Task 2.1 Timeline of Language Development

• (B) Behaviourist: Learning is shaped by the environment and experiences. It requires an environment rich in experiences, language and adult models. Receptive language is learned through classical conditioning: repetition, practice and feedback. Expressive language is learned through operant conditioning: imitation, positive reinforcement and rewards.

• (NAT) Nativist: Predominantly a biological process, relying on the brain's structural capacity to learn language and syntactic systems [Language Aquisition Device (LAD)]. Evidence for this is the child's ability to generate and understand grammatical rules. LAD accounts for a child's ability to learn language faster than other forms of development.

• (MAT) Maturational: "Biological readiness" is the key to learning language effectively. Language development is predetermined according to a child's "inner clock". The concepts of "developmental phases" and "developmentally appropriate practices" have their roots in this theory, however, it under-emphasizes social input.

• (CD) Cognitive Development: Language is intertwined with other cognitive processes eg memory, attention, problem-solving. There is no special LAD. Environment and biology play a part together. Children construct understandings through their interaction with the environment and experiences. Piaget proposes 3 stages of cognitive development: 1. sensory motor stage, 2. pre-operational stage, 3. concrete operational stage.

• (SI) Social Interactionist: Emphasises social interactions with significant people. Language development happens through social interactions, communication with intent, and social support. Parents help language development by modeling the appropriate way to communicate the intent. LASS (language acquisition support system) refers to an adult providing scaffolding, through child-directed speech (CDS) and modified language, so the child can achieve at a higher level. This is associated with the "zone of proximal development" (Vygotsky, 1997, p.32).

• (NEUR) Neurobiological: Focuses on the structure of the brain. There are specialised areas in the brain that enable hearing, speaking and understanding language, however, brain development and neural connections rely on language input, and social and environmental interactions.

References

Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2014). Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education (2nd ed., pp. 46-68). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Vygotsky, L. (1997). Interaction between learning and development. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole, Readings on the Development of Children (2nd ed., pp. 29-35). New York: W.H. Freeman & Company. Retrieved from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/vygotsky78.pdf

Stage 2: Prelinguistic - one word utterances.

Stage 3: Linguistic Speech - making words into phrases.

Stage 4: Linguistic Speech - using complete sentences.

Stage 5: using Language symbolically

Language Development

References:

Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2014). Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education (2nd ed., pp. 46-68). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Derewianka, B., & Jones, P. (2012). Teaching Language in Context (1st ed., pp. 19-42). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Vygotsky, L. (1997). Interaction between learning and development. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole, Readings on the Development of Children (2nd ed., pp. 29-35). New York: W.H. Freeman & Company. Retrieved from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/vygotsky78.pdf

Functional Language:

Functional Language: Toddler

Functional Language:

6 years+

Functional Language:

3 year old

Functional Language :9 months

• Combine interpersonal function + ideational function + a third metafunction (textual function):
• Language for organising text.
• Enables more complex sentences with structure and connections.

• Learning new ways to interact and relate.
• More roles to navigate.
• Is aware of others and their interests.
• Shifts from spoken mode to written mode.
• Understands the world through abstract representation and symbols.
• Organises ideational and interpersonal function through textual function and texts.

• Deliberately using sounds to achieve outcomes.
• Develop individual systems of meanings and expressions.

• Moving into the mother tongue.
• Between 18-24 months:
• functions converge into two metafunctions:
• language for acting upon the world (interpersonal function).
• language for reflecting upon the world (ideational function).

• Uses language to go beyond the immediate (to reconstruct a past experience or predict a future experience).
• Functions of language at this age
• include:
• obtaining things.
• controlling others.
• close social contact with another.
• reflecting and asserting.
• finding out about the world.
• pretend play.
• representing facts.

• Makes sense of the world through ideational function, using language to generalise about experiences.
• Compares and contrasts different catagories of things, creating taxonomies.
• Making connections through language.

(1-2 years) Stage 2: Prelinguistic

(3-4 years) Stage 4: Linguistic Speech

(4-6 months) Stage 1: Prelinguistic

(0-4 weeks) Stage 1: Prelinguistic

(5-6 years) Stage 4: Linguistic Speech

Receptive:

• Can distinguish their own language from others.
• Responds to a tone of voice and facial expressions (B), (CD), (SI).
• Can respond to the word "no" (B).
• Enjoys environmental sounds eg toys, music (B), (CD).

Expressive:

• Verbally responsive to the language they hear (SI).
• Attempts to communicate (B), (SI).
• Experimenting with sounds. Babbling is prominent. Often consists of a consonant and vowel eg ma ma (B), (SI).
• Begin to use lips to make sounds (B).
• Listening and speaking become intertwined.
• Begins Mimicking (B).

Receptive:

• Large receptive vocab = 10000 words (NAT).
• Can understand complex sentences (NAT).

