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LESSON 4 Principles of Language and Development

“The principle goal of education is to create men who are

capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what
other generations have done– men who are creative, inventive
and discoverers.”
Learning Outcomes: - Jean Piaget
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to do the following:

 Compare and contrast different theories of language development;

 Analyze the importance of peer interaction in language development;
 Relate how teachers impact children’s language development.

Assessing Prior Knowledge:

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Getting Started:

Language is a critical factor in children’s adjustment. Deficits in language development have been
linked to social problems, conduct problems, and delinquency (Split, Koomen, & Harrison, 2015).
This chapter gives you a background of how language is learned and the psychological theories con-
cerning language development. It provides you with what you need to know when it comes to how language
develops and the way children eventually understands what is being said and what they just read.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle

Focusing Content:

Language Development of Children and Adolescents

In the span of just a few years, newborn infants who neither speak nor understand any lan-
guage become young children who comment, question, and express their ideas in the language of
their community.
Language is a critical factor in children’s adjustment. Deficits in language development have
been linked to social problems, conduct problems and delinquency (Spilt, Kroomen, & Harrison,
2015).
Language is defined as a communication system in which a limited number of signals that
can be sounds or letters (or gestures, in the case of the sign language used by deaf people)- can be
combined according to agreed-upon rules to produce an infinite number of message (Sigelman &
Rider, 2009).

Five Basic Components of Language

 Phonemes are the basic units of sound in any given language (Spilt et al., 2015). These are the
sounds we create with the letters of the alphabet.
 Morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit of speech; it may be a word, like “place” or “an,”
or an element of a word, like re- and – ed as in “reappeared.”
 Syntax is the structure of language- the grammar. It is the arrangement of words into a sentence
that makes sense in a given language.
 Semantics or Meaning of Language infants come to understand many words before they can
produce them. That is, comprehension (or reception) is ahead of production (or expression) in
language development. Ten-month-old can comprehend, on average, about 50 words.
 Pragmatics refers to the use or application of language. It is typically viewed as a social aspect
of language.
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Theories of Language Development

I. The Nativist Perspective: Noam Chomsky
• Noam Chomsky’s theory on language development explain that the nativist perspective be-
lieves that nature is most crucial in the process of language development. Infants have an in-
born mechanism for acquiring syntax knowledge in any culture and society, also known as uni-
versal grammar. In addition, the language acquisition device is an inborn mechanism that al-
lows infants to learn and manipulate deep grammatical structures. Through hypothesis testing,
children use natural mechanisms to teach themselves various aspects of language use.
II. The Cognitive Development Theory Perspective: Jean Piaget
• In contrast to nativist theory, the cognitive development theory does not state a specific inborn
mechanism as part of the developmental process. Rather, language development occurs accord-
ing to stages of cognitive development. For example, object permanence is an important stage
of cognitive development that must occur before language appears.
• According to Piaget, language appears when one has the ability to represent symbols in the
mind. This leads to the creation of words, which leads to language acquisition.
III. The Behaviorist Perspective: BF Skinner
• The behaviorist perspective believes that nurture is most crucial in the process of language de-
velopment. According to B. F. Skinner’s behaviorist theory, language is taught through vari-
ous reinforcements in the environment (De Bot & Shrauf, 2009).
• Infants learn to associate certain stimuli with certain behaviors and responses. With continued
reinforcement, infants learn appropriate responses and behaviors, which lead towards language
development. For example, through operant conditioning, infants learn what sounds elicit cer-
tain responses.
IV. The Interactionist Perspective: Lev Vygotsky
• The interactionist believe that nurture is crucial in the process of language development.
Though, the interactionist perspective differs from the behaviorist perspective in that this per-
spective believes that language is acquired through social interaction in the environment, not
reinforcement.
C lick the link below for more discussions on the different theories of language development.
https://edgy.app/theories-of-language-development
http://www.kenpro.org/papers/theories-of-language-development-in-children.htm
Stages in Speech Development
1. Primitive or Natural Stage (birth to about 2 years). This is characterized by three non-
intellectual speech functions:
a. Emotional release
b. Social reactions
c. Substitutes for objects and desires. These are words learned by conditioning, by parents
and siblings matching the words frequently to objects.
2. Naive Psychology. Children discover that words can have a symbolic function, and they dis
play this discovery by frequently asking what things are called.
3. Egocentric Speech. Takes the form of a running monologue that accompanies the child’s activi-
ties, whether the child works alone or beside others.
4. Ingrowth Stage. Children learn to manipulate language in their heads in the form of soundless
speech, thinking by means of logical memory that employs inner signs for solving problems.
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The Language Development Chart

Age of Child Typical Language Development

Vocalization with intonation

Responds to his name
6 months Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning
his head and eyes
Uses one or more words with meaning (if this may be a
fragment of a word)
12 months Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or
physical cues are given
Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words
Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
18 months Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and
over)
Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me you, although me
24 months and I are often confused
Responds to such commands as “show me your eyes
(nose, mouth, hair”
Has in the neighborhood of 900-1000 words
Able to reason out such questions as “what must you do
36 months when you are sleepy, hungry, cool, or thirsty?”
Should be able to give his sex, name, age

Knows names of familiar animals

Knows one or more colors
48 months Can repeat 4 digits when they are given slowly
Can usually repeat words of four syllables
Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even
sounds
Has number concepts of 4 or more
Can count to ten
Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of artic-
60 months
ulation problems
Should have all vowels and the consonants

Speech should be completely intelligible and socially

useful
Should be able to tell one a rather connected story
6 years
about a picture, seeing relationships between objects
and happenings
Should be able to tell time to quarter hour
Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print
7 years many words

All speech sounds, including consonant blends should

be established
8 years Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well
and appropriately established
Can carry on conversation at rather adult level