Child Development and Learning Focusing on Language Development

There are 4 theoretical perspectives. The different theoretical perspectives vary in their focus on the role of nature and nurture as well as the emphasis on one or more of the five aspects of language knowledge. Throughout this chapter, the focus will be on recognizing how nature and nurture interact and can be related. It provides a framework for understanding the complex ways children develop language as they interact with people and objects in their environment, school and home

Language is very important for one’s development because it can affect other areas of development and is critical to a child’s future success. For many other aspects of development, including cognitive, social and psychological language is very necessary. Language occurs before the baby is even a month old. For a developing child, the biggest thing that will contribute to our eventual language development is what we hear. Very soon, as a young infant, we demonstrate a sense of language just by simply the noise, movements, and expression that we make. Within the first year of life the baby is already babbling and speaking a hand full of words in their native language. Also they are much better at comprehending simple words spoken to them around

The socio cultural theory examines society’s contribution to the development of each individual and places an emphasis on the interaction between development and the culture in which they live(Education 2013). Vygotsky believed that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large, were all contributors to a person’s development. A focus that the theory was formed around was the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which is the area between a child’s area of current abilities and the area where the child is not ready to learn (TESOL 2013). The area of a child’s current abilities refers to the things that the child can do, whereas the area where the child is not ready to learn refers to the things that are too hard for the child to have the motivation and will to do. Other focuses of the theory include the importance of play and social interaction, as well as the significance of language and speech in cognitive development, particularly in three forms of speech; social, private and silent. Social speech begins in the pre school developmental stage and refers to the child talking to the outside world with what ever they can get to come out (TESOL 2013). Silent inner speech begins in the stage after the pre school stage and is where the speech become self-regulated and flows as a natural conversation. Private speech is directed to the child themselves and is the

The basis of language development theories revolves around the idea that, either nature or nurture are more influential than the other in the development of language in children. Language development as defined by, Menyuk, is the acquisition and growth of a societies chosen method of communication, which occurs due to a culmination of cognitive growth and environmental experiences (2005). Nature, is concerned with the biological makeup of an individual that influences their ability to acquire language including, genes and brain function, alternatively, nurture is environmental factors including, culture, family, and experiences (Fellows & Oakley, 2014). Nature and nurture both play vital yet highly diverse roles in the acquisition of language and its development. Analysis of the process of language acquisition will reveal that both nature and nurture are vital for successful language development of children.

All language theorists acknowledge nature and nurture both play significant roles in children’s language development. However, the theoretical debate to whether nature or nurture is the dominant tool during a child’s language

Nature and nurture both play a significant role in language development. Language development refers to how children understand, organise, speak and use words in order to communicate at an effective, age-appropriate level (Karen Kearns, 2013, P.105). For centuries, theorists have been debating the roles of nature versus nurture. Although, each child’s language will develop at their own pace and there will be many individual differences based on culture, ethnicity, health and ability. As well as physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in which will contribute to a child’s language development.

The communication with your child starts way before the youngster can speak. From their cry, smile, and the responses they give you to help you understand his or her needs. Language developments have different stages that children pass through to assist them in the development of speech and languages. There are a plethora of factors which can inhabitants’ a child language development. However, these are amongst the top causes for language development such as a child’s inborn ability to learn language and the language the child hears.

This independent day care assignment proved its importance into piecing together the various theories of human development. It allowed me to learn and experience the book contents and develop a clear understanding of its practical applications.

The acquisition of language is essential to the development of a child. Though some children are born genetically mutated, specifically children with Down’s syndrome, the capabilities of acquiring language during developmental markers is far less than a child with just 21 chromosomes. Parents and/or guardians of infants and toddlers with Down’s syndrome believe that their child will one day be able to verbally communicate with them. They presume the possibility, but does research support their beliefs? For the purpose of this paper, the child from infancy through three-years old will be discussed in regards to the developmental domain that are affected by Down’s syndrome. The undeniable assumption is if an institution provides early intervention for an infant or toddler with Down’s syndrome, then that child’s social-emotional and language will be affected.

As this research was based on the Cross- Sectional design, only the information relevant to the age group the child belongs has been stated. The history of each subject’s language development from birth has not been discussed. The names of the participants have been changed to maintain their anonymity. All other details are accurate and factual.

In the Oxford dictionary, Discourse is defined as a human oral or written communications between. Word allows people to express their thoughts and ideas through grammar, pronunciation, etc., and understand complex issues. For children in terms of education, language is a vital part of the development of education. People 's daily dialogue, learning, etc. are all required language skills. It requires the use of language between people convey their ideas. So in early childhood education, the development of language is very important. This article will relate to theories about early childhood language learning, content at different stages of children 's language development, the adult children of the relationship between language and language development, and so on.

Throughout a child’s early stages of life, language is used primarily for communicating with parents in order to get what they need. From as early as birth babies communicate through crying in order to tell parents what they want. Parents soon learn to distinguish between the hungry cry, the wet/dirty cry and the tired cry. According to Halliday, 1975, children begin to learn their first language from between six – eighteen months old. He believes children are learning a ‘system of meanings’. He looks at language from a functional point of view and suggests there are seven functions that language serves for young children. The first four of these functions ensure that social, emotional and physical needs are catered to, they are called, Instrumental, Regulatory, Interactional and Personal. Instrumental refers to a child using language to ensure they get what they need or want. The Regulatory function tells others what to do in order to control their behaviour. The Interactional function relates to the use of language in order to interact with the people around the child particularly those seen as important such as parents and siblings or close friends. The personal function relates to how the child uses language to explain feelings, and their own identity. The other three functions are used as children become older and want to know more about the world, tell stories and pass on information.

Everyday we are developing no matter our age, but it is how we develop children that will tell a tremendous amount an individual. How a child developments is fundamentally important at a young age as it affects all aspect of their lives once the child matures. Throughout the class, we looked at many theorists during the course of the semester as well as looked at many articles pertaining to the concepts of the development of children. The theorists and articles opened up our minds to a world that we have never seen before and concepts about child development we have never been taught but have seen in the practical work we do every week. What makes humans unique is the ability that we have to interpret the language being used, as Lois Bloom

Children rely heavily on the input of their surrounding environments to develop these skills further (Eileen Allen & Marotz, 2003). The communication strategy used by children over the first year of life is predominately non-verbal before development progresses to include verbal communication (Rodnick & Wood, 1973). McDevitt and Ormrod (2010) suggest social emotional, physical and cognitive development is facilitated by the experiences children have in their “family, school and community” (p. 5). This raises the idea that the level of communicative development may differ greatly between children depending on experiential exposure. Rodnick and Wood (1973) expand on this further suggesting children will actually develop a level of grammatical and language understanding which is essential to communication, long before they commence schooling. In research conducted by Rodnick and Wood (1973) it was noted in their findings that the children subject to their research demonstrated a lower level of communication than expected at around the age of seven and suggest it may be due to environmental factors. This then draws some attention to the educator and their ability to teach a developing child not only the importance of communication, but also the skills of appropriate and effective communication.

From a baby 's first word to their first complete sentence, there 's a lot to debate with their language development. The average child has a vocabulary of up to six-thousand words by the time they turn five years old (Brighthubcom, 2016). Language development is one of the most critical roles for an educator in both early childhood and primary settings. It is this ability of language development that is particularly interesting in the nature vs nurture debate. In order for educators to provide effective communication, it is important that they have the knowledge and understanding of the four key concepts of language, such as phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic development and the underlying theoretical perspectives that explain the processes of language acquisition and development.