Language Development: Preschoolers & Early School Age

EDU 280 Fall 2014

Characteristics

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Young preschoolers:

 2-3 years old 

Older preschoolers:

 4-5 year olds

Characteristics

Young Preschoolers

 Vocabularies range from between 250 to over 1,000 words.

 An average of 50 new words enter the child’s vocabulary each month.

Characteristics

Verb forms   regularization: a child’s speech behavior that indicates the formation and internalization of a language rule (regularity) Sequence in formed rules for past tense verb usage:  Uses irregular tense endings correctly: ran, came, drank    Forms an internal rule when discovering that “ed” expressed past events: danced, called, played Overregularizes: adds “ed” to all regular and irregular verbs that were formerly spoken correctly: “camed,” “dided,” “wented,” “breaked” Learns that both regular and irregular verbs express past tense and uses both

Characteristics

Plurals

 In using plural noun forms the following sequence is common:  Remembers and uses singular forms of nouns correctly: ball, dog, mouse, bird     Uses irregular noun plurals correctly: men feet, mice Forms an internal rule that plurals have “s” or “z” sounds Applies rule to all nouns: balls, mens, dogs, feets, birds, mices, or ballsez, dogzes, feetsez Achieves flexible internal rules for plurals, memorizes irregular plural forms, and uses plurals correctly.

Characteristics

    Key Word Sentences  Sentences are about 4 words long Pronouns often used incorrectly  Me finish all milk Questions “Wh” questions appear Overlapping concepts   Overextension Underextension

Characteristics

 Running Commentaries  Repetition  Lack of clarity   About one in every 4 words of the young preschooler is not readily understandable Young preschoolers are only 40-80% correct in articulation

Typically articulation of all English speech sounds is not accomplished until age 7 or 8

Older Preschoolers

 Vocabulary of over 1500-2000 words  Sentences of 5 or 6 (or more) words  Exploring the Conventions of Conversation  Relational Words  Impact Words  Sound Words  Reality and Nonsense

Older Preschoolers

 Articulation of letter sounds still developing   About 75% of the English letter sounds are made correctly Omissions and substitutions are still present

Myths Concerning Speech and Intelligence

 A large and mature vocabulary at this age is not necessarily an indicator of intelligence.

5 Year Olds

 Can use many descriptive words spontaneously both adjectives and adverbs  Knows common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heavy-light, etc  Has number concepts of 4 or more   Can count to ten Speech should be completely intelligible, in spite of articulation problems  Should have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y (yellow)

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5 Year Olds

Should be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words  Should be able to define common objects in terms of use (hat, shoe, chair)   Should be able to follow three commands given without interruptions Should know his/her age  Should have simple time concepts: morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after while tomorrow, yesterday, today  Should be using fairly long sentences and should use some compound and some complex sentences  Speech on the whole should be grammatically correct

6 Year Olds

 In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th, l  Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful  Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing relationships between objects and happenings  By this age a child understands 13,000 words

7 Year Olds

 Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George  Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc  Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc  Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words  can now understand 20,000-26,000 words,

8 Year Olds

 Can relate rather involved accounts of events, many of which occurred at some time in the past  Complex and compound sentences should be used easily  Should be few lapses in grammatical constructions-tense, pronouns, plurals  All speech sounds, including consonant blends should be established  Should be reading with considerable ease and now writing simple compositions

8 Year Olds

 Social amenities should be present in his speech in appropriate situations  Control of rate, pitch, and volume are generally well and appropriately established  Can carry on conversation at rather adult level  Follows fairly complex directions with little repetition  Has well developed time and number concepts