Teach English in Millom - TEFL Courses

The study of Child development covers the change and development in a person from before birth to the end of adolescence. It involves both physiological and mental changes as a child learns and grows. Childhood development receives much interest and study as it is considered vital to society at large. Language is an enormously important part of a child's cognitive development but 2nd language acquisition does not follow the same pattern. In this essay, I will state the general form in which child development is viewed, I will go over the basic pattern of first language acquisition and explore how 2nd language learning differs to it. Development has a strong genetic basis but it is also affected, hindered and helped by environmental factors. It is more or less agreed that learning and development happens as a result of both ‘nature' and ‘nurture'. Popular theories are those of Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson and Freud, all of whom describe development as happening in stages. Piaget described stages of development in the form of how children experience the world and the manner in which they think (abstract vs. literal). He suggested that learning could be optimized by providing a child with the materials needed and through asking the child about what they are doing, getting them to actively think about the process. Vygotsky said that a child's development can be helped by supporting what they are learning until they can do something themselves, he felt that a child's cultural environment was pivotal to their development – all processes start as social interaction, then are internalized as individual processing. Erikson, a supporter of Freud's theories, developed a theory called Psychosocial stages of development. He saw each stage as having ‘tasks' which had to be completed for a child to move on to the next stage. One way in which development is measured is by milestones, most children learn certain things at certain ages. But this is not set in stone, no child is perfectly average and milestones only give a vague idea of when a child should learn things. Language learning starts before birth. A study by the University of Würzburg in Germany has shown that newborn babies cry in the accent of their mothers, proving that during pregnancy a child is already sensitive to tone. From 6 months old, children start to make the link between spoken words and communication and by one year, they can usually say one or two words (with understanding of what they are saying rather than mere imitation). By about 2 years old, a child can produce small sentences, using their new grammatical rules, for example to form plurals that they haven't heard before. A five year old can produce adult-level speech with little effort and few mistakes. Language is certainly an ability that is prewired into the human brain, but it is very difficult to prove where the line is between what systems children learn from the outside world and what is already there as an innate ability. The ability to learn language is at its peak in the first two years of life and the older one gets, the more ‘learning' is involved rather than ‘catching'. Because most 2nd language learning happens during school years, it takes longer and follows a different process entirely. children learn second languages more successfully than adults but, even so, very few reach first language competency. Learning of a second language should ideally happen at a young age but other factors have a very strong effect. Social factors can help or hinder the child (For example, if learning the language is seen in a positive light by society, children will be more willing to do so). Motivation is also crucial, a child will not learn optimally if he/she has low interest. Keeping the abovementioned theories in mind, teachers should try to teach and support what a child is beginning to learn, providing a framework for them to build on, for example, if a child has been learning a lot of letters, one could start playing with letter toys with the child, putting them together and making simple sounds, at first, and then words. One should also keep a child's general level of development in mind, for example, a kindergarten age child will not be able to adequately navigate tenses and abstract thought, even in their own language. Knowing about Psychosocial development and the various crises that children experience can also help the teacher to keep material appropriate and more interesting for them, for example, children at the age of 7-13 years see themselves more as individuals, they develop a sense of responsibility and want to do things right. At this age an esl teacher can allow the child to gain a sense of ownership of this new language, “if I work hard at it, I'll get it right”. To conclude, not all children grow and learn the same, although most follow a certain pattern, hitting particular ‘milestones' at certain times. External factors can strongly influence learning but genetics also has a role in determining how a child will develop. A first language is acquired from before birth and perfected before school. Subsequent languages are best learned early but not acquired as easily. They require a lot more conscious effort and are more likely to be affected by external factors. All of this should be kept in mind for more effective second language instruction for children.