CHILDREN
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Theory of Children Language Development
Research
conducted on the development of the language of children certainly can not be
separated from views, hypotheses, or psychology theory adopted. In this case
history has recorded three views or
theory
in child language development. Two controversial views are expressed by
American scholars, the view of nativism which holds that the mastery of
language in childhood is natural, and the view of beings that argue that
language acquisition in childhood is "nurture". A third view emerged
in Europe from Jean Piaget who argued that language acquisition is a skill that
comes from cognitive maturation, so his view is called cognitivism.
The
following will be briefly summarized by the three views. The view of nativisme is represented by
Noan Chomsky, the view of behaviorism represented by B.F. Skinner, and
cognitivism by Jean Piaget, whose names we have known in the previous chapters.
Theory of Nativism
Nativism
argues that during the process of acquiring the first language, the child
(human) gradually unfolds his genetically programmed lingual abilities. This
view does not perceive the environment as influential in the acquisition of
language, but assumes that language is a biological gift, in line with the
so-called "natural gifting hypothesis."
The
nativists argue that the language is too complex and complicated, so it is
impossible to learn in a short period of time through methods such as
"imitation." So there must be some important aspects of the language
system that already exist in humans naturally.
Chomsky
(1965, 1975) sees the language as not only complex, but also full of errors and
deviations of rules on language pronunciation (performances). Man is not
possible to learn the first language of others. During their studies they used
the principles that guided them to 'grammatical'.
According
to Chomsky language can only be controlled by humans. Animals are unlikely to
master human language. This opinion is based on assumptions. First, language
behavior is something inherited (genetic); the pattern of language development
is the same in all languages and cultures (it is something universal) and the
environment has little role in the language maturation process. Second, language
can be mastered in a short time, four-year-olds can already speak similar to
adults. Thirdly, the child's language environment can not provide sufficient
data for mastery of elaborate grammar from adults.
According
to Chomsky, the child is born with a "acquisition device (LAD)." This
tool is a pre-programmed biological grant for detailing possible grains of a
grammar LAD is considered a physiological part of the brain is specialized to
process the language, and has nothing to do with other cognitive abilities.
Theory of Behaviorism
Behaviorists
emphasize that the process of acquiring the first language is controlled from
the outside of the child, that is by the stimulation provided through the
environment. The term language for the behaviorists is considered
less
precise because the term language implies a being, something that is owned or
used, and not something done. Though the language is one of behavior, among
other human behaviors. Therefore, they prefer to use the term verbal behavior
(verbal behavior), to look more like other behaviors that should be studied.
According
to the behaviorists the ability to speak and memaharni language by children is
obtained through the stimulation of the environment. The child is considered a
passive recipient of his environmental stress, has no active role in the
process of developing his verbal behavior. Behaviorists not only do not
acknowledge the active role of the child in the process of obtaining language,
nor do they acknowledge the child's maturity. The process of language
development is primarily determined by the duration of practice given by the
environment. '
According
Skinner (1969) grammatical rules or rules of language is a verbal behavior that
allows a person to answer or say something. If, however, the child can speak,
it is not because of "rule-governed" because the child can not
express the rules of language, but is formed directly by factors outside
himself.
Behaviorists
do not acknowledge the view that children are in control of language rules and
have the ability to ignore important features of the language in their
environment. They argue that stimuli from certain environments strengthen
children's language skills. Their language development is seen as an
advancement of randomly applicable verbal disclosure to the true ability to
communicate through the S-R (stimulus-response) and imitation-imitating
principles.
Theory of Cognitivism
Jean
Piaget (1954) states that the language is not a separate natural feature, but
one of several abilities derived from cognitive maturity. Language is
distrukturi by reason; then language development must be based on more
fundamental and more general changes in cognition. Thus, the sequences of
cognitive development determine the order of language development.
Chomsky,
once refuted this concept of cognitivism from Piaget «. He stated that the
general mechanisms of cognitive development can not explain the complex,
abstract, and kh language structures
that.
Nor can the language environment explain the structure that appears in the
child's language. Therefore, according to Chomsky, language (structure or
rules) must be obtained naturally.
