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##  Language Development in the Early Years. ERIC Digest D154.                   

THE SOCIAL ROOT OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
This digest, written from a            social interaction perspective, provides readers an overview of                 children's language development in the first five years of their                life. The primary function of language, according to                            Vygotsky (1962), "in both adults and children is communication,                 social contact" (p.19). Through daily interaction with other                    language users, children learn how to use language to convey                    messages, to express feelings, and to achieve intentions which                  enable them to function in a society.  Muspratt, Luke, and                      Freebody (1997) argue that the language that members of a specific              community use reflects the values and beliefs that are embedded in              their culture and ideologies; in the same way, the culture and                  dominant ideologies within learning contexts also have a strong                 impact on the learners' perceptions of the language learning                    process. In other words, language is a cultural tool which provides             the means for members of a group to retain their shared identity and            to relate with each other. Through the process of language learning,            parents socialize their children into socially and culturally                   appropriate ways of behaving, speaking, and thinking. 
The process             of language acquisition for young children is built upon a variety              of experiences. From birth, parents and caregivers involve infants              in communicative exchanges. These exchanges accompany activities                shared by adults and infants, such as bathing, feeding, and                     dressing. During these activities, parents and caregivers comment on            the infants' actions and often repeat and exaggerate their                      vocalizations (Fernald & Mazzie, 1991). Such communicative exchanges            between adults and infants function as a form of social interaction.            This social interaction helps build intimacy between adults and                 infants, enhances infants' interests in their environment, and                  provides them with stimulation for later language                               development (Burkato & Daehler, 1995). THE FIRST YEARCrying is            the earliest form of infant vocalization. But after only a few weeks            of experience with language, infants begin to vocalize in addition              to crying: they coo. Infants generally begin to coo at about one                month of age (Shaffer, 1999). Cooing is repeating vowel-like sounds             such as "oooooh" or "aaaaah." Infants coo when their parents or                 caregiver interact with them. At around 3 or 4 months, infants start            to add consonant sounds to their cooing, and they begin to babble at            between 4 and 6 months of age. Babbling consists of consonant and               vowel sounds. Infants are able to combine these consonant and vowel             sounds into syllable-like sequences, such as mamama, kaka, and                  dadadada (Berk, 2000; Shaffer, 1999). Through interacting with                  parents or caregivers by such cooing and babbling, infants develop a            sense of the role of language in communication by the end of the                first year. The linkage between communication and sound-making                  signals the onset of true language (Glover & Bruning, 1987). THE              SECOND AND THIRD YEARIn the beginning of the second year,                   children's first words emerge. The first words are also                         called "holophrases" because children's productive vocabulary                   usually contains only one or two very simple words at a time, and               they seem to utter single words to represent the whole meaning of an            entire sentence (Shaffer, 1999). Children's first words are usually             very different from adults' speech in terms of the pronunciation,               and these first words are most frequently nominals--labels for                  objects, people, or events (Bukatko & Daehler, 1995). In addition,              children's first words are quite contextual. They may use a single              word to identify something or somebody under different                          conditions (such as saying "ma" when seeing mother entering the                 room), to label objects linked to someone (saying "ma" when seeing              mother's lipstick), or to express needs (saying "ma" and extending              arms for wanting a hug from the mother). In the initial stage of the            first-word utterance, children produce words slowly. However, once              they have achieved a productive vocabulary of ten words, children               begin to add new words at a faster rate, called "vocabulary                     spurt" (Barrett, 1985). 
By their second birthday, children begin              to combine words and to generate simple sentences (Bukatko &                    Daehler, 1995). Initially, the first sentences are often two-word               sentences, gradually evolving into longer ones. Children's first                sentences have been called "telegraphic speech" because these                   sentences resemble the abbreviated language of a telegram. Like the             telegram, children's first sentences contain mainly the essential               content words, such as verbs and nouns, but omit the function words,            such as articles, prepositions, and pronouns, auxiliary verbs (Berk,            2000). 
Although children's first sentences seem to be                         ungrammatical in terms of adult standards, they are far more than               strings of random words combined. Instead, they have a structure of             their own. A characteristic of the structure is that some words,                called "pivot words," are used in a mostly fixed position, and are              combined with other less frequently used words referred to as "open             words," which can be easily replaced by other words (Braine, 1976).             For example, a child may use "more" as a pivot word, and create                 sentences such as, "more cookie, "more car," and "more                          doggie." 
