CHILDREN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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.