Language development in toddlerhood & early childhood progresses very quickly, while individual developmental phases are the same irrespective of the language the child is acquiring. The aim of this ...longitudinal study was to examine the characteristics of children's language comprehension & expression, & their pragmatic use of language, as well as to determine the developmental language changes that occur between the ages of three & four. The sample involved 80 randomly selected children, 39 girls & 41 boys, whose average age at the first evaluation was 3,1 years & at the second 4,1 years. The research also involved the mothers & teachers of the children included in the sample. The children's language comprehension & expression were determined using a Language Development Scale, & their pragmatic use of language was assessed through testing their storytelling abilities. Their language competence was also evaluated by their teachers & mothers. The results highlight significant differences between three- & four-year-olds as shown by the Language Development Scale & by their storytelling abilities, as well as in the evaluations by their teachers & mothers. Among three-year-olds, stories at the 2nd level of coherence prevailed, i.e., containing simple descriptions of people, objects or illustrations, whereas four-year-olds most often told stories at the 3rd level, i.e., containing a simple temporal stringing together of events. The child's gender had no significant effect on development between the age of three & four. In interpreting the results, we drew upon the findings of both Slovenian & foreign authors relating to different aspects of language development in toddlers & young children. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document
