Metalinguistic Awareness in Parenting Styles and Child’s Language Development
4. Result and Discussion
The researcher observed language development of the participants through direct investigation and intervention using the theory stages of child’s language development by Dr. Lydia Soifer (2012) as parameters of observation.
According to Lydia Soifer, these following stages and development happened to children 18-24 months;
1. Understand 300 words 2. Uses 50 recognizable words 3. Speak more than gestures
4. Wants to hear stories over and over 5. Uses rising intonation to ask question 6. Shakes head to answer questions 7. Follow 2 related commands
8. Begins to use verbs e.g, “do”, “go”
9. Starts to ask, “what’s that?”
10. Talks about what is happening in the moment 11. Combines two words e.g “more juice” and “go car”
12. Tells name when asked
13. Points to 6 or more body parts when asked 14. Turns pages of a book
15. Imitates house-work
16. Joins in songs and familiar rhymes.
In the other hand, Dr. Lydia Soifer stated that following development happened in 3-4 years children;
1. Understands over 1000 words
2. Uses eye contact consistently in conversation
3. Asks many questions, including “what do” and “who”
4. Understands simple time concepts such as morning, lunch time, night, tomorrow 5. Understands spatial words, in front of, behind
6. Begin to use -s for the third person present tense 7. Uses can’t and won’t
8. Uses “and”
139 9. Uses 3-4 word sentences
10. Uses more than one sentence type 11. Can tell a story
12. Can speak about events in the recent past
13. Uses language to comment, question and respond 14. Stays with an activity 10-15 minutes
15. Is 75% intelligible to a stranger
In order to get the evidence related to the implementation of children’s language stages development as parameter for researcher in doing the observation, the researcher did some approaches in the intervention to stimulate children’s talk, expression, reaction, interaction, and behavior. The researcher made sure that the approaches she used were appropriate with all types and ages of the participants. Although in some cases, the researcher used the way of communication according to the language capacity of each child as stated in the child’s language development stages and behavior as parameters.
Specifically, the researcher asked questions about several things related to familiar things to the participants. It is done to know the quantity of their vocabularies and how they pronounce the words. In the other hand, the researcher also asked the questions by pointing to several things around children to ask the name of things. Furthermore, to get the information about their understanding about the talk and to know the way how they react toward the situation, the researcher did the light conversation about their daily lives. For example, she asked about what they were doing, what they like, what they are watching, etc.
To get the evidence about the way how they comprehend and comment something, the researcher talked with them frequently about interesting topic that might be interesting for them such as about the ice cream they like, the cartoon movies they have watched and different characters in the movies. Besides, the researcher also used toys and dolls to tell a story in order to stimulate them to react and express their feelings and interpretation about the story. In addition, to get pragmatic understanding in children, the researcher tried to give them command to do something or not to do something. For example, she asked them to take a broom, to see the picture, to clean the table, etc. Pretending to be angry with them to see their reaction was occasionally done when necessary.
The researcher describes the result of the observation in the following tables. The table is made by distinguishing children’s language development according to their ages and frequency of children’s interaction with their parents, especially mothers. Specifically, table 1 will describe the language development and behavior observation and intervention results of children with working moms, which is in researcher’s perception, have more limited interaction with their mothers than those with full-time moms. In the other hand, table 2 describes language development and behavior observation and intervention results of children with full-time moms, who have more frequent interaction.
140 Table.1
General language development and behavior (before intervention)
Endra Sidqya
Refers to self by his own name and with pronoun “aku”/ (me)
Knows one until three names of colors with frequent errors (mismatching) Knows and memorizes names of the animal
Talking with unclear articulation but understandable
Combine three or four words Starts a conversation
Answer a question with unclear sentence
Says “Ayah” to call her father
Says the words with vowel sounds, e.g “nene” to call her grandmother
Uses gesture when she was speaking, e.g. she puts her hand up and moves it while saying “dadah...”/
(goodbye)
Shakes head to show agreement and disagreement or to answer a question, e.g nodded when saying
“iya” (yes)
Can turn pages of a book
Shakes her body when listening to the music Language development and behavior with/after intervention
Endra Sidqya
Month I
Can express feelings with certain adjectives, e.g say
“aku takut” (I’m afraid) or
“aku sedih” (I’m sad)
Shows facial expression when giving a comment about something, e.g “ihh seyem”
(it’s scarry)
Shows expression of request, e.g “aku mau nonton tv” (I want to watch TV)
Talking over, sometimes unclear
Tell her nick name when asked
Says more vowel sounds, e.g
“mimi”
Plays “CiluukBaa…”
Says “Ndaa….” (bunda) to call her mother
Can turn pages of a book, read it with “her own language”
Uses “ini” (this) “itu” (that) to show something
Month 2
Can combine two words to express frustation
Imitates more animal sounds, e.g sounds of cat, hen, and deer.
