This web page contain information about language acquisition and how it is developed. Children normally develop basic language skills before entering school. Language development involves both oral and written communication. Verbal abilities develop very early, and by age three, children are already skillful talkers. By the end of preschool years, children can use and understand an almost infinite number of sentences, can hold conversations, and know about written language.

1. Encouraging Language Acquisition in Young Children:  Early childhood education teachers need to plan and implement a play-based program that provides children with opportunities to test and communicate their ideas and feelings, and to talk about experiences that are meaningful and relevant to them.

2. Early Literacy and Language Development:  "Language emerges when children are very young, around one year of age, and because children this age do not answer direct questions, the major source of information about children's language learning comes from what children say." (Rice, 1989). Therefore we will have to rely on that data to develop our theory of language development. According to the research conducted and examined by Rice (1989), the majority of a child's early language is related to experiences in the concrete world.

3. Family Reading to Young Children:  Reading to young children promotes language acquisition and correlates with literacy development and, later on, with achievement in reading comprehension and overall success in school.

4. Language Acquisition and Deaf Children:  Studies have shown that children who are exposed to ASL at an early age do acquire the language the same way hearing children acquire spoken languages. This  site contains several links to information about language acquisition and hearing impaired children.

5. Communication and Your 2- to 3-Year-Old:  Communicating with your child, from infancy onward, is one of the most  pleasurable and rewarding experiences for both parent and child. Children are avid learners at all ages, absorbing information through daily interactions and experiences with other children, adults, and the world.

This webpage was created by Sandy Thompson for Dr. Lewis- Psy306-01.