8

M O D U L E

Language Development

Understanding Language Acquisition

ⁿ Biological Basis of Language

ⁿ Imitation and Reinforcement

ⁿ Social Interactions

Outline Learning Goals

2. Describe changes in semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and metalinguistic awareness from birth through adolescence.

3. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the methods of teaching English-language learners.
4. Describe the language differences that emerge from early childhood through the early school-age years.

1. Explain the factors that contribute to language development.

Development of Language Skills

ⁿ Language Acquisition Through Early Childhood ⁿ Language Acquisition Through Adolescence

ⁿ Bilingual Language Acquisition

ⁿ Individual Differences in Language Acquisition

Applications: Encouraging Language Development in the Classroom

Summary Key Concepts Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate

5. Describe ways teachers can support language development in the classroom.

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UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Language development forms the basis of much school learning from early childhood through secondary education. Language skills allow children to form concepts, engage in pretend play, and interact socially—all of which advance children’s cognitive development. In elementary through secondary school, oral language skills enable students to learn from lessons and lectures, to demonstrate knowledge by answering questions, and to participate in discussions and group activities. Oral language also provides a foundation for reading and writing skills, as well as for acquisition of a second language in English-language learners. Before we discuss the progression of language development and its impact on school-age learners, let’s explore the factors responsible for language acquisition.

Biological Basis of Language

Our brains are well designed for the production and acquisition of language. The cerebrum, the largest portion of our brain, consists of two halves called hemispheres. Although both hemispheres are involved in language, in most individuals the left hemisphere has more responsibility for many language functions and becomes specialized for language functions early in infancy (Holowka & Petitto, 2002; Obler & Gjerlow, 1999). When the left hemisphere is damaged, the brain’s plasticity—its ability to adapt to environmental experiences—allows the right hemisphere to take over many of the functions of the left hemisphere, leading to relatively normal language development (Stiles & Thal, 1993). Because plasticity decreases with age, however, it is more difficult for the right hemisphere to take on language functions after infancy (Stiles, Bates, Thal, Trauner, & Reilly, 2002).

Humans may acquire language so readily and easily because we are genetically predisposed—that is, biologically ready—to acquire language (Ritchie & Bhatia, 1999; Spelke & Newport, 1998). From birth, infants prefer sounds that have characteristics of human speech: sounds in the frequency range of 1,000–3,000 Hz and sounds with a variation in frequencies rather than monotones (Schneider, Trehub, & Bull, 1979).

The similarities among cultures in many features of language also suggest an innate capacity for language:

1. Children across the world acquire language within a short period of time and at roughly the same rate despite differences in cultures (Kuhl, 2004). This is true both in cultures where children initiate and participate in conversations with adults and in cultures that discourage adults from conversing with children (Snow, 1986).

2. The sequence of language skills is similar across cultures for signed and spoken languages (Kent &

Miulo, 1995; Petitto, Holowka, Sergio, & Ostry, 2001).

3. The sounds b, p, m, d, and n appear across many languages in infants’ babbling, or repetitive consonant-vowel combinations (e.g., dadadadada) (Gopnik, Meltzoff, & Kuhl, 1999; Locke, 1983).

4. All signed and spoken languages share:

n first words such as juice, milk, and dog (Caselli et al., 1995; Marschark, West, Nall, & Everhart,

1986); and

n rules to indicate changes in tense and plurality and to organize words into grammatical sentences (Goldin-Meadow & Morford, 1985; Goldin-Meadow & Mylander, 1983).

Imitation and Reinforcement

Language learning partly involves imitation and reinforcement (Skinner, 1957). In response to adult modeling of language, children will attempt to produce language by spontaneously imitating sounds, words, and phrases. Parents also may encourage elicited imitation when they ask the child to produce a word spoken by the adult (say “bottle” instead of “ba-ba”). In many instances, children receive positive reinforcement (a positive consequence for behavior) for their efforts, as when a caregiver responds to infants’ babbling with more dialogue or responds to a toddler’s request (“want milk”).

Modeling and imitation vary by culture. In cultures that do not encourage children to initiate conversations or to talk before a certain age, children are expected to learn by listening and by observing adult language (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). In the United States, elicited imitation is not considered a crucial teaching method. Children implicitly discover the usefulness of imitation as a way to expand their communication skills. In recurrent, predictable events in their lives, children often repeat an utterance previously spoken by an adult during the same events (Snow & Goldfield, 1983). However,

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The brain and its development: See page 102.

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Positive reinforcement: See page 164.

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Communication During the First Year. Adults and infants show patterns of behavior that foster the development of language.

