Topics: 1. GOALS IN PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 2. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS 3. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL COMPETENCIES : WHERE IT IS USED

1. PLANNING FOR
LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
By CeLT
Topics:
1. GOALS IN PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
2. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
3. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL COMPETENCIES : WHERE IT IS
USED

2. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Machado (1985,p. 2) defines language development as :
“a system of intentional communication through
 SOUNDS
 SIGNS (gestures) or
 SYMBOLS which are understandable to others.”
xc

3. Language is a two-way street that involves
both:
 listening to others and
communicating information to them
It serves as the foundation for most other
types of learning.

4. For communication to take place:
 Speakers and listeners must use the
SAME CODE SYSTEM
1.PHONOLOGY – sound system within a language
2.MORPHOLOGY – word structure
3.SYNTAX – how words are put together in meaningful
order to form sentences / grammar
4.SEMANTICS – study of meaning; most important code
signal

5. Importance of Language Skills
According to the American Speech,
Language and Hearing Association,
language is not the
same as speech.
Language :
• consists of a set of rules, shared by the individuals
who are communicating, that allows them to
exchange those thoughts, ideas or emotions in order
to express and receive information in a meaningful
way.
•can include spoken word but may also be
expressed through writing, signing or gestures.

6. Speech is the verbal expression of
language and consists of
voice
articulation

7. Important things to remember:
The most intensive period of
speech and language
development occurs during the
first three years of life.
Language seems to develop best in an
environment that is loving, caring and
interactive.

8. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS/
MILESTONES:
AGE MILESTONES
0–5 months • Cries, coos, laughs, and vocalizes sounds, expressing both
pleasure and displeasure. Often an adult can tell the meaning of
these sounds, for example: “I’m hungry.”
• The baby watches the caregiver’s face when he or she speaks
and will make sounds in response
•Gradually eliminate the sounds that are not used around them
6–11 months • Baby desires to communicate and has a full range of gestures
• Babbling begins
• May repeat the sounds caregiver makes

9. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS/
MILESTONES:
AGE MILESTONES
12-17 months • Seeks attention or tries to direct attention to something in
the environment
• Can follow simple directions with gestures
• First words develop
• Some children will attempt combining 2 or more words
18-23 months • Children demand desired objects or request an action by
pointing, gesturing, or using words
• Some words may not be clear
• Child understands simple requests without gestures and
verbs like “eat” and “sleep”

10. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS/
MILESTONES:
AGE MILESTONES
2-3 years •Child has a vocabulary of about 900 words
•At age 2, child is beginning to understand and use words for
spatial concepts (in, on)
pronouns (mine, you)
descriptive words (big, happy)
numerical concepts (many, few)
simple and compound sentences
• Uses plural suffix /s/
3-4 years • Child has a vocabulary of about 1500 words
• Speech becomes more complex with more adjectives, adverbs,
pronouns and prepositions
• Past tense verb appears but may over generalize the ed and s
markers

11. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS/
MILESTONES:
AGE MILESTONES
4-5 years •Vocabulary approximately: 2,500 words
• Language is more abstract
• Master most basic rules of language
• Produces grammatically correct sentences
5-6 years • Understand approximately 6,000 words
• Use complex sentences quite frequently
• Use correct pronouns and verbs in the present and past
tense
• Average sentence length is 6.8 words

12. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS/
MILESTONES:
AGE MILESTONES
6-7 years • Average sentence length is 7.5 words
• Speak in complex sentences that use adjectival clauses
• Conditional clauses beginning with if begin to appear
• Begins to read and write
•Understands concepts of time and season

13. Goals for Planning Language
Development
FOR CHILDREN TO:
 Communicate well
 Develop receptive language
 Develop expressive language
 Participate in conversations
 Understand and use words
 Enjoy books and being read to
 Show an awareness of pictures and print
 Experiments with drawing and writing
the ability to understand or
comprehend language heard or
read
being able to put thoughts into
words and sentences, in a way
that makes sense and is
grammatically accurate