Language Development in Children. Psychology Essay

Language Development in Children
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Language Development in Children
Language development is a critical phenomenon in every person's life as one grows from childhood to adulthood. The element is even more vital in children from the time they are infants as their age increases. Since the issue has a direct influence on an individual’s ability to interact with others in their environment, both parents and teachers realize that each of them has a vital role they need to play. While the latter has little to do on this crucial role, teachers tend to have sufficient knowledge to enhance language. In this regard, it is vital to note that there are certain activities that teachers may recommend to parents, which can develop this aspect both before entry into school as well as the older children during the middle and high school years.
Recommended Activities before Children's Entry into School
These activities mainly associate with children before they exceed the age of 8 years. For instance, between 3 and 12 months, children play with sounds as they also get attracted to communication in the form of gestures. A change comes afterward, up to the time when they are eighteen months when they start to produce sounds and names that have a meaning attached to them. Advancement occurs as they grow until the time when they begin to go to school. Indeed, it is possible to notice the difference in communication abilities as children from the same parent grow, especially when they grow under different guardianship. In this regard, teachers may advise parents to assist and get involved as far as the language learning process is concerned in the following ways:
* Restrict or Control the Use of Computers and Television
According to Liu and Kromer (2019), computers and televisions remain some of the essential household items that guardians have to monitor their use closely. Overall, these items may yield different results in a child's life, depending on the availability of oversight by an adult who watches the duration of use. Further, Gardephe (2018) acknowledges the fact that children below the age of two ought to be barred from watching, while those above this age should have their quality programming limited to just two hours in a day. This analogy is based on the agreement that most of the shows that are aired never gauge babies optimally. As children begin to learn a language and progress in it, success significantly depends on the strength of the response and interaction. Computers, on the other hand, can be interactive through games. However, their use yields insignificant results because their programming never responds to the ideas of a child.
* Talking with the Child
Certainly, communicating with a person who barely understands a language is one of the most challenging tasks one can face in their social life. The situation is worse with a baby because they are in the initial stages of their cognitive development. In contrast, some studies argue that children's young age presents an almost entirely neutral opportunity for an individual because their minds are not preoccupied with any significant content that might confuse their ability to learn new knowledge. Raising Children Network (2020) advocates for talking to a child and treating them as persons with the ability to speak right from the time they are 12 months old. For example, a parent may do so by saying a word or short sentence to them and waiting for them to respond. Babies typically say what they hear, although their pronunciation may be unclear. Repeating to them what they just bubbled creates fun as it signals the beginning of communication and the opportunity to improve their speech.
As evident in other spheres of life across all ages, hearing many words increases the scope of their mastery in a particular piece of knowledge. Exposure to this opportunity to learn about new words is an essential move to concentrate more on what you are doing or seeing as those are the words that make more sense to them. While they may not be able to understand everything at the beginning, a parent should focus on the long term goal because comprehension increases as they grow. For example, a parent may talk about a ball or about kicking it while looking at it. Consequently, they will gain an understanding of the words' meanings and functions.
* Following a Child’s Lead
Teachers are adequately trained on how to apply this phenomenon to learn what interests a child the most during their early stages of education. However, its implementation requires significant input from parents who are the first people they know as they grow from infancy. According to some schools of thought, a child's lead is considered a risky element requiring control by an adult. However, Gardephe (2018) argues for this case specifically regarding children at the language learning stage when they are just learning to communicate. Naturally, a child is attracted to any object or event that captures their attention, creating an opportunity for a guardian to teach them something. For instance, if the sight of a book intrigues them, then it would be advisable to bring them more books while (at the same time) talking about them to trigger an interactio...