In
contrast, Piaget asserts that the complex structure of the language is not the
souffle given by nature, nor is it something learned from the environment. The
language structure arises as a result of the continuous interaction between the
level of the child's cognitive function with his language environment (as well
as other environments). The structure arises inevitably from a series of interactions.
Because of the inevitable emergence, the structure does not need to be
naturally supplied.
If
Chomsky argues that the environment is not a big influence in the language
maturation process, Fiaget believes that the environment also not great influence
on the intellectual development of children. Changes or intellectual
development of the child is very dependent on active involvement of children
with their circumstances. How the relationship between cognitive development
and language development in children can be seen from Piaget's description of
the earliest stages of a child's intellectual development. The developmental
stage from birth to 18 months of age by Piaget is referred to as the
"motor sensory" stage. At this stage there is no language because the
child has not used the symbols to point to the objects around him.
Motoric Development
Motoric development is the
most visible development of the baby at birth, a gradual development from
sitting, crawling, and walking.
Shortly after birth, a baby will spend between 14 and 18 hours sleeping, and
then gradually diminishes. At the age of 3 or 4 months the baby is able to sit
for a while (about a minute) with the help of an adult. At the age of 7 or 8
months the baby is able to sit alone without help; and by the age of 9 months
the baby is able to sit for ten minutes or more. The ability to crawl occurs at
the age of 7 months, and a month later begins to appear as he stands and holds
onto a chair. At the age of 11 months the child can ,, stand alone, and *
around the age of 13 months he is able to walk alone.
Motoric means motion. The two
most noticeable movability of the experts is the walking and use of the hand as
a tool (Morgan, 1986). Both walking and hand-using understanding are largely
dependent on maturity, however, the help of parents or caregivers can help
accelerate the development of this motor. Studies of children whose motion
abilities are limited in the first few months of life show evidence that lack
of exercise does not change the sequence of events leading to walking. If the
"walking" exercise is enriched, given more portion, the ability to
walk may be earned earlier; but the order of ability does not change (Morgan,
1986).
Understanding
the use of the hand also follows a predictable sequence of progression: the
movement begins with the rough movement of the baby's hand toward an object to
manipulate. Then immediately evolves toward reaching by hand simply, holding
the object with the palm of the hand. The next stage, the child grabbed by hand
followed by. dexterity of fingers and thumb, until the boy can use two fingers
just like we picked up a pencil. The order of hand-using ability is controlled
by the maturation of the brain's nervous system.
Social and
Communication Development
There
is an opinion that the baby from birth to the age of about a year not have
language or not speak (Poerwo, 1989).
Presumably
this assumption does not reflect actual baby behavior, because although it is
said to have no language, but actually the baby has communicated. Crying is one
of the first ways to communicate with the world around it. .
Indeed
since birth the baby is "tuned" biologically to communicate, he will be responsive
to the incidents caused by people around him (especially his mother). The best viewing power
of a baby is about 20 cm (8 inches), ie the distance that occurs during routine
interaction between the baby and the mother, when the baby is feeding; her
mother. Less. over 70% of the feeding time, the mother looked at her baby,
within 20 cm. Therefore, the baby will reply to his gaze by looking at the
mother's eyes that interest him. Then the baby also learns that: when there is
mutual gaze, there is communication between him and his mother.
The
optimal 'dexgat sound' range that a baby can do is within the frekuen range of
the human voice. Babies seem to prefer to hear people more than sounds or
sounds from other sources. When hearing a human voice he will try to find it.
If successful and see the face of the person who speaks he will look happy. Her
eyes are wide open, her face bright, and she tries to raise her chin toward the
source of the sound: that is, when she hears a voice that is not a human voice,
she does not react like that.
The
baby is already actively involved in an interactive process with his mother
shortly after birth. She responds to her mother's voice and gestures; and
observing her mother's face. In the first week of his life he has begun to
imitate the activities of moving his hands, stuck his tongue, and opened his mouth.
Approaching. the age of one month he started to imitate the low height and: the
short length of his mother's voice.
