Stages of Language Development

The stages of language development as defined by the AQA specification. Turn off Written exercises.

Features of the Pre-Verbal Stage are…

• Cooing and Babbling to try and figure out the tongue positions needed to produce specific sounds.

• Beginning to use paralinguistic/prosodic features such as Intonation in their speech.

The time period for the Pre-Verbal Stage is… (in months)

0-12 Months

Cooing begins within ________ of the Pre-Verbal Stage.

Around 6-8 Weeks

Babbling begins within _________ of the Pre-Verbal Stage.

Around 6-9 Months

Features of the Holophrastic Stage/One-Word Stage are…

• Single-Word Utterances, often referred to as holophrases, such as “Milk?” to mean “I want milk”.

• Vocabulary mostly consisting of content words - with a minimal understanding of grammar.

• Largely relies on prosodic features in order to convey meaning.

The time period for the Holophrastic/One-Word Stage is… (in months)

12-18 months

Features of the Two-Word stage are…

• Two-Word Combinations, such as “want milk” instead of “milk?” to say “I want milk”.

• Simple speech which begins to show an understanding of the relationships between words.

• Speech is direct and concise. Grammatical parts such as “a” or “is” are often omitted.

The time period for the Two-Word Stage is… (in months)

18-24 months

Features of the Telegraphic Stage are…

• Multi-Word Combinations such as “Where my milk?” to convey thoughts, wishes and ideas.

• Some grammatical words, such as copulas and articles, are still omitted.

• Children begin to experiment with other parts of grammar such as tenses, plurals, and possessives - they learn how to form these through correction from caregivers.

The time period for the Telegraphic Stage is… (in months)

24-30 months

Features of the Post-Telegraphic Stage are…

• Longer sentences with a larger range of grammatical structures - often described as more complex language.

• Larger variations in verb forms and sentence types.

• Increased accuracy when attempting to form sentences.

• Use of auxiliary verbs, pronouns, and tenses - more advanced grammar while speaking.

• A deeper understanding of social nuances and pragmatics - turn taking, politeness, context, etc.

The time period for the Post-Telegraphic stage is…

Beyond 30 months