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imitation and parental reinforcement cannot entirely explain children’s development of grammatically appropriate language (James, 1990). Consider these findings:

n Children produce sentences they have never heard adults say (“I falled on the playground”). Also, children use imitation much less after age 2, even though they still have much more language to acquire (Otto, 2006).

n Reinforcement of children’s grammar is not necessary for language development. Rather than correcting a child’s grammar, parents tend to reinforce and correct children’s utterances based on meaning or truth value (Brown & Hanlon, 1970). When a school-age child announces “I don’t got no more money,” a parent might respond, “Really, you don’t have any more money? Where did you spend it?”

n We are motivated to learn to speak grammatically even though ungrammatical statements can convey our message just as well (Siegler & Alibali, 2005).

Social Interactions

Language acquisition is also a product of children’s early social interactions with adults. Infants communicate and interact socially even before they are able to produce language. They make different babbling sounds in response to adults’ pitch and intonation, move in rhythm to adults’ intonations, and vocalize more when adults stop talking—a pattern similar to typical conversation (Ginsburg & Kilbourne, 1988; Locke, 1995; Masataka, 1992).

Adults also behave in certain ways that elicit communication and foster language development. They initiate communication in response to infants’ eye contact, burping, or gurgling and respond to infants’ babbling or first attempts at saying words. Toward the end of infants’ first year, adults in many cultures encourage the development of language skills with additional techniques, described in Table 8.1. Caregiver techniques may not be universal, though (Harkness, 1977; Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984). Therefore, while adult behaviors may not be necessary for language acquisition, they can enhance language development. Recent research suggests that several forms of caregiver responsiveness contribute to infants’ development of expressive language: using expansions, describing objects, asking questions about objects (“What is that?”), and using verbal prompts (“Let’s feed the doll”) (Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001).

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TA B L E 8 .1 Social Interaction Techniques of Caregivers Caregiver technique Description Outcome Example

Child-directed speech

(playing peek-a-boo) Where— is—Tommy? (exaggerated intonation) Peek—a—boo— I—see—you!

Expansion Adults adding to—or expanding—the child’s incomplete statement as a way to model more complex language

Language directed to infants and children characterized by high pitch, exaggerated intonations, elongated vowels, short and simple sentences, and repetition

Encourages the development of more complex grammar

Increases infants’ attention to language, facilitating their comprehension and acquisition of language

Joint attention Adults labeling and talking about objects on which the child’s attention is focused

Encourages vocabulary acquisition

An adult noticing an infant looking at a bird and saying: That’s a bird. Do you hear it chirping?

When a child says doggie sleep, an adult saying: Yes, the doggie is sleeping. She’s tired.

Encourages the development of more complex grammar

A child saying We go home? and the adult replying: No, we’re going to the store.

Sources: Bloom, 1998; Brown & Bellugi, 1964; Butterworth, 2001; Campbell & Namy, 2003; Fernald, 1985; Karrass, Braungart-Rieker, Mullins, & Lefever, 2002; Moore & Dunham, 1995; Rollins, 2003; Sachs, 1989; Scherer & Olswang, 1984.

Recasting Adults reproducing the child’s utterance as a semantically similar expression that adds new information to model more complex language

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Adults’ behaviors may have long-term benefits as well. Regardless of the family’s socioeconomic status or ethnic group identity, parents who vary their speech, label objects, ask questions, respond to children’s questions, and provide positive feedback for children’s participation in conversations are more likely to have children with advanced language development (Hart & Risley, 1995). The amount of verbal interaction between caregivers and their children is a significant predictor of a child’s vocabulary, language skills, and reading comprehension at age nine (Hart & Risley, 1999, 2003). Talking with children during activities and about activities should be a regular part of the day both at home and in early-childhood classrooms.

Imagine a child growing up in another part of the world. How might his language development be similar to that of a child in the United States. How might it be different?

DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE SKILLS

Language Acquisition Through Early Childhood

Babbling is the first sign of an infant’s ability to produce language, beginning at about 6 months. Around age 8 to 12 months, infants can more easily communicate with adults through gestures and joint attention (adult labeling and talking about objects the child is gazing at). They also become increasingly skilled at comprehending the meaning of words and can respond appropriately to commands (Benedict, 1979; Morrisette, Ricard, & Gouin-Decarie, 1995). With the acquisition of their first words at about 1 year of age, children gradually acquire the ability to use semantics, syntax, the pragmatics of language, and metalinguistic awareness.

SEMANTICS Semantics (how words convey meaning) is evident in infants’ first words. Their language is often referred to as holophrastic speech, because they use single words to express a larger meaning. For

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example, “juice” may mean “The juice is all gone” or “I spilled the juice.” Children in the holophrastic stage will commit errors known as:

n overextensions, or using a word to cover a range of concepts, such as saying “kitty” to refer to all four-legged animals; and

n underextensions, or limiting the use of a word to a subset of objects it refers to, such as using “kitty” only for the family cat.

