Language Development Essay

As our nation shifts towards a more culturally diverse population both educators and families have to find a common ground to ensure that English Language Learners are academically successful. All stakeholders must carefully consider the social cultural impact on an ELL education. The process of raising bilingual learners take more than a language a school and a language learned at home. The transition must have a purpose and a goal.

Language is the way people communicate with each other. It allows us/them to express their thoughts and impart information through writing or speech. However, this exchange is not necessarily always objective as words and their meaning can/may be tainted by the speaker’s intentions. In politics, language is not only a powerful tool to conceal the truth and influence the public’s opinion but also a weapon against their opponents.

A child begins to form words somewhere between ten and eighteen months of age. The first word of a child is often momma or dada. The child repeats the sounds or utterances heard from the adults around him. Speech does not actually occur until the spoken word is deliberate and meant to communicate. By the time a child reaches kindergarten he has likely gained a 2000 – 3000 word vocabulary. While this number may seem excessive Dr. Mary E. Dahlgren states that a beginning kindergartener should have a 6000 word vocabulary for optimum grade and class performance (Dahlgren, 2008). In the classroom a student’s vocabulary size was an effective predictor of reading comprehension. Children with a restricted or limited vocabulary also had declining comprehension scores in the third grade. The elementary teacher can promote speaking by allowing the student the opportunity to speak and by listening to the student completely. Discussing a recently read book, or open discussions are ways in which a teacher can aid a student’s speech development.

But “if there is a difficulty understanding what people say, difficulty speaking or forming sounds or words and using language in appropriate social contexts then this can affect a child’s behaviour and emotional development”. (Speech, Language Communication Action Plan 2011)

There have been many policies and legal battles when it comes to English Language Learners. For every policy, then will inevitably be a case to challenge it, as it is difficult to define what is truly equitable for every ELL student. Programs for English Language Learners (ELLs) have struggled to get the needed recognition and support from school district offices of our public schools. One piece of legislation that was passed to help end the inequality of education for these students was the Equal Education Opportunity Act or EEOA. The EEOA mandated that all students that are identified as an English Language Learner are to receive individual English only instruction. This is a good start to offering the right kind of instruction that is needed for students who are struggling to learn a second language.

Our book tells us that children around age 4 are “ sensitive to the characteristics of their conversational partner.” (Arnett, p. 256) So it is around this age that they begin to alter their speech depending on the situation. When Kevin Jr was 3 his communication was not very great. He was still speaking in two to three word sentences so people really couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. This got Kevin Jr very frustrated and he would always throw tantrums when he couldn’t communicate. When he turned 4 not much really changed as he continued to struggle with his language. Even at preschool he would get frustrated because no one could understand what he was saying. At this age he was speaking at a 3rd grade language. Kevin Jr loves it when I rad to him so while reading I started to encourage him to contribute more to the reading in hopes of developing his language more. When Kevin Jr turned 6 was really where we seen a vast amount of improvement. He is now communicating in grammatically correct sentences and his vocabulary was steadily expanding. To continue to develop his skills I worked with him on computer programs designed to build language and reading skills. As a result to no surprise he became more and more

13. Both Piaget and Vygotsky dealt with the topic of egocentric speech, but they had very different interpretations of it. Piaget called it selfish speech; Vygotsky called it private speech. What did each theorist mean, and what would each predict about the development of this kind of speech and about the young child’s ability to use speech and language pragmatically? Whose interpretation does the bulk of the evidence support? Give some examples.

Isn’t it amazing that a baby starts to learn language before birth? Newborns are actively developing language skills, yet they cannot talk fluently at the very beginning. Adults are unintentionally communicating with babies in a different way than they talk to other adults. People tend to talk to babies using simple and repetitive words, and exaggerated tones. This term is being called as child-directed speech. We can always see an adult talks to baby in this way. For instance, parents tell the kid “you are great” in a lighter voice, use simple words, increased tone. Moreover, all babies do babbling, even babies with listening problems. Babbling is when a baby says repetitive syllabus, and most likely, no one could understand except the baby herself. Bubbling is a must-have experience for all infants to stimulate language skills, so that they can develop normally.

Social speech is the first to occur, typically around the age of two, and involves external communication between the child and another person [CITE]. At approximately three years of age, children begin to guide, plan and reflect on their behaviour by talking to themselves out loud, a process known as private speech [GILLINGHAM BERK]. The developmental benefits of private speech are significant due to its ability to assist in overcoming obstacles, by allowing the child to verbally plan and organise their behaviour before and during they carry out an action [CITE]. Additionally, research has found that private speech often occurs concurrently with pretend play. In a study performed by Krafft and Berk [CITE], a positive correlation was observed between children that engaged in pretend play and observations of private speech. Another study (observational) also found a positive correlation when comparing the rates of private speech between a traditional preschool which encouraged pretend play, and a Montessori preschool which actively discouraged pretend play. In sum, private speech is more likely to occur during pretend play. According to Vygotsky, self-regulating thought (a component of executive function) is the internalisation of private speech, also referred to as inner speech [CITE]. As the final form of speech, inner speech serves the same self-regulating function as private speech, however, it is inaudible [CITE]. Whilst a concrete explanation of the function of private speech during pretend play has yet to be agreed upon, it has been hypothesised that private speech is beneficial as it allows the child to distance themselves from the activity, thus permitting top-down control over particular impulses [CARLSON BECK). In other words, by verbally calculating their options, children are able to see the ‘bigger picture’ undistracted by their impulses, allowing them to weigh up the behavioural

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald The lifelong love of reading stories begins to form in children starting at a young age. For children, the first experiences they will have with these stories are created when they are read to by their parent. Due to this, parents have the opportunity to harness the magical power of storytelling as early as the first time they begin reading to their child. Connecting with a story can begin at an early age. Children learn to relate their limited experiences with the characters in beloved stories.

Children as well as adult speech primary function relies on social contact. He stated there is a certain age in which social speech is divided into two types, egocentric and communicative. Both types of speech are communicative however egocentric speech is more connected with the development of inner speech which is used for mental reasoning.

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

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.

Most young children develop language rapidly, moving from crying and cooing in infancy to using hundreds of words and understanding their meanings by the time they are ready to enter kindergarten. Language development is a major accomplishment and is one of the most rewarding experiences for anyone to share with a child. Children learn to speak and understand words by being around adults and peers who communicate with them and encourage their efforts to talk.

Private speech is the intrapersonal aspect of mediation through which one can guide him or herself through a task and gain control over the activity at hand. Ohta (2001) refers to private speech as “audible speech not adapted to an addressee” (p. 16, cited in Ellis, 2008, p. 529). It is very common amongst young children, but even adults sometimes make use of private speech when dealing with difficult situations. What may be of high importance here is how learners use their private speech when learning a new language. Since it is not intended for any listener, it may not follow the rules governing the language used for interpersonal usage. Learners may even switch to their L1 in their private speech. The question arises that is it any good for language learning, especially second or foreign language learning? To answer this question Ellis (2008) building upon a study carried out by Lantolf (2006) suggests that “in considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition it is necessary to distinguish its use for the purpose of practicing/learning the L2 and for the purpose of self-regulating mental activity” (p.