Slide 1
A Topical Approach to
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
Chapter Nine:
Language Development
John W. Santrock
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
1
Slide 2
What is Language?
• Defining language
– Form of communication, whether spoken, written,
or signed, based on system of symbols
• Infinite generativity: ability to produce an endless
number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of
words and rules
– Genie, Wild Boy of Aveyron: raise questions about
determinants of language
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
2
Slide 3
Language’s Rule Systems
Phonology
Sound system of language; how the sounds are
used, combined — phoneme: smallest unit of
sound
Morphology
Morphemes: units of meaning in word formation
Syntax
Ways words are combined to form acceptable
phrases and sentences
Semantics
Meanings of words and sentences
Pragmatics
Appropriate use of language in context; can be
cery complex
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Slide 4
How Language Develops
• Infancy
– Babbling, gestures, and other vocalizations
•
•
•
•
Crying present at birth
Cooing: occurs at 2 to 4 months of age
Babbling: begins at about 6 months of age
Gestures: begin 8 to 12 months of age
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
4
Slide 5
How Language Develops
• Infants recognizing language sounds
– “Citizens of the world”
– Newborns recognize sound changes
– Recognize own language sounds at 6 months
• First words
– Receptive exceeds spoken vocabulary
– Timing of first word, vocabulary spurt varies
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
Slide 6
How Language Develops
• Infants recognizing language sounds
– Asian child learns verbs earlier than child learning
English
– Referential and expressive styles
– Overextension and underextension of words
– Two-word utterances (18-24 months of age)
– Telegraphic speech
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
6
Slide 7
Variation in Language Milestones
Fig. 9.3
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
7
Slide 8
How Language Develops
• Early childhood
– Complex sentences at 2 to 3 years of age
– Become more sensitive to language sounds;
morphology rules, some overgeneralizations
– Learn and apply syntax rules; auxillary-inversion
rule takes longer
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
8
Slide 9
How Language Develops
• Early childhood
– Vocabulary development is dramatic to age 6
– Fast mapping
• Many hypotheses why this occurs
– Give novel labels to novel objects
– Use of mutual exclusivity
– Benefit from hearing mature speakers
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
9
Slide 10
How Language Develops
• SES is linked to language development
– Welfare parents talk less to their children
• Provide less elaboration
• Talk less about past events
– Maternal language and literacy skills positively
related to child’s vocabulary; not talkativeness
• Frequent pointing, gestures
• Use of diverse vocabulary
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 10
Language Input and Young Children’s
Vocabulary Development
Fig. 9.6
Slide 11
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 11
Language Input and Young Children’s
Vocabulary Development
Fig. 9.6
Slide 12
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 12
Slide 13
How Language Develops
• Advances in pragmatics
– 6-year-old is better conversationalist
– Young children start using extended discourse
• Learn cultural rules, politeness, and become sensitive to
adapting their speech to the setting
– Age 4 to 5: can change speech style at will
• More polite, formal when with adults
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 13
Slide 14
How Language Develops
• Middle and late childhood
– New skills learned when entering school
• Alphabetic principle
• Learning diverse uses of language, sounds
– Vocabulary and grammar
• Process of categorizing becomes easier
• From age 6 to 11 — 14,000 to 40,000 words
• Improved logical reasoning, analytic skills
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 14
Slide 15
How Language Develops
• Middle and late childhood
– Development of metalingusitic awareness
• Knowledge about language; improves considerably
during elementary school years
– In adolescence: most know rules for appropriate
language use
– Child with large vocabulary learns to read easier
– Vocabulary development linked to comprehension
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 15
Slide 16
How Language Develops
• Middle and late childhood
– Whole language approach
• Instruction to parallel child’s natural language
• Learning; reading should be whole, meaningful
– Basic-skills-and-phonics approach
• Instruction should teach phonics and its basic rules
• Reading should involve simplified materials
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 16
Slide 17
How Language Develops
• Middle and late childhood
– Writing
• 2- to 3-year-olds emerge from scribbling to begin printing
letters
• Most 4-year-olds can print their names; most 5-year-olds
can reproduce letters, words
– Reversed letters are normal
– Adults should encourage early writing
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 17
Slide 18
How Language Develops
• Middle and late childhood
– Years of practice needed for good writing
• Linked to cognitive and language skills
– Concerns about students’ writing competence
• Grades 4 to 12: about 70% are low-achieving
• High school grads: 50% not ready for college-level
writing
• Good writing results from good teaching efforts
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 18
Slide 19
How Language Develops
• Bilingualism and second language learning
– Sensitive periods vary across different language
systems
• Native-like accent best learned before age 12
• Adults learn faster than children, attainment not as high
as children’s
• U.S. students lag behind students in developed countries
in learning a second language
• United States: many miss out on benefits of bilingualism
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 19
Slide 20
How Language Develops
• Adolescence
– Increased use and understanding of
•
•
•
•
Sophisticated words
Analysis and abstract thinking
Metaphors: implied comparison of unlike things
Satire: use of irony, derision, or wit to expose folly or
wickedness
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 20
Slide 21
How Language Develops
• Adolescence
– Much better at organizing ideas and writing
• Dialect: variety of language distinguished by vocabulary,
grammar, or pronunciation
– Adolescent dialect with peers often uses jargon or
slang
– Usually used to indicate group membership
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 21
Slide 22
How Language Develops
• Adulthood and aging
– Distinct personal linguistic style is part of identity
– Vocabulary often continues to increase throughout
adult years until late adulthood
• Most common complaint: retrieving words, hard to hear
in less than ideal listening conditions
• Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
– Non-language factors may be cause of decline in
language skills in older adults
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 22
Slide 23
Biological and Environmental Influences
• Biological influences
– Evolution and the brain’s role in language
• Human language acquired 100,000 years ago
• Specific brain regions predisposed to language
• Wernicke’s area: in brain’s left hemisphere involved in
language comprehension
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 23
Slide 24
Biological and Environmental Influences
• Biological influences
– Broca’s area: in brain’s left frontal lobe involved
in speech production
• If damaged — fluent incomprehensible speech produced
– Aphasia: language disorder resulting from
brain damage; loss of ability to use words
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 24
Slide 25
Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas of the Brain
Fig. 9.7
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 25
Slide 26
Biological and Environmental Influences
• Chomsky
– Humans biologically prewired for language
– Language acquisition device (LAD): biological
endowment to detect features, rules of language
– Theoretical, not physical part of brain
– Evidence of uniformity in language milestones
across languages and cultures
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 26
Slide 27
Biological and Environmental Influences
• Environmental influences
– Behavioral View
• Language is reinforced chain of responses; a complex
skill that is learned
– Criticisms
• Cannot explain creation of novel sentences
• Children learn syntax of native language without
reinforcement
– No longer considered a viable explanation
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 27
Slide 28
Biological and Environmental Influences
• Environmental influences
– Interaction view
•
•
•
•
Children interested in their social world
Child-directed speech: higher pitch for attention
Parents, older children modify their speech
Other strategies:
– Recasting, Expanding, Labeling
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 28
Slide 29
Biological and Environmental Influences
• An interactionist view of language
– Language has strong biological foundations
– Acquisition influenced by experiences; enriched
environments have more positive effect
– Worldwide: language milestones reached about
the same time
– Children acquire native language without explicit
teaching; some without encouragement
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 29
Slide 30
Biological and Environmental Influences
• An interactionist view of language
– Bruner: stresses roles of parents and teachers
help construct language acquisition support
system (LASS)
• Sociocultural context is extremely important in
understanding children’s language development
• Resembles Vygotsky’s ZPD
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 30
Slide 31
The End
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 31