Age range Description of Developmental Phenomena 0-2 years Sensorimotor- Baby explores through 5 senses. Initially grasping, sucking reflexes. Grabbing objects and exploring it with mouth. These skills develop and become more complex Object Permanence – The awareness that an object exists even though not visible. Shake a rattle and gain attention of 3month old then cover it with cloth = no longer interested. Repeat with 8month old and child shows distress at its disappearance. 2-6 years Preoperational- Child begins to use symbols/signs/objects to represent things Animism/pretend play – Give an inanimate object feelings. Egocentrism – Seeing the world from child’s perspective & world is an extension of oneself. When playing hide and seek, if you child can’t see you, you can’t see child. 7-11 years Concrete Operational – Child thinking logically about concrete events and grasping concrete analogies. Can understand something is the same, though different appearance. Conservation- old child will focus on what they see, not what they know. When presented with one tall narrow glass and a short fat glass (both with the same amount of water), the 4 year old will say the tall narrow one has more because it looks so. A 7year old can identify there is the same amount. 11+ Formal Operational – Thinking about hypothetical scenarios and processing abstract thoughts. Child can manipulate ideas in heads and creatively imagine outcomes of problem solving. Piaget thought when this stage began the structure of thinking would stop, though complexity/flexibility and level of abstraction keeps growing with age. Abstract – Piaget gave child containers of different liquids, one of which called ‘the indicator’. The child had to find a combination that would turn the indicator yellow. Child would systematically solve the problem, whereas younger child would test in a ‘haphazard way’. trial
It usually starts by using different kinds of cries to attract attention to their needs, but as they grow they use more complex methods. As a result, they can: Establish a relationship with people around them Express feelings/opinions Get others to do as they wish Find out new information by asking Get what they need by explaining exactly what they want Communicate ideas Tell stories and use language expressively Michael Halliday’s taxonomy catalogues the different functions of language in the growing child’s repertoire. Pragmatics Type of function Description Example Instrumental Language used to fulfil a need on the part of the speaker. Directly concerned with obtaining food, drink and comfort so mainly concrete nouns are used. ‘’Want juice’’ when a child is thirsty Regulatory Language used to influence the behaviour of others by persuading/commanding/requesting other people to do something for you “put down!” when child is holding up father Interactional Language used to develop social relationships and ease the process of interaction. Concerned with the phatic dimension of talk because a child realises language goes beyond declaring what you want “Night night daddy, love you” as the child is being put to bed Personal Language is used to express a personal preference and identity of the speaker. Sometimes known as the ‘Here I am!’ function by announcing oneself to the world “Me like that” as the child looks at a toy in a shop. “No” because the child wants to stay in the park Representational Language used to exchange information. Concerned with relaying or requesting information. “Mummy” as the child’s mum returns home from work Heuristic Language to learn and explore about the environment. Child uses language to learn, may be questions and answers, or the kind of running commentary that sometimes accompanies child play. “Why?” when the is told to put his shoes on Imaginative Language used to explore the imagination. May also accompany play as children create imaginary situations, or may arise from storytelling “I’m superman” whilst the child plays
1.) Past participle (-ing) “I going” 2.) Plural (–s) “Shops” 3.) possessive (-'s) “Mummy’s bag” 4.) Articles ('the','a') “Get the bottle, mummy” 5.) past tense (–ed) “I smacked my brother” 6.) third person singular verb ending (-s) “She sings to me” 7.) auxiliary (will, be, do, have, is) “It is snowing outside” Another by Cruttenden (1979) divided the acquisition of inflections into three further stages Inconsistent stage (first stage) Children may memorise words on an individual basis and have no regard for general principles on rules. This means they may at first produce the correct plural form of ‘foot’ (feet) because they learnt the word but not the grammatical adaptation Consistent usage but misapplied at times (second stage) They show awareness of the general principles governing inflections and as a result may apply regular endings to words that require regular inflections. For example, they observe that plural nouns usually end in –s, so they use ‘foots’. Similarly, they observe that past tense forms usually end in –ed, so instead of ‘ran’ they say ‘runned’. This is an overgeneralisation! Consistent usage (third stage) Correct inflections are used, including irregular forms – mouse/mice Asking questions Research suggests this happens in 3 stages too Relying on intonation in the two word stage. E.g. Daddy home? (rising tone) During their second year, children will acquire question words such as ‘what’ and ‘where’ resulting in questions such as ‘where daddy gone?’. They can’t yet use auxiliaries such as ‘where has daddy gone?’ In their third year, children can use auxiliaries and learn to say, ‘Is Joe here?’, however, they can’t always use wh-words correctly yet and say things like ‘Why Joe isn’t here? Negatives This too, happens in 3 stages Words ‘no’ and ‘not’ are used in front of other expressions e.g. no want
Speaking slowly and simplified vocabulary and grammatical structures makes language more accessible for a child. The comprehension of a language and the development of the ability to use it is therefore made easier. Understanding a word’s meaning is facilitated when an adult focuses the child’s attention on an object in the immediate environment and slowly repeats the name. The use of higher pitch and exaggerated intonation (as well as facial expressions and gestures) serve to retain a child’s attention to listen attentively to what is said. Asking questions and pausing for a also will help to introduce children to the rules of conversation. Problems with CDS It’s argued by some that baby talk (e.g. using expressions such as ‘doggie’ and interferes with language development because it provides children with inaccurate and distorted speech. Features of CDS Phonology Slower, clearer pronunciation More pauses, especially between phrases and sentences Higher pitch Exaggerated intonation and stress Lexis Simpler, more restricted vocabulary Diminutive forms (e.g. doggie) Concrete language, referring to objects in the child’s immediate environment Grammar Simpler constructions Frequent use of imperatives High degree of repetition Frequent questions Use of personal instead of pronouns (e.g. ‘Mummy’ instead of ‘I’) Pragmatics