#9. The Importance of Imitation

August 2, 2017 Liz Donnelly

eardrops language series The Importance of Imitation

Imitation is a big part of childhood. At every stage we learn by watching, listening and doing, playing hours of repetitive games, repeating countless jokes to each other and mimicking the words to songs, to name only a few ways that we imitate. We learn social rules by imitation, studying facial expressions and body language – and, not surprisingly, a big part of language is actually learned by imitation.

This post in the eardrops language series takes a close look at the importance of imitation when it comes to language learning in babies and young children.

Well before they know language, babies deliberately imitate facial expressions as well as the sounds, intonations and volume of what they hear, learning the pitch and contour patterns of their native language well before they understand individual words. Once the child becomes a toddler who can say a few words (and who understands many more), they really ramp up their efforts to imitate. Young children need to imitate the language they are hearing around them to help them understand how the components of language all fit together and to work out what it all means!

“Blocks fall” “Yes blocks fall down” “Blocks fall down”

Although it varies widely, about 20% of what toddlers say is imitation. The exact amount an individual child imitates is linked to how much the caregiver imitates the child. Yes you read that right. Caregivers play a vital role in the process, naturally modelling the language by playing games with their babies - like copying sounds, intonations and later, when the child is a toddler, their words. The trick is, they don’t imitate them back exactly – the adult generally extends the child ever so slightly each time, by modelling the right pronunciation and showing them other words they could use in the sentence. This isn’t a conscious process, but one that evolves within the child-caregiver relationship.

Adults imitate children back to extend their knowledge, and also to show that they understand what the child said.

Imitation helps with:

Comprehension

Imitation helps toddlers firm up their knowledge. Most of the meaning in a language is held within the way the sounds and symbols are combined. Children learn the language structure and the individual words through imitation.

Vocabulary Growth

Imitation is vital for the child’s growing mental dictionary. Children usually imitate something that’s a tiny bit too hard for them, which helps them learn. Children with older siblings tend to imitate less because big brother or sister jumps in to do the talking for them. There’s that birth order difference again!

So it’s not rocket science really, the notion that children imitate language while they’re deep in the process of learning it through these early years. Of particular interest though is that they don’t imitate everything they hear. This ‘selective imitation’ is a technique children use to learn more about the language. It is an active process where they choose exactly what to imitate – usually picking words that they may not fully understand or aren’t quite up to yet. A very young child might repeat the nouns in a sentence (‘cat’ ‘milk’) and later pick out one noun and extend on what is said (for example in response to “oh the cat’s at the door, she’s hungry” the child might say “cat” “door” “eat” showing that they understand the cat comes to the door at mealtimes). Children imitate themselves too, talking about words they understand. This ‘self-imitation’ is often a little boost they give themselves to take the leap from single word talking to stringing words together in short sentences. Expert Robert E. Owens Jr calls the strategy of selective imitation a type of ‘scaffolding’ that reduces the workload on the brain. Let’s face it those young brains are working so hard during these first few years! Experts can even take note of what words a child is imitating and understand where that child is at in their language journey.

Imitation tends to drop off from about 2 years old, as the child moves towards being a ‘preschooler’ (in terms of their language stage) rather than a ‘toddler’. This makes sense as they are delving right into the complex areas of language by this stage and need to bring in other strategies to help their learning. Language resources like the Eardrops stories are helpful to use when the child is at this stage. Download them here.

Mā te wā (until next time),

Liz xx

Next up:

#1. An introduction to language

#2. Newborn language

#3 6-12 months and language

Dr Newbury's Research

Information for the Eardrops blog language series was guided and overseen by Dr Jayne Newbury, Researcher in Child Language (University of Canterbury), with the comprehensive information in Language Development: An Introduction by Robert E. Owens, Jr. (2015). This post was written by Liz Donnelly, creator of Eardrops, audio stories that help develop listening skills and improve everyday language in young children.

#7. Word-learning whizz-kids; 24-36 months

July 4, 2017 Liz Donnelly

Toddler language development 24 to 36 months - language series 7

This post in our language series looks at children between two and three years old - our little language 'whizz-kids'!

The ‘toddler’ phase of language development is from 12 months right through to 36 months, so your child might be doing some of what’s being discussed in this post before (or after) they turn two. There can be as much as two year's variation in language acquisition, because factors like individual learning styles and birth order have a big influence (for example firstborns have a definite advantage because they get more adult one-on-one conversations). A child might seem delayed in their language because they don’t say much out loud, but could actually have a deep understanding of the language around them - advanced ‘receptive language’ - while others have advanced ‘expressive language’, meaning they say a lot of words, but they may not comprehend as much. Each child’s journey to language fluency is unique and gradual, moving from knowing what something is, learning what it’s called, then learning to speak about it in a variety of contexts. Clever whizz-kids!

