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Child Language Development - Coggle Diagram
Child Language Development
Spoken Acquisition
Stages of Acquisition
Holophrastic - 12 months
Two-word Stage - 18-24months
Communcation with the subject verb or verb object structure
Telegraphic Stage
Rapid expansion in vocabulary
Longer MLU
Omission of function words
Post-telegraphic stage
Adverbs
Auxiliary verbs
Determiners
Grammatically Complete Utterances
Phonological Errors
Deletion
Omitting final consonant
Substitution
Substituting one sound for another
addition
Adding an Extra vowel sound - diminuitive
assimilation
Changing a consonant or vowel for another
reduplication
Repeating a whole syllable
consonant cluster reduciton
Reducing groups of consonants due to their difficulty
Deletion of unstressed syllable
Omitting the Opening Syllable
Semantic Errors
Under-extension
Words are given narrower meaning than it has in adult language
Over-extension
When a word is given a broader more general meaning than it should have
Theory
Behaviourism
Skinner
Children learn language based on reinforcement principles
Correct utterances are positively reinforced
Incorrect Utterances are negatively reinforced
Learning through imitation of parents
Evaluation
Weaknesses
Parents do not tend to consistently correct language errors
Children are not always ready to cognitively imitate certain grammatical constructions
Children are often physically unable to repeat what an adult says
Receptive Vocabulary
Productive Vocabulary
Approach is too simplistic and over-generalised
Nativism
Chomsky
Language Acquisition Device
An Innate capacity for language learning
Universal Grammar
Children know how to use langauge rules instinctively
Virtuous Errors
Overextending suffixes
The Wug Test
Children were able to extend a grammatical rule to a separate object
Critical Period Hypothesis
If children are not properly exposed to language before the end of this period they will never be able to fully acquire language
Genie Case study
A young girl that was locked in a small room for 18 months with minimal adult contact/exposure to language
As an adult her language was immature, producing mostly nouns, some verbs but very few adjectives and adverbs
Utterances no more than 3 words
Even after intensive therapy Genie was not able to acquire normal language skills
Interactionism
Bruner
Language Acquisition Support System
LASS required to acquire language succesfully.
Adults and infants have conversations despite the child being unable to speak
Interaction between adult and child build the structure of language long before the child is able to commmunicate verbally
Ritualised Activities
Mealtimes, bedtimes and reading indicates that caregivers make linguistic rules and meaning predictable during these interactions
Tomasello
Usage Based Approach
"Chunking"
Taking phrases/rich language heard and apply them into a new construction
Children are not copying - they are picking up chunks of language and creating productive strategies adapting them to generate new and creative forms of their own
Social Constructivism
Vygotsky
Zone of Proximal Development
Children and caregivers work together to move forwards towards indepedence
Children learn through 2 processes
The child obserces the interaction between other people
The behaviour develops inside the child
Cognitivism
Piaget
4 stages
Sensorimotor
Physical focus rather than linguistic
Pre-operational
Expression through role-play and using props
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Object Permanence
2years+
Before 2 years old, children do understand the concept that something still exists once it has gone out of view.
Evaluation
Challenge
Some children with cognitive problems still manage to use language way beyond their apparent understanding
Those with advanced cognitive skills may still struggle with language
Child Directed Speech (Bruner)
Phonology
Distinct, separate phrases with long pauses
exaggerated 'singsong' intonation
Higher pitch and wider range
Use of diminuitives
Grammar
Simpler Constructions
Imperatives and interrogatives
Repetition
Lexis and Semantincs
Concrete nouns, dynamic verbs
Personal names instead of pronouns
Repeated use of child's name
Pragmatics
Deixis
Expansions
Expanding on the child's utterance
Re-casts
repeating the child's utterance correcting any mistakes
Evaluation
Support
Clare-Stewart
Children whose mothers talk more have larger vocabularies
CDS retains the attention of the child, making language more accessible
Challenge
'baby talk' may interfere with langauge development as children learn babyish words instead of real language
Other cultures that do not use CDS have their children develop at the same pace as everywhere else