Factors Influencing Language Development | Factors Affecting Language Development

 

Factors Influencing Language Development

 

Language development in children takes place in different stages according to a certain sequence. Sometimes its speed becomes fast and sometimes its speed becomes comparatively slow. The speed of language development is affected by many factors, of which the following are the main ones.

 

(1) Health

(2) Intelligence

(3) Sex differences

(4) Socio-economic status

(5) Size of the family

(6) Birth order

(7) Multiple birth

(8) Use of more than one language (Bilingualism)

(9) Contact with peers

(10) Stimulation by parents- 

 

Factors Affecting Language Development

 

(1) Health:

The language development of children is greatly influenced by their health. In the first four years, if the child suffers from a severe and prolonged illness, his vocabulary remains much less than that of normal children of his age and his language development slows down.

 

(2) Intelligence:

 

Children whose intelligence level is high, their language development happens more quickly and faster. Poor vocabulary, wrong pronunciation of simple words and learning less from their experiences etc. are found in children of low intelligence. As a result, their language development is retarded. Mentally skilled children not only learn to speak, write and read early, but they also communicate their mature thoughts. The main reason for this is that due to their sharp intelligence, mental maturity comes quickly in them.

(3) Sex differences :

 

There is no clear influence of sex on the language development of infants in the first year of life. However, by the age of 2-3 years the effect of sex is clearly visible and at each subsequent age level, girls have better language development than boys and they can produce longer errorless sentences than boys. ) are used. Psychologists have given two reasons for this difference.

 

(i) The first reason is the close relationship between mother and daughter. Generally, the father spends most of his time outside the home and the mother spends most of his time inside the home. As a result, the girls establish a close relationship with the mother. However, boys do not establish such a close relationship with the father (since most of the father's time is spent outside the home) and with the mother because they are less able to identify with her. Can happen. A close mother-daughter relationship is more likely to encourage language development in girls.

 

(ii) The second reason is said to be the similarity in the voices of the mother and the daughters. Psychologists are of the opinion that the voice of girls is more similar to that of mother or other adult women, but the voice of boys is similar to that of father or other adult men. This homogeneity of sounds encourages girls to utter more words or longer sentences, which leads to more rapid language development.

(4) Socio-economic status:

 

Till the age of one and a half (1.5) years, there is no significant effect of socio-economic status on language development in children. After that, the influence of socio-economic status on language development is clearly visible. On the basis of experimental studies, it has been found that children from families of higher socio-economic status use longer sentences than children of the same age from families of lower socio-economic status and their vocabulary (vocabulary) is also bigger. Many reasons have been given for this, in which the following are the main ones-

(i) The first reason given is that the intelligence of a child of high socio-economic level is generally higher than the intelligence of a child of low socio-economic level. Therefore, their language development is relatively rapid.

 

(ii) Generally, the environment of the family of higher socio-economic status is more stimulating and equipped with modern materials like radio, television, magazines, telephone, newspapers etc., which is a good stimulating environment for the language development of children. ) prepare and promote the pace of language development. But, all these things are lacking in the family of low socio-economic level. As a result, the pace of language development slows down in children who grow up in such an environment.

 

(iii) Often the parents of families with high socio-economic status have a strong sense of giving special training to children in speaking, writing and reading and have more understanding towards all these things. However, such understanding or tendency is not found in the parents of the low socio-economic level of the family, due to which the speed of language development in their children is slow.

(5) Size of the family:

 

A family in which there is only one child. Language development is rapid. But, in a family where there are 2-3 children or even more children, the language development of the children there becomes retarded. The reason for this has been told that when there is only one child, the parents are able to give him every possible training in speaking, reading and writing and make every possible effort to increase his vocabulary. They take out enough time for all these works. But, if there is more than one child in the family, the parents are not able to give that much time to all these children. As a result, children do not have such a close relationship and identification with their parents, due to which the child's language development slows down. Not only this, the only child avoids sibling rivalry. Missildine (Missildine, 1946) and McCarthy (McCarthy.

 

(6) Birth order:

It has also been observed in some studies that the birth order of children also has an effect on language development. According to the study of Parry (Parry, 1974) and Sarason (Sarason, 1990), the language development of children whose birth order is first, their language development is more rapid than the children of later age order. The reason for this is that the parents give more time and attention to the first child than the second or third born children. As a result, his language development is more rapid.

 

(7) Multiple births:

Multiple births refer to the birth of twins and triplets. Psychologists have done a comparative study of twins, triplets and singletons, on the basis of which it has been found that till the age of 5 years, the language development of twins and triplet children is more retarded than that of a single child. It happens. Such children start speaking late, their vocabulary is less and they speak slowly. The reason for this is that from the time of birth, such children get less time to establish an affectionate relationship with the mother as compared to single children. In the absence of an affectionate relationship, language development slows down in children.

 

(8) Use of more than one language (Bilingualism):

A review of psycholinguistic studies suggests that 80% of Indians are either bilingual or multilingual. Some psychologists, in which the names of Love and Parker-Robinson are prominent, are of the opinion that when children are taught more than one language, it creates a kind of confusion in their mind; Because children have to learn two or three words for the same object. On the other hand, when children are taught only one language, there is no confusion in their thinking and they understand words properly and are able to use them in sentences. As a result, language development occurs more rapidly in children learning one language than in children learning more than one language.

 

(9) Contact with peers:

There are some parents who exercise more control over their children and as a result they do not allow their children to interact much with their peers. The result of this is that the social contact of such children becomes limited. As a result, the language development of such children gets affected. It is often observed that the language development of such children is more retarded as compared to the language development of children whose parents allow them to mix with their peers.

 

(10) Stimulation by parents:

Children who get more stimulation from their parents to speak, write and read words, language development is more rapid in them. Psychological studies have shown that for this reason, language development of children from middle socioeconomic status families is faster than that of children from low socioeconomic status families.