For example, "You may have one cracker" versus "You may have these crackers" signals significant differences for tho young child. The development of morphemic knowledge becomes more evident as children begin to produce language during the toddler years

This long period of acquisition reflects the complexity of pronoun use. Children need to learn that the form of a pronoun must reflect the syntactic position within the utterance. For example, one form of a pronoun may indicate the subject of an utterance {I, he, she), while a different form is used to refer to the utterance's object {him, her, me).

Syntactic-semantic pattern action + object agent + object action + location entity + location possessor + possession entity + attribute Example play drum mommy hat go bed sock .floor daddy shoe cookie big demonstrative + entity dis coat

more juice," "play more," " all gone," "kitty come," "dog go," "bye Gram," "all clean," "all fixed," and "bird fly.

elegraphic speech is defined as the child's use of two or three content words in an utterance, with no function words, such as conjunctions, articles, prepositions, and inflections

Thus, it appears that, as children begin to talk, mothers simplify their speech and focus on encouraging their children to verbally participate. Then, after children reach a higher level of verbal production, at about 2 years, mothers' speech again becomes more complex.

Al times, children appear to learn some words quickly with only a few expo-sures and without specific feedback reinforcement. This is known as fast map-ping

The development of idiomorphs is important for three reasons: 1. Idiomorphs are children's first consistent sound patterns that have relatively stable referents. 2. Jdiomorphs are evidence of children's ability to create and develop their own language. 3. Parents and teachers who learn the meaning of children's idiomorphs encourage children's verbal interactions by, in effect, learning each child's unique language.

When adults share objects with young children, they connect the present object or referent with the verbal symbol (i.e., a word) for that object (e.g., "rattle," "ball")

Treatment.

Young children are more likely to have ear infections than older children or adults because of the angle of their eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear with the throat (pharynx).

.... Lnnguago Devolopmenl of Infants and Toddlers m 101 devolopmenl of the orain plays a significant role in infants' production of speech sounds, initially in babbling and later in more complex forms of utterances.

Speech requires coordination of the vocal tracl, including the larynx, glottis, hard and soft palate, jaw. lips, and tongue. In addition. breathing needs to be coordinated with the vocal cords in order lo have sufficient air available for speech production.

Motherese, also known as child-directed speech, has more exaggerated intonation and clearer articulation. This may provide opportunity for infants to hear more closely the specific speech sounds and begin to make distinctions between similar-sounding phonemes

Prosody refers to the pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm of speech

As early as 4 days after birth, infants seem "to prefer to listen to their mother tongue over certain other languages," though they do not respond differently to other unfamiliar languages (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001, p. 44). This indicates a biological readiness to perceive and process the sounds of language

Receptive language develops first and pro-vides a basis for later expressive language.

they are able to acquire native mastery of a second language after the "critical period" has passed

These include verbal mapping, child-directed speech, linguistic scaffolding, and questioning.

talking directly to their children only after they were capable of actually producing speech.

Individual differences among children in tho ralo of word learning have also been attributed to the frequency of parental speech directed lo children as well as the variety of words used and tho way in which the new words are presented (

deficits in eye contact/shared reference as "one of most distinguishing characteristics of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

After ostablishing eye contact with her newborn son, Miriam created a communication loop by speaking, listening, and then responding to her newborn's nonverbal behavior.

Your role is to continue to enhance children's language development and to encourage children to develop linguistic flexibility so they can communicate effectively in a wide variety of settings.

Creating a Learning Community 1. Encourage all students to participate verbally. 2. Respond positively to each student's contribution. 3. Clarify the expectations for class time behavior and responses. 4. Encourage students to refer to written text during oral discussions. 5. Provide a variety of opportunities for students to engage in small group activities. 6. Encourage students' creativity through open·ended activities. 7. Welcome parents to visil your classroom. 8. Encourage parents to share their cultural knowledge. 9. Create a lending library In your classroom for children and parents

