Infant Language free essay sample

From the first days of life, babies attend to words and expressions, responding as well as their limited abilities allow—crying, cooing, and soon babbling. Before age 1, they understand simple words and communicate with gestures. At 1 year, most infants speak. Vocabulary accumulates slowly at first, but then more rapidly with the naming explosion and with the emergence of the holophrase and the two-word sentence. The impressive language learning of the first two years can be explained in many ways. One theory contends that caregivers must teach language, reinforcing the infant’s vocal expressions. Another theory relies on the idea of an inborn language acquisition device, a mental structure that facilitates the acquisition of language as soon as maturation makes that possible. A third theory stresses social interaction, implying that infants learn language because they are social beings. A hybrid model combines all three of these theories. Because infants vary in culture, learning style, and social context, the hybrid theory acknowledges that each of the other theories may have some validity at different points in the acquisition of language. We will write a custom essay sample on Infant Language or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Sensorimotor Intelligence 1. Piaget realized that very young infants are active learners, seeking to understand their complex observations and experiences. Adaptation in infancy is characterized by sensorimotor intelligence, the first of Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development. At every time of their lives, people adapt their thoughts to the experiences they have. 2. Sensorimotor intelligence develops in six stages—three pairs of two stages each—beginning with reflexes and ending with the toddler’s active exploration and use of mental combinations. In each pair of stages, development occurs in one of three types of circular reactions, or feedback loops, in which the infant takes in experiences and tries to make sense of them. 3. Reflexes provide the foundation for intelligence. The continual process of assimilation and accommodation is evident in the first acquired adaptations, from 1 to 4 months. The sucking reflex accommodates the particular nipples and other objects that the baby learns to suck. Over the next year, infants become more goal-oriented, creative, and experimental as â€Å"little scientists. 4. Infants gradually develop an understanding of objects in their first two years of life. As shown in Piaget’s classic experiment, infants understand object permanence and begin to search for hidden objects at about 8 months. Other research finds that Piaget underestimated the cognition of young infants. Information Processing 5. Another approach to understanding infant cognition is information-processing theory, whi ch looks at each step of the thinking process, from input to output. The perceptions of a young infant are attuned to the particular affordances, or opportunities for action, that are present in the infant’s world. 6. Objects that move are particularly interesting to infants, as are other humans. Objects as well as people afford many possibilities for interaction and perception, and therefore these affordances enhance early cognition. 7. Infant memory is fragile but not completely absent. Reminder sessions help trigger memories, and young brains learn motor sequences long before they can remember with words. Memory is multifaceted; explicit memories are rare in infancy. Language: What Develops in the First Two Years? 8. Eager attempts to communicate are apparent in the first year. Infants babble at about 6 to 9 months, understand words and gestures by 10 months, and speak their first words at about 1 year. 9. Vocabulary begins to build very slowly until the infant knows approximately 50 words. Then a naming explosion begins. Toward the end of the second year, toddlers begin putting two words together, showing by their word order that they understand the rudiments of grammar. 10. Various theories attempt to explain how infants learn language as quickly as they do. The three main theories emphasize different aspects of early language learning: that infants must be taught, that their brains are genetically attuned to language, and that their social impulses foster language learning. 11. Each of these theories seems partly true. The challenge for developmental scientists has been to formulate a hybrid theory that uses all the insights and research on early language learning. The challenge for caregivers is to respond appropriately to the infant’s early attempts to communicate.