PSCHOLOGY

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language is significant in the learning process. It is used in storing information in the memory, communicating between learners and among learners and also in demonstrating that learning has taken place in form of writing, reading and speaking.

Development of language makes it possible for a child to iteract with the people around him/her.

What is language?

Language is more than verbal communication. All languages have three main properties, namely as semantic, displacement and productivity.

Semantic means the words represent an object or event.

Displacement means the words represent objects that are not present in space and time

Productivity implies that language has limited vocabulary but can make an infinite combination of words to present ideas.

In language development one has to adhere to the following rules:

·        Phonology is the system of using sounds to make words. It determines the way sounds are combined in sequence that has a specific meaning.

·        Syntax refers the way words are combined to make meaningful phrases. In the statement “the lion ate the zebra” you know who ate who or who was eaten by whom. Rearrangement of these words makes the statement to have a different meaning or sometimes meaningless. (Have you ever heard of a zebra that ate a lion?”

·        Pragmatics involves the use of language in a socially correct way i.e. knowing how to participate in conversation using proper language that takes into consideration the social context prevailing.

       Language development stages

Language development involves acquiring the ability to listen and speak. Before we look on the stages let’s discuss a little about the environment and language development. Noam Chomsky (1957) stated that humans are biologically programmed to learn language since all children in all parts of the world and although living in different environments, develop in more or less in the same rate and the sequence or steps involved are the same.

He believes that language is very complex that children do not just copy from their parents. It is difficult or impossible to teach children to speak; they start to speak  at a given stage of development.

Does this mean that environment has no role on child’s language development? The answer is definitely no. Firstly, the language one develops is that of the care givers (internalizing speech they hear). The quality of language spoken reflects that of people around the child.

The vocabulary of children at the age of three who have been living in poverty stricken conditions is such lower than that of middle income families ( Farkas, 2001). So, language development is a result of inheritance and environment has a great influence on the variation of the quality of children’s language.

Piaget believed that language development is based on the existing cognitive structure of the child and differs qualitatively in each of the four cognitive stages of development.

Newborn babies use crying and fussing (A quarrel) as means of communication i.e. conveying the message that s/he has a need that needs to be attended. Between 3 months and 6 months babbling (talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way) develops when the child makes sounds that resemble speech.

By age of 12 months they produce sound patterns that indicate the child has started to associate certain sounds and objects. Between 12 and 18 months first words are spoken referring to specific objects or event.

Normally the first words are nouns that may refer to many objects and actions related for example the word “mama” in one situation means presence of mother, in another “mother come”, and while in another setting it means “where is mother?”

By the end of two years the child’s vocabulary increase to more than 200 words and uses two-word combinations a sign of acquiring morphology rules. In the beginning of third year they use plural, past tense and some prepositions. The use of rules is not perfect since they apply some rules incorrectly, e.g by overgeneralization when they say “mama” instead of “lady”. Also in the third year they can talk about things that are not around in terms of time and space (displacement). Now they can talk about things that happened before or that are expected in the near future.

Language develops rapidly between 3 years and 11 years. By the age of 6 a child has vocabulary of more than 10,000 words. In this period they develop ability to ask questions beginning with “yes/no” question.

Loh (2010) has suggested some of the simple ways and methods that help to facilitate language development in children:

·        Reading nursery rhymes helps the child to listen and later understand the flow of language

·        Singing simple songs while using body as a tool of conversation

·        Naming different objects and patterns and describe their colours, size, format and shapes.

·        Create an environment that has activities which promote communication and language skills. Ask open ended questions, use plays to learn series of language skills, both verbal and nonverbal.

·        Children should be given opportunity to talk about their day activities/special occasions and describe the actions they are doing.

PSYCHOSOCIAL (SOCIO-EMOTIONAL) DEVELOPMENT

  Psychosocial : is relating to the interrelation of social factors and individual thought and behaviour. Psychological and social issues include:

• Anxiety.
• Depression.
• Coping Skills.
• Social Support.
• Giving Up Smoking.
• Insomnia.
• Memory & Other Cognitive Difficulties.

