Communication In Oral Communication

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The development of language is essential for children in order to effectively communicate, express emotions, relay ideas and connect with others in a meaningful way. Communication through language involves verbal, non-verbal, and para-verbal elements (Windle & Warren, 1999). The verbal element of language is the oldest form of communication and it can therefore be argued that it is the most important (Gee & Hayes, 2011). Verbal language relates to oral communication, using words, crying or making sounds in order to communicate. Non-verbal language is also an important means of communication, however this is a much newer form (Sampson, as cited by Gee & Hayes, 2011). Non-verbal communication consists of writing, signs, symbols, body language …show more content…

Before children have developed the skill of talking they rely on verbal and non-verbal communication (Bialystok, 1999). Between the ages of four weeks to 12 months a child is in the midst of ‘stage 1’ of language development. This stage is called pre-linguistic, which is categorised by speech sounds with the absence of words (Fellows & Oakley, 2014). During this stage children communicate through crying, babbling and facial expressions. Without the ability to communicate verbally a child’s needs are only met when they express themselves though other means. For example if they are hungry they will cry in order to gain their parent or caregivers attention, or they will laugh and smile to show affection (Brownlee, …show more content…

The development onto ‘stage 2’, should occur between 12 - 24 months (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). Stage 2 consists of the linguistic stage, this is where children’s language can be deciphered into utterances of singular words. This is around the time children will be able to say one syllable common words, such as mum or dad (Miller & Gildea, 1994). This supports Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. It supports this as language is being developed through an activity of mimicking their caregiver’s words (Fellows & Oakley, 2014). Between the ages of 24-36 months young children develop most of their basic language skills that will assist them in school life and beyond. It is during this period that children enter ‘stage 3’. Stage 3 is still the linguistic stage however this is where children create phrases from their common word vocabulary (Fellow & Oakley, 2014). This is when children are at their most rapid period of learning words. They possess the ability to learn an excess of 10,000 words per day (Miller & Gildea, 1994). While a child’s vocabulary is drastically expanding during this time, children are still learning to speak in sentences. This can mean they may omit the function words from their sentence’s, for example “dog big” rather than “the dog is big”(Fellow & Oakley, 2014). These stages of a child’s language development are crucial. It is this time period

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