A short presentation created as a course requirement in Educational Psychology. It includes discussion about cognitive and language development, child development, developmental issues, its proponents, and theories.

1. Cognitive and
Language
Development
Report by: Veronica Baje

2. Objectives
Define Development and explain its process & periods.
Identify developmental issues and the relationship between development and
education.
Understand the role of the brain in development.
Know different developmental theories.
Learn the key features of language, the biological and environmental influences on
language, and the growth of child’s language.

3. An Overview of Child
Development

4. What is Development?
• Development is the pattern
of biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional processes
that begins at conception
and continues through the
life span. Most
development involves
growth, although it also
eventually involves decay.

5. Processes and Periods
Biological Processes – produce changes in the child’s body.
Cognitive Processes – involve changes in the child’s intelligence and
language.
Socioemotional Processes – involve changes in the child’s relationship
with people, changes in emotion, and changes in personality.

6. Periods and Processes of Development

7. Developmental Issues
• Nature and Nurture
This involves the debate about whether
development is primarily influenced by nature or by
nurture.
• Continuity and Discontinuity
Focuses on the extent to which development
involves gradual, cumulative change or distinct
stages.
• Early and Later Experience
Focuses on the degree to which early
experiences or later experiences are the key
determinants of the child’s development.

8. Evaluating
Developmental Issues
• Most developmentalists recognize
that it is unwise to take an extreme
position on the issues of nature and
nurture, continuity and discontinuity,
and early and later experiences.
Development is not all nature and
nurture, continuity and discontinuity,
and early and later experiences.
However, it is still a spirited debate
about how strongly development is
influenced by each of these factors.

9. Development and
Education
• Developmentally appropriate
teaching takes place at a level
that is neither too difficult and
stressful nor too easy and boring
for the child’s development
level. Splintered development
occurs when there is
considerable unevenness in
development across domains.

10. Cognitive
Development

11. The Brain
An especially important
part of growth is the
development of the brain
and nervous system. The
size of the brain’s nerve
endings continue to grow
at least into adolescence.
Some of the brain’s
increase in size also due
to myelination.

12. Jean William Fritz Piaget
(1896 – 1980)
• Jean Piaget was a Swiss
psychologist known for his
work on child development.
• Piaget placed great importance
on the education of children.
As the Director of the
International Bureau of
Education, he declared in 1934
that "only education is capable
of saving our societies from
possible collapse, whether
violent, or gradual."

13. Piaget’s
Theory

14. Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
(1896 – 1934)
• Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the
founder of an unfinished Marxist theory
of human cultural and bio-social, a
prominent advocate for a "science of the
Superman", a new psychological theory of
consciousness, and leader of the Vygotsky
Circle.
• Vygotsky's main work was in
developmental psychology and he
proposed a theory of the development of
"higher psychological functions" that saw
human psychological development as
emerging through interpersonal
connections and actions with the social
environment.

15. Vygotsky’s
Theory
• Zone of Proximal
development is
Vygotsky’s term for the
range of tasks that are
too difficult for children
to master alone but can
be learned with the
guidance and assistance
of adults and more-
skilled children

17. Language
Development

18. What is Language?
• Language is a form of communication—
whether spoken, written, or signed—
that is based on a system of symbols.
Language consists f the words used by a
community and the rules for varying and
combining them.

19. Five Systems
of Rules of
Language
Phonology – The sound system of a language,
including the sounds used, and how they may be
combined.
Morphology – Refers to the units of meaning involved
in word formation.
Syntax – The words way are combined to form
acceptable phrases and sentences.
Semantics – Refers to the meaning of words and
sentences.
Pragmatics – The appropriate use of language in
different context.

20. Biological and
Environmental Influences
• Famous linguists Noam
Chomsky (1957) argued that
humans are prewired to learn
language at a certain time and
in a certain way.
• Children are biologically
prepared to learn language as
they and their caregivers
interact.

21. Language Development
• Babbling occurs at about 3 to 6 months, the first word at
10 to 13 months, and two-word utterances at 18 to 24
months.
• Children also make advances in phonology, syntax,
semantics, and pragmatics in early childhood.
• Vocabulary development increases dramatically during
the elementary school years, and by the end of
elementary school most children can apply appropriate
rules of grammar.
• In adolescence, language changes include more
effective use of words; improvements in the ability to
understand metaphor, satire, and adult literary works;
and writing.

22. Reference: Santrock
Educational Psychology