Children develop language through actively trying to make sense of what they hear and looking for patterns, guided by innate biases and rules. By age 5-6, most children have mastered the basics of their native language, including pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary, pragmatics, and basic metalinguistic awareness. Throughout school years, they continue developing more advanced skills in these areas, such as understanding passive voice and abstract concepts, and appropriate conversational turn-taking. Language development is a lifelong process supported by schooling goals of increased language and literacy abilities.

1. Language
Development

2. All children master their native
language unless there is a
severe deprivation or physical
problem to interfere their
language development.

3. How do children develop their
language?
• Children develop language as they develop
other cognitive abilities by actively trying to make
sense of what they hear, looking for patterns and
making up rules.
• In this process, built-in biases and rules may
limit the search and guide the pattern
recognition.
• Reward and correction play a role in helping
children learn language use, but the child’s
thought processes are very important.

4. Language Development in the
School Years
• By the age of 5 or 6, most children master
the basics of their mother language.
• During the school years they should
accomplish:
• Pronunciation
• Syntax
• Vocabulary and meaning
• Pragmatics
• Metalinguistic awareness

5. Pronunciation
• Majority of students in grade 1 have
mastered most of the sounds in their
mother language.
• The j, v, th and z sounds are the last to
develop.
• Young children know a lot of words, but
they prefer to use words that they can
easily pronounce.

6. Syntax (order of words in
sentences or phrases)
• Children master the basics of word order very
early.
• Complicated forms such as passive voice take
longer to master.
• In grades 1 and 2, many children can
understand passive sentences, but they do not
use them in conversations.
• During the lower primary grades, children also
learn complex grammatical structures such as
qualifiers and conjunctions.

7. Vocabulary and meaning
• The average six year old has a vocabulary of
8000 to 14000 words, growing about 40000 by
age 11.
• Children in the early grades enjoy language
games and jokes that requires playing with
words.
• Children in lower primary grades have trouble
with abstract words such as justice or economy.
They also may not understand subjunctive case,
‘if I were a butterfly’. This is because of their
cognitive abilities.

8. Pragmatics (appropriate language use)
• Children must learn the rules of turn-taking
in conversation.
• Children wait for their turn but they do not
listen to others to create conversations.
• Adolescents speak to their peers in slang
but with adults they speak politely

9. Metalinguistic awareness
• Understanding about one’s own use of
language.
• This process continues throughout the life.
• One goal of schooling is the development
of language and literacy.

10. Metalinguistic awareness
• Understanding about one’s own use of
language.
• This process continues throughout the life.
• One goal of schooling is the development
of language and literacy.