1. Language Acquisition
ePortfolio
Amanda McBride
ECE315: Language Development in Young
Children
Instructor: Paula Horner
12-9-2013

2. Guided Introduction
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Think about recent conversations you have
had with your child and think about how that
felt. To me hearing how amazing my 5 year
olds language and communication skills is
just amazing. “Language is a way humans
communicate, but it is not the only way one
does so (Piper,2012). Communication
according to Piper (2012), “ is the activity of
a sender conveying a message, usually with
meaningful information, to a recipient, and
the communication may occur across space
and time.” Children always seem so excited
when they have information and exciting
things to share with parents. My daughter
loves to tell me about her day at church or
how she loves going to Kindergarten.
Children love to communicate and it is an
important part of their language
development.

3. Language Acquisition Beliefs
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As a parent it is my belief that language acquisition
is very important parent of development. As
parents it is important to support and encourage
children’s language and communication. Always
show interest in what they have to say to you. Ways
to help with language and communication is to have
listening exercises. According to Perry (2013), “ we
often forget that language is both receptive and
expressive. Make sure that children don’t just mimic
words and learn to say things. It is essential that
children are listening, receiving accurately and
processing effectively what they hear.” It is
important to help your children learn language and
how to communicate that language. According to
Perry “Introduce exercises where children are ask
to repeat back what they have heard you say (you
will be often be amazed at how varied and
inaccurate their interpretations can be). Have
children relate key elements of a story or activity.
And emphasize to children the importance of
listening to their conversation buddies.

4. Language Rich environment
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As children enter into their classrooms they
want a warm inviting environment. They
need a classroom designed to allow
interactions with their peers. Children need
a language rich environment to learn
language. It is important as a teacher to
think about how you can physically help set
up an environment that helps children learn
language.
According to Piper (2012), “Another way of
enriching the linguistic environment is to
read to children. Television, computers,
smart phones, and iPads might seem more
attractive—and certainly they command
children’s attention –but in terms of linguistic
stimulation children love stories. Telling
stories to children help them develop “the
mind’s eye” (i.e., to envision events and
characters outside the here-and-now).”

5. 
The child uses babbling to as a means to
communicate and practice language. It not
yet understood the importance of babbling
but psychologists believe that babbling
serves two functions. According to
Piper(2012),"Although precisely how babblin
g relates to language development is not yet
clearly understood, psychologists and lingui
sts have suggested that babbling serves at
least two functions: as practice for later
speech and a social reward.” The textbook it
states, “Babbling gives babies practice in
using the articulatory system—especially in
the mouth, tongue, and lips—that they will
eventually use to talk; early babbling sounds
pretty much the same all over the world;
children who are deaf do babble, but they
tend to start a little later. If their parents sign
to them, they may start to “babble” with
gestures; and one of the first identifiable
speech sounds is m, a sound that a
contented baby can make while nursing.”
(Piper 2012).

6. Literacy Lesson Plan

When transitioning into preschool it can be
hard a children especially separating from
parents. In preschool they learn to separate
from parents and to follow school personel.
In preschool they will learn to hold and use
scissors correctly by cutting out basic
shapes.. They will learn about excercises
and use locomotor skills (run, hop, jump,
etc). They will also learn about friendships
and how to form those friendships.
According to Piper (2012), “ As they grow
and their network of friends and
acquiantances extends beyond the home,
children become far mor sophisicated and
resourceful in their uses of language. They
continue to use it to categorize, and, as we
have seen, it continues to facilitate cognitive
development, but children also devleop a
broader inventory of uses.

7. Language Reflection
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Recently, there were two recent cover
stories in Time Magazine: Their
conclusion was that children today are
different. In fact, based on what we
now know from the neurosciences and
psychological sciences, what we’re
now beginning to understand is that
children today are FUNDAMENTALLY
different than we are in the way they
think, in the way they access, absorb,
interpret, process and use information,
and in the way they view, interact, and
communicate in the modern world
because of their experiences with
digital technologies. If this is the case,
it holds profound implications for all of
us personally and professionally
(Jukes, 2008, p. 14).

8. professional role in children’s
language acquistion
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I will keep in mind that in
order to keep up with the
new way of students
learning I also must keep
up with the ever growing
and changing technology
available to them. I will
have to make sure my
students have access to
all the available
technology they can
within my classroom.

9. Language Resource File
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When researching available resources for family
support of language acquisition I came across a
few good ones to help the families. One website
was
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/learn.jsp
. This website was very insightful and offered a lot
of information on how to support language
acquisition. For example the website stated, “Most
researchers agree that children acquire language
through interplay of biology and environmental
factors. A challenge for linguists is to figure out how
nature and nurture come together to influence
language learning.” (Mahone, 2013). It also offered
different readings on language and learning. I can
use this website as a reference on how children’s
language develops and on ways that I can help
families support their children’s language learning. I
think as a professional it is important to understand
and know how to support children’s language as
well as be able to offer support to families on how
they can help children’s language development.

10. References
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Jukes, Ian.(2008). Understanding Digital Kids (DKs) Teaching &
Learning in the New Digital Landscape. The InfoSavvy Group.
http://www.educationthatworks.net/uploads/7/8/3/0/7830610/underst
anding_digital_kids.pdf
Mahone, Nicole. (2013).Language and Linguistics: Language
learning. National Science Foundation. http://
www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/learn.jsp .
Piper, T. (2012). Making meaning, making sense: Children’s early
language learning. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
Perry, B. (2013). How Young Children Learn Language in Early
Childhood Today Retrieved on November 4, 2013
from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/how-young-childrenlearn-language