Every age group has its language standards influenced by the initial level of development. The process of language development begins at infancy all the way to the early school age. The toddlers comprise of children between the age of 2 and 4. The discussion will analyse the language standards of the toddlers highlighting their developmental information.
With regards to vocabulary, the toddler’s mastery expands rapidly. The child has the capability of learning new words each day. The toddler also understands more words than they can use. They will begin using nouns such as ‘friend', ‘baby' including other classes of words such as verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and local words. They will also begin using quantitative words like ‘more' and ‘most' and words that are used in making questions such as ‘who' and ‘where'.
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As part of language development, the toddler will begin to use two-word sentences at around the age of two. By the third year, they will be able to properly use sentences with three or more words such as ‘Daddy get in car.' They will gradually develop in their grammar and the structuring of their sentences. However, the child may not always get it correct when using plural and past tense of certain words. On occasions, they may be heard using ‘foots' instead of ‘feet' among others. This is because the children are still trying to understand how language works under different situations.
Language development also includes the child’s understanding more of what is said to them. They will exhibit a step-by-step understanding of instructions, and this will be fostered by the things they already know. The toddler will still find it difficult to grab and follow instructions about unfamiliar instructions and tasks. The child will begin to answer questions from adults concerning ‘who', ‘what' and ‘where' but might find it difficult to respond to questions that about ‘why' and ‘how'. They will also develop a mechanism of asking for help if they are unable of doing something.
Hoff (2013) asserted that by the age of three, the toddler will begin using most speech sounds in their words but may still find it difficult to replicate adults. They may find it difficult to combine certain sounds and also using complicated sounds like ‘z', ‘sh', and ‘r' among others. At this age, unfamiliar people will also be able to understand a large chunk of what they are saying. They will also begin having short conversation with people. They can talk about things that have occurred during the day. Their ability to sequence things into simple stories is also notable at this stage. The toddlers will also talk about objects and people that are not present. Also, they will begin mimicking other people’s pronunciation and emphasis. They will apply their language skills in playing such as giving voices to toys they are playing with.
Many parents tend to measure their toddler’s verbal abilities against those of other children of the same age. However, this should be avoided because there is more variation in language development at this stage than any other. Some children develop language at a steady rate while others master words unevenly. Naturally, some children are more talkative than others. Children who talk much do not necessarily possess better language skills and vocabulary than the silent ones. The silent children could also possess similar knowledge of words but are only choosier in their use. Boys normally begin talking later than girls. Toddlers master basic rules of grammar mostly through listening and practising without any formal instruction.
In conclusion, every stage of development in a child's life has its language standards. The mastery of language is a long process with many stages. Toddlers mainly learn their language through listening and practising. They begin by understanding few vocabularies to a point where they can make simple sentences.
Reference
Hoff, E. (2013). Language development . Cengage Learning .
