How do children learn to speak?

It’s always as special moment when a child produces their first word, but how do they reach this point? Children learn through imitating what they hear around them everyday, whether it is animal noises, their parents speaking or sounds from the television. Soon enough, the uninterpretable babbles turn to clearly formed words, and these words soon form phrases.

There are many different theories surrounding the language of young children, as well as how their language develops. There are the more whacky theories, such as Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition devices, whereby every human has knowledge of grammatical rules common to all languages pre-programmed into them. There are also theories that are easier to understand such as the learning perspective. Skinner argued that adults shape the speech of children by reinforcing the babbling of infants that sound most like words, by doing this, we encourage the child to repeat the babble and develop it further until it becomes more and more like the word the adult felt it was similar to.

Why is language important for your child?

Language will allow your child to communicate with others, learn, build friendships, and make sense of the world around them. Later on, a weaker understanding and fluency of language may hold your child’s education back, slowing their progress. Therefore, providing your child with a developed vocabulary and understanding of grammar could help them be successful in their future

So how can you help your child learn to speak?

Talking to your child, and babbling back to them encourages your child to respond. The more they babble the more their language will develop. In a recent study, psychologists from Stanford University discovered that the more a parent or carer talks or babbles to their child the faster their language and vocabulary grow.

Reading with your child exposes them to more vocabulary, but also begins to show them the links between pictures and text. As your child gets older they can read to you, and if reading has been part of a child’s routine since a young age it is less likely to be a chore when they begin school.

If your child starts a conversation through talking, gesture or behavior, respond to it, making sure you stick to the topic your child started. This will help to teach your child about relevance within a conversation, a tool useful for their future.

Introduce new vocabulary to you child frequently. Use toys to allow your child to associate words with objects, for example teach them the names of animals using farmyard toys. This process will also develop their motor skills if they choose the animal themselves. Children learn best through play so why not have fun but increase their vocabulary at the same time?

 

http://languagedevelopment.tripod.com/id15.html

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/21820_C01.pdf

Lucy Bassett