2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 The Meaning of Language Development
Professor Halliday (2003:268) says, “Language development is a
continuous process of learning to mean with two dimensions of continuity : “not
only a developmental continuity right through from birth to adult life, with
language in home, neighbourhood, primary school, secondary school, and place of
work, but also a structural continuity running through all components and
processes of learning.” According to him, there are three facets to language
development: learning language, learning through language, and learning about
language. In a sense, and from a child’s point of view, these three are all the same
things. But in order to understand them properly, it is needed to consider them
apart; this will enable everyone to see where each comes in in the overall growth
and development of a child.
The first is learning language. A child starts learning language from the
moment she/he is born; newborn babies are very attentive listeners. No doubt, in
fact, the baby has already started learning language before he/she was born,
picking up the rhythms of speech from their source is his mother’s diaphragm. But
from birth onwards he/she is actively involved in communication, exchanging
signals with the other human beings around him/her. For this purpose he/she has
to construct a language; and it is now beginning to understand something of how
she/he does it.
The second is learning through language. It refers to language in the
which people live. This means the world that is around the people and also the
world that is inside people, the world of their consciousness and their imagination.
The last is learning about language; in other words, coming to understand
the nature and functions of language itself. In one sense, every human being
knows about language simply because he/she talks and listens. But this is
unconscious understanding, in the same way that the knowledge of language is
unconscious knowledge. It is knowledge stored in the gut, so to speak (which is
where many cultures locate true understanding), rather than knowledge stored in
the head.
2.2 The Stages of Children Language Development
The stages of children language development are divided into two parts,
namely prelinguistic stage and linguistic stage.
1)Prelinguistic stage
Prelinguistic stage is the stage of children language development at the age of
0-1 year old. Prelinguistic stage is further divided into two stages, namely:
(a) First fingering stage
The first fingering stage is experienced by children at the age of 0-6
months. The division of this group is general and does not apply exactly to
every child. The babies at the age of 0-1 months are able to know the origin
of the sound. At the age of 1-2 months, they are able to distinguish the
syllables, they may respond differently to the emotional quality of the
human voice, for example, they will smile when they hear a friendly voice
3-4 months, the babies can distinguish the sound of men and women. And
at the age of 6 months, babies begin to pay attention to the intonation and
rhythm of speech. At this stage the children can communicate eventhough
by turning, crying and smiling.
(b) Second fingering stage
At this stage the children begin to active. The second fingering stage is
experienced by children at the age of 6 months to 1 year. Physically, they
have begun to make a movement. The way to communicate at this stage is
more varied, which is not only with the turning, smiling, and crying but
also with the holding, lifting or pointing.
2)Linguistics stage
Linguistic stage is the stage of children language development at the age of 1-5
years old. At this stage children begin to say a language like adults. Linguistic
stage is divided into three stages, namely:
(a) One-word stage (holophrare)
According to the rules of grammar, one word is not a sentence because it
only consists of one word, but the researchers of children language
development assume that the first words that uttered by the children have
more than just a "word" because it is the expression of a complex ideas,
which exist in adults will be expressed in complete sentences (Dale, 1977).
In addition, the word is a concrete entity (Stern, 1907).
For example: The utterance "mother" can mean;
- Please help me mother!
- That is mother’s dress.
- I’m hungry, mother.
In general, the first word is used to make comments on the objects or events
in the environment. It may include orders, notices, denial, questions, and
the other. How to interpret the first word depends on the context of the
"time" the word is uttered, so to be able to understand what the purpose of
the children words, it has to be seen or observed what the child is doing at
that time. The intonation is also very helpful to facilitate the interpretation
of whether the child is asking, telling, or ruling. There are two hypotheses
in connection with the assumption that the first word is a sentence, they are:
• Mc. Neil et al. (1970): Children have the sentences in their mind, but the
limitations of memory and attention can only issue one word.
• Ingram (1971): Children have a relatively quite a lot of ideas that can be
linked into a sentence but can not put them in the form of a sentence
because the children do not have sufficient linguistic ability yet.
(b) Two-word stage
By the increasing of vocabulary that has been acquired from the
environment, development of cognitive and other functions in children, it
forms a sentence which consists of two words. In general, two-word stage
appear when the children begin to understand a "theme" and try to express
it. This occurs about at the age of 18 months, where the children determine
different meanings. In combining words, children follow the sequence of
words contained in the adult language. The utterances in the form of
two-word stage has been much more productive than one two-word stage. This is
certainly in accordance with the children developmental abilities overall.
(c) More than two words stage
After mastery of two-word stage, then the children develop the
arrangement of the sentence consists of three words. According to Brown
(1973), the construction of this three words stage is actually a result of a
combination or an extension of the construction of two-word stage. By the
age of 2 till 5 years old, the children are able to construct a sentence of four
words or more by expansion. So, at this stage the children abilities and
skills increase in sentence form.
In addition, there are also some stages of children language development. A
team namely TP.PKK and PT.Nestle Indonesia in their book Buku Pedoman
Kader Gerakan Posyandu Peduli TAT (2012:94) describe the stages of children
language:
a) Anak pada usia 12 – 15 bulan
Dalam hal kemampuan bahasa, anak mampu memahami kata-kata sederhana,
bisa menyebut namanya, menyebut nama bagian tubuhnya, dan paling tidak ia
sudah mampu mengujarkan 1 sampai 5 kata, walaupun kadang-kadang
The children at the age of 12 – 15 months
In related to the language capability, a child is able to understand the simple
words, able to mention his/her name, say the parts of body, and at least she/he
is able to utter 1 to 5 words, eventhough she/he sometimes speaks unclear.