The process of internalizing societal values and behaviors acceptable in the individual’s societal setting is called socialization. The main agents of socialization process are Parents, siblings, peers, teachers and the media. To explain the relationship between the students and the agents we will use Urie Bronfenbrenner’s and for describing social development we will use Erickson’s psychosocial theory.

                

 Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-born American developmental psychologist who is most known for his ecological systems theory of child development. Born: April 29, 1917, Moscow, Russia Died: September 25, 2005, Ithaca, New York, United States

Known for: Ecological systems theory, co-founder of the Head Start program

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1917-2005) ecological theory is based on the social forces that have influence on the child’s life development.

He acknowledges the existence of five environmental systems that explain the child’s interrelation with close people and that with the wide social environment. This theory is used to study human beings and their environments. We could ask ourselves a question maybe “why do students in a certain location perform so badly in the National Examinations?”

He thought that in order to address the question above you need to assess the learner’s ecosystem that may in one way or another contribute to poor performance as stipulated.

                

Illustration of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

The systems he proposed are:

1.     Microsystem

The microsystem is the system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact. Some examples would be home, school, daycare, or work. A microsystem typically includes family, peers, or caregivers. Relationships in a microsystem are bi-directional. In other words, your reactions to the people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return. This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory.

Let's look at the microsystem Alex lives in. The first part of his microsystem is his home environment. This includes his interactions with his parents and little sister. Alex's school is also part of his microsystem. His regular school interactions are with his kindergarten teacher and the other children in his class.

2.     Mesosystem

The next level of ecological systems theory is the mesosystem. The mesosystem consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person's microsystem. The mesosystem is where a person's individual microsystems do not function independently, but are interconnected and assert influence upon one another. These interactions have an indirect impact on the individual.

One aspect of Alex's mesosystem would be the relationship between his parents and his teacher. His parents take an active role in his school, such as attending parent/teacher conferences and volunteering in his classroom. This has a positive impact on his development because the different elements of his microsystem are working together. Alex's development could be affected in a negative way if the different elements of his microsystem were working against one another.

3.     Exosystem

The exosystem is the setting in which there is a link between the context where in the person does not have any active role, and the context where in is actively participating. Suppose a child is more attached to his father than his mother. If the father goes abroad to work for several months, there may be a conflict between the mother and the child's social relationship, or on the other hand, this event may result to a tighter bond between the mother and the child.

4.     Macrosystem

The macrosystem setting is the actual culture of an individual. The cultural contexts involve the socioeconomic status of the person and/or his family, his ethnicity or race and living in a still developing or a third world country. For example, being born to a poor family makes a person work harder every day.

5.     Chronosystem

The chronosystem includes the transitions and shifts in one's lifespan. This may also involve the socio-historical contexts that may influence a person. One classic example of this is how divorce, as a major life transition, may affect not only the couple's relationship but also their children's behavior. According to a majority of research, children are negatively affected on the first year after the divorce. The next years after it would reveal that the interaction within the family becomes more stable and agreeable.

Value of the Theory

This theory, published in 1979, has influenced many psychologists in terms of the manner of analyzing the person and the effects of different environmental systems that he encounters. For example what’s the point of a teacher giving homework to a student whose parents do not value it; or at home parents will not give the student chance to do homework? The ecological systems theory has since become an important theory that became a foundation of other theorists' work.

ERICKSON’S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Erik Erikson (1902-1994) proposed a psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development.

Erikson's ideas were greatly influenced by Freud, going along with Freud’s (1923) theory regarding the structure and topography of personality. However, whereas Freud was an id psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, whereas Freud emphasized the conflict between the id and the superego.

According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are distinctly social in nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society, and helping the next generation prepare for the future.

Erikson extends on Freudian thoughts by focusing on the adaptive and creative characteristic of the ego and expanding the notion of the stages of personality development to include the entire lifespan.

Like Freud and many others, Erik Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order, and builds upon each previous stage. This is called the epigenetic principle.