FIGURE3.5 Build on First Language Competencies 1. Acknowledge the student's first language or dialect as a valid form of communication. 2. Learn about the student's home language or dialect. 3. Acknowledge the student's need to develop receptive knowledge of Standard English before using English expressively. 4. Provide many opportunities for students to engage in conversation/discussion. 5. Allow students to respond in their home language first, and then to focus on translating their responses into English. 6. Provide second language learners with cues, letting them know when to anticipate being called on or when their turn will be. 7. Provide content·area books that have clear illustrations ol the main concepts presented in the text. 8. Provide opportunities for students to work together with other ESL students and with English·fluent students. 9. Use songs, nursery rhymes, and finger plays to emphasize the sound-symbol system and phonemic awareness. 10. Provide opportunities to learn through hands-on, exploratory, experiential activities

i\s an narly < hildhoocl l!'aclwr. \'Oll will also JHHHI to foe ililah• snroucl lallguagn IPal'II-Prt>' llS<! ol tlwir firs! language.

FIGURE 3.4 Create a Positive Classroom Environment --------------~------~--~----1. Select literature from different cultures and dialects in the classroom. 2. Emphasize that language use is determined by the culture in which ii is used. 3. Focus on how language is used differently in different situations and settings. 4. Model a curiosity and interest in other languages and dialects. 5. Learn basic greetings and expressions in a variety of languages and dialects. 6. Encourage students in monolingual classrooms to develop an awareness of linguistic diversity. l 7. Incorporate a multicultural approach throughout the curriculum each day, not just a one-time unit or seasonal "tourist" approach. 8. Avoid activities that perpetuate the concept that all people from a particular cultural group are the same. 9. Select classroom materials that reflect diversity.

When a teacher or a school implies that a child's home language is "wrong," the negative feeling extends to the child's family and culture.

Programs with an emphasis on rote, pattern drills, and grammatical lessons have had less success than programs emphasizing cultural awareness and oral communication.

Submersion programs have been described as having a "sink or swim" approach (Baker, 1996; Fallis, 1998; Krashen, 1995). where the learner is likened to someone who, without knowing how to swim, is thrown into the deep end of a pool and is expected to.either sink or struggle to swim.

Students in each group serve as language models for each other

In immersion programs, children are grouped according lo their first language. Teachers in immersion classrooms must have fluency in both languages.

Developmental bilingual education emphasizes both languages throughout children's education, so that fluency in both the first language and English are developed and maintained

Transitional bilingual education/I'BE has as its goal the gradual transition from tho student's first language to English.

ESL programs focus only on teaching English.

Language acquisition refers to unconscious learning of language in 11aturalistic sol· lings with a focus on meaning: in contrast. Janguagc learning refers to conscious rule learning in formal instructional sctlings with an emphasis on tho form of languago

In Ctunmins's (1994) review of rosoarch, he concluded that English language learners need 2 years to acquire ago-appropriate convorsational proficiency. and they noocl 5 lo 7 years lo acquire academic proficiency.

In these everyday conversations, language is embedded in a con-text that provides support for developing the meaning of the communication. This proficiency is referred to as basic interpersonal communication skills

Comprehensible in1)Ut occurs when tho target/second lan-guage is used by u spoakor nt a Jovel that is just slightly boyond tho listener's currnnt level of unclorstanding

shy child who lacks self-confidence will be less active in a language interaction than will an outgoing, confident child

ocused on the acquisition of second language proficiency for academic settings; she concluded that children from ages 8 to 12 learn a second language more quickly than do children ages 4 to 7.

The relationship between those foe.tors is a dynamic one and varies with the specific situntion in which the second language is encouulorcd.

LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS Age Cognitive ~bilities Personality Motivation Self-confidence L 1 language competencies LINGUISTIC INPUT Amount and quality of target language (comprehensible input) SOCIAL SETTING L2 learner's role in setting Presence of concrete referents Source of L2 language model

For example, if a child is attempting to communicate in English that she wants a drink of water, and she does not recall the word water, she may instead say, "Mommy, agua please," inserting a Spanish word in an English phrase to get her message across

language interference,

If one parent speaks both languages, it is more difficult for the child to distinguish between the two languages and develop knowledge of the specific language's linguistic features.

Students who develop competencies in using the academic English register will also benefit as they enter the work force.