SYNTAX

The development of syntax (the logical combination of words into meaningful sentences) begins with telegraphic speech, a way of ordering two or three words according to the grammatical rules of the child’s language (Brown & Fraser, 1963; Tager-Flusberg, 1997). Such speech is called telegraphic because it resembles a telegram, consisting mostly of content words (nouns and verbs) and omitting function words (articles, conjunctions, etc.). For example, “sit floor mommy” conveys the request “Sit on the floor with me, mommy.” Children also develop several other forms of syntax throughout early childhood, including:

n morphemic inflections, or word endings (dogs, dog’s, running, baked),

n negations (I can’t do it!),

n questions (What is Mommy doing?), and

n conjoining clauses (I went to a party and I ate cake).

Caregivers and early-childhood educators should not be concerned about children’s overregularizations of past tense endings (for example, saying “winned” for “won”), because these are typical in this stage of development and continue through school age (Brown, 1973; Otto, 2006).

PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics (knowledge about how to use language in communicative contexts) emerges in toddler-hood as children learn to use language to (Otto, 2006):

n regulate others’ behaviors (“No!” or “Daddy, look!”),

n imagine (as in pretend play),

n learn about their environment by asking questions (“Why?” “What’s this?”), and

n inform others (“I have a new baby sister”).

Preschool children begin to use language for a wider range of purposes, such as asking permission, invoking social rules, expressing emotions, making judgments, joking and teasing, and making requests (Owens, 1988).

METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS

Metalinguistic awareness, our knowledge about language and how it works, is an important skill that emerges in early childhood and develops throughout the early elementary grades. Some early signs of metalinguistic awareness are:

n adjusting speech to different listeners, as when children as young as 2 years of age talk differently to a younger sibling than to a parent (Warren-Leubecker & Bohannon, 1983);

n pretend reading of books, as when preschoolers turn pages and recite a story they have heard many times;

n asking “Are you making words?” to a parent typing on a computer; and

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Holophrastic Speech. “Juice” may mean “Mommy, I want some more juice.”

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n “writing,” in which preschoolers make marks on paper and ask an adult to read them (Schickedanz, York, Stewart, & White, 1990).

Phonological awareness, the knowledge that spoken words contain smaller units of sound, is a form of meta-linguistic awareness that is important for later reading acquisition. Words can be divided into:

n syllables, the largest units of sound (but-ter);

n onsets and rimes; for example, in a word such as “bat,” the onset is the sound corresponding to the initial consonant (“b”), and the rime is the vowel and the remaining consonant sound (“at”); and

n phonemes, the smallest units of sound ( “b,” “a,” “t” sounds in the word “bat”).

During kindergarten and first grade, children continue to develop awareness of phonemes as they acquire experience with printed words during reading instruction.

Phonological awareness and knowledge of letter names enable children to make progress in beginning reading instruction (Adams, 1990; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994). Phonological awareness helps children acquire the skill of decoding, or sounding out (Liberman, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 1989). Children with awareness of phonemes are able to apply sounds to letters in printed words to help them identify new words while reading. Direct instruction in awareness of phonemes can help children learn to read and spell (National Reading Panel, 2000). Preschool and kindergarten teachers also can teach phonological awareness skills through fun activities such as songs, nursery rhymes, and games. The guidelines in Table 8.2 can help early-childhood educators determine whether a child is progressing adequately in phonological awareness development.

Language Acquisition Through Adolescence

Contrary to the assumption that children have mastered language by their fifth birthday, language acquisition continues throughout elementary school, with some language forms not mastered until adolescence.

SEMANTICS

As elementary school students learn many concepts in and outside of school, their vocabularies grow at a rate of several new words per day—ranging from about 6,000 words in first grade to as many as 40,000 words in fifth grade (Anglin, 1993; Johnson & Anglin, 1995). The understanding and use of figurative language, an aspect of semantics, also evolves from elementary through high school (Owens, 2005). By third grade, students appreciate puns and riddles because they realize that words can have two meanings (McGhee, 1979; Pepicello & Weisberg, 1983). Elementary school students also begin to understand similes (He eats like a pig), metaphors (She’s an angel), proverbs (Haste makes waste), and idioms (Did the cat get your tongue?), and they begin to realize that figures of speech are not to be taken literally (“stealing” home base). However, children do not master the more complex figurative language found in proverbs and sophisticated forms of humor until late adolescence (Lund & Duchan, 1988; Nippold & Duthie, 2003). Middle school and high school teachers should be aware that poetry and literature containing figurative language will be challenging for many students.

SYNTAX

Children’s sentences become more elaborate and consist of more complex grammatical structures in both oral and written language:

Metalinguistic Awareness. Preschoolers know how to hold a book, turn the pages, and pretend to read.

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TA B L E 8 . 2 Benchmarks of Normal Development in Phonological Awareness Grade level Average child’s ability

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Beginning kindergarten Can tell whether two words rhyme.

