Ace the California Teacher Credential Test 2026 – Elevate Your Classroom Game!

Overregularizations in early childhood language development refer to the phenomenon where children apply regular grammatical rules to words that are exceptions or irregular. For example, instead of using the correct past tense of the verb "go," which is "went," a child might say "goed." Similarly, they may apply the regular plural rule to an irregular noun, such as saying "foots" instead of "feet."

This behavior illustrates the child's understanding of the rules of language, even though they are misapplying them in certain instances. It showcases their cognitive development as they test and apply what they've learned about language patterns. This process is a normal part of language acquisition and indicates that children are actively learning and making sense of linguistic structures.

The other choices do not accurately represent overregularizations. Using correct past tenses and plurals reflects mastery rather than overregulation. Communicating using body language and displaying advanced vocabulary skills are unrelated to the rules of grammatical structure concerning regular and irregular forms.