The amazing two year old

The two year old has usually mastered physical feats like standing on tiptoe, standing on one foot while holding onto something, and jumping. Although they are still climbing the mountain towards language fluency, they can now truly engage in conversations. Quickly moving from using mostly one or two word sentences to longer phrases, and progressing from simply labelling things in the environment to more general language, during this year children start making requests (or commands!), questioning (Why?), protesting (No!), saying common greetings, and expressing how they feel (“I’m tired”). Gestures are still relied on but now they’re starting to be accompanied more often by words.

Two year olds might be able to say 100-300 words and will likely understand many more, making full use of their growing 'working memory' (our short term high speed memory files). They use simplified versions of words ('nana' instead of 'banana'), switch out the beginning letters ('tar' instead of 'car') and can sometimes seem like they're stuttering - language is landing so fast during the next few years that the brain gets ahead of the mouth sometimes (especially when the child is tired or excited).

It’s interesting to note that there are differences depending on what language is being acquired – children learning Mandarin have an average expressive vocabulary of 550 words by around two!*

Before this stage, the child’s language was all about the ‘here and now’, using objects and daily routines to make sense of the world. However children now start to have a deeper understanding of language during this year, you can tell because they bring in sentences that have more than one idea in them. The example that expert Robert E. Owens Jr gives in his book Language Development: An Introduction is “Mummy cookies hot?” This sentence means “can I have a cookie Mum?” and “are the cookies hot Mum?” Phrases like this show the child has an ability to plan and execute a multiple step process towards a goal (i.e. to get the biscuit!)

As discussed in our first post in this series, learning language uses three areas of the brain. The child is actively involved, constantly listening to the language in the home to understand the words and work out the correct way to use them. Children scan for the endings of words before the beginnings. They learn that various sounds that might sound similar are actually different (like ‘t’ and ‘d’ on the ends of words). They look for patterns like this and now they also understand that new information can be found outside of the actual words a person is saying, so they closely follow these cues too (for example volume, pitch and intonation).

Learning language actually involves taking a lot of risks in trying new words (and making a lot of mistakes) so it is important to praise children for their efforts, not their results. They need lots of free play time too to process everything they’re learning (after all, ‘play is child’s work’). Children are actively trying to connect all the dots and it can be frustrating for them at times. Although they can ask for help when they need it, this is a notorious period for tantrums that occur out of sheer frustration (let’s take an understanding parent-to-parent collective sigh at this point. And breathe…)

Child Directed Speech

Without really being aware of it, caregivers move from the ‘Infant Directed Speech’ techniques discussed in the baby language posts to a subtly different style, one that quietly and consistently extends the child’s knowledge. An adult might say half the sentence and pause so the child can finish it (this builds vocabulary), or repeat what was said - especially helpful when the child has the words in the wrong order because the adult can correct this. They also repeat what the child has said in order to make sure that they understand; this is ‘active listening’. The adults still exaggerate their pitch and tones, and interestingly, use very short sentences, even shorter than when the child was a baby, which works well for the toddler. The adult is constantly taking cues from the child and will simplify the language even further if they’re not understood. Even kids as young as four will simplify their language for younger children.

Language Learning Strategies

In this later toddler phase, children are using strategies to help their learning, like putting words into categories ('things I eat'), and memorizing groups of words as if they're one ('seeyabye'). Children are also imitating some of what they hear and constantly monitoring all responses they get from the adults around them to work out if they said something the right way.

During this year children are learning many words and they might know 900 by the time they are three! Once they turn three they enter the ‘preschool’ phase of language, and we look into this stage in weeks to come. As a caregiver, you can do so much to help your child with their language, and its helpful to have a basic understanding of how our language develops in the early years. If you are worried about your child’s language development please do take them to see your local health provider.

Mā te wā (until next time),

Liz xx

Next up:

#4. The importance of primary caregivers

#5. The importance of gestures

#6. Toddler language 12-24 months

Dr Newbury's Research

* This fascinating fact from here

#6. Lovely toddler language; 12–24 months

June 26, 2017 Liz Donnelly

Proper 'Language' begins!

Happy first birthday little one! Along with walking, language is the major achievement of the second year. It is now that all that hard work by babies and caregivers starts to pay off. These are exciting times mamamdadada!

