area that is involved in the production of words and
sounds. On the other hand, Wernicke’s area is involved in the comprehension of
language. The brain regions have to be ready to produce language, furthermore,
damages in these regions correlate with aphasias and other incapacities with the
production and comprehension of language.
Equally important, the environment plays a significant role in the development
of language. Social interaction is crucial in the acquisition of language. Some studies
have corroborated the importance of the parents as scaffolding providers. Scaffolding
refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively
toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning
process [i]. The concept of zone of proximal development (ZPD) is also very important:
it refers to the zone of the children development that is difficult to achieve alone,
without the help and guidance of an adult [e]. These two concepts are decisive to
understand how the interaction and speaking time with our children can improve the
language development.
A real example of this is the Project Muse, performed by Craig T. and Sharon L.
Ramey in 1970. The ‘Abecedarium’ study involved 111 children of North Carolina with
challenging factors as low income, low levels of maternal education, low levels of
maternal intelligence and high levels of unemployment. They provided high-‐quality
early childhood education during the first 5 years of the children’s live and also
supportive help such an unlimited formula, social services and medical assistance.
They found that “we can positively alter the development of young, disadvantaged
children through the systematic provision of early childhood education [d]”. As we can
see in the next table, treated children were significantly and positively developed in
vocabulary and receptive language, among other things.
Outcomes affected positively by the Abecedarium program. Source: [d].
As we have seen, many studies have been done through the decades, and
researchers have identified the stages of language development. Furthermore,
researchers have assessed the importance of speaking and interacting with our
children. Knowing that, we should elaborate learning experiences to stimulate our
children through all the stages. In the next section, let’s talk about learning
experiences.
4. Solution.
As parents, we should ask ourselves what could we do to enhance the
development of language in our children. Fortunately, there are several things that we
can do. The most important is speaking to them. Researchers have found that the
level of mothers’ speech is correlated with the amount of vocabulary that a children
produce [d]. Next picture is the graphical explanation. The more the mother talks, the
richer children’s vocabulary is.
Effects of mothers’ speech on infants vocabulary. Source: [d].
Researches have defined the way we talk with infants as a ‘parentese’. It refers
to the kind of speech that parents, even adults, produce when speaking with children.
It characterizes of slightly higher than normal pitch, exaggerated vowel sounds, short
and simple sentences, repetition exaggerated stress, and pauses between sentences
[b]. Either way, every time we talk with our children we are helping them to master
language. Furthermore, studies have suggested that baby sign is a word booster for
speaking language because baby sign is an interesting way to introduce new words [a].
Storytelling and reading books are also good activities to interact and use
language. During infancy, reading books and storytelling also sets the foundation to
early literacy because it teaches behaviors like book handling, turning the pages,
recognizing pictures and letters and much more [g]. Around 5 years old, storytelling
enhances the production of language too. Studies have pointed out the importance of
storytelling using the “circle of storytelling” [c]. As we can see in the next diagram,
when the teacher tells a story, the children improve language skills in several ways.
Circle of storytelling. Source: [c].
There are other things that we can do to encourage speech and language
development. Here is a list of tips for infants:
• Be a good model for your child.
• Talk to your baby as often as you can.
• Talk to your baby with different intonations and voices.
• When the baby is babbling, respond to him using similar sounds.
• Reinforce them with speech, smiles and eye contact.
• Imitate your baby facial and sound expressions.
• Teach your baby non-‐verbal communication as clapping, peek-‐a-‐boo, throwing
kisses, and other hand games.
• Count items and identify colors.
• Use expressions and move your hands while you talk.
• Name objects and expand sentences with the characteristics of the object such
as car, red car, and big red car.
• Read to your baby while your baby is in your lap.
• Draw to your baby. Let him experience with paint too.
• Allow baby touch books and play with them.
• Make a daily routine of reading and storytelling.
• Narrate everything you are doing with the baby.
• Give words to his actions. Comment while he plays or does.
• Sing songs and rhymes.
5. Conclusions.
In my opinion language is one of the most important skills of human beings. We
should give our children significant experiences and stimulation to enhance their
language development. Through the preparation of this article, I have learnt how
important is the stimulation and interaction with the spoken language. Social
interaction gives our children the opportunity to learn how the communication works.
Social interactions also help children on turn speaking skills and effective
communication. The good news is that we can help our children just speaking to them
and spending time with them. Giving infants the exposure to language encourage
them to further development.
6. References. [a] Hirsh-‐Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Eyer, D. (2004). Einstein never used flash cards: How our children
[b] Illinois Early Learning Guidelines: For Children Birth to Age Three. http://illinoisearlylearning.org/guidelines/ [c] Isbell, R. T. (2002). Telling and Retelling Stories: Learning Language and Literacy. Supporting Language Learning. Young Children, 57(2), 26-‐30. [d] Ramey, S. L., & Ramey, C. T. (2004). Early learning and school readiness: Can early intervention make a difference?. Merrill-‐Palmer Quarterly, 50(4), 471-‐491. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.455.1927&rep=rep1&type=pdf [e] Santrock, John W. Children. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark, 2014. Print.
6.1 Websites [f] Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language#Origin [g] Early literacy. http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=key_brain [h]Enhancing the Language Development of Young Children. http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=119 Speech and language milestones birth to 5. http://info.nspt4kids.com/speech-‐and-‐language-‐milestones-‐infographic-‐?&t=6630 [i] Scaffolding. http://edglossary.org/scaffolding/ Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Parent-‐Stim-‐Activities.htm Activities to develop Speech and Language Skills. http://www.icommunicatetherapy.com/child-‐speech-‐language/child-‐speech-‐language-‐development/activities-‐strategies-‐help-‐develop-‐speech-‐language-‐skills/