Can generate a rhyme for a simple word (e.g., cat or dot). Or can easily be taught to do these tasks.

End of kindergarten Can isolate and pronounce the beginning sound in a word (e.g., /n/ in nose or /f/ in fudge).

Can blend the sounds in two phoneme words [e.g., boy (/b/-/oi/) or me (/m/-/e/)].

Midway through first grade Can isolate and pronounce all the sounds in two- and three-phoneme words.

Can blend the sounds in four-phoneme words containing initial consonant blends.

End of first grade Can isolate and pronounce the sounds in four-phoneme words containing initial blends.

Can blend the sounds in four- and five-phoneme words containing initial and final blends.

Reprinted with permission from J. K. Torgesen & P. G. Mathes (2000). A basic guide to understanding and teaching phonological awareness. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

n By age 10 or 11, students begin to produce subordinate clauses with complex conjunctions such as

“because,” “if,” and “then” (Hulit & Howard, 2006; Wing & Scholnick, 1981).

n They begin to understand and use embedded sentences around age 7 (I saw a movie that you would really like). By age 12, they begin to understand embedding that occurs in the middle of sentences (The dog that chased the cat ran away) (Abrahamsen & Rigrodsky, 1984).

n Between ages 8 and 11, they also become better at understanding and producing passive sentences

(Baldie, 1976; Horgan, 1978). For example, in the sentence “The boy was loved by the girl,” younger children have difficulty determining who is the subject and who is the object of the loving.

Secondary education teachers should expect adolescents to continue to have difficulty with some aspects of syntax, particularly when writing. Even adults have difficulty producing the syntactic forms who/whom/that and I/me in oral language (Otto, 2006). Adolescent writers also have problems using pronouns to refer to nouns in their writing. Teachers commonly see errors in adolescents’ writing such as those shown in Figure 8.1.

PRAGMATICS

Elementary school students become more aware of the intent of indirect requests and the appropriate responses to such requests (Menyuk, 1988; Owens, 2005). Indirect requests are a more polite way of requesting an action from another person, such as “Can you turn off the TV?” rather than “Please turn off the TV.” While preschoolers tend to respond literally by simply saying yes, 6-year-olds begin to respond appropriately to many types of indirect requests, with complete mastery occurring by adolescence (Cherry-Wilkinson & Dollaghan, 1979). By adolescence, most pragmatic skills related to common social experiences are well developed (Berko Gleason, Hay, & Cain, 1988).

METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS

While knowledge about language and how it works dramatically increases between ages five and eight, development continues throughout adulthood (Bernstein, 1989). Students in upper elementary through secondary grades are better able to understand words with multiple meanings, to know when words are used incorrectly in sentences, and to understand how to construct sentences of varying types (active, passive, etc.). They also become better able to use reading and writing strategies, such as consulting a dictionary or thesaurus, monitoring their comprehension, and planning and revising their writing.

How would you promote students’ development of semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and metalinguistic awareness in the grade you intend to teach?

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Reading and writing strategies: See page 219.

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Figure 8.1: Syntax. Even though adolescents’ syntax continues to expand, they still may have difficulty with complex forms in their writing, as shown here.

The girl that sits next to me was absent today.

Everyone should get no homework on their birthday.

Bilingual Language Acquisition

Even though native English-speaking children and bilingual children (children speaking two languages) may have very different cultural and social experiences, they learn language in a very similar way (Bialystok, 2001):

n Children who acquire two languages from birth follow the same overall pattern and reach the same developmental milestones at the same rate as monolingual children (Genesee, Paradis, & Crago, 2004; Nicoladis & Genesee, 1997).

n Bilingual children say their first words and acquire a 50-word vocabulary at approximately the same age as monolingual children (Nicoladis & Genesee, 1997).

n Bilingual children have at least as large a vocabulary as monolingual children when vocabularies from both languages are combined (Nicoladis & Genesee, 1996; Pearson, 1998).

Becoming bilingual involves developing two separate language systems that interact with and complement each other. Even before children produce their first words, they have the capacity to differentiate between two languages, including sign languages (Petitto, Katereles, et al., 2001). Code mixing, using words or phrases from one language as a substitute in the other language, is normal for bilingual children and adults and does not suggest confusion between the two languages (Genesee et al., 2004; Nicoladis & Genesee, 1997). It allows individuals to use competencies in each language to communicate in a way that is more complete than if either language were used alone (Genesee et al., 2004). Elementary school children also are able to transfer their native-language competence in phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word recognition skills to their second language (Carlo & Royer, 1999; Cisero & Royer, 1995; Proctor, August, Carlo, & Snow, 2006). Experts disagree, however, about which instructional method is most effective for facilitating English language proficiency in English-language learners. Table 8.3 describes the aim of each instructional method.