Although babies have been communicating for months using gaze, gestures and sounds, at around twelve months they will use a word that sounds like the ‘real’ word, (perhaps in amongst a long stream of scrumptious baby babbling), and their caregivers will know it definitely means something. Experts term these first deliberate words the beginning of ‘language’ (ta dah! Cue applause). Generally the first words are ones used around the child thousands of times before (maybe the name of the family cat?)

This is broad developmental information, so don’t worry if your child is or isn’t doing what’s outlined in this post - every personality is different and each one of us creates our own individual journey to language. And literally add months to these timelines if your child is learning two languages at once – overall language happens more slowly but the benefits of two languages far outweigh a few more months processing time right now! (More on bilingual language learning here).

Expert Robert E. Owens Jr says for a word to actually be officially called ‘language’ that word:

needs to sound like the ‘real thing’,
needs to be used more than once (used consistently), and
needs to be used in the presence of what it means.

Common first English words are: mama, dada, nana, hi, bye, ta, uh-oh, baby (bubba), no, ball, doggie, cat, duck, car*

Language is hard work

Each time a toddler says a word they are using three different areas of their brain – one to hear, one to understand and one to form the sound of the word with their mouth. Constant experience of language helps these young brains keep forming connections, so it is important that caregivers keep talking to and with the toddler as much as possible.They use one word phrases but their intended meaning is actually the complete sentence – “wassat” translated into adult speak is “Please can you tell me what that is?”

Learning to speak clearly is a major challenge throughout the next few years, because children need to learn how to physically match the sound they make with the words they hear, and this takes lots of practice. There is much experimenting with sounds - toddlers play with pitch within their words more, lilting up at the end, speaking loudly, or softly. Toddlers will use a kiddie version of a word until they can master the correct adult pronunciation (for example ‘doddie’ instead of ‘doggie’).

Toddlers still need their primary caregivers’ consistent attention. Whenever they say a new word they are watching to see what the response is, so they can work out if the word was spoken in the right way, and if it was understood in the way they meant. Just checking in mama, always listening - and now understanding so much too. Caregivers might notice that a toddler looks at their adult first, then makes a gesture (they are still relying heavily on gestures), then says the word, then looks back to make sure they were understood. They now know they need the adult’s attention before they speak. Bravo!

By fifteen months toddlers are usually able to name a few of their favourite toys, pets, family members, and foods. At this age they use their words mainly to talk about or ask for things in the immediate environment, in comparison with later when it becomes more about controlling the environment (hello ‘terrible twos’!)

A phrase like “more juice” shows the toddler knows what that drink is called and understands that someone can have more of it.

The first ‘sensitive period’ for language

The learning that takes place at around 16-18 months is really important, and it links to quickly learning lots more words after 18 months. This is because this little window of time is a ‘sensitive period’ for language learning. There is a difference at this age between what a child knows (their 'receptive language') and what they can say out loud (their 'expressive language').

Keep reading piles of picture books together, listen to audio stories whenever you can, and have focussed conversations with your child many times a day when they are 16-18 months to take advantage of this little ‘language-boost’ window.

By 18 months toddlers understand about fifty words and they’re hoovering as many words into their brain as they can each day. They don’t need new words repeated as many times as before – sometimes they only need to hear a word three or four times and they’ve nailed it. They will forget lots too, don’t worry about this if it happens. All part of the process.

The consonants children learn at 19 months old directly relate to the expressive language they’ll be speaking at 3 years old. (I didn’t make that up, it came from Watt, Wetherby and Shumway, 2006*). Its not rocket science really, as is all on a continuum, but still, fascinating!

100 words

It takes a while for toddlers to get to understand their first 100 words, but after that they’re off and away with their language. This is related to them understanding the patterns of the language more fully, and having better control over their speech muscles, along with overall general brain development. So this milestone is not about the child’s age, rather getting them to 100 words is a key step. A big part of the caregiver’s job between 18 and 24 months it is about building the child’s vocabulary, working towards that 100 words.

By their second birthday they might understand 300 words (depending on when they got to that 100 word milestone – and no, adults this is NOT a race). Their comprehension is now deepening, they will start to use two concepts in the same sentence – astonishing really, how brilliant they are - and this is all knowledge that will be essential later when they learn to read and write.

More on this deepening comprehension next in our exploration of language in children two to three years old. Also take a look at how to build listening skills in toddlers and take a listen to the eardrops stories - they're great for this age group.

As a caregiver, you can do so much to help your child with their language, and its helpful to have a basic understanding of how our language develops in the early years. If you are worried about your child’s language development please take them to see your local health provider.

Mā te wā (until next time), Liz xx

Next up:

The Art of Listening

#4 The importance of primary caregivers

#7 2-3 year olds and language

Dr Newbury's research