Section B; Child Language Development Flashcards
Development in the womb
What are some theories that were discovered about babies in the womb?
Development in the womb
- Decasper + Spence (1986) discovered that babies can remember things heard before birth
- Mehler et al (1988) discovered that babies can recognise their mother tongue, as they’re familiar with prosody from listening in the womb
Crying, laughing, babbling
Approx. what age do babies start to coo, laugh + vocal play?
Crying, laughing, babbling
- Crying’s an involuntary response at birth, signifying pain, hunger, or distress
- At 6 to 8 weeks, babies begin to cry + laugh
- At 16 to 30 weeks, babies engage in vocal play
Babbling like a baby
What happens at the babbling stage?
Babbling like a baby
- At around 6 to 9 months, babies begin to make repetitive consonant-vowel combo
- Next stage of babbling involves a more intricate consonant-vowel combo
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Holophrastic/one word’ stage?
Stages of child lang acquisition
- between 10 and 12 months, babies begin to use proto-words, e.g. using [ka:] in the presence of cat, but also in other seemingly random contexts
- at around 12 months, babies begin to say their real first real words
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Two-word’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- begin to use two words e.g a subject + a verb (daddy gone)
- approx age is 18 to 24 months
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Proto-word’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- word-like vocalisations, not matching actual words, but used for the same meanings e.g. using ‘mmm’ to mean ‘give me that’
- approx age is 9 to 12 months
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Cooing’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- comfort sounds + vocal play using open-mouthed vowel sounds
- e.g. grunts + sighs become vowel-like, laughter starts, hard consonants + vowels produced, pitch + loudness practiced
- approx age is 4 to 7 months
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Post-telegraphic’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- more grammatical complex combinations
- during this stage, key literacy skills of writing + reading start to develop
- approx age is 36+ months
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Telegraphic’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- three or more words combined
- approx age is 24 to 36 months
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Pre-verbal’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- it’s the developing phonology
- cooing + babbling stages mark the beginnings of prosodic features
- they get used to their vocal cords
Child lang acquisition
What is the ‘Vegetative’ stage?
Child lang acquisition
- sounds of discomfort or reflective actions
- e.g. crying, cooing, burping, sucking
- approx age is 0 to 4 months
Child-directed speech
What is Child-directed speech (CDS)?
Child-directed speech
the language used by a parent/caregiver when talking to a child
Child-directed speech
What are some features of CDS?
Child-directed speech
lexis + semantics;
- reduplication of words
- focus on nouns
- use of diminutives + epithets
grammar;
- repetition of phrases
- shorter, simpler constructions
- present tense
- recasting something a child has said
phonology + prosody;
- hyper-articulation
- wider range of pitch
- slower tempo of speech
gestures;
- exaggerated gesticulation
Child-directed speech
Why is CDS used?
Child-directed speech
- affective bonding
- sound more engaging + positive
Child-directed speech
What are some disadvantages of CDS?
Child-directed speech
- not used in all cultures + societies
- not only source of language children are exposed to
- amount of CDS depends on socio-economic standing (SES); developed by Huttenlocher 2007
- Trainer + Desjardin (2002) found that a higher pitch in CDS might make it harder for infants to differentiate between vowel sounds
Child language acquisition theorists
What was Katherine Nelson’s theory (1973)?
Child language acquisition theorists
held a small study of 18 children + their first word and classified the first 50 as the following:
- naming things; ball, dog, milk, etc
- actions/events; give, put, sit, etc
- personal/social; yes, hi, no, etc
- modifying things; dirty, nice, etc
Chall’s stages of reading development
What is the first reading stage and the approx age/grade?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- stage 1; initial reading + decoding
- 6 to 7 years (1st-grade beginning 2nd)
Chall’s stages of reading development
How is the first stage acquired?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- direct instruction in letter-sound relations (phonics) + practise in their use
- reading of simple stories using words w/ phonics elements taught + words of high frequency
- being read to on a level above what a child can read independently to develop more advanced lang patterns, vocabs + concepts
Chall’s stages of reading development
What are the characteristics + masteries by the end of the first reading stage?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- the child learns the relation between letters + sounds and between printed + spoken words
- the child is able to read simple text containing high-frequency words + phonically regular words
- uses skill + insight to ‘sound out’ new one-syllable words
Chall’s stages of reading development
What is the relationship of reading to listening in the first reading stage?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- the level of difficulty of lang read by a child is much below the lang understood when heard
- at the end of stage 1, most children can understand up to 4000 words or more when heard but can read about 600
Chall’s stages of reading development
What is stage 0 and the approx age/grade?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- stage 0; pre-reading (‘pseudo reading’)
- 6 months to 6 years (preschool)
Chall’s stages of reading development
What are the characteristics + masteries by the end of stage 0?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- the child ‘pretends’ to read, retells story when looking at pages of a book, previously read to them
- names, letters of the alphabet; recognises some signs; prints own name
- plays w/ books, pencils + paper
Chall’s stages of reading development
How is stage 0 acquired?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- being read to by an adult (or an older adult) who responds to + warmly appreciates the child’s interest in books + reading
- being provided with books, paper, pencils, blocks, and letters
- dialogic reading (interactive style of reading w/ children
Chall’s stages of reading development
What is the relationship of reading to listening in stage 0?
Chall’s stages of reading development
- most can understand the children’s picture books + stories read to them
- they understand thousands of words they hear by age 6, but can only read a few if any of them