How Children Learn Languages
When children are born, they can hear and make all of the sounds found in all of the languages spoken by the human race. These phonemes number approximately 150 and are found in all documented languages; about 6500 of them (Yang, 2016). It is important to note that no single language uses all of the phenomes. Children at this stage listen and learn the phonemes which are used in their languages. They develop what experts call “phenome awareness” and thus build the foundation for learning the language as a whole.
In the next stage, the children learn that specific sounds go together and denote a particular individual or object. That is why, for many children, the first words indicate the primary caregiver. Experts assert that the children are not learning the words per se. In essence, at this stage, they learn morphemes. These do not have to be words. Instead, they are sounds which denote something. The children attach the sound to the object and learn word boundaries to know precisely when that sound or series of sounds is being used in that context.
Once children learn words, they then move on to learning sentences. This entails learning to put words in the right order. They start with the arrangement that feels most comfortable to them. That is why most children will have garbled sentences when they begin to speak. They will also take time to learn conjunctions by listening to adults and practicing. It is the process of creating sentences, which then leads to the ability to put sentences in a paragraph that makes sense. It is also at this stage that children learn that sentences can be meaningless even when they are grammatically correct. This is when they learn how to communicate effectively.
Children Expressing Themselves
Children learn how to express themselves mainly by observation and trial and error. First of all, they observe what the guardians are doing. Children who grow up in music-filled homes tend to like music and the dancing that comes with it. They see the adults expressing themselves; they try it out themselves. If they like it, they copy it. The children will then advance to copying their peers and striving to innovate. This usually occurs during adolescence as they seek to create an identity. That is why teenagers tend to be more expressive and experimental than members of other age groups (Holt, 2017). Guardians play a critical role in a child’s ability and willingness to express himself or herself. Children who get encouragement from their parents tend to learn how to express themselves adequately quite early. Experts assert that a child’s ability and willingness to express him or herself has a direct impact on his or her mental health (Holt, 2017). It is wise to listen to these experts.