Expressive:

• Expressive vocab of approx. 2600 words.
• Can use language differently in different contexts: form statements, commands, questions, exclamations (NAT) (CD) (SI).
• Construct simple, compound, and complex sentences (NAT).
• Clear pronunciation except for some letters eg "f", "th" (MAT).

Receptive:

• Can distinguish language sounds from other sounds.
• Needs:
• Sound rich environments (B), (CD).
• Parental language interaction and eye contact (B), (CD), (SI).

Expressive:

• Crying is the main way to express needs (SI).
• Range of noises, gurgling, cooing (MAT).
• Some noises indicate discomfort/pleasure (SI).
• Communication may not be intentional (MAT).

Receptive:

• Can understand a range of sentence structures, including questions that start with "who", "what" and "where" (NAT), (CD).

Expressive:

• Speech is clearer and more fluent (MAT).
• Shows frustration if they not understood (SI).
• Using 4 or more words in a sentence (NAT).
• Can talk about things that are more abstract- less concrete/ immediate eg places visited, things done (MAT) (CD).
• Can use past tense and present tense (NAT) (CD).
• Over generalise grammatical rules and say things like "runned" (NAT).
• Can use pronouns such as "I", "mine", "my" (NAT) (CD).
• Begin to show they understand other people have feelings and intentions. This changes the way they interact (theory of mind) (SI), (MAT), (CD).

Receptive:

• Oral language grows.
• Learning of social conventions grows (CD), (SI).
• Comprehension of words and syntactic structures increases (NAT).
• Can respond to simple instructions (NAT).
• Receptive vocab = 100-300 (NAT).
• Receptive vocab > expressive vocab (MAT).
• Enjoys stories, rhymes and repetition (SI).

Expressive:

• Use holophrases. Imitates others (B).
• Increases single words - predominantly nouns (NAT).
• By 18mths - able to use 5-50 words + may attempt to sing (MAT).
• Closer to age 2 - begin speaking in 'telegraphic language' sentences of two words (NAT), (MAT), (SI).
• Some turn taking in conversation evident (CD), (SI).

2 years

3 years

1 year

4 years

6+ years

5 years

4-6 months

0-4weeks

(2-3 years) Stage 3: Linguistic Speech

(2-3 months) Stage 1: Prelinguistic

(6-8 years) Stage 5: Using Language Symbolically

(7-11 months) Stage 1: Prelinguistic

(4-5 years) Stage 4: Linguistic Speech

Receptive:

• Signs of sound localisation.
• Enjoys familiar voices and attends to new voices (SI), (CD).
• Pays more attention to 'motherese' or 'parentese' speech (B), (SI).
• Beginning to respond to sounds of their own language.

Expressive:

• Smiles at familiar people (CD), (SI).
• Gurgles when spoken to (SI).
• Different ways of crying for different reasons (SI).

Receptive:

• Receptive vocab = 25000 words (NAT).
• Understand differences in contextual language, and their own language choices reflect this (MAT), (CD), (SI).

Expressive:

• Use language for a variety of reasons (MAT), (CD), (SI).
• Can express feelings, ideas, problems, solutions (CD).
• Expressive vocab 3000+ words (NAT).
• Uses more complex sentence structures (NAT).
• By 7yrs can use adjectival clauses, subordinate clauses and gerunds. (NAT) (MAT).

Receptive:

• Can answer simple questions about stories.
• Can comprehend most things said to them (MAT).
• Can understand 3 step commands (NAT).

Expressive:

• Expressive vocab = 1500 words. This increases to 2000-2500 by 5 years (NAT).
• Detailed sentences using compound and complex sentences, pronouns and past tense (NAT).
• Can discuss feelings and use language for wider purposes (CD), (SI).

Receptive:

• Enjoys listening to rhymes and stories (SI).
• Comprehends two-step commands (MAT).
• Understands contrasting concepts or opposites (CD).
• May be able to respond to two-step requests (MAT).

Expressive:

• Can say approx. 50-200 words, increasing to 200-1000 by 3 years old (NAT).
• Telegraphic speech - two and three words (NAT), (SI).
• Simple sentences with subject and verb (NAT).
• Uses a lot of self-talk and asks a lot of questions (CD).
• By three can converse using listening and speaking interactions (MAT), (CD), (SI).

Receptive:

• Responsive when spoken to (B), (CD), (SI).
• Pays attention when called by name (CD).
• Recognises names of objects (B), (CD).
• Respond to simple requests/questions (SI).
• Receptive vocab = few words.

Expressive:

• Begins language conventions-turn taking, eye contact (SI).
• 9 months: begins to use goal-oriented language and body language (B), (MAT), (SI).
• Imitates sounds deliberately (B).
• Babbling becomes more complex: consonants and long and short vowels (B).
• At approximately 1 year old some will use one-word speech (holophrastic speech), (MAT), (SI).

Stage 1: Prelinguistic - speech type sounds but no words.

Theoretical Perspectives of Oral Language Development