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Gives comment by talking to himself when watching a movie
Knows more names of colors Talks to himself when watching a movie
Eating alone without any assistance
Imitates images and facial expressions in front of a mirror, e.g she smiles and shows her teeth when asked
“cantiknya gimana…??”
(“how’s beautiful baby?”), and up her lip when asked
“jeleknya gimana?” (how’s bad baby?)
Says “unda” to call her mother
Month 3
Knows more names of colors with frequent errors (mismatching)
Imitates the dialogue and actions of characters in the movie
Talk loudly when angry Negotiates or requests something e.g “aku oyeh main yaa..” (may I play please..) or “aku itut yaa”
(may I follow you?)
Open pages of a book and guesses pictures in a book
Can turn pages of a book, tries to read it with “her own language”, and asking question about some parts in a book with her own language.
Shakes her body, head, and feet when listening to the music.
Can play hide and seek
Imitates the name of a number Can turn pages of a book, tries to read it with “her own language and comment by bubling”
Month 4
Sometimes cannot answer a question
Uses possessive pronoun, e.g
“baju aku” (my cloth), “lobot punya kamu ya?” (is that your robot?).
Persuades people to do what she wants to do, e.g saying
“nah.. yuk…!” (let’s go there) while walking to the door Answers a question well, when asked “ini baju siapa?”
142 Talks over and over Talks to the animals
Gives comment about something that he looks at Shows expression of gratitude Tells a story with unsystematic organzation and errors in pronunciation, sometimes is understandable
Remember the names of her family
Imitates names of letters, especially ABC
Can say “aciihh..” to thank someone
Talking to herself and to the dolls with her own language
Month 5
Can give a command to others, e.g “jangan ke sana!”
(don’t go there), “awas ati- ati” (watchout!), etc.
Ask many questions about everything around him Uses new vocabulary with errors in context of usage, e.g
“kamu agi sombong ya di kamar mandi…” (are you arrogant in the bathroom?) Persuade her mother of friend to get something e.g “baby lutu.. aku mau yaa biscuit nya” (funny baby, I want your biscuit)
Shows expression of apologize, e.g “maafin aku ya...”
Debates and argues something to show complaint, disagreement e.g “ihh tok
Say more vowel sounds, e.g
“koko”, “baba” /buka/baca (read/open)
Imitates house-work, e.g cleaning the floor with broom, drying her clothes by taking her underwear from the cupboard then hang it out with hanger
Imitates more names of numbers, especially 123 Talk with people with her own language but sometimes keep silent when asked Says words with consonant ending, e.g “dudun..”/ duduk (sit down), “ambin”/ ambil (take), “enum”/ minum or senyum, “maamm”/ makan.
Understand the command, e.g throw away a rubbish when asked to throw it away
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mobinnya gak ada cihh...”/
“ih kok mobilnya gak ada sih?”, (oh, why the car is not there?).
Combine two words, e.g “au mamm...”/ mau makan (wants to eat)
Poses and selfie in front of the camera
Talks to the animals Table 2
General language development and behavior before intervention
Raya Salman
Uses three-four words in speaking Can tell a story
Asks a question
Uses negation to express disagreement Says “hi” to a friend
Listens more Afraid of stranger
Comments about something on TV
Talks with unclear pronunciation Tells the past events
Able to use negative phrases(sometimes) Holds a conversation for two turns Talks to himself while playing with toys Talks loudly to show angry
Very afraid of stranger
Comment about something on TV General language development and behavior after intervention
Raya Salman
Month 1
asking about the reason, e.g
“mama ini kenapa?” (Momy, why is this?).
does not want to talk when asked by people about something
combine phrases, e.g “itu mobin”/itu mobil (that’s car), and “bawah pohon” (under the tree)
angry if being approached and asked about something
Combine three words in speaking with unclear pronunciation
Knows the names of the things around him with unclear pronunciation, e.g
“tendok”/sendok (spoon),
“yuma”/rumah (house),
“ubin”/mobil (car).
