12.4: Language development in early childhood

Vocabulary Growth

A child’s vocabulary expands between the ages of 2 to 6 from about 200 words to over 10,000 words through a process called fast-mapping. Words are easily learned by making connections between new words and concepts already known. The parts of speech that are learned depend on the language and what is emphasized. Children speaking verb-friendly languages such as Chinese and Japanese, tend to learn nouns more readily. But, those learning less verb-friendly languages such as English, seem to need assistance in grammar to master the use of verbs (Imai, et al, 2008).

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Direct instruction from adults helps increase children’s vocabulary.[1]

Literal Meanings

Children can repeat words and phrases after having heard them only once or twice. But they do not always understand the meaning of the words or phrases. This is especially true of expressions or figures of speech which are taken literally. For example, two preschool-aged girls began to laugh loudly while listening to a tape-recording of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” when the narrator reports, “Prince Phillip lost his head!” They imagine his head popping off and rolling down the hill as he runs and searches for it. Or a classroom full of preschoolers hears the teacher say, “Wow! That was a piece of cake!” The children began asking “Cake? Where is my cake? I want cake!”

Overregularization

Children learn rules of grammar as they learn language but may apply these rules inappropriately at first. For instance, a child learns to add “ed” to the end of a word to indicate past tense. Then form a sentence such as “I goed there. I doed that.” This is typical at ages 2 and 3. They will soon learn new words such as “went” and “did” to be used in those situations.

The Impact of Training

Remember Vygotsky and the zone of proximal development? Children can be assisted in learning language by others who listen attentively, model more accurate pronunciations and encourage elaboration. The child exclaims, “I goed there!” and the adult responds, “You went there? Say, ‘I went there.’ Where did you go?” Children may be ripe for language as Chomsky suggests, but active participation in helping them learn is important for language development as well. The process of scaffolding is one in which the adult (or more skilled peer) provides needed assistance to the child as a new skill is learned.

Language Milestones in early childhood

The prior aspects of language development in early childhood can also be summarized into the progression of milestones children typically experience from ages 3 to 5. Here is a table of those:

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Language milestones in early childhood[2]

Typical Age	What Most Children Do By This Age
3 years	Follows instructions with 2 or 3 steps Can name most familiar things Understands words like “in,” “on,” and “under” Says first name, age, and sex Names a friend Says words like “I,” “me,” “we,” and “you” and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats) Talks well enough for strangers to understand most of the time Carries on a conversation using 2 to 3 sentences
4 years	Knows some basic rules of grammar, such as correctly using “he” and “she” Sings a song or says a poem from memory such as the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or the “Wheels on the Bus” Tells stories Can say first and last name
5 years	Speaks very clearly Tells a simple story using full sentences Uses future tense; for example, “Grandma will be here.” Says name and address

Culture

Many of our research paradigms are based on ideas that talking to babies and children increases their language and cognitive skills (Weber, Fernald & Diop, 2017). However, the yardsticks we use to measure stimulation in child rearing and child language development are based on a very narrow perspective we use in psychological science. Morelli et al (2017) have shown how cultures differ widely in adult initiated speech and activities and the resultant optimal outcomes for children. Even at the biological level, they show the connection between genome and cultural relativity. At a more granular level, who is considered primary caregiver (the mother in Western industrialized nuclear families, but not in a wide range of global contexts), how much that caregiver initiates speech (which is very much influenced by childrearing ideas), and child to child language vary greatly. There is no doubt that these different beliefs and practices need to be examined within their cultural contexts and should not be generalized for all.

References:

Morelli, G., Bard, K., Chaudhary, N., Gottlieb, A., Keller, H., Murray, M., Quinn, N., Rosabal-Coto, M., Scheidecker, G., Takada, A., & Vicedo, M. (2018). Bringing the Real World Into Developmental Science: A Commentary on Weber, Fernald, and Diop (2017). Child Development, 89(6), e594–e603. https://doi-org.ezp.pasadena.edu/10.1111/cdev.13115

Weber, A., Fernald, A., & Diop, Y. (2017). When cultural norms discourage talking to babies: Effectiveness of a parenting program in rural Senegal. Child Development, 88, 1513–1526. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12882

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

[1] Image by the U.S. Department of the Interior is in the public domain

[2] Developmental Milestones by the CDC is in the public domain