Language Development:
Preschoolers &
Early School Age
EDU 280
Fall 2014
Characteristics
 Young
 2-3
 Older
 4-5
preschoolers:
years old
preschoolers:
year olds
Characteristics
Young Preschoolers
 Vocabularies
range from
between 250 to
over 1,000
words.
 An average of
50 new words
enter the child’s
vocabulary each
month.
Characteristics
Verb forms


regularization: a child’s speech behavior that
indicates the formation and internalization of a
language rule (regularity)
Sequence in formed rules for past tense verb
usage:




Uses irregular tense endings correctly: ran, came,
drank
Forms an internal rule when discovering that “ed”
expressed past events: danced, called, played
Overregularizes: adds “ed” to all regular and
irregular verbs that were formerly spoken correctly:
“camed,” “dided,” “wented,” “breaked”
Learns that both regular and irregular verbs express
past tense and uses both
Characteristics
Plurals

In using plural noun forms the following sequence
is common:





Remembers and uses singular forms of nouns
correctly: ball, dog, mouse, bird
Uses irregular noun plurals correctly: men feet,
mice
Forms an internal rule that plurals have “s” or “z”
sounds
Applies rule to all nouns: balls, mens, dogs, feets,
birds, mices, or ballsez, dogzes, feetsez
Achieves flexible internal rules for plurals,
memorizes irregular plural forms, and uses plurals
correctly.
Characteristics

Key Word Sentences


Sentences are about 4 words long
Pronouns often used incorrectly

Me finish all milk
Questions
“Wh” questions appear
 Overlapping concepts



Overextension
Underextension
Characteristics
 Running
Commentaries
 Repetition
 Lack of clarity
About one in every 4 words of the
young preschooler is not readily
understandable
 Young preschoolers are only 40-80%
correct in articulation

Typically articulation of all English speech
sounds is not accomplished until age 7 or 8
Older Preschoolers
 Vocabulary
of over 1500-2000 words
 Sentences of 5 or 6 (or more) words
 Exploring the Conventions of
Conversation
 Relational Words
 Impact Words
 Sound Words
 Reality and Nonsense
Older Preschoolers
 Articulation
developing
of letter sounds still
About 75% of the English letter sounds
are made correctly
 Omissions and substitutions are still
present

Myths Concerning
Speech and Intelligence
A
large and mature vocabulary at
this age is not necessarily an
indicator of intelligence.
5 Year Olds

Can use many descriptive words spontaneouslyboth adjectives and adverbs

Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft,
heavy-light, etc

Has number concepts of 4 or more


Can count to ten
Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite
of articulation problems

Should have all vowels and the consonants,
m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)
5 Year Olds

Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine
words

Should be able to define common objects in terms of use
(hat, shoe, chair)

Should be able to follow three commands given without
interruptions
Should know his/her age


Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon,
night, day, later, after while tomorrow, yesterday, today

Should be using fairly long sentences and should use
some compound and some complex sentences

Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct
6 Year Olds

In addition to the above consonants these should
be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th, l

Speech should be completely intelligible and
socially useful

Should be able to tell one a rather connected
story about a picture, seeing relationships
between objects and happenings

By this age a child understands 13,000 words
7 Year Olds

Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r,
voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George

Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy,
man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long,
sweet-sour, etc

Understands such terms as: alike, different,
beginning, end, etc

Should be able to do simple reading and to write
or print many words

can now understand 20,000-26,000 words,
8 Year Olds

Can relate rather involved accounts of events,
many of which occurred at some time in the past

Complex and compound sentences should be
used easily

Should be few lapses in grammatical
constructions-tense, pronouns, plurals

All speech sounds, including consonant blends
should be established

Should be reading with considerable ease and
now writing simple compositions
8 Year Olds

Social amenities should be present in his speech
in appropriate situations

Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally
well and appropriately established

Can carry on conversation at rather adult level

Follows fairly complex directions with little
repetition

Has well developed time and number concepts