Halliday's Theory

Halliday's Theory of language development is based on function. Halliday (1975) asserts that language development is a process by which children, over time, "learn how to mean."

As children interact with others and the world around them in meaningful situations, they can attach language to their actions. Language is learned during activities when the words are related to what children are doing and there are meaningful connections made between the labels/words and the actions/concepts.

Halliday identified seven functions of language that are found in young children's conversations. These seven functions of language include:

1. Instrumental - Children use language to satisfy personal needs, or to accomplish things. For instance, a hungry baby cries to obtain food.

2. Regulatory - Children use language to control the behavior of others. For instance, a young boy pleads with his mother to buy him a toy.

3. Interactional - Children use language to get along with others. For instance, a little girl asks a shy girl to play with her. 

4. Personal - Children use language to tell about themselves. For instance, a young boy who is interested in sports comments to himself about how he is performing. 

5. Heuristic – Children use language to find out about things or to learn about things.

6. Imaginative - Children use language to pretend or to make believe.

7. Informative - Children use language to convey information to others.

The seven functions of language are listed in the order that children develop language; from the “instrumental cries” of a baby, to the “informative” language used by children who are able to convey complex information.

Notice that the middle function is “personal.” Children use this function to define themselves and the world around them. Initially many children speak to themselves, but as they develop most children learn to internalize these verbal thoughts. Children use personal language to learn boundaries and define themselves. As their language skills mature they will use personal language to think through increasingly complex ideas. This is an important concept, because learning to read is intrinsically tied to that personal “voice” that we all have inside of us.

Topic B will bridge language development to reading.