7 Summary of Session 2

Some scientists believe that what makes humans special are our social skills, and language is part of a broader adaptation to cultural life and learning from others (Tomasello, 2009). There is no doubting the importance of social skills in learning language. Difficulties or significant delays in these underlying skills can have negative consequences for later language learning.

The ability to imitate, follow eye-gaze, form joint attention and common ground, coordinate our intentions with others, direct others with pointing and gesturing, and form group norms lay critical groundwork for later language development. These first few months of language development see a revolution in an infant’s social world.

With these social skills well under way, in the next session you’ll look at infants’ first attempts at language, from vocalisations, to babbling, to first words. You’ll learn about the intricate pathways of sound production and look at the development of sign language. Finally, you’ll explore the characteristics of adult speech directed towards children and the effect it has on learning.

You can now go to Session 3.