Psychologist Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development And Language Acquisition

Cognitive Development and Language Acquisition

In terms of the cognitive development perspective, Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget, was extremely interested in how children acquire knowledge and come to understand their world and his theories form the basis of the cognitive approach (Joyce and Weil, 1996; Heo et al., 2011). Piaget asserts that “language is a product of intelligence, rather than intelligence being a product of language” (Piaget, 1929) and he explains children 's language acquisition by using four stages of cognitive development and his theories offer a crucial theoretical basis in terms of intellectual maturation (Heo et al., 2011). Piaget contends that children form schema, or cognitive structures, through which individuals

Secondary and Adolescent, 11 years and up. Formal Operations Stage

During the formal operations stage children have difficulty reasoning in terms of complex verbal problems, however this stage is characterised by hypothetical and scientific reasoning; children think logically and still show lingering egocentrism (Blake and Pope, 2008).

Piaget maintained that an enormous amount of cognitive growth takes places in the sensorimotor stage, during this period it is argued that the foundation of communicative behaviour is formed, for this the sensorimotor stage is subdivided into six sections (Bartolotta and Capone, 2010).

Stages of Sensorimotor Stage Age 0-2 Years

Reflexive, Birth to Months

Interaction between child and environment is purely though reflexes such as sucking, grasping or looking.

2. Primary Circular Reactions, 2-4 Months

A child begins to correlate motor patterns and sensory input. For example a child may unintentionally suck her thumb, if she enjoys the sensation she will do this again.

3. Secondary Circular Reactions, 4-8 Months

Input-Output Schemas are more composite and focused externally. A child may put an object to her mouth in order to obtain a response in the environment.

4. Coordination of Reactions, 8-12

He describes first words as being “merely sensory motor schemas in process of becoming concepts” (Piaget, 1929), fundamentally Piaget cites that first words refer to systems of potential actions, as opposed to objects; with first language use being used to indicate an immediate action. He claims that first words are used to express desires or give orders and asserts that when young children name objects this is simply a statement of a possible action. Language in this context is not used to refer to objects or things, it is used by the child as a form of action (Piaget, 1929; Joyce and Weil, 1996). Piagetian theory holds that children need to understand the concept of objects existing separately from themselves, in order to understand that words can represent an object or an action; this ‘object performance’ arises in a child’s first year, which is around the same time children say their first word (Lenneberg, 1967). Between the ages of two and four Piaget cites that children’s verbal schemas develop into ‘pre-concepts’; here words are used to classify objects or individuals based on their resemblance to each other (Chapman,