The outcome of this 'maturation timetable' is a wide and integrated set of life skills and abilities that function together within the autonomous individual. However, instead of focusing on sexual development (like Freud), he was interested in how children socialize and how this affects their sense of self.

     Psychosocial Stages

Like Freud, Erikson assumes that crises occurs at each stage of development are of a psychosocial nature because they involve psychological needs of the individual (i.e. psycho) conflicting with the needs of society (i.e. social).

According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use to resolve subsequent crises.

Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self.  These stages, however, can be resolved successfully at a later time.

Although insistence is put on first five stages for the sake of being well knowledgeable all the eight stages will be discussed.

1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Infants, birth to one year)

Is the world a safe place or is it full of unpredictable events and accidents waiting to happen? Erikson's first psychosocial crisis occurs during the first year or so of life (like Freud's oral stage of psychosexual development). The crisis is one of trust vs. mistrust.

During this stage, the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live. To resolve these feelings of uncertainty, the infant looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and consistency of care.

If the care the infant receives is consistent, predictable and reliable, they will develop a sense of trust which will carry with them to other relationships, and they will be able to feel secure even when threatened.

Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope. By developing a sense of trust, the infant can have hope that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be there as a source of support. Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will lead to the development of fear.

For example, if the care has been harsh or inconsistent, unpredictable and unreliable, then the infant will develop a sense of mistrust and will not have confidence in the world around them or in their abilities to influence events.

This infant will carry the basic sense of mistrust with them to other relationships. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them.

Consistent with Erikson's views on the importance of trust, research by Bowlby (children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive) and Ainsworth has outlined how the quality of the early experience of attachment can affect relationships with others in later life.

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3 years)

The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of 18 months and three, children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc.

The child is discovering that he or she has many skills and abilities, such as putting on clothes and shoes, playing with toys, etc. Such skills illustrate the child's growing sense of independence and autonomy. Erikson states it is critical that parents allow their children to explore the limits of their abilities within an encouraging environment which is tolerant of failure.

For example, rather than put on a child's clothes a supportive parent should have the patience to allow the child to try until they succeed or ask for assistance. So, the parents need to encourage the child to become more independent while at the same time protecting the child so that constant failure is avoided.

A delicate balance is required from the parent. They must try not to do everything for the child, but if the child fails at a particular task they must not criticize the child for failures and accidents (particularly when toilet training). The aim has to be “self-control without a loss of self-esteem” (Gross, 1992). Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of will.

If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world.

If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their abilities.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool, 4 to 6 years)

Around age three and continuing to age five, children assert themselves more frequently. These are particularly lively, rapid-developing years in a child’s life. According to Bee (1992), it is a “time of vigor of action and of behaviors that the parents may see as aggressive."

During this period the primary feature involves the child regularly interacting with other children at school. Central to this stage is play, as it provides children with the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills through initiating activities.

Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions.

Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and will, therefore, remain followers, lacking in self-initiative.

The child takes initiatives which the parents will often try to stop in order to protect the child. The child will often overstep the mark in his forcefulness, and the danger is that the parents will tend to punish the child and restrict his initiatives too much.

It is at this stage that the child will begin to ask many questions as his thirst for knowledge grows. If the parents treat the child’s questions as trivial, a nuisance or embarrassing or other aspects of their behavior as threatening then the child may have feelings of guilt for “being a nuisance”.

Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity. Some guilt is, of course, necessary; otherwise the child would not know how to exercise self-control or have a conscience.

A healthy balance between initiative and guilt is important. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of purpose.

4. Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority (Childhood, 7 to 12 years)

Industry versus inferiority is the fourth stage of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. The stage occurs during childhood between the ages of five and twelve.

Children are at the stage where they will be learning to read and write, to do sums, to do things on their own. Teachers begin to take an important role in the child’s life as they teach the child specific skills.

It is at this stage that the child’s peer group will gain greater significance and will become a major source of the child’s self-esteem. The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that are valued by society and begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted by parents or teacher, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and therefore may not reach his or her potential.

