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2025, Kanchana
Abstract This article explores the dynamic relationship between child psychology and linguistics, focusing on how language development both reflects and influences cognitive, emotional, and social growth in children. Drawing on foundational theories from Piaget, Vygotsky, and Chomsky, it examines how language acquisition aligns with cognitive milestones and social interaction. The discussion extends to the impact of environmental factors on linguistic input, the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, and the implications of language delays and disorders. By integrating perspectives from both disciplines, the article underscores the importance of a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to supporting children’s language development and overall well-being.
1987
Input language may have an effect on child development that goes far beyond language development alone. Language is the medium by which children acquire at least a portion of their sex role and social class or group characteristics, world view, and emotional and psychological well-being. Existing theories of psychological development ignore language, attempting to correlate parent behaviors and child outcomes without taking advantage of the substantial research on parent-child linguistic interactions. While developmental psychologists recognize that internalization of parental characteristics through identification is a broad and pervasive aspect of the young child's personality development, it is treated as a magical process in the literature of child development, ignoring language directed at the child as a likely vehicle for transmission of the parents' orientation and value system. Several decades of data on parent-child interaction gathered by linguists can and should be used to illustrate the role that language plays in child development. (MSE)
Language development in children is a multifaceted process influenced by various factors, including biological predispositions, environmental influences, and cognitive processes. This paper provides a comprehensive review of theoretical frameworks, stages of language development, factors influencing language acquisition, and implications for education, intervention, and policy. Introduction: Language development is a fundamental aspect of human development, playing a pivotal role in communication, cognition, and social interaction. Understanding the processes and influences shaping language acquisition in children is essential for educators, clinicians, and policymakers seeking to support optimal development and address language-related challenges. This paper aims to explore the complex interplay of factors contributing to language development in children, drawing on theoretical perspectives, empirical research, and practical implications. Literature Review: Numerous studies have investigated various aspects of language development in children, providing valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms, developmental trajectories, and influencing factors. For example, Chomsky's theory of universal grammar posits that children are innately predisposed to acquire language and possess an inherent linguistic competence that guides language teaching (Chomsky, 1957). This nativist perspective highlights the role of biological factors in language acquisition and suggests that children's linguistic abilities are shaped by innate cognitive structures.
The researchers examine a general overview and approaches to psychological and social analysis of language development in children. Behaviourists claim that child language acquisition is governed by habit forming and reinforcement by imitation, repetition, and analogy Nativists claim that children are born with an innate ability to acquire language because they do have language innately. According to the proponents of social pragmatic theory, language development centres within the framework of social development, because communicative intentions are expressed in social contexts. In other words, the paper investigates the psychosocial processes of first language acquisition with the aim of shedding a bit light on this human-specie phenomenon. The stages of language development are universal among humans. However, the age and the pace at which a child reaches each milestone of language development vary greatly among children.
Theories of child language development attempted to account for the development of language in infants from various angles, and with different points of emphasis. In this article, two major theories are discussed with regards to their major contribution to this area of study, Piaget’s cognitivist theory and Vygotsky’s social interactivist theory. Both theories agree that the sensorimotor period in infant’s development is marked by an organization of means and ends. However, the two theories diverge in many aspects of child language development, the most basic of which is their views on the interrelationship between cognitive, linguistic and social processes of development.
"Journal of University Studies in Letters & Human Sciences”, 2019
The focal point of this research study is the language acquisition process and the linguistic development of 1-3 year-old children. It examines the three factors that impact language learning, i.e (1) the parents’ contribution to the learning of phonological, morphological, and syntactic structures, (2) the intelligence level, and (3) the sociability. For a period of two years, the researcher traced the linguistic progress and observed all the linguistic aspects of the development of two male Lebanese children whose native language is Arabic, from the age of one till the age of three for the elder child and from birth till the age of two for the younger one, through recording and pursuing the emergence of new naturalistic unprompted sounds, morphemes, syntactical constructions, and whole utterances. She also observed how parents’ reinforcement of the linguistic structures, their children’s level of intelligence and sociability affected their interaction with the environment as well as their communicative competence. The findings of the study show that in spite of the fact that the three factors were the same for both children, the acquisition of the elder is remarkably better than that of the younger one. This is a solid proof of the mentalist theories of language innateness that conceive the existence of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which enables children to acquire language at different rates because of the variability in the activity of cells in the Broca’s area of the left hemisphere of the brain. Imitation played a significant role in the language development of the younger child whose vocabulary jumped from a few words to a wide range within a period of two months only. Hence, based on the observations and the analysis of the results, the researcher recommends that parents, primary caregivers, and teachers gain an extensive understanding of this period of life (1-3 years of age) to contribute to boosting language learning and enhancing their children’s myriad linguistic abilities.
