LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND SYMBOL WEAVING—CONFLICTING OR COMPLEMENTING VIEWS?

It’s amazing how often I am approached about what to do in cases of child rearing; the thing that amazes me is that I have never “birthed” a child, or taken parenting classes prior to having a child, yet people see me responding to children and evidently feel as though I know what I am doing. I find children intriguing, and oftentimes find myself observing them closely when they seem to be having difficulties. Their seeming unprovoked emotional flooding (Groves Gillespie, 2008) causes me to open-mindedly recognize their feelings without judgment or assumptions (How to Observe Children [Janet Gonzalez-Mena], 2011), and engage with them on their level of language.


Although, I do believe that babbling (Kathleen Berger, 2008) has its particular time and place in infant development, I personally do not like to use it very much in relating to infant/toddlers. Through observation we notice that infants ranging from age 0-12 months are capable of demonstrating self-worth and accomplishment (Observing children part 1: Infants and Toddlers [Mo Kelly], 2011); by the age of 19-36 months they have demonstrated concrete and abstract thinking along with highly developed imitation and role playing skills (2011).

With all of this in mind, I believe that in the case of suggesting appropriate positions or combination of positions about the goals of language learning and use, I would lean heavily towards Jerome Bruner’s LASS theory (Sandra Smidt, 2006). LASS stands for language acquisition support system, and is truly the foundation for language development. One of the building blocks of Bruner’s theory is based upon Noam Chomsky’s (1975) belief that the human infant is born pre-programmed to work out the rules of speech. Since the human brain has all of the components for learning already built into its structure, further language development is simply a matter of support in helping the child gain its “balance” if you will in using its language effectively.

I used to work for a nationally recognized telephone company in a department called Relay Service. I was a telecommunication operator who translated typed messages to hearing message between the deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing cultures. There were deaf interpreters available on site 24 hours a day, so I was able to pick-up some sign language and learn many intricate details about deaf culture. One of the things that I learned was that deaf babies are able to speak fluent sign language by the time they are 12 months old. The phase of development we like to call “Terrible Twos” is not as prevalent in the deaf culture. One of the reasons is that the deaf toddlers aren’t inhibited in their ability to communicate their desires or wants as the hearing/speaking children. Many times tantrums can be a result of frustration on the child’s part to not be able to communicate what they desire to communicate. If a hearing/speaking child has a soiled diaper on, but hasn’t yet been supported in how to communicate this need for a diaper change, the child may be irritable, and cantankerous. Deaf children are capable of demonstrating their needs by a simple gesture of their hands based on the culture of their education (Jerome Bruner, 1996). The purpose of language is to communicate (1978). Can you imagine having the capability to communicate, but lacking the fine tuning that makes it effective? The routine and familiar formats (1982) demonstrated by the parent are a great scaffolding system (1983) of support to the early development of language in the child.

In conclusion, my discussion can be simply stated as such: language is universal even though it has much diversity. The key to its development is the support that is received in the fine tuning or enhancement of the brain’s structural ability. Challenge the brain—it will meet the challenge. Children arrive ready to grow and learn; let’s encourage and support them as best we can.


Video of ASL and Toddlers

REFERENCE LIST

Berger, K. [Kathleen] S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers

Bruner, J. [Jerome]. (1996). The Culture of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bruner, J. [Jerome] S. (1978). ‘On prelinguistic prerequisitions of speech’ in R. N. Campbell and P. T. Smith (eds) Recent Advances in the Psychology of Language: Language Development and Mother-Child Interaction. New York: Plenum.

Bruner, J. [Jerome] S. (1982). ‘Formats of language acquisition’. American Journal of Semiotics 1 (3): 1-16.

Bruner, J. [Jerome] S. (1983). Child’s Talk: Learning to Use Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chomsky, N. [Noam]. (1975). Reflections on Language. New York: Random House.

Early Childhood Development: How to observe children [Video]. (2011). [with Janet Gonzalez Mena]. Laureate Education, Inc. Walden University Multimedia Program. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University

Early Childhood Development: Observing children part 1: Infants and Toddlers [Video]. (2011). [with Mo Kelly]. Laureate Education, Inc. Walden University Multimedia Program. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University

Groves Gillespie, L. [Linda]., & Hunter, A. [Amy]. (2008). Emotional flooding: Using empathy to help babies manage strong emotions. Young Children, 63(5), 46–47.

Smidt, S. [Sandra]. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York: Routledge.