Answer a question, sometimes kept silent when asked a question
144 Month 2
Expresses gratitude with very clear pronunciation
Gives short answer
Uses gesture to talk aboout something, e.g moves hand to say “No”
Observes something with no comment
Say thanks with unclear pronunciation
Explains something in detail with unclear pronunciation Asks something with simple questions
expresses curiousity with unclear pronunciation and errors in sentence structure, e.g “mama tini iat ini ita mati tucingna”/”Mama ke sini lihat ini bisa mati kucingnya”
(Mom, come and see here the cat is going to die)
Month 3
Shows facial expression related to feelings, e.g laugh and smile when he was happy or ate a candy
Uses eye contact consistently in conversation
Asks a question with clear sentence, e.g “ini berapa harganya?”
Expresses request, e.g “au totatna”/ mau coklatnya Asks many questions with long and complex sentences
but with unclear
pronunciation, often not understandable for people who heard it
Uses negation to avoid something
Month 4
Does not answer a question Know the names of the things around him when asked Answer question with “yes”
or “No”
Knows the names of colors but is unable to distinguish each of color
Sometimes answer a question, sometimes no
Shows facial expression and comment to a story and toys
145
Does not comment or shows any reaction when heard a story
Listen, and interrupting frequently
Month 5
Knows the name of colors and is able to distinguish each of color
Sometimes start a conversation about a story or past events
Say several words and shows any reaction to the toys and story with facial expressions
Talks more often
Talks to self and toys with reaction if being commented Tells the past events with frequent errors in pronunciation
Expresses his feeling about something in conversation 5. Conclusion
The result shows that the language development in children with working mothers, who have less interaction with their parents, is faster than those children with full-time mothers, especially in frequency level in speaking as well as the quantity of vocabularies. Although in some cases, Salman (4 years old, with full-time mother) shows himself as a talkative, but the stages of his development are almost similar to Endra who is younger than him and with working mother, especially in terms of the way how they build a sentence when talking and express their feeling about something when giving a comment. Additionally, in terms of pronunciation, Salman is less- developed than Endra.
In the other hand, Raya (3,9 years old, with full-time mother) seems semantically more developed among others. It can be seen from the way he observes something and the level of question, which is frequently stated in a style of deeper question for children version. For example he often asked her mom about a reason why something is happened, why something is there, etc.
Conversely, Sidqya (1,5 years old, with working mother) is very well-developed and faster in the terms of acquisition of vocabularies, expressions as well as gestures, but is not developed yet in semantics. For example, she occasionally keeps silent when asked a question even though she is pragmatically well-developed. For example, she is able to do the instruction and command from other people.
To sum up, this research is not to judge whether a child with full-time mother is better in language behavior and development than another child, or vice versa, because as we know that children’s language is frequently novel and not easy to interpret. Besides, the stage of each child in language development and behavior is not same as well.
The most important thing is, why that language development and behavior of a child is different to the others, there must be some important factors influence it. It is not only about how
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much the time that the child spent with his mother or parent at home, but how the way parents treat their children in order to be well-developed. Therefore, parents need metalinguistic awareness in their parenting styles. This research shows that children with parents who have metalinguistic awareness in their parenting styles causes significant effect related to the language development of their children, especially in terms vocabulary acquisition and the motivation to talk, and think how to talk the language.
Metalinguistic awareness simply defined as the ability to think about language and talk about it. Specifically it is a cognitive process that allows a person to monitor and control their use of language (Garton and Pratt, 1989). Parents who have metalinguistic awareness will employ relevant techniques and methods to communicate with their children such as how to ask a question to children, how to stimulate children’s speaking, how to increase vocabulary in children, etc (Thompson and Barker 2009). In turns, their children will also have metalinguistic awareness that may increase their cognitive development as well.
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