Observing Kid’s Language Development

On Thursday , 26th march 2019 at 1.00 p.m, the writer decided to observe her
little cousin named Casandra Ledo. Casandra Ledo is a 3 years old girl who has an active
personality. She loved to jumps here and there. Although her communication skill
wasn’t really good ,She’s not afraid at all to interact with people around her. Her father
,Agus Ledo is a fishermen and her mother, Reny Fafo is a house wife. Both of them used
Kupang Malay as their language to communicate in their daily life to interact with their
maily member or people around them. They raise Casandra with affection and
tenderness, because Casandra is their only and last daughter, they weren’t really firm to
her like they did to her old brother. And that affected casandra’s speaking process. Based
on the interview, Casandra’s parents admitted that they weren’t really pay attention to
teach her speaking ability in a proper way . When the writer did the observation, she tried
to took note on the word that Casandra acquired/used/uttered in that day. They are:

1. Am Eat When Casandra wanted to say “eat” in

Kupang malay language , she said “am”
instead of say “ makan” . And thats
happened because her parents always
uttered that word to her.
2. Is Peeing Casandra tend to said “Is” instead of
“pipis” when she wanted to urinate.
Thats happened because her parents
always uttered that word to her.
3. Kaka Old sister/brother This word was clearly spoken by
Casandra . She copied how her parents
and people aroun her uttered this word.

4. Mama Mommy This word was clearly spoken by

Casandra,
5. Bapa Daddy This word was clearly spoken by
Casandra.
6. Bo' Defecate Casandra always said “Bo' ” instead of
“berak” when she wanted to poop. Her
parents think that word “berak” is too
rude for her. So, they taught her to just
say “ Bo' ”
7. Cawat Airplane The word “pesawat” was too long and
difficult for her to be uttered so she just
said “ cawat”
8. Yayaya / Yaya Crocodile The word “buaya” is to long and
difficult for her to spell so just said
yayaya or sometimes yaya.

9. Tote Not/No Casandra said “Tote” istead of “sonde”

because she copied what her mother
taught.
10. Baju Shirt She uttered this word correctly
11. Bobo Sleep She used “bobo” instead of “tidur”/
“tidor” . Because her mother always
used that word.
12. Utub Youtube She copied this word from her mother
who always opened a video from
youtube and let her watched it.
13. Duduk Sit She uttered this word correctly

14. Ngeng Motorbike She copied the word “Ngeng” from her
brother.
15. Ae Water She said “ae” instead of “aer” . it’s
difficult for her to pronounce letter “R”
16. Diyi Stand up The word “badiri” was too long and
difficult for her to be uttered.
17. Jaa Working When the writer ask her “ Bapa ada di
mana? / where is your father?” She
pointed her finger forward and said “
Bapa jaa” instead of saying “ Bapa ada
pi kerja”

18. Minum Drink She uttered this word correctly

19. Puyang Going Home She has difficulty to pronounce the letter
“L”

20. Hape Mobile phone She uttered this word correctly

21. She found it hard to uttered her name

Anda Casandra completely. Probably beacuse it’s too
long and consists of letter “R”
She has difficulty to pronounce the letter
22. Piing Piring “R”
23. Kucing Cat She uttered this word correctly

24.
Ambut Hair She has difficulty to pronounce the letter
“R”

Senda Flip-Flop She didin’t pronounce the final letter

25. “L”

26. Uang dua Two Thousands rupiah She always said “Uang dua” to asked for
money to her parents. She copied these
words from her brother who always said
“uang dua ribu do ma!” / “ Mom,please
give me two thousand rupiah !”

27.
Gaga Pretty She uttered this word correctly

28. Um Kiss Her mother taught her the word “um”

instead of “cium” because her mother
think “um” is cuter for her to use.

29. Jangan Don’t She copied this word from her mother
who wanted to forbid her brother doing
something.

30. Panas Hot She uttered this word correctly

After the writer took notes on all of the words that Casandra Uttered, she
interviewed the parents. She asked them about how the language is being acquired. And
Casandra’s mom said that the language is acquired by the daily interaction between the
family members, and their neighbour around their house. In free time Casandra’s parents
usually taught her some new vocabularies. Casandra also learn vocabularies from her 10
years old brother,Andre Ledo. Beside that, She also tried to ask for the meaning of some
words that she couldn’t undestand to peope around here. Her mom also said that, she
often invited Casandra to sang some children song to improve her vocabulary and
speaking skill.

The next question of the writer is what are the challenges or obstacles faced by the
parents when communicating? Mrs. Reny said that raising up the children is not a simple
thing to do. At her first experience having Andre, her first children, she was still
disorganized and didn’t know much about the exact way to be a mom. But as the time
passed by she learned a lot. She knew that children were so easy to imitate others so she
and her husband Agus should be careful to act in front of their children. Their children
are growing so fast so they should prepare and provide the positive and useful provision
for their students to be a better person in the future . From this mini observation , the
writer found out several problems faced by Casandra Ledo when using the language:

1. Her parents din’t teach the language to her in a proper way

2. Casandra still couldn’t uttered some words that are too long
3. Casandra is still not able to pronounce letter “L” and letter “R”
In the end the writer would conclude that the Children is like a white and empty
paper. They are plain and sincere. If we fill them up with useful and positive language or
knowled ge they will grow up to be a human with a high quality who knows well how to
communicate and interact with people with a good attitude.
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Written By:
Name : Putri N.F Ledo
Class : VI C
Reg.Number : 1601020116