1. Introduction

In early childhood settings, language education holds self-evident importance as one of the five core areas of kindergarten curriculum. Through literature retrieval, the author finds that current Chinese language teaching for young children has formed a preliminary framework for applying Piaget's theory of cognitive development stages and Vygotsky's ZPD theory. However, there is still room for improvement in the deep integration of theory and practice, attention to individual differences in children's cognitive development, and issues such as monotonous teaching methods and incomplete evaluation systems in the teaching process.

This paper aims to explore the current status of applying cognitive development theories represented by Piaget and Vygotsky in young children's Chinese language teaching, summarize their applications, and combine current hot topics in early childhood language education to discuss how to organically integrate these theories in practice to improve teaching effectiveness. By reviewing literature to summarize the application status of cognitive development theories in young children's Chinese language teaching and exploring their applications in various teaching links in conjunction with current hot topics, this study is significant for enriching the theoretical basis of young children's Chinese language teaching, providing scientific teaching guidance for educators, and promoting further research in early childhood education.

2. Analysis of cognitive development theories

Cognitive development theories play a vital role in early childhood education, profoundly revealing the mechanisms of children's cognitive structure changes and knowledge acquisition [1].

2.1. Cognitive development stages theory of Piaget

Piaget's theory of cognitive development divides children's cognitive development into four stages, with corresponding age ranges and characteristics outlined in Table 1. Young children interact with their environment through "assimilation" and "adaption," gradually constructing cognitive schemas [2]. In language learning, children are not passive recipients of symbols but achieve meaning construction through the connection between actions, experiences, and linguistic symbols. This study focuses on the application of cognitive development theories in the kindergarten stage (3–6-year-olds), whose cognitive development falls within the preoperational stage. At this stage, children begin to exhibit symbolic or semiotic functions, thinking through mental representations. However, their thinking is characterized by one-sidedness and irreversibility, posing challenges for teachers.

First, the one-sidedness of young children's thinking made them struggle to understand complex semantics and grammatical rules, often focusing on partial elements of a sentence and neglecting its overall structure, leading to incomplete comprehension. Second, the irreversibility of thinking is evident in language transformation, such as switching between active and passive voices or personal pronouns. For example, children can answer "Do you have an older brother?" correctly but fail to reverse the logic in "Does your older brother have a younger sister?" These characteristics indicate that young children struggle to derive correct expressions through reverse reasoning based on existing knowledge.

Table 1: Cognitive development stages theory of Piaget [3]

2.2. "Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)" theory of Vygotsky

The ZPD refers to the gap between a child's actual developmental level, defined by independent problem-solving, and their potential developmental level, achieved with adult guidance or collaboration with capable peers [4]. For example, a child's actual level of dressing ability is unable to dress independently, while their potential level is dressing with adult guidance. As the child reaches a new potential level, it becomes their new actual level, and guidance continues to foster further development, highlighting children's infinite potential.

2.3. Synergy between the two theories

The characteristics of the preoperational stage align closely with the language learning traits of 3–6-year-olds, while the ZPD theory provides a theoretical foundation for children's language development and teaching methods.

The one-sidedness of children's thinking necessitates teaching that progresses from simple to complex, starting with subject-verb sentences before introducing more complex structures. Their high sensitivity to phonetics and rapid vocabulary growth correspond to the emergence of symbolic functions, making rich language environments (e.g., nursery rhymes, storytelling) crucial for language promotion.

Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development provides a key strategy for breaking through the cognitive limitations of the preoperational stage. The theory identifies gaps between children's "actual level" (independent simple dialogues) and "potential level" (guided story creation). Teachers can use "scaffolding" to bridge this gap, such as providing sentence patterns and vocabulary hints during peer interactions like role-play or song creation, transforming potential abilities into actual development [5].

Academically, Vygotsky emphasized in Thought and Language that language is a tool for cognitive development, while Piaget noted in The Origins of Intelligence in Children that cognitive structure development provides the foundation for language learning [6-7]. This integration offers scientific grounding for early childhood language education and practical paths for teacher training and curriculum design.

3. Practical applications and effects of teaching methods based on cognitive development theories

Through literature synthesis, the study summarizes the practical applications and effects of existing language teaching methods for young children based on cognitive development theories.

3.1. Practical teaching methods

First, gamified teaching aligns with Piaget's theory of symbolic play, which is the primary learning form in the preoperational stage. In this approach, teachers design activities like "language obstacle courses" "story relay" and "role-quiz games." These activities integrate vocabulary and grammar into task goals for natural language acquisition through competition and cooperation, correspond to children’s “learning through play” cognitive characteristics [8].

Second, active construction is based on Piaget's theory, which emphasizes that children construct cognitive structures through active engagement, with language learning following the "assimilation–adaptation" mechanism. Feng Yajing proposed using the ideographic features of Chinese characters, such as categorizing insect names with the "insect " radical (e.g. dragonfly), to help children expand character recognition through assimilation and form regular cognitive schemas [9]. This method starts from children's existing experiences, using concrete linguistic materials to trigger active thinking, consistent with preoperational thinking.

Third, ZPD is rooted in Vygotsky's theory, which highlights the importance of adult guidance and peer collaboration. He Xuemeng suggested stratified task design to identify gaps between actual and potential levels, such as asking low-level children "Who is in the story?" and high-level children "What would you do as the protagonist?" to gradually increase expressive complexity [5]. Jin Li proposed creating a "cooperative language environment" through peer interactions like group role-play and song creation, using scaffolding (e.g., sentence templates, vocabulary prompts) to support language development within the ZPD [4].