Transitional bilingual education, which emphasizes the development of native language skills, was popular for almost 30 years. Because native language skills transfer to the second language, students experience greater academic success when they are given instruction in their native language in the early elementary grades (García, 1992; Marsh, Hau, & Kong, 2002). In contrast, students struggle academically in English immersion classrooms without any instructional modifi cations because they

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TA B L E 8 . 3

ⁿ Content instruction in native language; English as a Second Language instruction.

Bilingual Instructional Approaches Instructional method Aim Language of instruction

Transitional bilingual education

To ensure that English-language learners do not fall behind academically by initially teaching school subjects in their native language .

To facilitate a rapid transition to English-language instruction.

Structured English immersion

Two-way bilingual immersion

To facilitate acquisition of two languages in English-language learners and native English-speaking students.

ⁿ All instruction in English in classes separate from native-English speakers typically for one year.

ⁿ Once students are proficient, they transition to content instruction in English, usually around grades three through five.

English immersion To make English-language learners fluent in English as soon as possible.

ⁿ All instruction in English in classes with native English-speaking peers.

ⁿ Generally no modifications in instruction or materials.

ⁿ Curricula and teaching methods designed to accommodate students who are learning the language.

ⁿ Minimal use of native language.

ⁿ Once students are “reasonably proficient” in English, they are transitioned into classes conducted in English with native English-speaking peers.

ⁿ Instruction and class-work in both languages, with the non-English language used at least 50% of the time.

ⁿ Instruction in English and a non-English language for native English speakers and students who speak a non-English language (e.g., Spanish).

ⁿ Only one language is used, without translation, during periods of instruction.

Sources: Crawford, 1997; Kogan, 2001; Lessow-Hurley, 2000; Lindholm-Leary, 2004–2005.

find it difficult to understand the teacher and to demonstrate their knowledge (DaSilva Iddlings, 2005; Gutiérrez, Baquedano-López, & Asato, 2001).

Recent passage of the English Acquisition Act has shifted the bilingual education debate toward favoring immersion approaches, especially structured English immersion and two-way bilingual immersion, described in Table 8.3. Some recent research on two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) offers intriguing results:

n In three- and four-year-olds, TWBI improved the Spanish language skills of both the English-language learners and monolingual children without any loss in English-language skills (Barnett, Yarosz, Thomas, Jung, & Blanco, 2007).

n English-language learners and native English-speaking students who attended TWBI programs since the early elementary grades have shown oral language, reading, and writing proficiency in both languages in the upper elementary grades (Howard, Sugarman, & Christian, 2003; Serrano & Howard, 2003). They have also scored at or above grade level in reading and math in both languages in middle school (Collier & Thomas, 2004; Lindholm-Leary, 2001).

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Two-Way Bilingual

Immersion. This bilingual instructional method leads to beneficial academic and nonacademic outcomes for native English speakers and English-language learners.

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n High school students who were enrolled in TWBI programs since elementary school, especially those from Hispanic backgrounds, have reported very positive attitudes about school (Lindholm-Leary, 2001).

Individual Differences in Language Acquisition

Typical language development varies considerably among young children in terms of the rate of acquisition and the style of acquiring words. Infants begin producing their first words at about 8 to 18 months, and telegraphic speech at about 18 months to 3 years. Children between ages 1 and 2 years typically have a vocabulary of 20 to 170 words (de Boysson-Bardies, 1999; Morrow, 1989). However, even these are rough estimates—as some 2-year-olds may have fewer than 10 words, while others have as many as 668 words in their oral vocabulary (Fenson et al., 1994).

Children’s distinct approaches to acquiring words may indicate that they have different ideas about pragmatics (Flavell, Miller, & Miller, 2002). Some children who acquire many words for the names of people and objects (milk, dog, cup) have a referential style that focuses on the informational aspect of language. Others who build a vocabulary of words used in social relationships (no, yes, want, please, love you) have an expressive style that focuses on the interpersonal aspect of language. Differences, however, are a matter of degree rather than kind, as all children learn both types of words (Goldfield & Snow, 2005).

Girls typically are faster than boys at acquiring first words, tend to have larger vocabularies, and are more likely to have a referential style of acquisition (Flavell et al., 2002). Differences are small, however, and there are many exceptions. As with other cognitive abilities, males and females appear to be more alike than different.

As children continue to develop through the preschool years and into the early elementary grades, many experience language problems involving articulation of sounds or lack of fluent speech that they eventually overcome. Others, however, experience more pervasive language difficulties. Children from toddler through the preschool years produce many common articulation errors, as shown in Table 8.4 (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2004; McLean & Snyder-McLean, 1999). An articulation disorder is diagnosed when a familiar adult cannot understand children’s speech at age 3 or when articulation errors are still evident at age 8 (Patterson & Wright, 1990). Like articulation errors,

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Common Articulation Problems in Early Childhood Articulation problem Example

TA B L E 8 . 4

Substituting one sound for another that is similar in manner of articulation

Saying free for three Other, similar substitutions are s for sh sound, w for l sound, and th for s sound (a lisp).

