Development of Language in Children and Adults

The ability to learn and recall information when it is needed is essential for virtually every human activity, so it is important to develop a better understanding concerning how young children differ in this capacity compared to older children when formulating interventions to facilitate this process (Silva & Britto, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the relevant literature concerning these issues as well as what interventions have been proven effective in improving memory recall in different age cohorts. Finally, the paper provides a summary of the review of the literature and key findings concerning how young children differ from older children in their ability to recall information in the conclusion.
How do young children differ from older children in the ability to recall information?
On the one hand, the world in which very young children live is one of magic and wonder, and countless novel events occur that are especially memorable and which contribute to the memory-making process. On the other hand, though, very young children differ in their ability to recall specific information versus older children since their mental lexicon remains comparatively undeveloped. In this regard, Silva and Britto (2014) note that, “The human holds a mental lexicon, and this is accessed when there the desire to represent, by words, an object, an action, an attribute, an event. The learning of words and how to use them accordingly is a fundamental aspect of the language development” (p. 1654).
What interventions work to improve memory recall in different populations?
There is a general consensus among language development researchers that additional studies are needed to determine with more specificity the manner in which infants develop language. In this regard, Howell (2011) reports that, “We do not fully understand the interaction of mother and infant somatic and visceral processes gives the infant a means of expression and access to the other anticipatory motor-images and feelings and permits direct motive-to motive engagement with a companion” (p. 138). What is known for certain, though, is that the earlier language development interventions are implemented (i.e., as early as 11 months of age), the more benefits infants receive from them (Moeller, 2000).
Nevertheless, what is also known for certain is that one of the more remarkable aspects of the human condition is the ability of infants to interact with their mothers from birth using what is termed protoconversations that are comprised of “baby talk” such as babbling and other vocalizations (Crestani, Moraes & de Souza, 2015). Therefore, interventions that are designed to promote protoconversations can facilitate memory recall in even very young babies. In this regard, Crestani and her associates report that, ”[P]roto-conversation is an element generating disjunctive and conjunctive mechanisms in mother-infant dialogues, that will be instrumental in rearing the baby in and by the language whose first evidence is the baby’s early lexical production” (p. 169).
Interventions that are designed to improve memory recall in young children are important because this knowledge is a prerequisite for developing effective listening, speaking, writing and reading skills (Huey & Swinehart, 2015). It is important to note, however, that various interventions have fundamentally different objectives such as improving academic performance or interpersonal communication abilities (Huey & Swinehart, 2015). Providing the optimal intervention means that some children may require nontraditional instructions (Huey & Swinehart, 2015).
Although it is regarded as being nontraditional, an effective intervention that can be used to improve recall of vocabulary words with children is to incorporate various imagery strategies. For instance, according to Huey and Swinehart (2015), “Imagery helps when learning verbal definitions and when associating new words with existing concepts” (p. 46). A growing body of evidence confirms that there is an inextricable link between higher-order comprehension and visual vocabulary learning strategies for improving word meaning understanding as well as the ability to infer information and formulate predictions (Huey & Swinehart, 2015). Moreover, studies have shown that visual imagery can improve short and long-term memory for word meaning and recall (Huey & Swinehart, 2015).
By contrast, interventions designed to improve memory recall in young adults have used repetitive training sessions. For instance, an intervention reported by Naveh-Benjamin and Cowan (2009) used lists consisting of paired items which had previously been presented at differing levels of association in four training sessions; however, a set of paired control words were not included during the initial stage of the intervention. According to methodology described by these researchers:
“The four presentations could be singletons (in the zero-pairing condition), three times as singletons and once in pairs (in the one-pairing condition), twice as singletons and twice in consistent pairs (in the two-pairing condition), or four times in consistent pairs (in the four-pairing condition)” (Naveh-Benjamin & Cown, 2009, p. 725).
In addition, four pairs were presented In an eight-item list that were drawn from the control condition or the pairing condition. The findings that emerged from this intervention showed that serial recall was improved as a result (Naveh-Benjamin & Cowan, 2009). In this regard, Nevah-Benjamin and Cowan conclude that, “Results of a cued-recall procedure showed that the knowledge of item-to-item associations was long-lasting, including both knowledge from the training session and some additional knowledge acquired during the list presentations” (p. 726). By contrast, interventions that are designed for use with the elderly must take into account age-related declines in memory; however, the research to date indicates that these age-related declines only affect certain memory functions, most particularly episodic recall (Naveh-Benjamin & Cowan, 2009).
The results of the administration of a revised version of the cued-recall procedure described above that was designed for use with young adults for a group of 30 older adults by Naveh-Benjamin and Cowan (2009) found that the elderly participants experienced various improvements in their memory recall but not to the same extent as their younger counterparts as shown in Figure 1 below.

Younger Adults Older Adults
Figure 1. Proportion correct in each group in each serial position according to strict serial scoring, separately for each condition (graph parameter)
Source: Naveh-Benjamin & Cowan, 2009
Here again, while further research is needed in this area, this intervention was viewed as holding promise for helping older adults retain their memory recall and delay the adverse effects of again (Naveh-Benjamin & Cowan, 2009).
Language development in language-minority children
Given the increasing diversity of the American demographic composition, there is a corresponding need for interventions that can help young learners from language-minority families. According to the definition provided by Lonigan, Goodrich and Farver (2018), “Language-minority children speak a different language at home than does the majority of the population of the country in which they live” (p. 631). At present, Spanish-speaking children account for the largest percentage of minority members in the United States with around 52.6 million people representing approximately 18.2% of the American population (Perez, 2015). Moreover, other minorities continue to increase in relative size to the general population, meaning that greater attention must be paid to language development interventions for language-minority children.
Conclusion
The research showed that even very young babies have the ability to communicate from birth in ways that are still being researched, and these infants as well as older children can benefit from appropriate language development interventions. The research also showed that younger children differ in their ability to learn and recall information compared to older children, with the former lacking the more advanced cognitive abilities enjoyed by the latter which facilitate memory retention and recall. Finally, there were several age-specific interventions identified in the literature that can be used to help people of all ages, including the elderly, improve their memory and recall abilities.


References
Crestani, A. H., Moraes, A. B. & de Souza, A. P. (2015, January-February). Association analysis between child development risks and children early speech production between 13 and 16 months. Revista CEFAC, 17(1), 169-176.
Howell, E. F. (2011). Understanding and treating dissociative identity disorder: A relational approach. New York: Routledge.
Huey, E. & Swinehart, C. (2015, July 1). Applying imagery to vocabulary instruction. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 41(3), 45-49.
Moeller, M. P. (2000, September). Early intervention and language development in children who are deaf and hard of hearing. Pediatrics, 106(3), 37-41.
Naveh-Benjamin, M. & Cowan, N. (2009, October 1). Age-related differences in immediate serial recall: Dissociating chunk formation and capacity. Memory and Cognition, 35(4), 724-737.
Perez, C. (2015, June 29). U.S. has more Spanish speakers than Spain. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2015/06/29/us-has-more-spanish-speakers-than-spain/.
Silva, T. R. & Britto, D. B. (2014, November-December). Revista CEFAC, 15(6), 1654-1663.