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Module 5 - Language Development

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Module 5 - Language Development

Uploaded by

yusijusmine21
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Development of Language

How are humans predisposed to develop language?


What roles do culture and learning play? Cultures create words for the concepts that are
important to them. Children develop language as they build on other cognitive abilities by
actively trying to make sense of what they hear, looking for patterns, and making up rules. In this
process, an innate language acquisition device (built-in biases and rules) may limit the search
and guide the pattern recognition. Reward and correction play a role in helping children learn
correct language use, but the child’s thought processes are very important.

What are the elements of language?


By age 5, most children have mastered almost all the sounds of their native language. In
terms of vocabulary, we understand more words than we use. By age 6, children understand up to
20,000 words and use about 2,600 words. Understanding of words that express abstract ideas and
hypothetical situations comes later as cognitive abilities develop. As children develop an
understanding of grammar, they may apply new rules too widely, saying “broked” for “broken,”
for example. Understanding the passive voice in syntax develops after understanding active
voice.

What are pragmatics and metalinguistic awareness?


Pragmatics is knowledge about how to use language—when, where, how, and to whom to
speak. Metalinguistic awareness, knowledge about your use of language and how language
works, begins around age 5 or 6 and develops throughout life.

What are the most important skills that help literacy emerge?
Research has identified two broad categories of skills that are important for later reading:
(1) understanding sounds and codes such as knowing that letters have names, that sounds are
associated with letters, and that words are made up of sounds; and (2) oral language skills such
as expressive and receptive vocabulary, knowledge of syntax, and the ability to understand and
tell stories. One way to think about emergent literacy that captures both code and oral language
skills for emergent literacy is the notion of inside-out skills (the ability to decode units of print
into units of sound and units of sound into units of language) and outside-in skills and processes
(the ability to understand those auditory derivations, which involves placing them in the correct
conceptual and contextual framework).

Diversity in Language Development

What is involved in learning two languages?


Children can learn two languages at once if they have adequate opportunities in both
languages. There are cognitive advantages to learning more than one language, so it is valuable
to retain your heritage language even as you learn another. The best time to learn accurate
pronunciation is early childhood, but people of any age can learn a new language. Having
overheard a language as a child can improve one’s ability to learn that language as an adult. Even
though the advantages of bilingualism seem clear, many children and adults are losing
their heritage language. Rather than losing one language to gain another, the goal should be
balanced bilingualism—being equally fluent in both languages. People who can communicate in
both a spoken and a signed language or in two different signed languages are considered
bilingual.

What does it mean to be truly bilingual?

Some definitions of bilingualism focus exclusively on a language-based meaning:


Bilingual people, or bilinguals, speak two languages. Other definitions are more rigorous and
define bilinguals as adults who use their two languages effectively in their adult daily life, which
includes being bicultural as well—moving back and forth between two cultures and two
languages while still maintaining a sense of identity. Proficiency in a second language has two
separate aspects: face-to-face communication (contextualized language skills) that take about 2
to 3 years in a good program to develop, and academic uses of language such as reading, writing,
grammar, knowing specialized academic vocabulary, and understanding math problems, science
charts, and study skills (known as academic English) that take about 6 to 9 years to develop.
Academic language should be considered a new language that people must learn to succeed in
school. So all students, but especially those who may not speak formal English at home, must
become bilingual and bicultural academically; they must learn the new ways of speaking and
cultural rules required for school. Bilingual students also often struggle with social adjustment
problems relating to biculturalism.

Dialect Differences in the Classroom


What is a dialect?
A dialect is any variety of a language spoken by a particular group. The dialect is part of
the group’s collective identity. Every person reading this book speaks at least one dialect, maybe
more, because there is no one absolute standard English. Dialects differ in their rules about
pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but it is important to remember that these differences
are not errors. Each dialect is logical, complex, and rule-governed. There are even some
differences in how males and females talk, called genderlects.

How should teachers take dialects into account?


Teachers can be sensitive to their possible negative stereotypes about children who speak
a different dialect. Teachers also can ensure comprehension by repeating instructions using
different words and by asking students to paraphrase instructions or give examples. The best
teaching approach seems to be first to focus on understanding the students and to accept their
language as a valid and correct system, but then to teach the alternative forms of English (or
whatever the dominant language is in your country) that are used in more formal work settings
and writing so that the students will have access to a range of opportunities.

Prepared by:

Mary Claudine N. Pineda, RPm

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