Young Learners

2 to 7 years

Children can use symbols and words to think. Intuitive problem solving, but thinking limited by rigidity, centration, and egocentrism.

Concrete operations (the practical child)

7 to 11 years

Children develop logical operations for seriation, classification, and conservation. Thinking tied to real events and objects.

Formal operations (the reflective child)

11 to 12 years and onward

Children develop abstract systems of thought that allow them to use propositional logic, scientific reasoning, and proportional reasoning.

In addition, Thomas in Meece (1997: 83) also mentioned the sequences of motor skill development in children shown in Table 2.2. From both tables, it can be concluded that cognitive and motor skill development of children happens simultaneously. The principles of development process of young learners explains how children develop by integrating simple physical patterns or mental schemes into more complex systems, adapting their mental structures or behaviour to fit environmental demands, adapting to their environment, and doing an interaction of innate and environmental factors. Cognitive development of children is not only about the changing in facts and skill happened in children’s life, but also about transformations in the way children organize knowledge. It is divided into four major stages, which are preoperations, sensorimotor, formal operations, and concrete operations. Then motor skill development in children is about how children develop physically. Both of cognitive and motor skill development has a

Age Description of Skill

Birth to 6 months

Exhibits many reflexes Reaches for objects Rolls from front to back Hold head up when on stomach

6 to 12 months

Demonstrates fewer reflexes Sits up, creeps and crawls Stands holding on Pincer graps emerges

12 to 18 months Begins to walk and climbs up stairs

18 to 24 months

Begins to run Shows hand preference Turns pages one at a time Can stack 4 to 6 blocks Gain control over bowels

24 to 36 months

Jumps and begins to ride tricycle Can kick a ball forward and throw a ball with two hands Gain control over bladder

3 to 4 years

Masters running Walks upstairs alternating steps Can button large button and catch large ball Holds pencil between thumb and first two fingers

4 to 5 years

Can dress self Walks downstairs alternating steps Can gallop Can cut on straight line with scissors and threat beads, but not needle Can walk across balance beam Begins to hold writing tool in finger grip

5 to 6 years

Can button small button Can hop 8 to 10 steps on one foot Can connect zipper on a coat Might be able to tie shoes Play ball games

6 to 7 years

Can skip 12 or more times and ride a bicycle Can throw ball in adult manner Skips freely and rides bike easily

According to Meece (1997: 242-244), there are some basic principles of language development:

a. Language is a social phenomenon People living together have derised ways of interacting and communicating with each other. Children acquire whatever language or languages they hear and spoken around them.

b. Children acquire language without direct instruction and within a short span of time By the age of 7, most children have learned about 90 percent of all language structures used by adults in their society (Daniels, 1985). As children grow older, they begin to combine the structure they have learned in order to communicate more complex ideas, they gain proficiency with written language, and they acquire grace and skill in using language in a wide variety of social settings.

c. All languages are symbol systems with socially constructed rules for combining sounds into words, for making meaning with words, and for arranging words into sentences Children actively construct these unconscious rules through observation and hypothesis testing (Clark & Clark, 1977)

d. Because language is so complex, children cannot learn the system all at once Instead, they go through stages in which they work on learning a few things at a time, for instance, putting two words together meaningfully.

e. Language is linked to identity Through language we are able to interact with others and to make sense of the world. This process allows us to develop a sense of self, to convey our private thoughts, and to share our experiences with others.

f. Language abilities grow by using language in meaningful contexts Children learn to talk by talking with others who delight in listening. This f. Language abilities grow by using language in meaningful contexts Children learn to talk by talking with others who delight in listening. This

Children have learnt language since they are still baby. They learn it from simple things and then it getting complex when they grow up. Brown (1987: 16) drew how children learn language since they are still small babies. The explanation is set out in the Table 2. 3.

Table 2.3 Language Development of Children Small babies

Children babbie, coo and cry and vocally or nonvocally send an extraordinary number of message and receive even more message.

The end of first year

Specific attempts are made to imitate words and speech sound heard around them. At this time, they also utter their first ‘word’.

About 18 months

These word have multiplied considerably and are beginning to appear in combination with each other to form two-word and three-word ‘sentences’ – commonly referred to as ‘telegraphic’ utterances such as “allgone milk”, “bye-bye daddy”, “gimme toy” and so forth.

3 years old

Children can comprehend an incredible quantity of linguistic behavior; their speech capacity mushrooms as they become the generator of nonstop chattering and incessant conversation.

At school age

Children not only learn what to say, but what not to say, as they learn the social function of their language.

learners learn a language. It is set out in the Table 2.4.

Table 2.4 Language Development of Young Learners

By the age of 5 years

First language acquisition was largely complete. Individual differences in language domains will be established and so, for example, some children will find it easier to learn vocabulary than others, or children with more developed conversational skills may transfer these to the new language more easily than others.

5 – 6 years of age

Formal literacy are in the early stages of development. The beginnings of literacy can be traced back to experiences in infancy, such as listening to stories.

7 years of age

Children are still acquiring the skills needed for extended discourse. In telling narratives, for example, children are still learning how to create thematic structure through language, and are still developing the full range of uses of pronouns and determiners.

11 years of age

Children tend not to use relative clauses beginning with whose, or preposition + relative pronoun e.g. In which. Children have problems using words that express logical relations between ideas, like cause and effect.

In learning language, children must make sense of the sounds, gestures, and intonation patterns their parents direct toward them. There are some languages learning methods for children stated by Meece (1997: 254-258):

a. Learning by imitation Parents interact verbally with their infants from the moment of birth. Words, sentences, and sounds function to entertain the child and to convey parental love and care. In talking to children, adults will often repeat their utterance. In fact, children don’t seem capable of repeating adult structures. Imitation does play some role in language acquisition, especially in learning first word. But imitation is not the primary way that language develops.

Adults do reinforce children’s active attempts to participate in conversation. By reinforcing participation, especially in early language development, adults encourage and reward children’s efforts to learn language.

c. Learning by constructing rules Children are very methodical language learners. The most general rules are hypothesized first; then newer rules are added to increase precision. For instance, learning word order in English-subject, verb, object- is a more general rule than learning how to produce a present or past tense.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that children acquire whatever languages they hear and spoken around them. They begin to combine the structure they have learned in order to communicate more complex ideas, they gain proficiency with written language, and they acquire grace and skill in using language in a wide variety of social settings. Children actively construct the unconscious rules through observation and hypothesis testing. They cannot learn the system all at once. Then language abilities will grow when children use language in meaningful contexts. Children learn language since they are still small babies until they grow older by imitation, reinforcement and constructing rules.