Fourth, whole language teaching and curriculum integration are advocated by Gu Chenhua, who promotes a whole language teaching philosophy based on cognitive development that integrates language learning into life and practice through a "foundational–selective–character-building" curriculum. For example, daily dialogues and picture books build basics; drama and poetry satisfy individual interests; traditional stories (e.g., idioms, folktales) cultivate moral values and cultural identity [10]. Yang Ruihong highlighted gamified teaching, embedding language learning in role-play and games to leverage spontaneous language interactions and reduce rote learning boredom [11].

Lastly, environmental design and home-school collaboration play crucial roles in language development. Liu Ling stressed that rich language environments—such as "reading corners," "expression zones," and pictorial theme walls—along with recording devices for independent storytelling, which create immersive language atmospheres [12]. Zhang Xiaoyan emphasized home-school cooperation through "parent-child reading plans" and "family language diaries" to extend classroom language education through high-quality daily dialogues at home [13].

3.2. Application outcomes

The above theories have achieved various effects in the practical process. First of all, it can promote children’s multidimensional language development. Assimilation strategies and ZPD guidance enhance listening, expression, reading, and writing readiness. Feng Yajing's case study showed that children using radical categorization recognized characters 30% faster than those using rote memorization, transferring skills to new characters [9]. He Xuemeng noted that ZPD application increased average sentence length by 2–3 words and complex sentence usage (e.g., causal sentences) by 40% in story retellings, reflecting synchronized language and logical thinking development [5].

Next, it can strengthen children’s cognitive structures and learning initiative. Piaget's active engagement and Vygotsky's social interaction shift children from passive reception to active construction. Guo Gengjian found that gamified activities increased language output enthusiasm by 60%, with children asking questions and critiquing story plots, indicating emerging critical thinking [2]. Gu Chenhua's whole language curriculum reduced memorization burdens, enhancing learning interest and persistence by integrating real-life experiences [10].

Lastly, it can improve children’s socio-cultural adaptation. Integrating language education with cultural heritage strengthens cultural identity. Yang Ruihong showed that exposing children to classical Chinese literature (e.g., Tang poems, myths) through role-play helped them understand traditional values (e.g., honesty, kindness), laying a cultural foundation for social interaction [11]. Jin Li's study found that cooperative activities increased peer interaction by 50%, improving social skills like sharing and negotiation, embodying language as a social tool [4].

4. Influence of cognitive development theories on designing young children's Chinese language teaching content

Cognitive development theories offer a "child-centered" scientific approach to teaching content design, emphasizing concreting cognitive laws in knowledge selection, constructing cognitive conflict scenarios in task organization, and integrating gamification and cultural elements in presentation.

In the concrete presentation of Chinese character structures, leveraging children's visual sensitivity is essential. This involves prioritizing pictograph and incident category and radical systems. Ji Mengke suggested using characters like " mountain " (resembling peaks) and "rest" (a person leaning on a tree), along with radical categorization (e.g." tree " for tree-related words), to build "form-meaning" schemas [14].

Furthermore, educators can deliberately construct cognitive conflict scenarios guided by Piaget's "equilibration" theory. This approach involves embedding contradictory questions in teaching content to provoke deep thinking. Guo Gengjian proposed discussing "anti-common sense" plots in stories, such as asking in Sima Guang Smashes the Vat, "What if the stone was too heavy? How else could you save the child?" to prompt language expression of solutions like "calling adults" or "finding a rope," fostering language and logical reasoning through "cognitive disequilibrium–adjustment–re-equilibration" [2].

Lastly, the immersive integration of traditional cultural symbols in Chinese language teaching serves as a cultural conduit, incorporating accessible classical texts to instill aesthetics and values. Zhang Xiaoyan proposed including excerpts from Three Character Classic and five-character Tang poems in character-building curricula, using recitation to experience tonal rhythms [13]. Ji Mengke suggested integrating calligraphy education, where tracing characters like "person " and "heart " teaches cultural meanings like "be upright" and "be dedicated," aligning with Vygotsky's view that language carries cultural-historical experience and fostering cultural identity [14].

5. Conclusion

This study systematically explores the application paths and effects of cognitive development theories—Piaget's stages and Vygotsky's ZPD—in young children's Chinese language teaching. Through literature review and theoretical analysis, it identifies that 3–6-year-olds in the preoperational stage exhibit one-sided, irreversible thinking and developing symbolic abilities, which align with the ZPD theory to provide scientific grounding for teaching. In content design, strategies like concrete character teaching, cognitive conflict scenarios, and cultural symbol integration offer new ideas for child-centered curricula.

Despite constructing a theoretical framework and summarizing practices, limitations include insufficient empirical research—current analysis relies on literature synthesis and case descriptions, lacking large-sample quantitative data and attention to regional/school-condition differences. Future research could investigate cross-cultural adaptations (e.g., comparing cognitive fitness in Chinese vs. English early language content design) to shift content design from experience-driven to theory- and evidence-based.

In the era of rapid AI development, future studies could explore new forms of cognitive theory application empowered by educational technology: using AI to analyze children's language behavior data for personalized teaching recommendations, developing intelligent educational games with VR/AR for immersive Chinese learning, and leveraging AI tutoring to provide real-time language support, breaking temporal/spatial limits and expanding learning resources.