Language has a powerful influence over us all, whether it be written or spoken words, or nonverbal forms of communication, language plays a pivotal role in society. As children develop, language plays an important role in their progress forming the building blocks for communicating emotionally, socially and academically. This essay will begin by discussing the functions of language through early childhood, before outlining the different roles language plays in a child’s life through its social influences, cultural differences and academic environments. With a look into the impact of parents, …show more content…
These are designed to describe the stages in language development and the developing roles that language plays. Firstly, the instrumental function enables children the ability to obtain needs and wants, often vocalised in brief expression such as ‘I want’ or even single words like ‘bottle’. This then develops into the regulatory function involves the behaviour of others. This is recognised at an early age as a result of how adults communicate with children. With expressions such as ‘say that again’ or ‘let’s have lunch’, children are modelled desires related to another person’s behaviour. Developing further, is the interactional function where a child determines people, specifically their mother and others who are important to them, working to interact with and around them in contrast to the generalisations of the previous …show more content…
Developmental scholars have sighted three key aspects of parenting that optimize language development. Firstly they sighted the need for frequent learning activities such as shared book reading, the second is parent and child engagement through cognitive stimulation and lastly the access to age appropriate learning material like toys and books. …. (….) Comments that through these processes, a child’s language skills can be remarkably improved adding to later social and educational contexts as well as the experiences gained through everyday interaction. The role of language in these early years prepares children for the social and academic requirements of the