Substituting across manners of articulation, using a sound produced with the teeth for a sound produced at the back of the mouth

Omitting sounds, sometimes whole syllables Saying mote for remote or puter for computer

Producing sound distortions Saying run as wun

Mispronouncing consonant blends Saying pasketti for spaghetti

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Saying tookie for cookie

dysfluency (a lack of fluency in speech production) typically is outgrown by the first year of elementary school (Weir & Bianchet, 2004). Dysfluency involves several types of errors including (Gottwald, Goldbach, & Isack, 1985; Swan, 1993):

n repetition of syllables, words, or phrases (that . . . that doll);

n interjections (I saw . . . uh . . . a school bus);

n pauses (Mommy, I want . . . some juice);

n revisions (I went . . . we went to the doctor); and

n sound prolongation (r----abbit).

Children may experience dysfluency due to a heightened emotional state or hurried speech or, more likely, from experimentation with their rapidly expanding phonetic, syntactic, semantic, morphemic, and pragmatic knowledge (Otto, 2006).

Stuttering is a most common speech dysfluency. Approximately 80% of children who develop stuttering overcome it within 18 to 24 months after its onset (Ratner, 2004). Stuttering involves an involuntary repetition of isolated sounds or syllables, prolonged speech sounds, or a complete halt in the flow of speech (Cook, Tessier, & Armbruster, 1987). Speech problems that may indicate the onset of stuttering are (Otto, 2006; Yairi & Ambrose, 2005):

n sound and syllable repetitions that persist over time,

n repetition of part of a word more than twice or repetition of two sounds or syllables in 100 words, and

n frequent sound prolongations or sound prolongations of more than one second.

Unlike students with articulation problems or dysfluency, students with specific language impairment experience considerable delays in overall language development. Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulties in receptive and expressive language, resulting in language development that is significantly below age level despite normal hearing, average nonverbal intelligence, and an absence of developmental disabilities (Bishop, 1997; Montgomery, 2002). Compared to normally developing children, children with SLI have smaller vocabularies, produce simpler sentences with more grammatical errors, and have difficulty with the pragmatic aspect of language (problems understanding others or being understood in conversations) (Fey, Long, & Finestack, 2003; Yont, Hewitt, & Miccio, 2002). SLI usually is first identified in the preschool years when a child shows difficulty in conversational settings. In elementary school, language impairment may be observed when children experience difficulty in comprehending and composing both oral and written language or in interacting with peers (Fey et al., 2003).

How would you respond to a parent who is concerned that her two-year-old produces only a few words? A parent concerned about her eight-year-old’s stuttering?

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144 cluster two the developing learner

APPLICATIONS: ENCOURAGING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

A responsive curriculum that recognizes language experiences as the foundation for academic learning will lead to beneficial student outcomes (García, 1992). Let’s consider some general guidelines.

Talk, sing, and read to young children. Caregivers and early childhood educators can support language development by talking with children, singing songs with them, and reading to them.

n Stimulating verbal interactions promote expressive language skills and vocabulary development

(Hart & Risely, 2003; Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2001).

n Singing songs encourages attention to rhythm, repetition, and expressive intonation (Squibb &

Deitz, 2000). The rhymes in songs also promote the development of phonological awareness by calling attention to the component sounds in words (Maclean, Bryant, & Bradley, 1987).

n Native English-speaking and bilingual children who are read to three or more times per week, have books in the home, and make frequent trips to the library have more advanced vocabulary and emergent literacy skills than children without these experiences (DeTemple, 2001; Payne, Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994; Santiago, 1994).

n Preschoolers and kindergartners with specific language impairment can learn to communicate their thoughts, questions, and ideas with storybook sharing (McNeill & Fowler, 1996). During storybook sharing, a teacher elicits responses from children about what is being read, uses expansion to elaborate on their comments, and praises them for appropriate comments about the content or about their interest in what was read or illustrated.

Encourage the development of listening skills. During class discussions and conversations, teachers can model effective listening strategies such as active listening, which involves listening in a non-defensive way and responding by clarifying the message rather than criticizing (Farris, Fuhler, & Walther, 2004; Wolvin & Coakley, 1985). Students need listening skills to help them understand oral directions and explanations of concepts, listen during class discussions, and listen to peers during collaborative group work.