Children who are more linguistically flexible and can use more than one dialect will be able lo communicate effectively in a wide variety of settings and interactions.

bidinlectism, or the ability to use two dialects

The court decision required the school district lo help teachers acknowledge the home BE language and to incorporate this awareness and knowledge into reading instruction.

It is also important lo remember that there are considorablo variations within geographic regions and cultural groups with rcspecl lo dialect use.

For example, in the coastal area from Florida to South Carolina, the creolized language Gullah is still spoken in some localities.

pidgin is a language that developed in response to the interaction of two groups of people who did not initially share a language

Whon dialects of the same language are represented in writing, there may be dif· feronces in spelling. grammatical structures, and punctuation, which will signal the uso of the dialect.

socialization mismatch hypothesis. This hypoth-esis "predicts that children are more likely to succeed in school when the home language and literacy socialization patterns are similar to those that are used and valued in school"

anyone who did not use standard English did not have a valid language and thus was verbally deficient.

In recognizing the varied ways in which language is used in different settings and speech communities, there has also been an acknowledgment that people tan develop linguistic flexibility that allows them to communicate effectively in differ· ant settings, using different dialects and communication styles

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis staled that lho way wn think and viow tho world is dotorminnd by our languago

Socioeconomic status is also associated with prenatal care (e.g., mother's health and nutrition), postnatal care, and cognitive stimulation.

Communication loops, shared reference, CDS, verbal mapping, queslioning, linguistic scaffolding. and mediation all facilitate language development.

New shoe [looking down at liis feet]. Oh. You have new shoes. {Nods and grins.] Whal colol' are your shoes? Blue. Yes. Your shoes are blue. Where did you get them? Mommy buyed at K-Mart. Oh, your mo/ her bought them at K-Mart.

Adults ask children questions beginning in infancy. This inter· action pallern occurs frequently.

it involves a conscious foctJS by the adult on the concepts and vocabulary relevant lo the ongo· ing learning activity.

The verbal mapping pattern occurs when an adult verbally describes (not just names) an object or nction in o level of detail appropriate to the developmental level of the child wilh whom the interaction is occurring.

Researchers have debated whether the existence and use of CDS is a consciou vehicle for "teaching" language or whether it is an intuitive response by adults (c other fluent, though younger, language users)

The specific language that adults use with young chil-dren is also dislinctive and serves to enhance language development. This specific language has been termed chi]d-dirccled speech

Listener \ Response from listener ) Speaker listens to respons

For example, when sharing a storybook with an infanl or a tod-dler, a parent may use animated speech, sound effects, and gestures to maintain the child's otlonlion

Tlworeticnl Perspectives nml Contuxts of Longuage Dovolopmont ~If 43 age is acquirocl in a social selling: it cannot be acquired in a solit

Wernickc's aphasia

Broca's aphasia

Thero is common agreement among neurolinguists that both speech and grammar functions are local-ized in the left hemisphere; however, neurolinguists also agree that both hemispheres are involved in the more complex forms of communication, such as U1e use of meta-phor and humor, as well as pragmatic knowledge of language

8 critical requirement for language development is that il needs to occm in onviron· ments where language is used in social interaction.

The inter· actionist perspective also acknowledges that "nature and nurture are inseparably intertwined"

place concurrently and interactively.

He identified eight conditions that support oral language development: immersion, dem-onstration, engagement, expectations, responsibility, approximations, employment, and response.

Not only does this dislrncl Allison from protesting over putting on her shoes and socks, but it provides a way for Allison to learn morn about a song that she had heard previously, enabling her to participate in re-cronling the rhyming song

The difference between what a child can accomplish alone and whal she can accomplish with an adult's (or more capable peer's) mediation or assistance is termed Lhe zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). What a child accomplishes independently is her developmental level.

language development is influenced by the society in which the individual lives: "higher mental functions are socially formed and culturally transmitted"

Imitative speech involves the production of speech that approximates the speech of another person. Imitation may occur as a result of direct modeling, such as when an adult tells a child, "Now say 'bye-bye'," and the child responds with an immediate nllompt to repoat the specific word(s). Or, it may occur as a result of delayed modeling, when the child approximates previously modeled speech in a similar setting without being prompted.

