Stages of infant language development: characteristics and theories by age, from babbling to sentences
- Infant language begins with crying and babbling and develops into one word, two words, and sentences.
- Language development theories are divided into behaviorism (imitation and reinforcement), innate theory (language acquisition device), and interactionism.
- The speed of development varies from child to child, so age standards should be understood as a rough guideline.
Contents
Children's language development refers to the process through which a child goes from expressing their needs through crying and making sounds to speaking words, creating grammatically appropriate sentences, and communicating with others. Language is a tool for organizing thoughts and a channel for forming relationships, so it is the most basic topic in early childhood education and child development classes.
When writing observation records or language development reports, it is much easier to interpret your child's speech if you organize the stages and theories together. The ages below are general trends and vary from child to child.
At what stages does language develop?
- Crying and cooing: At first, they express their needs by crying, and a few months later, they make vowel sounds such as 'ah-' and 'oo-'.
- Babbling: Starting around half a year after birth, they repeat consonants and vowels like ‘bababa’.
- One-word timing: The first word appears around the turn of the clock, and the meaning of a sentence is conveyed with one word, such as the word 'water' meaning 'please water'.
- Two-word period: Around the age of two, children start stringing together words like ‘Momma’. It is also called a telegram sentence because it lacks a particle or ending.
- Sentence expander: Around the age of three, children write basic sentences and some particles, and by the age of four or five, they can even speak complex sentences with reasons and conditions.
If you remember the stage name and approximate time period, it is easy to determine which stage to consider the horse you observed.
How do children learn to speak?
There are three main branches of language development theory. Behaviorism believes that children learn to speak by imitating the words of those around them and being reinforced with praise and responses. This view is Skinner's It is based on the theory of operant conditioning. Birth theory, like Chomsky, believes that people have the ability to learn language from birth, that is, a language acquisition device. It is based on the phenomenon of children creating sentences on their own that they have never heard of.
Interactionism believes that innate abilities and the environment work together. This includes the perspective that cognitive development leads to language and the perspective that conversations with adults and social relationships foster language.
경험을 쓸 때 상황, 행동, 결과 순서로 정리하니까 읽는 사람이 이해하기 쉽더라고요. 관심 있는 직무의 하루 일과를 한번 알아 두는 것도 좋을 것 같아요.
What are the pros and cons of each theory?
Behaviorism does a good job of explaining the phenomenon of a child adopting the speaking style and vocabulary of those around him, but it is difficult to explain the phenomenon of a child saying 'I ate' in a form that he has never heard before, such as 'I ate'. Innate theory explains the ability to learn complex grammar in a short period of time, but places less emphasis on the role of the environment. So today, interaction theory, which sees the two elements together, is widely accepted.
Rather than pitting the three theories against one another, the depth of understanding is revealed better by summarizing the differences in the phenomena explained by each theory.
How can parents and teachers help?
It is effective to respond immediately to what the child says and to extend what the child said by paraphrasing it a little longer. When a child says ‘Dog-meong’, you say something like ‘The doggie is wagging its tail.’ Reading picture books together, singing and word play, and waiting until the end when your child speaks are also good ways to help language development.
How should I structure the report?
The report has a clear flow if you write it in the following order: Concept of language development → Basics of language acquisition → Three branches of theory → Developmental stage by age → Case of observation → Teaching method and impressions. For observation cases, write down what the child actually said and indicate which stage it corresponds to to make the analysis more specific. Change the child's name to a pseudonym. Menyuk's biological, cognitive, and experiential foundations, three-pronged theory, and speech language development process by age are summarized on page 5. href="https://campusdown.com/product/%EC%9C%A0%EC%95%84%EB%93%A4%EC%9D%98%EC%96%B8%EC% 96%B4%EB%B0%9C%EB%8B%AC%EA%B3%BC%EC%A0%95%EC%97%90%EB%8C%80%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EB%A3%8C %EC%88%98%EC%A7%91%EA%B3%BC%EB%B6%84%EC%84%9D:%EC%96%B8%EC%96%B4%EB%B0%9C%EB%8B%AC%EC% 9D%98%EA%B0%9C%EB%85%90,%EC%9D%B4%EB%A1%A0,%EB%B0%9C%EB%8B%AC%EB%8B%A8%EA%B3%84-25927" rel="noopener">Campus-like analysis data on early childhood language development can be a reference for those who want to organize theories and stages in early childhood language education or child development tasks.
Related wiki: Marshmallow Experiment
FAQ
What are the stages of infant language development?
It develops in the following order: crying, cooing, babbling, one-word phase, two-word phase, and sentence expansion phase.
What is a telegram sentence?
It is a sentence in which only the core word is said without any particle or ending, such as 'Mom's home' around the age of two.
What are the theories of language development?
There is behaviorism, which emphasizes imitation and reinforcement, innate theory, which talks about language acquisition devices, and interactionism, which looks at both innate ability and the environment.
How can I help my child's language development?
It is good to respond immediately to what the child says, paraphrase the child's words a little longer, and read picture books and play with words together.