First Language Acquisition
Language Development
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Multilateral Comenius Project funded by the European Commission
“Language is like a spark that is
encapsulated in a stone. Before people
learned to get it out, its existence seemed
like a miracle. Once lit, it spread like a
wildfire.”
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
2
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Outline
• The basis of language development
• Pre-requisites of language development
• Supporting language development
• Group Work
• Discussion
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Child Language Development
• It is not a task to learn language.
• A child grows into the way actions are expressed
through language.
• The child acquires the rules of language implicitly
through interactive exchange with important
people in the child‘s environment
• Language has a genetic predisposition in the
human developmental system and therefore has a
biological basis.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
4
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language has a
biological basis
Specialised Nnetwork
Language centres
Biological window of development,
Mechanisms of development
Non-linguistic precursers of
language
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
5
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Activation levels in the brain
during language processing
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
6
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language
• Opens a potential of knowledge
• Enables the expression of intentions, desires
and dislikes
• Close connection to cognitive and social abilities
and the regulation of behaviour
• Is dependent on further abilities and areas of
achievements
• Disorders in linguistic competence often go
together with disorders in non-linguistic areas
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Hannelore Grimm: 2002
Language development is
a continuous, process that
is looking for and
developing structure
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
8
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Overview: Language
Development
9
Language
production
Output
Language
comprehension
Aptitude for
language
Input
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Supporting
language development
• Language support in preschools should therefore be
integrated into everyday life in preschool and be directed
towards all children. Both the method as well as the
intensity of the support should match the individual needs
of the child in question
• Language support in preschools will be successful if it
takes account of everyday life, that is, if the teachers
support the language of all children und use language as
a key for education.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language Comprehension
11
reception
Language offer
dispostitons
Language comprehension
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language Understanding
birth
6
month
8
month
1
year
18
month
3
years
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
• voice recognition
• voice attribution
• noice recognition
• noice attribution
• understanding key terms
• instructions
• language routines
• sentences
• context comprehension
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language Comprehension
13
basis of
knowledge
concept
construction
content
representation
prelanguagelevel =
basis
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Making use of Everyday life
Support Strategy
Making use of everyday life
• talk a lot
• comment on actions
• create rituals
• repeat events through using
language
• ask questions
• get to the bottom of things
• make plans
• negotiate solutions...
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
14
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Narration
Support area:
Narration
K: Uhm, we had eaten those
biscuits
E: Mhm.
K: and there were a few, some,
some fell down. Those white
things.
E: And what happened then?
K: then we picked them up and
then we could eat the biscuits.
Language Patterns: Abstract,
Episodes, climax, ending,
coherence, actors...
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
15
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Reading Dialogue
Selection of books
Clear Pictures, simple
Story, short texts,
Pictures rich in detail,
repetitions...
Vocabulary
Listening, Wh-questions,
follow the interests of the
child, introduce terminology
...
• Syntax
Incomplete sentences,
expansion, sentence
patterns...
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
16
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Action-oriented play
Action-oriented play takes account of the
motivation, creativity and emotional state of
the child.
Phases
Introduction of the ingredients/materials/aids
Transfer of the terms onto the level of pictures
action planning
Carrying out the actions
Putting the action into language with the use
of pictures
Behaviour:
Requests: for direction of attention
Formulation of WH-questions: What did we
do? How does this work?
Naming of objects
Commenting on the actions (verbs!)
Corrective feedback
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
17
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Songs/motor games/rhymes
Use of as many
pictures or real
objects during
play as possible
Verwendung
together with
rhymes. Songs
which are
accompanied
with actions
depending on
the content.
Work out
movements for
representing
verbs.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
18
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Free, goal oriented play
Children have to learn to
communicate with each other and to
exchange intentions, needs and
memories.
Communicative exchange among
children works best when they strive
towards a goal together without the
involvement of adults and when their
results are presented later.
Children in the group are assigned a
common task, which they have to
achieve together by planning,
carrying out subtasks and achieving
the task as a whole.
In the beginning help might be
required
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
19
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Accompanied,
goal-oriened play
Games offer the
opportunity to
support
language.
Accompany
actions with
language
Use deliberate
corrective
Feedback.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
20
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Cross-over movements
The right and the
left body part
should move in
harmony and in
balance.
Hands, arms and
legs should cross
the middle line of
the body.
Cross-over
movements
require the cooperation of the
left and right
hemisphere of the
brain.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
21
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Games to improve the motor
development of the mouth
Games to improve
the motor
development of the
mouth can be
beneficial for children
with articulation
problems and/or who
are breathing through
the mouth.
Closing of the mouth
Breathing through the
nose
Grimaces
Blowing
Drawing in air
Movements for
tongue and lips
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
22
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Games involving sounds and
listening
The development
and differentiation of
the auditory system
plays a crucial role in
language
development..
Recognising sounds
Recognising voices
Distinguishing
sounds
Listenign to sounds
Recognising sounds
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
23
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Language tests
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Therapy Requirement
It is scientifically proven that children with language
problems do not catch up any more after the age of three
if language general support only is employed
On the basis of this result, it is clear that a differential
language assessment is the prerequisite so that every
child with a language disorder can get what they need:
language support of language therapy.
In general, language therapy is given on a one-to-one
basis. The treatment is carried out in a playful manner and
adapted to the symptoms, the age and the developmental
stage of the child.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
References
26
• Fried, L. (2004). Expertise zu Sprachstandserhebungen für
Kindergartenkinder und Schulanfänger: Eine kritische Betrachtung.
München: Deutsches Jugendinstitut.
• Grimm, H., Aktas, M. & Frevert, S. (2001). Sprachentwicklungstest für
drei- bis fünfjährige Kinder (SETK 3-5). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
• Lurija, A. (2001). Das Gehirn in Aktion. 6.Auflage. Hamburg: Rowohlt.
• Michaelis, R. & Niemann, W. (2004). Entwicklungsneurologie und
Neuropädiatrie. 3. Auflage. Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag.
• Roos, J. & Schöler, H. (2007). Sprachentwicklungsdiagnostik mittels
standardisierter Tests. In H. Schöler & A. Welling (Hrsg.),
Sonderpädagogik der Sprache (S. 531- 550). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
• Spitzer, M. (2003) Lernen: Gehirnforschung und die Schule des
Lebens. Heidelberg: Spektrum, Akademischer Verlag.
• Suchodoletz, W. (2001). Sprachnetwicklungsstörungen und Gehirn.
Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
• Trepel, M. (1999). Neuroanatomie: Struktur und Funktion. 2.Auflage.
München: Urban & Fischer.
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
www.elias.bilikita.org
The ELIAS project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
Disclaimer: This product reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use
which may be made of the information contained therein.
Grant Agreement Number: 2008 – 3378 / 001 – 001
Katharina Neils, Christian Trumpp
First Language Acquisition:
Language Development
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Logopädin: Katharina Neils
www.logopaedie-magdeburg.de
Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies
Multilateral Comenius Project funded by the European Commission