(translated by the author)
b) Anak pada usia 16 – 19 bulan
Kemampuan berbicara dan berbahasa, diantaranya menyebut nama bagian
tubuhnya, berbicara paling tidak 5 – 20 kata.
The children at the age of 16 – 19 months
The capability of speaking and using language, among other to mention
his/her name, to say his/her parts of body, to speak at least 5 to 20 words.
(translated by the author)
c) Anak pada usia 20 – 23 bulan
Kemampuan berbicara dan berbahasa, antara lain, sudah bisa menyebut
nama anggota keluarga, nama-nama binatang, nama panggilan, paling tidak
sudah bisa mengujarkan 10 – 35 kata dan mengerti artinya.
The children at the age of 20 – 23 months
The capability of speaking and using language, among other to be able to
mention the member of the family’s name, types of animal, nickname, at least
to be able to utter 10 to 35 words and to understand the meaning.
d) Anak pada usia 24 – 36 bulan
Kemampuan berbicara dan berbahasa, biasanya anak sudah mampu
menyebutkan nama-nama benda, binatang; menyatakan keadaan suatu benda,
misalnya, bajunya berwarna merah, ada bola di bawah meja; mampu
menyebutkan kalimat-kalimat sederhana dan pendek.
The children at the age of 24 – 36 months
The capability of speaking and using language, usually the children are
capable of saying the name of things, animals; telling the state of a thing, for
example talking about colour (her/his shirt is red), the position of the thing
(the ball is under the table); mentioning simple and short sentences.
(translated by the author)
e) Anak pada usia 48 – 60 bulan
Kemampuan berbicara dan berbahasa pada anak sudah cukup baik dengan
menggabungkan beberapa kata menjadi kalimat sederhana atau bahkan
menjadi kalimat sempurna layaknya orang dewasa.
The children at the age of 48 – 60 months
The child capability of speaking and using language is good enough by
combining some words become simple sentences or even complex sentences
like adults.
(translated by the author)
2.3The Factors of Children Language Acquisition
There are two factors of acquiring language, they are biological and
of biological and environmental factors. Linguists do not agree on exactly how
biological factors affect language learning, but they do agree that human beings
inherit some capacity of facility for a spoken language. One view of the biological
factors important to language development is that of Lenneberg, who has explored
those biological endowments that make language as we know it uniquely possible
for human beings. His research suggests that language is a species-specific trait of
humans. Lenneberg also suggests that language might be expected from the
evolutionary processes themselves and that the basis for language capacity might
be transmitted genetically.
In addition to the biological capacity of humans for language, an important
factor in language acquisition is the environmental factor. How children use the
adult language in their environment is a key issue in language acquisition. It has
strong implications for what parents or other adult do to help children develop
their language, what methods are most effective, and even what content is
appropriate. For example, on the age of one year old, the children may just say
father or mother, but very soon they can express an entire idea. It is because their
parents teach them to utter that words. Most children sound very much like their
parents; they pronounce words the same way their parents do, and they use many
of the same lexical items or vocabulary as well as many of the same grammatical
structures. From this, one could easily assume that children learn their language
from their parents or other adults with whom they are in close contact. They do,
but not merely by imitating the adult language they hear; instead, children
When children first begin to talk, adults typically change their language in
a variety ways. Thus, children are presented with language that is especially
adapted for them---language that is adjusted to what they appear to understand.
Clark and Clark (1977:320) suggest that how adults talk to children is
influenced by three things. First, adults have to make sure that children realize an
utterance is being addressed to them, and not to someone else. To do this, they can
use a name, a special tone of voice, or even get their attention by touching them.
Second, once they have a child’s attention, they must choose the right words and
the right sentences so the child is likely to understand what is said. For example,
they are unlikely to discuss philosophy, but very likely to talk about what the
child is doing, looking at, or playing with at that moment. Third, they can say
what they have to say in many different ways. They can talk quickly or slowly,
use short sentences or long ones, and so on. Adult speech also has certain
incidental consequences: children are presented with a specially tailored model of
language use, adjusted to fit, as far as possible, what they appear to understand.
2.4The Disorders of Children Language
Speech and language disorders are one of the causes of delays in growth
and development of children that are often encountered. Some developmental
language disorders in children are:
1)Dysphasia
Dysphasia is language development disorder that is not in accordance with the
children developmental skills. It is suspected that this disorder arises because of
the age of one year have not been able to say the meaningful spontaneous
words, such as mother or father. The ability of receptive speech (capture
conversations of others) is good but the ability of expressive speech (convey a
meaning) has been delayed. Because of the organ of talking and the organ of
eating are same, then these children usually have problems with eating or
sucking milk from a bottle.
2)Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)
At the age of 1-2 years old, children grow and develop normally and then lost
the skills that have been mastered well. The children develop normally in the
first 2 years of age such as communication skills, social, play and behavior. But
that skills are impaired before the age of 10 years old, which include language,
social, and motoric skill.
3)Asperger Syndrome
The typical of symptoms that arise are social interaction disorder and the
limitation or repetition of behaviors, interests, and activities. The children who
have this disorder have a qualitative disorder in social interaction. It’s shown
by the disorder of using nonverbal communication (eye, sight, face
expressions, body posture), can not play with their contemporary friends, lack
of social and emotional relationships.
4)Multisystem Development Disorder (MSDD)
The characteristics of MSDD are the problem of communication, social, and
sensory process (process of receiving stimuli sensory). The obvious
sound, aroma, texture, motion, temperature, and other sensory sensations. It’s
difficult to participate in activities well, the interest in communicating and
interaction remained normal but do not react optimally. There are problems
