Özet:

The way how education should be done has always been a controversial subject. Both national and foreign philosophers’ have had leading opinions on this subject. Rousseau, who lived in 18th century, is one of these philosophers. Emile, the renowned work of Rousseau, depicts the developmental stages of a child during different ages beginning with birth and what should be done in these stages. This study reviews Emile with respect to language development and language teaching in children. Document analysis method is used in this study which is conducted in qualitative research model. In the novel of Rousseau's Emile, findings related to language development were obtained under the main headings of expressive language (narrative language) and receptive language. Additionally, in Emile, five categories of thoughts are identified such as language teaching (speaking, writing, reading, listening), the impact of environment in language development, language development and maturation, the nature of language development and speaking, and thoughts and language. In the current study, based on Rousseau’s thoughts on language development, family was determined as an important factor for language development in children. Accordingly, it is recommended that families should use correct language in communication to support the language development of their children.