Piagetian View of Cognitive and Language Development

Piaget (1959) argued that cognitive development and language acquisition are closely interrelated processes. Toddlers develop an abstract knowledge about the world through experience with objects around them and by observing the way one object is acted upon by another. This stage of development is closely linked to the sensorimotor period, from birth to around 18 months. In Piaget's view, cognitive knowledge about the world is seen as a pecursor to language. Without cognitive development there can be little or no language acquisition. In other words, language is the manifestation of a child's developing cognition. Language is the means by which a child represents reality.

Figure 1. Cognitive and Language Development of Piaget's View

     This view is often referred to as cognitive determinism; the development of language forms is governed by cognitive growth, that is, cognitive development before language (see figure 1). In fact, in this view, the order of development within language learning is governed by the stages of cognitive growth. This concept has been challenged by many as being narrow or not completely accurate. Some research has shown that the relationship is not one way. For example, in some situations children have used language to express concepts such as object permanence and cause-effect at about the same time the concepts were being learned, rather than after as cognitive determinism would predict.

    In Piaget's view, language initially has an internal function. Children first use language privately for 'talking' about the environment and their experiences and only later for social interaction. Children may repeat something they hear for their own benefit, as a way of internalizing the input. For example, a child is told, 'You mustn't play with Mummy's lipstick'. The child later repeats that utterance to him/herself when alone, a phenomenon that is often observed before children fall asleep. Children also often talk to themselves when playing on their own. They 'talk' to themselves from the early stages of babbling, before they even have words. A child might play with toys in his/her room, babbling all the while 'hab dab dab dab dab. Dab dab dab. Hab dab' and sound exactly as if there is a conversation taking place even though there is no other interactant (other person in the interaction).

Source: Goh, Christine C. M. and Rita Elaine Silver.2004. Language Acquisition and Development: A Teacher's Guide. Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia.