The Place of Literature in the Lives

of Children and Adolescents Part 1:

Areas and Stages of Development

Prepared by: John Abryll B. Gile

Objectives

At the end of the discussions, students will be able to:

● Explain the importance of literature to children and adolescents

● Enumerate and define the areas of child and adolescent development
● Enumerate and define the stages of development
● Understand the reading interest of children and adolescents
● Explain how reading literary works can satisfy the different needs of children
and adolescents
The Five Areas of Development
1. Cognitive Development
a. Intellect
i. Jean Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)
a. Learning through the senses.
b. Learning Object Permanence (Understanding that objects
continue to exist even when they cannot be sensed)
2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
a. Development of memory, imagination, abstract thought and
language
b. Learning the use of symbolic (pretend) play
c. Understand the ideas of the past, present and future
3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
a. Begin to think logically about concrete events
b. Understand abstract concepts such as height, weight and volume
c. Thinking becomes less egocentric
d. Increased awareness of the world around
The Five Areas of Development
1. Cognitive Development
4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years +)
a. Ability to think abstractly to solve and understand problems
b. Begin to think more scientifically about society and the world as a
whole.

NOTE: According to Piaget, Each stage builds upon what was

learned in the previous one
a. Memory
i. plays a hugely significant role in a child’s socio-emotional and cognitive
functioning.
ii. We can’t remember being a baby because our brains aren’t fully-developed
at birth. Hence, our memory system develops as we grow.
iii. The development of memory (short & long-term) is most evident in the first
2-5 years of a child’s life, but memory continues to develop well into
adulthood. It is argued that the brain isn’t fully developed until age 25.
The Five Areas of Child Development
1. Cognitive Development
b. Memory
i. plays a hugely significant role in a child’s socio-emotional and cognitive
functioning.
ii. We can’t remember being a baby because our brains aren’t fully-
developed at birth. Hence, our memory system develops as we grow.
iii. The development of memory (short & long-term) is most evident in the
first 2-5 years of a child’s life, but memory continues to develop well
into adulthood. It is argued that the brain isn’t fully developed until age
25.

How are information inserted, processed and saved in our memory?

Proponent:
George Miller
The Five Areas of Development
1. Cognitive Development
b. Memory
iv. Tips for Developing the Memory of a Child or Adolescent
1. Help them develop their language skills
2. Teaching songs - repetition is key. You can also associate actions
3. Repetition of certain sounds / words
4. Teaching colors, numbers and shapes
5. Playing familiar games
6. Pretend and imaginative plays - helpful for triggering memory
7. Memory games
The Five Areas of Development
1. Cognitive Development
c. Reasoning
- the process of thinking about something in a logical way in order to form a
conclusion or judgment from old and new information.
- Between 2-6 y/o, children develop ability to apply logic to situations
The Five Areas of Development
2. Social and Emotional Development
c. Tips for Helping Students Develop Healthy Relationships
i. Love and attention
ii. Responding to their emotional and physical needs such as keeping them
secured and nurtured
iii. Modeling positive relationships and attitudes
iv. Expressing appropriate reactions to situations
v. Showing and verbalizing empathy if someone is sad.
vi. Interacting through games and stories
vii. Showing interest through active listening
viii.Respecting and validating their feelings
ix. Encouraging them to open up their feelings in age appropriate ways
x. Let them play with others
xi. Let them experience taking care of pets for a brief period of time
The Five Areas of Development
3. Speech and Language Development

Question:
What’s the difference between speech and language??
The Five Areas of Development
3. Speech and Language Development

Speech - expression of or the ability to express thoughts, feelings and meaning by

articulate sounds. It refers to the actual sound of spoken language.

