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Piaget's Cognitive Theory of Language Development » Concrete and Formal Operational Stages

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Cambridge spec: 6.4.2

The concrete operational stage and de-centration of thought and language
Why speech becomes socialised: questions, answers and commands
The formal operational stage and abstract, theoretical language
A summary of all four of Piaget's stages and their language features

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The last two stages

In the lesson Sensory Motor and Pre-operational Stages you met the first two of Piaget's stages. Their speech was physical and repetitive, then symbolic, egocentric and animistic. In this lesson we finish the story with the last two stages. Remember that the ages are only approximate, because children develop at different speeds.

Key terms:

Concrete operational stage: the third stage, from about 7 to 11 years, when children think logically about real, concrete things and begin to see other points of view.
De-centration: moving away from seeing things only from one's own point of view, so that a child can take account of other people's views.
Socialised speech: speech that is aimed at other people and adjusted for them, using questions, answers and commands.
Formal operational stage: the fourth stage, from about 11 years onwards, when people can think about abstract and theoretical ideas.
Abstract idea: an idea about something you cannot see or touch, such as fairness or freedom.

The concrete operational stage (about 7 to 11 years)

By about 7, a child's thinking has changed a lot. They can think logically, but mostly about things that are real and concrete, which means things they can see, touch or picture. The big change for language is called de-centration.

De-centration of thought and language

In the pre-operational stage a child was centred on their own view. Now they begin to de-centre. They realise that other people know different things and see things differently. This affects both their thinking and the way they talk.

🧠 De-centred thought

The child can think about a situation from more than one point of view. They understand that a friend may not know what they know.

💬 De-centred language

The child changes what they say to suit the listener. They explain things so that someone who was not there can follow.

Example: telling a story

A nine-year-old comes home and tells their gran about a school trip. They say, "We went to the castle. You haven't been, so I'll tell you what it looked like first." They know their gran was not there, so they give extra detail. A younger child might just say, "It was good, that one!" and expect everyone to understand.

Speech as socialised

Piaget said that speech in this stage is socialised. It is no longer mainly about the child's own view. It is a real two-way exchange with other people. Three important kinds of socialised speech are:

❓ Questions

The child asks to find out what others think or know. "What do you think we should do?"

💬 Answers

The child replies to what was asked, and fits the reply to the question. "I think we should wait for Jo."

📢 Commands

The child tells others what to do in a game or task. "You stand there and I'll count."

Example: a playground game

Two eight-year-olds make up the rules of a game. One asks, "Can the goal be the bin?" The other answers, "Yes, but only if we swap sides." Then one says, "You go in goal first." They ask, answer and command, and each child listens to the other. Compare this with two pre-operational children who talk side by side without really answering each other.

The formal operational stage (about 11 years and over)

In the last stage, thinking is no longer limited to real things. Young people can think about ideas that are abstract and theoretical. In terms of language, they are able to use language to express abstract and theoretical ideas. They can talk about things that cannot be seen or touched, and about ideas that are only possibilities.

⚖ Abstract ideas

They can discuss ideas such as fairness, justice or freedom. "Is it fair that some people have more than others?"

💡 Theoretical ideas

They can talk about "what if" situations and make up theories. "If everyone recycled, what would happen to the planet?"

Example: a debate

A fourteen-year-old in a class debate says, "If homework were banned, students might learn less, but they might also be happier. We would need to think about what learning really means." None of this can be seen or touched. It is all about ideas, and the speaker uses language to explain them.

Piaget's four stages: summary

Four-stage summary

1. Sensory motor (birth to about 2 years): language skills are physical and repetitive.

2. Pre-operational (about 2 to 7 years): symbolic thought; speech is egocentric and shows animism.

3. Concrete operational (about 7 to 11 years): de-centration of thought and language; speech is socialised, with questions, answers and commands.

4. Formal operational (about 11 years and over): language is used to express abstract and theoretical ideas.

Common mistakes

Mixing up egocentric and de-centred. Egocentric speech sees only one's own view. De-centred speech takes other views into account.
Writing "socialised speech" with no example. Always give a question, an answer or a command.
Saying formal operational children talk about real objects. That is the concrete stage. In the formal stage the ideas are abstract or theoretical.
Giving exact ages. Say "about", because the ages are approximate.

Exam-style question

(a) State what is meant by de-centration. [1 mark]

(b) Ten-year-old Priya says to her friend, "Which team do you want to be on? You pick the goal and I'll start." Explain how this shows socialised speech. [2 marks]

Model answer

(a) Moving away from seeing things only from one's own point of view, so that the child takes account of other people's views (1).

(b) Priya asks a question (1) and gives a command (1), which shows she is talking to her friend and fitting her speech to the other person.

(c) Language is used to express abstract (1) and theoretical ideas (1), for example talking about fairness or what might happen if something changed.

Exam tip

In (b), pick out the exact words from Priya's speech that are a question and a command. Naming the type of speech and quoting the evidence earns the marks.

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