International Journal of Bilingualism, 2016
Aims: In this study, we aimed to examine whether five-year-old children with varying firstlanguage (L1) vocabulary skills benefitted differentially from second-language (L2) teacherled group talk and peer-play talk when acquiring L2 vocabulary in preschool contexts. Design: The participants were 26 bilingual children, speaking Turkish (L1) and Norwegian (L2), who participated in a longitudinal study. At age five, they experienced variability in the amount and diversity of the L2 talk they were exposed to in interactions with teachers and peers. Data and analysis: Preschool L2 talk exposure was assessed by calculating the density of word tokens and word types in video-taped teacher-led group talk and in peer-play talk. The children's vocabulary skills were assessed in L1 at age five and in L2 at ages four, five, six, seven and 10, using translated versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III. To obtain a more reliable estimate of the children's L2 vocabulary skills we used data from all time points to fit a longitudinal growth model. Findings: Children with more developed L1 vocabulary skills who were exposed to teacherled talk and peer-play talk with a high density of tokens had more developed L2 vocabulary skills at age five. This interaction effect remained after controlling for maternal education. Originality: Few previous studies, if any, have analyzed whether interaction effects between L1 vocabulary skills and L2 exposure may impact L2 vocabulary skills; that is, whether children with more developed L1 vocabulary skills are more prepared to make use of the L2 environment. Implications: Interdependency among languages may be mediated by classroom talk quality. Rather than limiting the discussion of L1-L2 relations to issues of direct transfer, future research should include children's experiences with using socio-pragmatic skills when interpreting word meaning.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2016
Highlights Academic and social-emotional outcomes were examined for a population sample of 4,983 children followed from 4-5 years to 8-9 years. Multilingualism was not found to contribute to poorer educational and social-emotional outcomes at school. The main predictor of academic difficulties at school was concern about 4-to 5-year-old children's speech and language (regardless of whether they spoke English-only or were multilingual).
The relation between language and cognition in child development is one of the oldest and most debated questions, which has recently come back to the forefront of several disciplines in the social sciences. The overview below examines several universalistic vs. relativistic approaches to this question, stemming both from traditional developmental theories and from more recent proposals in psycholinguistics that are illustrated by some findings concerning space in child language. Two main questions are raised for future research. First, substantial evidence is necessary concerning the potential impact of linguistic variation on cognitive development, including evidence that can provide ways of articulating precocious capacities in the pre-linguistic period and subsequent developments across a variety of child languages. Second, relating language and cognition also requires that we take into account both structural and functional determinants of child language within a model that can explain development at different levels of linguistic organization in the face of cross-linguistic diversity.
2006
The rapidly increasing number of children being raised in bilingual and multilingual homes and communities raises important questions and serious challenges for researchers, educators, and policy-makers. This paper offers fundamental findings from basic psychological research on early monolingual acquisition as a springboard to identify future points of contact with research from bilingual or multilingual perspectives. Using the cross-linguistic developmental approach to study early word learning and its relation to conceptual organization, I have focused exclusively on monolingual acquisition in infants and young children. The field has accumulated considerable evidence concerning early linguistic and conceptual development in both in Englishspeaking monolinguals and in monolingual children acquiring languages other than English. Armed with this evidence, the field is now poised to launch a full research agenda that focuses squarely on language acquisition in bilingual and multilingual children. In this commentary I outline some possible goals of such an agenda. The time has come to consider carefully the course of language and conceptual development in children raised in monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual environments. Building a truly developmental program of research on this topic will enrich our theories of acquisition even as it advances our educational and social goals.
Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 2020
The paper discussed in detail the process of language development and the process of language acquisition in early childhood. It also gave a brief overview of the theoretical frame of reference of language development. The paper included an in depth explanation of the importance and impact of overexposure for early second language acquisition and it answered the question of whether language learning could turn into a language acquisition after what Noam Chomsky referred to as the "critical period". The paper concluded that even after the Chomskian critical period learners who got overexposed to the target language can acquire the language and it can be equivalent to their first language. The paper discussed two major kinds of motivations at play in the process of second language acquisition: (1) Curiosity: A desire to better understand a group of people and their way of life , and (2) Empathy: Upon repeated exposure, one might come to the conclusion that this group of people has a more sensible handle on things, and thus identifies with them.