Reinforcement often lakes the form of attention, repetition, and approval

considers learn-ing to occur based on the stimuli, responses, nnd reinforcements that occur in the

considered children's initial speech to be egocentric, focused on their own perceptions, which may reflect distorted perceptions or relations. Gradually, as children develop cognitively, their speech becomes socialized, or reflective of more logical thinking.

language appears when chil-dren's cognitive growth reaches a point whore thoy use and manipulate symbols

Thus, vocalizations nncl babbling that occur during infancy ore nol language, according lo Piaget.

language is acquired as maturation occurs and cognitive competencies develop.

Children ore not taught language: rather, "children actually reinvent it, generation after gen-eration"

language acquisition device (LAD)

con-tends that all people inherently have the capacity to acquire language due lo cogni-tive structures that process language differently from other stimuli.

teachers will better understand the process of language development and will be better able to facilitate language development in their classrooms.

nativisl, cognitive developmental, behaviorist, and interactionisl.

Is a child a "blank slate" at birth, and do the experiences or "nurture" provided in the envi-ronment predominantly determine language development'! Or is the child already "preprogrammed" for language develo11ment in such a way that heredity and matu-ration are the major influences, with experience and context exerting only limited influence'

young children acquire written language alongside oral language and further slated that oral and written language are interrelated and intertwined in dynamic ways during the developmental process

Listening is not a passive activity. Instead, to be effective, lis-tening must be active ancl purposeful.

18 ~!~ Chapter 1 TABLE 1.4 Comparison of Aspects of Oral and Written Language Knowledge Aspect of Language Oral Language Phonological Sound-symbol system; phoneme-based Semantic Oral word use accompanied by gesture, facial expression, and Intonation Syntactic Phrase and sentence structure/grammar Morphemic Inflections and word structure tied to oral pronunciation Pragmatic language used differently in various face-to-face interactions; Involves all aspecls of language knowledge Written Language Combined oral symbol-graphic system; alphabetic encoding Visual/graphic words; more precise vocabulary since written words are read/ decoded without gestures, facial expression, or Intonation Sentence and text structure grammar; more complex than oral language Word structure; also adds meaning to words; more critical In written language since meaning of message is carried by the print Language used dlfferenlly in various text-based settings: Influences writer's assumptions about audience and reader's expectations about text

For example, when a child is asked lo give the first sound in the word bat, she must not only know how lo say the word (linguistic knowledge) but must be able lo use her concepts of "sound" and "first" in reflecting on the word and then separating out lhe sounds.

This ~nowledge or awareness of hmv to use lfil!~ differently in differen~gs a~i'ons ~matic knowledge. 'I'llisk:nowleclge contributes lo appi'"""opriato and effecfivec-om111~tion (

overgenoralizntions occur when they assume that a particular word follows a regular pattern when, in fact, it follows an irregulc1r pattern. For example, the past tense of regular verbs is created by adding -ed lo the present tense. Children who assume that come is a regular verb will create the past-tense form by adding -ed, resulting in "corned.

A word is composed of one or more meaningful linguistic units. The smallest unit of meaning in lanfil@ge is the morpherqe. There are two types of morphemes: (affree morphemes are used alone as words (e.g., house, turtle, book), and (b) bound morphemes must be attached lo free morphemes (e.g., the final-sin houses, the ·l)' in slowly, and the -ing in going).

The fact that such random combinations of words have nol been documented among young children indicates that word order knowledge develops early.

Children with larger and more developed vocobularie! have more optiorrsfor expressing what they wa[!l to say a~1d1 thus, hav_e grnat.er hn-\ guistic nexibility.

These features lmv@acouslic or sound properties at~ychologicaj)or emotional eroperties.

more conscious awareness of distinct speech sounds in their language and begin to deliberately manipularemeirlanguage.

In Spanish, /r/ and /rr/ represent different phonemes, as in pero (but) and perm (dog). For English speakers learning Spanish. this is confusing when the oral pronunciation of the two phonemes represented by r and l'I' seems indistinguishable

Our lan-guage competencies allow us to participate effectively in a variety of social events and occupational settings and in our daily routines.

recognizes that language is a medium of communi-cation with others and within us. The focus here will be on the years from birth through nge 8,