Language - whole system of words and symbols — written, spoken, or expressed

with gestures and body language — that is used to communicate meaning. It is the
principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a
structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture
The Five Areas of Development
3. Speech and Language Development
a. Tips for Helping Students Build Language Skills
i. Using Motherese, also called Parentese, Baby talk, Caretaker speech,
Infant-directed speech (IDS), Child-directed speech (CDS) - When we
talk to babies we tend to exaggerate our intonation, speak slower than
we do with adults, use fewer words, make longer pauses and use
animated facial expressions and gestures
ii. Naming commonly used objects and activities so they become familiar
with everyday words
iii. Singing and reading
iv. Responding to their sounds and gestures
v. Asking questions
The Five Areas of Development
4. Fine Motor Skills Development
- Fine Motor Skills are the ability to make movements using the small muscles in
our hands and wrists
4. Gross Motor Skills Development
- abilities that let us do tasks that involve large muscles in our torso, legs, and arms.
They involve whole-body movements
Review of Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
1. Sensorimotor Stage (During Infancy)
- Infants are only aware of what is right in front of them. They have no idea that
there are things existing while invisible to the naked eye, not until between 7 & 9
months)
- Because they don't yet know how things react, they're constantly experimenting
(Learning through trial and error)
- Increase in physical mobility leads to more cognitive development
- Near the end of this stage (18-24 months), infants show early language
development, a sign that they are developing some abilities to recognize and use
basic symbols
Review of Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
2. Preoperational Stage (3 to 7 years)
- ability to think about things symbolically
- Language use becomes more mature
- Develop memory which enables ability to understand and differentiate past from
future.
- Develop imagination skills which enables engagement in make-believe
- However, thinking is still based on intuition and not yet logical
Review of Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years, elementary-age and pre-adolescent)
- Capability for logical and concrete reasoning
- Thinking becomes less focused on the child’s own self.
- Increased awareness of external events
- Begin to realize that their own thoughts and feelings are unique and may not be
shared by others or may not even be part of reality
- most children still can't think abstractly or hypothetically
Review of Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
4. Formal Operational Stage (11 y/o to adulthood)
- Ability to use symbols related to abstract concepts, such as in Algebra and
Science
- Can think about things in systematic ways
- Can come up with theories
- Can consider possibilities (like inferencing)
- Can ponder abstract relationships and concepts such as justice
Review of Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development

NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

- Although Piaget believed in lifelong intellectual growth, he insisted that the

formal operational stage is the final stage of cognitive development.
- He also said that continued intellectual development in adults depends on the
buildup of knowledge.
Concepts of Piaget’s Stages of Development

Along with the stages of development, Piaget’s theory has several other main
concepts:

Schemas - thought processes that are essentially building blocks of knowledge

Assimilation - modifying discrepant information so that it matches current schemata

(Example: a child seeing a skunk for the first time might call it a cat)

Accommodation - changing a schema or create a new one to fit new information being
learned

Equilibrium - a state of balance between individuals’ mental schemata, or frameworks,

and the new information. Such balance occurs when their expectations, based on prior
knowledge, fit with new knowledge
Reading Interests of Children and Adolescents

Reading interests is important in enhancing students’ success in school and out of

it. Hence, students need to have high reading interests. In a research entitled “A Study
of Students’ Reading Interests in a Second Language” by Zurina Khairuddin, it was
found that non-English native students have relatively low interests in reading English
materials and that there is a significant difference between male and female students.
Reading Interests of Children and Adolescents

To make reading most beneficial and interesting for elementary and high school
ESL students, reading should satisfy the following needs of children and adolescents:

Needs of Children and Adolescents That Can be Satisfied Through Reading:

1. The Need for Physical Well-Being
2. The Need to Love and be Loved
3. The Need to Belong
4. The Need to Achieve
5. The Need to Change
6. The Need to Know
7. The Need for Beauty and Order
Reading Interests of Children and Adolescents

To make reading most beneficial and interesting for elementary and high school
ESL students, reading should satisfy the following needs of children and adolescents:

Needs of Children and Adolescents That Can be Satisfied Through Reading:

1. The Need for Physical Well-Being - reading materials that teach physical well-
being
2. The Need to Love and be Loved - reading materials that teach students about
loving correctly and being loved right
3. The Need to Belong - books about friendship
4. The Need to Achieve - books about success and rewards of hard (and smart)
work.
5. The Need to Change - books about properly growing up
6. The Need to Know - educational books
7. The Need for Beauty and Order - books about artistry and proper organization
People acquiring a second
language have the best
chance of success through
reading.
Stephen D. Krashen
References
https://skoolzy.com/blogs/news/5-main-areas-of-child-development-1
https://skoolzy.com/blogs/news/early-childhood-development-cognitive-
development
https://www.learnupon.com/blog/what-is-information-processing-theory/
https://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development#2-6
https://www.britannica.com/science/cognitive-equilibrium
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1068695.pdf