An investigation into the language acquisition of children

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                Freyja Davis

An Investigation into the Language Acquisition of Children

An investigation into the language acquisition of children

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An investigation in the language acquisition of children

Proposal; 

The investigation I plan to carry out is a study into the language acquisition of children based upon Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence, the theory focuses primarily on a child’s development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skills and language learning. Piaget claimed that the idea that cognitive development is at the centre of a person and language is contingent on cognitive development. Piaget suggested that children go through four separate stages in a fixed order that is universal in all children, he declared that all these stages differ not only in the quantity of information acquired at each, but also in the quality of knowledge and understanding at that stage. Piaget suggested that movement from one stage to the next occurred when the child reached an appropriate level of maturation and was exposed to relevant types of experiences. Without experience, children were assumed incapable of reaching their highest cognitive ability. The investigation will focus upon the language learning of a child of different ages;

  • The sensorimotor stage: a child of 0-2 years, this is the first of the four stages in cognitive development which “extends from birth to the acquisition of language”.
  • The pre-operational stage: a child from the age of 2-7, during this stage, children become increasingly adept at using symbols as evidenced by the increase in playing and pretending. Children of this age are egocentric and cannot mentally manipulate information or understand concrete logic.
  • The concrete operational stage: occurs in a child between the ages of 7-11, in this stage a child develops an ability to think abstractly and to make rational judgements. It is characterised by appropriate use of logic.
  • The formal operational stage: this occurs from 11 years to adulthood, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. At this stage a person is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning and the child has an ability to systematically solve a problem in a logical and methodical way emerges.
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Piaget’s positive approach in his investigations into this developmental theory demonstrated that the difference between child and adult was qualitative rather than quantitative. Due to these findings my investigation will focus on studying the language acquisition of children at each different “stage” of cognitive development that Piaget suggests.  This approach gives my study a vague outline already, I will conduct the investigation based upon a child in the “sensorimotor stage” a child in the “pre-operational stage”, the “concrete operational stage” and the “formal operational stage” – the investigation will focus on the language use of the children at each stage ...

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An interesting topic. There is a lack of clarity about whether this is a research proposal - in other words the research has not yet taken place, or whether it has already been conducted. The correct format is needed whether it is a research proposal or research paper. 3*