At
the age of two weeks the baby is able to distinguish his mother's face from the
face of others. He is very responsive to everyone who approaches him; and
especially interested in eye and mouth observation; and he'akakak react with
terseriyum. Fada about three weeks of baby smile has "can be referred to
as" social smile ", because the smile is given as a social reaction to
the stimulus (in the form of a mother's face or voice) from the outside.
In
the second month the baby gets more and more "cooing," like the sound
of a dove. In the next stage the baby begins to understand the
"turn-taking" pattern in communicating. That is, he begins to
understand when he should react to the stimuli of his mother, and whenever he
should be silent. The game "ci-luk-ba" or the like further sharpens
the baby's ability to understand the "rotation pattern" in the
communication. Through games like "ci-juk-ba" the baby also learns
polk ends a communication. He understands, for example, that if the mother
diverts her eyes to another place, the game stops.
By
the age of five months, the baby begins to imitate the sounds and movements of
adults intentionally, so that the ip face of his facial expression increases.
Then, at the age of five months he can speak with an attitude that shows
pleasure, displeasure, and curiosity.
By
the age of six months the baby's interest in toys and objects is increasing;
his interest was more focused on humans. He or she will be tangled with movable
objects or that: sounds. At the age of six months there is a shift of interest,
he is more interested in objects than humans. So from that moment on, the
interaction became a trio of babies, mothers, and things.
Between
the ages of seven to twelve months the child begins to hold more idol in
interaction with his mother. Ariak learns to express the will or the will more
clearly and more effectively. The Ways to convey this will is primarily done
with
his
movements, especially hand gestures. At first the hand gestures that express
the desire without a sound, but then gradually the sound appears accompanying
it. Von Reffler Engel (1973, in Purwo, 1984) notes that boys voiced
"e-e-e" to ask for something, and voiced "u-u-u" if they
did not approve of something. While Pore (1976, in Purwp, 1989) reported having
heard four eleven-month-olds consistently voiced "a-a-a" for
expressing pleasure, and the "e-e-e" to express protest.
Cognitive Development
The
term of cognition deals with
the mental events involved in the introduction of the world, which involves a
little more thought or thinking. Therefore, in general the word cognition can
be considered with the word thinking or
thought.
Of
the many studies on thinking processes in children of different ages, Piaget
states that there are several stages
in the child's cognitive development. They are (1) sensomotoric stages, (b) preoperational
stages, (c) concrete
operational stages,
and (d) formal operational stages
(Morgan, 1986).
a.
Sensomotoric
Stage
This
stage of the sensomotor is the first stage of development child cognition, and
takes place on a portion of the first two years within his life. At the
beginning of this stage the baby has not distinguished himself from the rest of the world,
and its behavior is limited to the use of patterns / new responses, and the
baby can make new movements
deliberate.
Memory (memory) that has not been perfect appear together with some anticipation
of things to come. Order
the
first development at this stage is the use of the five senses. Then in the
second part of the first year is the ability motor. Then, in the
second year comes the coordination of both abilities beginning of this. At
the end of the sensory period the baby can think about the world, which is
related to experiences and actions.
b.
Pre-operational Stage
In this stage. how
children's "thinking" is still dominated by the ways in which things
or things are visible. The way of thinking is still less operational. For
example, the children
can not yet assumes
that the number of objects will remain the same, although the form or
the settings changed. For example, in an experiment
on a child faced with two large
glass and the same shape, and both both full of water.
Then the water from one glass is removed to
a smaller but smaller sized glass siider high
from the glass. The water in the cylinder looked taller than it was
that is in the glass. When asked, "Which is
more water in a glass or that is
in a cylinder. "The child will probably replied
that the water in the cylinder is more. This
opinion is certainly based on a certain aspect that imposes a situation
certain, in this case the height of the water.
Such opinions are a common phenomenon of the
preoperational stage of the pretectolian ladies' children.
c.
The
Concrete Operational Phase
This
concrete operational stage is passed by children aged around seven to eleven years. In the childhood
stage it has understood the concept of conversion, so they know that the water in the glass and the
cylinders are the same number. However, the child could not explain the reason.
