cognitive development and language acquisition

cognitive development and language acquisition. Cognitive theorists
generally believe that language is contingent on cognitive development.
The referential power in the arbitrary symbols assumes the cognitive
prerequisite of understanding the concepts they signify. As a cognitive
interactionist, Jean Piaget believed that action-based interaction with the
world gave rise to the formation of object concepts, separation of self from
the external world, and mental representation of reality by mental images,
signs, and symbols (language). Language reflects the degree of cognitive
maturity. For example, young children’s immature egocentric thought (unable
to understand others’ perspectives) is revealed in their egocentric
speech (talking to self)—children seem to show no realization of the need
to connect with others’ comments or to ascertain whether one is being understood.
Older children’s cognitive achievements of logical thinking and
perspective-taking lead to the disappearance of egocentric speech and their
use of socialized speech for genuine social interaction. Although language
as a verbal tool facilitates children’s interaction with the world, it is the interaction
that contributes to cognitive development. Piaget gave credit to language
only in the later development of abstract reasoning by adolescents.
In L. S. Vygotsky’s social-functional interactionist view, language and cognition
develop independently at first, as a result of their different origins in
the course of evolution. Infants use practical/instrumental intelligence (intelligence
without speech) such as smiling, gazing, grasping, or reaching, to
act upon or respond to the social world. Meanwhile, the infants’ cries and
vocalizations, though they do not initially have true communicative intent
(speech without thinking), function well in bringing about adults’ responses.
Adults attribute meaning to infants’ vocalizations and thus include
the babies in the active communicative system, fostering joint attention and
intersubjectivity (understanding each other’s intention). Such social interactions
help the infants eventually complete the transition from nonintentional
to intentional behavior and to discover the referential power of symbols,
thus moving on to verbal thinking and later to meaningful speech.
Externalized speech (egocentric speech) is a means for the child to monitor
and guide his or her own thoughts and problem-solving actions. This
externalized functional “conversation with oneself” (egocentric speech)
does not disappear but is internalized over time and becomes inner speech,
a tool for private thinking. Thus, in Vygotsky’s theory, language first develops
independently of cognition, then intersects with cognition and contributes
significantly to cognitive development thereafter. Language development proceeds from a global, social functional use (externalized speech) to
a mature, internalized mastery (inner speech), opposite to what Piaget suggested.