Provide vocabulary instruction. Not only does reading practice influence vocabulary acquisition, but increased vocabulary knowledge contributes to students’ reading comprehension (Miller & Gildea, 1987; Nagy & Herman, 1987; Stanovich, 1986). Teachers can foster vocabulary development through direct instruction with repeated exposure to words in varying contexts, as well as through indirect methods such as reading and class discussions (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Provide opportunities for oral and written language use. Explicit grammar instruction and practice (e.g., writing stories, essays, and journals) help students develop oral language skills such as vocabulary, knowledge of morphology, syntax, and semantics. Also, collaborative group activities, social interaction, and discussions can provide better opportunities for students to develop language and literacy skills than large group lessons, lectures, and independent activities or seatwork (Raphael & Hiebert, 1996).

Be sensitive to individual differences among students.

Rather than explicitly correcting language, teachers should focus on supporting language acquisition in all students by asking questions, clarifying, and expanding on students’ utterances. Open-ended questioning helps elicit language participation from students with specific language impairment and builds their self-confidence

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Reading. Reading to children regularly helps promote language and literacy skills.

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module eight language development 145

Collaborative Activities. Social interaction and collaboration help students develop language skills.

and their competencies in responding to questions (McNeill & Fowler, 1996). Teachers also can encourage positive classroom experiences and promote language development in students who stutter or exhibit dysfluency by using the guidelines summarized in Table 8.5.

In addition, showing sensitivity to the needs of English-language learners will promote their En glish-language acquisition and improve their academic achievement. Teachers need to recognize that the interaction styles of English-language learners may be different from the type of language they are

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TA B L E 8 .5 Guidelines for Promoting Language Development in Students with Dysfluency Early childhood teachers should: Elementary school teachers should:

Reduce conversational demands on children by modeling slow, smooth speech.

Monitor social interactions so that peers do not tease or embarrass a student who stutters, and encourage all students to take turns when speaking.

Avoid telling children to slow down, start over, think, or take a deep breath, because these indicate that their speech is unacceptable, potentially increasing their anxiety and dysfluency.

Include group singing, choral responses, or choral reading in curricula, because these provide opportunities for children who stutter to participate in fluent speech. Recent neurological research has shown that choral speech is activated differently in the brain than speech that occurs in conversations.

Module 8:

Language

Development

Speak with students in an unhurried way.

Maintain eye contact and be patient so children do not feel that the teacher is uncomfortable talking with them.

Convey that they are listening to the content of students’ utterances (rather than their grammar) by using appropriate eye contact, body language, and feedback.

Inform all students to take their time and think about their answers rather than answering questions in a hurry.

Discourage other children from interrupting or trying to finish an utterance for a child who is having difficulty talking.

Encourage all students to practice reading in pairs (taking turns or in unison) and to practice reading their stories at home before reading them orally to the class.

Sources: Büchel & Sommer, 2004; Scott, 2007; Weir & Bianchet, 2004.

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146 cluster two the developing learner

expected to use in the classroom (Crago, 1992; Genesee & Nicoladis, 1995). For example, while native English-speaking children know that it is appropriate to initiate conversations with adults, compete verbally with other children, make eye contact during conversations, and demonstrate their knowledge, some Native American children are expected to remain silent in the presence of adults and to not make eye contact. Their behavior could be misinterpreted as a language delay or a lack of knowledge (Nicoladis & Genesee, 1997). Also, when teachers accept students’ use of their native language for understanding content and answering questions, bilingual learners show positive attitudes toward both languages, leading to better linguistic, academic, and social achievement (Bhatnagar, 1980; Brisk, 1991; Jalava, 1988).

Think about the grade level of students you expect to teach. How can you use the guidelines in Table 8.5 to promote language development in your students?

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key concepts 147

Summary

Explain the factors that contribute to language development. Humans are biologically ready to learn language, and our brains are well equipped to produce and acquire language. Language acquisition also requires experiences that facilitate language learning. Caregivers model language for children, and children receive reinforcement for their language attempts. Caregivers also engage in verbal and nonverbal interactions that teach children about language. While cultures vary in their emphasis of techniques used to support language development, children in all cultures develop language at about the same rate.

Describe changes in semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and metalinguistic awareness from birth through adolescence. Children rapidly acquire language skills during early childhood. They begin to babble at 6 months and acquire first words at about 1 year of age. From ages 2 to 5, children’s syntax expands. Toddlers and preschoolers also acquire pragmatics by using their emerging language skills to achieve different goals. Preschoolers develop metalinguistic awareness as they begin to understand how reading, writing, and the sounds of their language work. From elementary through high school, students’ semantic knowledge continues to expand as their vocabularies rapidly increase and they begin to understand figurative language. Students’ sentences also become more elaborate and consist of more complex grammatical structures. Pragmatics and metalinguistic awareness improve through adolescence as students become better able to understand and use their language skills in reading, writing, and social interactions.

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the methods of teaching English-language learners. Transitional bilingual programs encourage academic success because native-language skills facilitate acquisition of English-language skills and students do not fall behind academically. English-language learners struggle in English-immersion methods that have no curricular modifications to help them learn content in English. Structured English immersion improves on traditional immersion by providing appropriate support to accommodate the needs of students learning the language. Two-way bilingual immersion results in academic success in both languages and in positive attitudes toward school for students of all language backgrounds.