Same with when asked, where
I heavier, iron one kilogram with kapok one kilogram. The child at the preoperational stage will
answer a heavier iron because he is fooled by the fact that iron is heavier
than cotton. Conversely, the child at the concrete operational stage will
answer the same weight. However, he can not explain the reason.
d. Formal Operational Phase
At
this stage that passes after the child is eleven years old, children are logical thinking as well as
adults. During this formal operational period, children begin to use formal
rules of thought and logic to provide a basis for the truth of their answers. They
formulate and test complex hypotheses,
they
think abstract,
and they generalize with
using
an abstract concept, from one situation to another (Morgan, 1986)
Language Development
Newborns
until the age of one year commonly referred to as infant means 'not able to
speak'. This term is right if be associated with speech or language skills. However,
it is inappropriate or incorrect when it is associated with the ability to
communicate, because even if "no language" the baby is able or
already communicating with the person who maintains it; such as with tears,
smiles, or body movements. Therefore, perhaps in the developmental stage of
infant language (childhood) can be divided into two:
namely
(1) the stage of development of articulation, and (2) the development
stage of words and sentences (Poerwo, 1989).
A. Phase of Development of
Articulation
This
stage is passed between the baby since Iahir until approximately age 14 month.
In Chapter 13.3 it has been said that by the age of one year, babies everywhere are
capable of producing "aaa" vowel sounds, "eee", or
"uuu" with a maksiid to express certain feelings (Dora et al.1976;
Raffler Engel, 1973).
However,
it is actually an effort towards
"produces"
the sounds have started in the weeks since the birth of the baby.
The development in producing this sound, which we are call the development of
articulation,
B. Stages of Development
of Words and Sentences
'The
ability to vocable is continued with the ability to speak words, then say simple
sentences, and more sentences
perfect.
However, this is mastered in stages and in the run certain time.
1. The First Word
The
ability to say the first word is largely determined by mastery of
articulation; and by the ability to associate words with objects which is his reference
(de Vilers, 1979 in Purwo, 1989). Attribution there is a relationship
between the word concerned with a particular object consisten can help the
child in saying the word. Without
the
attribution of seems to be an obstacle for the child to be able to say the word.
According
to Francescato (1968, in Purwb 1989), the child learns to say the word as a
whole, regardless of the phoneme of the words one by one. Meanwhile, according
to (Waterspn, -1971 in
Purwo 1989), the child can only capture certain characteristics of the word
spoken by an adult, and his pronunciation is limited to his articulation ability.
For example, when at a certain stage the child has not yet uttered the phoneme
[k], but can already pronounce the phoneme [t], he will mimic the word [fish]
and [not] spoken by the adult with the pronunciation [itan] and [butan]. Or
before he can pronounce the phoneme [n], but can already pronounce the phoneme
[n], he will mimic the word [monet] spoken by an adult with monet
pronunciation. Thus
we see this child simplifying his systematic pronunciation
2.
One
word sentence
The
first word the child will successfully say will be followed by the second,
third, fourth, and so on. The privilege of words spoken by a child can usually
be interpreted as a meaningful sentence. Thus, the first time a child speaks
meaning is composed of a one-word sentence. The first to emerge is' the
utterance uttered by an adult and what he hears or familiar ones such
as toys, people, pet animals,
food,
and clothing.
The
one-word phrase that Iazim calls holofrasis by many experts can be regarded not
as a sentence, because its meaning is difficult to predict. The sentence for
those in the syntactic surrogate begins when the child can combine two words
(more or less when he is two years old).
The
development of the vocabulary of children at first is slow. However, then it
becomes rather fast ,so that by the age of .18 months, the child has had
vocabulary of 50 pieces. The words that are mastered are mostly nouns, and then
following a word that states action. However, according to Nelson (1973 in
Purwo) there is a child who noun Lovers (noun holder) and there are noun
leavers (noun drain).
3.
