Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to extract implications for communication development research through examining research trends in recent developmental psychology, and to get suggestions for new ideas of oral speech education. We selectively reviewed developments of phonology, lexis, and discourse as research domains particularly relevant to sociolinguistics. Especially main aspects of competence in early infancy were clarified based on recent advances of infant research. But with narrative, development requires a long span. In particular, self-narratives continue to develop even in adolescence. Based on these research trends, a revision for oral speech education was proposed. Reconsidering present lesson practices in elementary schools, their theoretical rationales were shown to be sought in developmental research reviewed above, where we can get insights for new educational methods. We pointed out specifically the importance of teaching firmly about basics of development in school education.
