Chapter 8: Preschool Pragmatic and Semantic Development

What are some important characteristics of preschool language development?

rapid changes in use, content, and form of language

pragmatic development

fine-motor abilities develop

complex sentences

increased memory

What are some aspects of pragmatic development that take place during ages 3-5?

use toys in imaginative ways

likely to play in groups with other children

share toys and take turns

What is the typical vocab development of a 3 year old?

900-1000 expressive words

As children broaden their social networks, they modify ____________ and become more aware of social standards

their self esteem and self image

What are some attributes of early conversation skills?

egocentric

difficulty sustaining conversation topic

collective monologues

self talking

egocentric language

language is centered around themselves

What are some characteristics of later conversation skills?

take turns

respond appropriately

initiate and change topics

contingent responses

What are contingent responses?

maintaining the current topic and adding something new to it

Collective Monologue

two children playing next to each other but the child is completly oblivious to what the other is saying

**demonstrates a child's egocentrism

What are two major types of intentions mastered by preschoolers?

representational (statement function rather than naming)

control (direct requesting rather than wanting)

Intentions Inhibited by Children

Exclamations (18 months)

Naming (21m)

Direct Request (24m)

Content Question (30m)

Prohibition (33)

Yes/No question, verbal accompaniment (36m)

Request Permission (45)

Suggestion (48)

Physical Justification (54)

Offer an Indirect Request (57)

What is the typical 5 year old's ability to maintain conversation?

50% sustaining of topic through 12 turns

Theory of Mind

the realization that others have their own thoughts

What is the main type of conversation that preschoolers have?

short, limited turns

mother-child type conversations rather than group

What is a register?

different styles of speaking for different roles

politeness

What is conversational repair?

using questions to ask for clarification

lack the ability to state exactly what is desired

*if requested, he is unable to reformulate the sentence to clarify

What are oral narratives?

uninteruppted stream of language modified by the speaker to capture and hold the listener's interest

*include self generated stories, retelling of books, recounting of personal experience

How are narratives and conversations similar?

sense of purpose

exchange of information

ability to assume the perspective of the listener

How are conversations and narratives different?

dialogs v monologues

narratives contain organizational patterns and event sequence

events are linked in a predictable manner

relatively passive role of the listener

Preschooler Narrative

knowledge of event structure

What are some concepts for narrative levels?

centering and chaining

What is centering?

the linking of entities to form a story nucleus

What is chaining?

sequence of events that share attributes and lead directly from one to another

What age do children begin to use centering?

2-3 yrs

What age do children use both centering and chaining?

5 year olds

Type-Token Ration (TTR)

measure of vocabulary variation within a person's speech

(number of types/number of tokens) x 100 = %

What does a high TTR indicate?

large amount of lexical variation

What does a low TTR indicate?

little lexical variation (restricted vocabulary)

What are the different parameters for TTR?

below 25% restricted

above 80% highly varied