Describe the language differences that emerge from early childhood through the early school-age years. Children exhibit differences in their rate of language development and in how they acquire words. Girls typically are faster than boys to acquire first words and tend to have larger vocabularies. Young children commonly exhibit articulation errors and fluency problems. A specific language impairment is identified in the preschool and early elementary grades when a child’s receptive or expressive language development is significantly below age level despite normal hearing, average nonverbal intelligence, and lack of developmental disabilities.

Describe ways teachers can support language development in the classroom. Teachers can promote language development by showing sensitivity to differences in children’s language patterns, both with students who have language disorders and with students from different language backgrounds. They can support all students’ language capabilities by asking questions, clarifying, and expanding on students’ utterances rather than explicitly correcting language usage. Teachers also can model active listening strategies, incorporate vocabulary instruction into their curricula, and provide opportunities for oral and written language practice to encourage language acquisition in all students.

Key Concepts

active listening articulation disorder babbling child-directed speech code mixing decoding dysfluency English immersion expansion

holophrastic speech joint attention metalinguistic awareness morphemic inflections overextensions overregularizations phonological awareness pragmatics recasting

semantics specific language impairment (SLI) structured English immersion syntax telegraphic speech transitional bilingual education two-way bilingual immersion underextensions

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148 case studies: reflect and evaluate

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Case Studies: Refl ect and Evaluate

Early Childhood: “Fire Safety”

These questions refer to the case study on page 94.

1. Identify examples of expansion and recasting in the case study.
2. Identify theoverregularizations of past-tense verbs in the case study. Is this typical of preschool children’s language development? Based on research on language development, explain why correcting children’s overregularizations and other grammatical errors may not be necessary.

3. Angela read a rhyming book about fire safety. Explain how calling attention to rhymes can help promote phonological awareness and later reading development. In what other ways can preschool teachers promote the development of phonological awareness?

4. Story reading is a common practice in preschools. Explain how it helps foster language development.

5. Imagine that Miyu, a 4-year-old girl who recently immigrated to the United States from Japan and speaks little English, enrolled at Rolling Hills Preschool. Based on the research on bilingual two-way immersion programs, explain why it would be beneficial for the English-speaking preschoolers to learn Japanese while Miyu is learning English at preschool (assuming there is a Japanese-speaking bilingual teacher).

6. Suppose a parent approaches Grace with a concern that her child has a language disorder. Many of the child’s utterances are not understandable because he substitutes the “s” sound for the “sh” sound (saying see for she). What would you say to the parent about these articulation errors? How could you enhance the child’s language development in the preschool classroom?

Elementary School: “Project Night”

These questions refer to the case study on page 96.

1. Carlos included writing a poem as a project option. Based on school-age children’s language development, explain why poetry might be challenging for fifth-grade students.

2. How does Carlos attempt to promote language development in his students? What changes could he make to the project unit to further support language development?

3. How well does Carlos support the language development of his bilingual students?

4. How do the “research teams” help students develop more sophisticated language skills?

5. Based on your reading of the module, would you make any modifications to the research teams activity for students with a specific language impairment or for English-language learners?

Middle School: “Frogs”

These questions refer to the case study on page 98.

1. Describe the language achievements of children in the school-age years. Based on the information in the case, identify weaknesses in the eighth-grade students’ language skills.

2. What changes can Morgan make to the dissection lab to foster language development in her eighth-grade students?
3. What specific changes to her teaching can Morgan make to support the language development of bilingual students in her class?

4. How can Morgan support the language development of students, like Tyler, who have language impairments? Try to think of modifications you would make as a teacher to the biology lab activity and to your teaching in general.

5. Morgan is attending a required workshop on children’s language development but is frustrated at having to learn about the acquisition of language skills in young children. “What does this have to do with my adolescent students?” she thinks. Based on your reading of the module, explain to Morgan how learning about language development from infancy onward can improve her understanding of adolescent language development.

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case studies: reflect and evaluate 149

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High School: “The Substitute”

These questions refer to the case study on page 100.

1. Describe the language achievements of students from elementary through high school. Why might reading material such as A Tale of Two Cities be challenging for adolescents?

2. What techniques did Mr. Matthews use to foster language development in his students? What other recommendations would you suggest to Mr. Matthews?

3. What recommendations would you suggest to Mr. Matthews for supporting the language skills of bilingual students like Demeri?

4. What if some of the students in this case had language impairments? What recommendations would you suggest to Mr. Matthews for supporting the language skills of students with language impairments in his British literature class?

5. Imagine that you are at a school board meeting regarding bilingual education. Make a persuasive argument for K–12 two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) based on the particular benefits to adolescents who have participated in TWBI programs.

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