If the child cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding (e.g., being athletic) then they may develop a sense of inferiority. Some failure may be necessary so that the child can develop some modesty. Again, a balance between competence and modesty is necessary. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of competence.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 13 to 19 years)

The fifth stage is identity vs. role confusion, and it occurs during adolescence, from about 12-18 years. During this stage, adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity, through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals. The adolescent mind is essentially a mind or moratorium (a temporary prohibition of an activity), a psychosocial stage between childhood and adulthood, and between the morality learned by the child, and the ethics to be developed by the adult.

During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based upon the outcome of their explorations. Failure to establish a sense of identity within society ("I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up") can lead to role confusion. Role confusion involves the individual not being sure about themselves or their place in society.

In response to role confusion or identity crisis, an adolescent may begin to experiment with different lifestyles (e.g., work, education or political activities). Also pressuring someone into an identity can result in rebellion in the form of establishing a negative identity, and in addition to this feeling of unhappiness.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

Occurring in young adulthood (ages 18 to 40 yrs), we begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer-term commitments with someone other than a family member.

Successful completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of love.

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation

During middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs), we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.

We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations.

By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of care.

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair

As we grow older (65+ yrs) and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and can develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.

Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.

Critical Evaluation of the Theory

Erikson’s theory has good face validity. Many people find that they can relate to his theories about various stages of the life cycle through their own experiences.

However, Erikson is rather vague about the causes of development. What kinds of experiences must people have to successfully resolve various psychosocial conflicts and move from one stage to another? The theory does not have a universal mechanism for crisis resolution.

Indeed, Erikson (1964) acknowledges his theory is more a descriptive overview of human social and emotional development that does not adequately explain how or why this development occurs. For example, Erikson does not explicitly explain how the outcome of one psychosocial stage influences personality at a later stage.

However, Erikson stressed his work was a ‘tool to think with rather than a factual analysis.’ Its purpose then is to provide a framework within which development can be considered rather than testable theory.

One of the strengths of Erikson's theory is its ability to tie together important psychosocial development across the entire lifespan.

Although support for Erikson's stages of personality development exists (McAdams, 1999), critics of his theory provide evidence suggesting a lack of discrete stages of personality development.

Based on Erickson’s theory Santrock (2004) proposed the following teaching strategies:

·        Encouraging initiative in young children

·        Promoting industry in primary school children

·        Stimulating identity exploration in adolescence

PARENTING STYLES AND PEERS

Parenting style is a psychological term referring to strategies that parents use in child rearing. Rearing children include amount of time and effort invested on the child. Styles used evolve over time influencing child’s personality development.

1.     Authoritarian parenting

In this style parents tell their children exactly what to do. Parents have high expectations of conformity and compliance to rules they establish, but are less responsive to their children’s needs. They are restrictive and use punishment (without reasoning the problem with the child) to enforce children in the household to follow regulations. Children from such families tend to have less social competence since they have not been given chance to make their own choices.

2.     Authoritative parenting

This refers to parents who allow their children to operate independently but within some limits on their actions. They provide the rules and guidance without overbearing the children. The parents are supportive and verbal communication is used to reason out in making decisions, even when using punishment. Children reared in such an environment tend to have high self-esteem, are self-reliant, socially competent, happy and successful.

3.     Neglectful parenting

These are parents who neglect their children by not getting involved in their children’s lives. They do not care where their children are or what they are doing. They disregard the children, only focusing on their personal interests. Children raised by such parents tend to exhibit same behaviors as that of their neglectful parents, lack self-control and motivation to achieve and are less competent than their peers.

4.     Indulgent parenting

These are parents who are highly involved in the lives of their children by giving them too much freedom i.e. very few restrictions if any. They allow children to do whatever they wish, including responding to all the needs and wishes of the children. In short, the parents want to please their children at all times. Children from such families grow up developing less self-control on their behaviors since they have not learnt to control their behaviors.

Children want to be in a group of other children. Peers are children of the same age who interact in same area. Even in the playground children of the same age play together.

Peer relationship can lead to a positive or negative development. A child is under pressure to conform to the norms of the peer group so as to be accepted, and is always in fear of being rejected by his/her mates.