Creativity also plays an important role in this first                sentence stage. Research has revealed that many of children's early             sentences, such as "allgone cookie," and "more read" are creative               statements which do not appear in adult speech (Shaffer, 1999). Like            the first-word creation, context plays an important role in                     understanding children's first sentences because both require                   context in order that understanding can occur. As children's use of             simple sentences increases, the amount of single-word use declines,             and their sentences become increasingly elaborate and                           sophisticated. (Glover & Bruning, 1987). THE PRESCHOOL YEARSBy            the time children are 3 1/2 to 4 years of age, they have already                acquired many important skills in language learning. They have a                fairly large working vocabulary and an understanding of the function            of words in referring to things and actions. They also have a                   command of basic conversational skills, such as talking about a                 variety of topics with different audiences. Nevertheless, language              development, especially vocabulary growth and conversational skills,            continues (Glover & Bruning, 1987). It is generally agreed that                 vocabulary learning is not accomplished through formal instruction.             Instead, the meaning of new words is usually acquired when children             interact with other more skilled language users during such natural             situations as riding, eating, and playing (Beals & Tabors, 1995).               From these activities, children are able to construct hypotheses                when hearing unfamiliar verbal strings. They then test these                    hypotheses by further observation or by making up new sentences                 themselves.  Finally, through feedback and further exposure,                    children revise and confirm their hypotheses (Bukatko & Daehler,                1995). 
The development of conversational skills also requires                 children's active interaction with other people. To communicate with            others effectively, children need to learn how to negotiate, take               turns, and make relevant as well as intelligible                                contributions (Schickedanz, Schickedanz, Forsyth, & Forsyth, 1998).             Through interacting with other more experienced language users,                 children modify and elaborate their sentences in response to                    requests for more information (Peterson & McCabe, 1992). As children            interact with their playmates, their conversations usually include a            series of turn-taking dialogues (Glover & Bruning, 1987). In                    addition, young children learn to adjust their messages to their                listeners' level of understanding (Shatz & Gelman, 1973). 
By the              time children enter elementary school, their oral language is very              similar to that of adults (Shaffer, 1999). They have acquired the               basic syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic elements of their native               language. Language development will continue, however, from early               childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. CONCLUSIONIn            summary, language learning is both a social and a developmental                 process. To acquire a language, children must interact with other               more competent language users as well as explore various aspects of             the linguistic system. During the early years of language learning,             children also create, test, and revise their hypotheses regarding               the use of language. Parents and early childhood educators should               provide these young learners with developmentally appropriate                   language activities, offer opportunities for them to experiment with            different aspects of language learning, and honor their                         creativity. REFERENCESBarrett, M. D. (1985). Issues in the                study of children's single word speech. In M. D.                                Barrett (Ed.), "Children's single-word speech". Chichester, England:            Wiley. 
Beals, D. E., & Tabors, P. O. (1995). Arboretum,                       bureaucratic and carbohydrate: Preschoolers' exposure to rare                   vocabulary at home. "First Language", 15, 57-76. 
Berk, L.                     E. (2000). "Child development" (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn &                       Bacon. 
Braine, M. D. S. (1976). Children's first word                         combinations. "Monographs of the Society for Research in Child                  Development", 41 (Serial No. 164). 
Bukatko, D. & Daehler, M.                  W. (1995). "Child Development: A thematic approach." Boston:                    Houghton Mifflin Company. 
Fernald, A., & Mazzie, C. (1991).                   Prosody and focus in speech to infants and adults. "Developmental               Psychology", 27, 209-221. 
Glover, J. A. & Bruning, R.                         H. (1987). "Educational Psychology". Boston, MA: Little, Brown &                Company. 
Muspratt, S., Luke, A., & Freebody,                                  P. (1997). "Constructing critical literacies". Cresskill. NJ:                   Hampton Press. 
Peterson, C. & McCabe, A. (1992). Parental styles              of narrative elicitation: Effect on children's narrative structure              and content. "First Language", 12, 299-321. 
Schickedanz, J. A.,               Schickedanz, D. I., Forsyth, P. D., & Forsyth, G.                               A. (1998). "Understanding children and adolescents". (3rd ed).                  Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 
Shaffer, D. R.  (1999). "Developmental               psychology: Childhood & adolescence" (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA:              Brook Cole Publishing Company. 
Shatz, M. & Gelman, R. (1973). "The            development of  communication skills: Modifications in the speech of            young children as a function of listener". Monographs of the Society            for Research on Child Development, 38 (Serial No, 152). 
Vygotsky,             L. S. (1962). "Thought and language". (E. Hanfmann & G. Vakar,                  Eds. & Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 
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Digest #154 is              EDO-CS-00-05 and was published in October 2000 by the ERIC                      Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E 10th                Street, Bloomington, IN 47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847                    or (800) 759-4723. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be             freely reproduced. Additional copies may be ordered by contacting               the ERIC Document Reproduction Service at (800) 443-3742. 
This                project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the            U.S. Department of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0028.               The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the                views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does                  mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply             endorsement by the U.S. Government.                                          **Title:** Language Development in the Early Years. ERIC Digest D154.                   **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana              University, 2805 E. 10th Street, Suite 140, Bloomington, IN                     47408-2698. Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free); Web site:                            http://eric.indiana.edu.                                                     **Descriptors:** Child Development, Child Language, Early Childhood Education,                    Language Acquisition,  Young Children                                       **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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