Child language stages

Year One:

• Crying
• Cooing
• Babbling

Year Two:

• One word
• Two word
• Telegraphic
  

Year Three:
 

By year three, children are effective language users: still needing to practice, still needing to develop additional lexis, but fundamentally with the building blocks for all future language use. At this stage they begin to crack the code of implied meaning: to understand that, sometimes, language contains messages which can seem to contradict their face value statements.

Year Four:
Children begin to develop and understanding that language carries a multiplicity of meanings, that it can be manipulated and that different audiences require different language use including variations in lexis and intonation. In other words, by year four, their use of language is purposeful.

Year Five:
This is the age that most children start school. So here we see a shift from spoken language as the complete focus to written language: learning to read. This shift towards literacy sees children beginning to make links between print and meaning.

Year Thirteen:

Some researchers believe that around this age, children's ability to acquire language may begin to decline. Lenneburg et al propose that there is a period during which children are predisposed to acquire language. They also believe that there is a ‘cut off' age (around 13 years) after which acquisition is not possible.