This paper examines language development in children through direct observation of a five-year-old bilingual learner across five naturalistic situations: family meals, peer play, social interaction with visitors, television watching, and shared reading. The author connects observed behaviors—including code-switching between Arabic and English, imitation of adult speech patterns, pronunciation challenges, and vocabulary acquisition—to foundational theories by Vygotsky, Piaget, and Skinner. The paper includes a developmental milestones chart spanning ages 6 months to 5 years and concludes that language development is shaped primarily by family environment, cultural context, and quality of adult guidance during early childhood.
Observing children's language development can be fascinating. What could be more exciting than hearing a child imitate and behave similarly to the people around them? According to Lev Vygotsky, "Language is man's greatest tool." He believed that language is a critical instrument in cognitive development for two reasons: first, it is the primary tool adults use to communicate information to children; second, language is key to intellectual adaptation (McLeod, 2007).
For the past couple of weeks, I have observed my younger brother and recorded his conversations with several people in order to pay close attention to his language development and the ways he expresses himself. This reflection and observation task has shown me the different ways a child develops language skills and how children begin to associate various sounds with objects. Through this task, I observed many interesting phenomena and learned how children use language to make connections between objects and their uses, as well as how children struggle to pronounce different letters sometimes.
As mentioned, language is mankind's greatest tool, which means it has highly significant importance in the life of any human being. The process of developing language starts from the birth of the child. Infants observe what is happening around them. What they listen to, they will eventually speak. In the growing stage, parents encourage children to call them by "MAMA" or "DADDY." For this reason, a child's first words are almost always mama or daddy. The child listens to these words repeatedly, and what they listen to, they will speak.
Through research on language development in children, I have observed that every child has his or her own will to understand language and speak it. Sometimes several children take time to develop language. Some children tend to develop language acquisition faster than other children, which appears regardless of the child's culture or native language (Crosser, 2009).
Children's development of language and social skills is affected by the nature of their family and early educational experience. In the growing stage, children become socialized through interaction with parents, siblings, relatives, and neighbors. According to Seefeldt (2010), a typical five-year-old child tends to find joy in talking and sharing their thoughts. In addition, they acquire a basic understanding of various rules of conversation, such as waiting for others to finish speaking and hearing other people out without interrupting.
Through my observation of my younger brother and other children, I have discovered an interesting fact: every child has his or her own language development skills that develop based on the nature of his or her family and the environment in which he or she lives.
As language is a verbal behavior, each child has his or her own way of learning through reinforcement, analogy, structured input, and imitation. In receptive language development, a child of two to three years learns to listen and understand language, then begins naming things and can call siblings by their names.
I noticed many things I had never imagined before regarding the phases of language development in children. Children tend to imitate our words and say them in exactly the same pronunciation as we do. Right communication at that level is essential, as children learn on average 20 new words a day. I was astonished by how quickly they pick up words they have heard for the first time and use them later.
Language development in children is truly affected by nature, culture, and environment. The environment of the living space affects children significantly during the growing phase. Children who live in an environment where they receive little attention from their parents and witness mistreatment will observe and internalize these situations negatively.
The development of language in children starts from the first day they are born. From that point forward, they begin developing language to communicate with others. Below is a chart of typical language development in children as they grow (Institute, 2009).
At home during dinner with the family, Mueez (age five) always knows when to come to dinner without being told, because the sound of plates and cutlery serves as a signal that it is mealtime.
Mueez uses both English and Arabic words in the same sentence. When asked what he wanted for dinner, he replied, "I want macaroona, only one one I want, maba soup." According to Piaget's language development theory, this is a form of bilingualism. Bilingualism means speaking in more than one language. At a very young age, children learn the languages that their parents use; this is why Mueez was able to use both English and Arabic. Sometimes, when he needed more rice in his plate, he would say "wice" without being able to pronounce the letter R properly. He would always push the plate away whenever he was done with his food and say "bs Khalas," indicating that he is finished.
In the second observation, Mueez and his cousin Ayan engaged in playtime consisting of throwing insults at each other in Arabic. They exchanged slurs like "donkey" or "dog," and Mueez called Ayan a "girl."
According to B.F. Skinner, this behavior is caused by a child's imitation of an adult's behavior or speech. In my family's case, these slurs that my brother learned were reinforced with laughter, and the children were not punished for using such words (Kelly, 2008). This demonstrates how reinforcement shapes language acquisition, even when the language is socially inappropriate.
In the third situation, Mueez was observed during a visit by relatives—my aunt and her children—who came over for dinner for the first time since Mueez's birth. At first, Mueez was really shy because he was meeting them for the first time. He asked his mother if she could ask her aunt's children to come play in his room. When they started playing, they became closer and began conversation and introduced themselves. They kept talking about what their favorite games were. Mueez shared his Samsung tablet with the children by asking them "T3foon hl l3ba," which means "Do you know this game?" without being able to pronounce the R properly.
In the fourth situation, Mueez was watching television with his older brother. He was sitting with his brother while they both watched a cricket match. He loves to watch TV with his elder brother and feels older when sitting with him. Suddenly a wicket fell, and he screamed loudly, "OoouuuuuT! OoouuuuuT!" imitating his older brother. At this age, children develop their language by observing the adults around them and imitating their words too.
In the fifth situation, Mueez went to his room, chose a book, then sat down near his mother and opened the book. He started telling her what the characters and different pictures were. He said, "This is flower" and "This is a car." When he got it right, his mother praised him with "Good" or "Wow." He became more interested and told his mother by pointing at the picture, "This boy, he playing." Once he got one wrong, his mother told him, "No, this is a pen." Mueez remembered the animals' names and pronounced them almost correctly, except for the word "rabbit," which he could not say even though it is relatively simple. This reflects the ideas that both Piaget and Vygotsky discussed regarding language development—that language is constructed through social interaction (Close, 2010). However, Vygotsky highlights the importance of receiving guidance and instruction from an adult or advanced peer (Santrock, 2012). Once the reading time was over, his mother said "I will go." He kept crying, "No, no, I will go with you."
In conclusion, I had not fully realized how important a child's language development is until I was assigned to do this task. I learned a lot about language development in children by observing my younger brother and by reading about the different theories and research regarding language development. In my conclusion, Vygotsky's theory and Piaget's theory are directly supported by the observational research that I have conducted. Both theories offer explanations for the different actions demonstrated by Mueez. The child only acts upon whatever he or she learns from the environment in which he or she lives. For this reason, parents must carefully monitor and support their children's development during the learning phase. Language development in children is one of the most noticeable areas of growth, especially during their first few years. Family plays the greatest role in language development, word choices, and encouragement; consequently, children in one community differ in their language skills based on family support and environmental factors.
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