CE320 Unit 3 Seminar: Language Development for Infants and Toddlers Language Development in the Young Child

GETTING TO KNOW YOU… What is your favorite child’s book? How would you use a book to expand a child’s language?

UPDATES AND REMINDERS In this week’s seminar, we will discuss the role of the early childhood professional in developing language in infants and toddlers. Before the seminar, you should have investigated the online resources found at the end of Chapter 3 of your text to learn more about the resources and research available to early childhood professionals. Tonight we will… Review definitions of key terms Sharing books with infants Symbolic gestures with toddlers Applying sign language with infants/toddlers Home to School Connections that foster language development

MOTHERESE AND FATHERESE Great website: The mother gazes into the child's face and raises the pitch of her voice to a high register. She makes swooping changes from low to high, from soft to loud. She exaggerates consonant sounds, and stretches out vowel sounds. She speaks in sentences with few words and simple syntax. She leaves pauses in her utterances: she speaks and waits, speaks and waits, as if she were inviting the baby into a conversation and showing him where to slot his utterances. In short, she is speaking "Motherese" (Newport, Gleitman, and Gleitman, 1977).

PARENTS AND ADULTS CAN HELP CHILDREN TO TALK BY: Talking to them, because the more adults talk, the more words and constructions children hear; Talking about things, because the more we describe things and extend our speech about things, the more names for things and the more kinds of logical structures between ideas children learn; Using rich language, language that recounts what happened in the past, what will happen if something else takes place, and what we look forward to in the future, because these ways of talking give children a more supple grasp on the way language is used to describe experience and support thinking; Encouraging them, because the more we encourage children, the more they will say and the more confident and inquisitive they will be.

Unit Outcomes and Expectations At the end of this unit you should be able to: 1.Differentiate between the five aspects of language knowledge (phonetic, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic) 2.Identify the interaction patterns needed to create an environment conducive to language development in infants and toddlers

KEY TERMS Prosody Reflexive vocalizations Nonreflexive vocalizations Cooing Verbal play Babbling Echolalic babbling Jargon Intonated babble Selective reinforcement Emergent literacy Direct experience Vicarious experience Referent Symrfbol formation Distancing Protowords Idiomorphs Holophrasic stage Fast mapping Telegraphic speech Representational/symbolic gesture homesign

Phonetics: deals with the articulatory and acoustic properties of speech sounds, how they are produced, and how they are perceived. Semantics: is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.meaningwordsphrases signssymbolsdenotata Syntax: is "the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languagessentenceslanguages Morphemic: how words are composed of one or more meaningful linguistic units Pragmatic: It studies how the transmission of meaning depends not only on the linguistic knowledge (e.g. grammar, lexicon etc.) of the speaker and listener, but also on the context of the utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved, the inferred intent of the speaker, and so on.grammarlexiconintent CLARIFICATION OF TERMS

CAREGIVERS INTERACTIONS AND SHARING BOOKS 1.Sharing books enhances the acquisition of phonetic, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic knowledge 2.They develop both receptive and expressive language by: a.Labeling b.Commenting on objects and events in books Should pick books with: clear and colorful illustrations familiar objects variety of cultural/ethnic groups rhythmic, patterned language simple plots small amount of text

SYMBOLIC GESTURES FOR TODDLERS The onset of intentional communication is signaled by a small set of gestures, which essentially launch the child into purposefully communicating with others. These gestures begin around 10 months of age and include such actions as effortful reaching towards objects to indicate that they are wanted, directing adult attention to objects by holding them up or giving them, and pointing at objects to indicate interest or need (Bates, Benigni, Bretherton, Camaioni, & Volterra, 1979, Messinger & Fogel, 1998). These early intentional gestures, although clearly an advance over merely acting on objects, are still primitive in terms of their representational sophistication.

SIGN LANGUAGE BABIES exposed to sign language babble with their hands, even if they are not deaf. The finding supports the idea that human infants have an innate sensitivity to the rhythm of language and engage it however they can, the researchers who made the discovery claim. "The sign-exposed babies had a unique rhythmic signature of natural language to their hand movements“ (Motluck, 2004).

HOME-SCHOOL CONNECTIONS A positive relationship with your child is more important to her school career than your constant presence in the classroom. You can be available during play dates, snuggle on the sofa while watching a good video together, take a nature walk in the park, make appreciative comments from time to time as your child plays, cook something yummy together, or just hang out and chat. Most educators believe in parent participation in children's education, but "participation" means different things to different teachers. To some, it might mean helping children with homework, returning notes and sending things in on time, and coming to a conference when notified to do so. As often as possible, try to participate in field trips and classroom events such as potlucks, story parties, art shows, and class celebrations. Include grandparents, siblings, caregivers, and family friends. Your child will be delighted.

ANY QUESTIONS!

REFERENCES Motluk, A. (2004). Babies get hands-on with language. New Scientist, 183(2456), 8. Otto, B. (2010). Language Development in Early Childhood, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Jupiter Images Corporation, (2010). Clipart.com. Retrieved May 10, 2010 from