Two-word
sentences
The
meaning of a two-word phrase is a sentence consisting of only two words, as a
continuation of a one-word sentence. Ability to combine these two words in the
form of a sentence controlled by the child mehjelang the age of 18 months In
combining words, children follow the sequence of words contained in the
language of the adult persons. However, many combinations of taxa-like words,
such as doggiebed, can be used by the child to refer to the dog's 'lying
place', as possessive construction; but it could also be to say 'dogs sleeping
in maternal beds', as locative construction. However, in pronunciation there is
a difference: to express the possessive properties the pressure is given to the
word doggie, whereas to express the locative construction the pressure is
applied to the word bed.
Speech
in the form of this two-word phrase is far more productive than a one-word
sentence. This is certainly in accordance with the development ability the child as a whole.
After
the mastery of a two-word sentence reaches a certain stage, then develop a
sentence composed of three words. (Brown
1973) This three-word phrase construction is actually the result of a merger or
an extension of the previous two-word construction.
By
the age of two years the average child has been able to compose a four-word
sentence that is by extension, although the phrase two words still dominate the
corpus of speech. In
parenting, mothers often use the "yes-no" (yes / no question)
sentence pattern in children two to three years old. At this time the
development of the language of children increased rapidly, especially since the
mother uses a variety of techniques to invite a child to talk, The question
that the child can answer is answered by the mother, so by the age of three the
child is familiar with the pattern of dialogue. He is between; others already
understand when it turn talk
and when will the other person speak. This goes on tennis until the child
is four or five years old.
C. Stage Before School
What
is meant by approaching the school here is before children enter primary
school. when they were between five f and six years. Education in kindergarten
let alone play group can not be regarded as school f because its nature only
help children to ready to enter basic education.
If
we review the language development of children after they can say their first
"word", we see the child initially speaking in just one word. The
spoken words are simple shapes, objects, events, or people who are in; Then,
there was a second year after he found out 50 words, many of whom were able to
combine two words. However, these two words do not yet contain articles,
prepsitions, or elements of massacre: -other. So the two words he made could be
naughty. For example "Mommy juice" can mean 'Mommy's juice', or
'Mommy, give me my juice', or 'Mommy is drinking her juice'. But usually
mothers can understand what is meant or desired by the child with the sentence
of two words that taxa.
A
number of studies on the two-word phrase contained in various languages
indicate that in any part of the world children of this age speak the
thoughts and intentions of Sarria; At the time the sentence becomes longer,
meaning it has many words, began to emerge gramatikal form.
According
to Benedict (1979), concerning the development of vocabulary on the age of about 13
months the child has mastered receptively about 50 pieces Words, but only around the
age of 19 months a child can be productive take out the words. Age
between two and a half to four
half
a year is a period of rapid expansion vocabulary that. Age between two
and a half to four half
a year is a period of rapid expansion vocabulary. In fact, according to Clark
(1982 in Purwo 1989) on Usla between two up to six years children tend to create
new words for Language
Development of Children certain
concepts, for example declare fcata pourer (which should be cup), catar
plant-man (which should be gardener), or use the word crackering in the
crackering my am.
Regarding
the introduction of written language in a society that is not illiterate, the
child has started "on" written language before preschool. He knew,
for example, that his name could be written on paper. He has been able to
distinguish between the drawings and the writings in the book; and he knows
that his parents read the writing, not the pictures, in the story book or other
books / readings.
When
entering kindergarten the child has mastered almost all basic grammatical
language rules. He can already make sentences of news, sentences, and a number
of other constructions. Only he still gets into trouble in making passive
sentences. According to Harwood (1959, in Purwo, 1989) children up to the age
of five and a half years are not yet fully able to make passive sentences. Out
of about 2,000 spontaneous sentences-the five-year-old Warwood did not find a
passive sentence. According to Baldie (1976, in Purwo 1989) only about 80% of
children ages seven and a half to eight years can make passive sentences.
Preschoolers also still have difficulty with imperative sentence construction
(ErVin - Tripp, 1977 in Purwo, 1989). However, children in this preschool have
learned things that are beyond vocabulary and grammar. They can already use
language in a variety of social contexts. They can say rude to their friends but
can also say politely to their parents.