In any human group each member has a status accorded to him/her by other members. The way a child is held among peers indicates his/her status. There are five major types of peer status:

·        Popular children: Children are designated as popular if they receive many positive nominations.

·        Neglected children: Children are designated as neglected if they receive few positive or negative nominations. These children are not especially liked or disliked by peers, and tend to go unnoticed.

·        Rejected children: Children are designated as rejected if they receive many negative nominations and few positive nominations.

·        Controversial children: Children are designated as controversial if they receive many positive and many negative nominations. They are said to be liked by quite a few children, but also disliked by quite a few.

·        Average children: Children are designated as average if they receive an average number of both positive and negative nominations.

 Here are suggested strategies that teachers and/or parents can use to improve children’s social skills:

·        Having a positive relationship with children/students and their peers

·        Being genuinely interested in their activities

·        Encouraging independent thought and expressions among peers

·        Help rejected students learn to listen to peers and hear what they say instead of trying to dominate them

·        Help neglected children attract attention from others in positive ways and hold their attention

·        Provide children low in social skills with knowledge about how to improve these skills

          DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

Self is the knowledge one has about himself/herself. Self-concept refers to the individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and what the self is. Is a cognitive construct that is related to what one thinks about himself/herself and the perceptions formed. This knowledge is acquired through the use of the five senses.

Self-concept is multidimensional as it includes a number of things such as perception of one’s physical appearance, academic capabilities, skills, gender identity and roles, ethnic and religious identity. Physical perception aspects refer to one’s looks, height, sex and kind of clothes worn. Academic self-concept refers to the level of one’s performance in school and ability to learn can at the same time have a positive self-concept in some aspect of personality and negative on on the other e.g. feeling that one is good in academic but poor in athletics.

 Self-concept is dynamic. It is not innate but rather learned; at birth we do not know about ourselves or have a picture of ourselves. As the child develops cognitively it learns about itself as a separate entity in the environment and in this process develops self-concept. Self-concept is shaped through personal reflections on perceived experiences, especially with significant others. Children acquire sense of self at around 18 months. As they develop cognitively they understand themselves better and by the age of six years they include abstract ideas when describing about themselves, e.g. being happy or angry.

Self-concept is relatively permanent i.e. long period of time held perceptions that are resistant to change. This aspect gives consistency to individual’s personality; otherwise s/he will lack consistency. Although self-concept is resistance to change, one can learn and modify his/her self-concept over a period of time. The changes are a result of self-reflection based on his/her interaction with the environment.

An individual can have ideas on his/her future self-concepts, termed “possible selves”. A student in secondary school can see himself/herself in the future as being a tall handsome/beautiful married person holding a high position in an institution and having all the best gadgets of the day.

Also the possible selves can be of what one is afraid of being in the future e.g. being drug addict or failing in life. These possible selves have effect on the current and future behavior of the individual. Self-concept is the basis for motivated behavior that leads to rise of possible behaviors that in turn create motivation for behavior.

The evaluative and emotional aspect of self-concept is self-esteem. It is how a person views himself/herself. A person with high self-esteem regards himself/herself positively and has confidence. The one with low self-esteem rates himself/herself very low, looks down upon himself/herself.

Period persists for a long time it may lead to low achievement, depression and delinquency. There is a relationship between self-concept and school achievement. However it is not yet clear if self-concept produces school achievement or it is the school achievement that produces aspects of self-concept.

Santrock (2004) suggested the following ways that teachers can use to help students improve their self-esteem.

·        Identifying the causes of low esteem and the areas of competence important to the self.

·        Provide emotional support and social approval

·        Help students to achieve

·        Develop student’s coping skills

Others by Spring (2008) are:

·        Stimulating motivation by recognizing student accomplishments daily, show interest in their academic progress

·        Teacher should involve parents to participate in cultivating student motivation

·        Parents should know the importance of instilling positive belief on their children

·        Help students set high goals that relate to motivation and help them to move from dependency to independence and self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the year help them to set academic goals and steps necessary to achieve them.

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