American Psychologist, 2014
for help in data collection, transcription, and coding. We also are grateful to the participating children and families.
2017
Language development is always in line with the growth of the child. Parents should always pay attention to these development, because at this time, largely determines the learning process. This can be done by giving a good example, to motivate children to learn. Parents are largely responsible for the success of children's learning and should always strive to improve the potential of children in order to develop optimally. In view of its function, language is the ability to communicate with others. There are significant differences between the understanding of language and speech. Languages include all forms of communication, both expressed in the form of oral, written, sign language, gestures, facial expressions, pantonim or art. However, spoken language is the most effective form of communication, and the most important and widely used. This study wants to describe how language both oral and written are developed at the early childhood.The result shows that there are several ...
2006
(paperback), 978-0-521-44922-9 (paperback). Reviewed by Paul Thomas SIL International Child Language: Acquisition and Growth is mostly a survey of the literature surrounding child language acquisition. Assuming little prior linguistic knowledge on the reader's part, Lust spends the first four chapters defining the problem of language acquisition and developing a theory to account for this acquisition. Her basic hypothesis is that children are born with a language facility (LF). That is, the brain is programmed at birth with all the structures necessary to do linguistic computation.
Humans are an inherently cultural species. From the very first days of life, children are enveloped by norms, activities, objects, and symbols that are often unique
This paper provides a targeted report of the scientific literature of neurolinguistic development of early child development. It is argued that ample evidence exists indicating that the prenatal and early postnatal years likely represent a sensitive period with respect to the early child's brain and linguistic development. Moreover, evidence suggests that parental or caregiver's attention and stimulation are critical for the child's early neurolinguistic development. Three underpinnings of neurolinguistic aspects of early child development are explored. Reports from research findings of three domains of the early child development are discussed: the language brain anatomy (what neurolinguistic research progress has to offer in terms of our knowledge about the structure of the language brain), the early child brain development (what neurologists know about the development of a child's brain), and the early child language development (what neurolinguists and applied linguists alike have to offer about the development of early child's language). It is proposed that an understanding of the three domains of early child development should inform, firstly one another, because they can inform one another for the child's early neurolinguisitc development. This (the relationship between the three domains of early neurolinguistic development), in turn, can inform early child care development. It is concluded that parents, caregivers, teachers and different stakeholders be cognizant of the importance of the critical period of a child's early neurolinguistic development and be advocates of early child care. Several recommendations and implications for public policy and care pertaining to the early experience of early child and its effects on the neurolinguistic developments are also offered.
Assessing Multilingual Children, 2015
Gatt, D., O'Toole, C. and Haman, E. ( ) 'Using parent report to assess early lexical production in children exposed to more than one language', in Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J. and Meir, N. (eds.) Assessing multilingual children: disentangling bilingualism from language impairment. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 149-193. Link to publisher's version Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription.
1990
Two theoretical frameworks, which underlie education programs for young Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) children, are explored: cognit.ve/developmental and maturational/linguistic theories. The cognitive/developmental view supports the idea that intellectual and language growth and learning are action oriented and variable among young children and are affected by factors such as direct experiences with the physical and social worlds. The maturational/linguistic view stresses development and learning as a series of overlapping, predetermined, and continually emerging traits. A third view is recommended that is an offshoot of the maturational/linguistic view: the sociolinguistic perspective, wh:ch recognizes the significant affect that the sociocultural milieu has on children's language and intellectual traits. Several cognitive developmental implications for young LEP children are discussed, including practical applications to the early childhood classroom and home environments....
Martha Patricia Purba , 2025
The purposes of the article were to describe the language acquisition process of children and elaborate on the process of language development of children. It was found that children had experienced three stages of language acquisition. In the first stage, children imitated simple sounds to show an action. In the next stage, children produced similar sounds that adults also produced. Then, children could produce and pronounce simple sentences in their native language in the last stage. Furthermore, language development consists of the process of articulation development and the process of word and sentence development
Noting the importance of language acquisition for childrens physical, social, and cognitive development, this paper discusses first-and second-language acquisition in children. After providing background on second-language acquisition, the paper discusses the controversy surrounding bilingual education programs. The paper then explores what is known about language learning, noting that in both first-and second-language acquisition, a stimulating and rich linguistic environment will support language development. The paper concludes with a discussion of factors that contribute to students academic success, including using students first language to provide academic instruction for as long as possible and using an active discovery approach to teaching and learning.
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