Planning for the Mind:

Language and Literacy

Development in Action
Chapter 13
The Development of Language and Literacy
• Learning through language experiences
• Human behavior that involves the use of sounds in meaningful patterns.
• Both receptive and expressive
• Language is a cultural tool.
• Babies can communicate without language.
• Language barriers inhibit communication.
The Development of Language
• What research tells us
• Language of children is different from adult
• Language is not learned simply by imitating.
• Experiences help build language.
• Language experiences in the first five years are reflected in later literary
success.
• Importance of extended discourse
• Language development is a process of experiences and maturation.
• Stages of Language Development
• Infant’s response to language (precursors of speech)
• Vocalization
• Word development
• Sentences
• Elaboration
• Graphic representation
• Importance of alphabet knowledge and phonemic awareness
• Dual Language Learning
• Predicted by 2030, 40% of students will have a home language other than
English.
• Bilingualism: ability to communicate in another language with a degree of
fluency
• Simultaneous and successive acquisition
• External and internal factors affect second language acquisition.
• Dialect differences
• Social or regional
• Teachers need to help children become comfortable speaking in any given situation.
The Development of Literacy
• Early literacy
• Positive reading and writing experiences
• Work with families
• “serve and return” dialogue between adult and child
• A reading curriculum
• Attaching experiences and knowledge to words, not just decoding
• Two stages: Grow up to words and print & Become a real reader
• 5 stages
• Awareness and exploration
• Experimenting
• Early reading and writing
• Transitional
• Conventional
• Early Literacy
• Writing Curriculum
• Need to see it used and have opportunities to use it
• Need a print-rich environment
• Emergent writing—scribbling
• Writing centers should have different writing tools, simple books to write in, and “writing
helpers”
• Language experience: writing down students’ words and reading them back
• Story maps
• Include: dictating oral anecdotes, translating children’s writing, cooperative chronicles,
and independent authors
• Children’s literature
• Books broaden interests, develop knowledge, and help children learn about themselves and
others.
• A rich literary environment
• Provide plenty of time for using books
• Make a space that is quiet and comfortable
• Have plenty of books
• Display children’s literary creations
• Model how to care for books
• Encourage children to read at home
• Literary extensions
• Books can be adapted into storytelling, dramatizations, and games.
Language and Literacy Skills
• Articulation: how children actually say sounds and words
• Receptive Language
• Expressive language
• Words
• Grammar
• Elaboration of language: extends
• Graphic Language: “talk written down”
• Enjoyment: model usefulness and fun
Effective Approaches for Curricula
• Considerations
• Children need an “envelope of language.”
• Children must use language to learn it.
• The most verbal children tend monopolize language interactions.
• Adults should know the individual child.
• Home languages are to be invited in.
• Dialect differences expand your speech.
• Some children may have speech and language disorders.
• The language of the teacher influences the student.
Curriculum planning for language and literacy development
• In the early childhood setting
• Indoors: labels
• Outdoors: describe and point out actions
• Daily Schedule
• Useful in transitions and routines
• Articulation and receptive language increases when they listen to others.
• Focus on skills
• Four major language art skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing
• Themes
• Infants and toddlers do not require this kind of focus.
• Promote extensive use of language
• Harvest
• Friends
• The Earth is our Home
Special Topic: Curricula And Dual Language
Learners
• Attend to social, emotional, and cognitive skills
• Learn to read in both English and native language
• Clear, intentional interactions that focus on important instructional
goals as well as adaptations
Special Topic: Curricula And Dual Language
Learners
Language Goals Environment and Program Strategies
• 50:50 English and native • Understand how children learn a second
language
language or more like 90:10 or
• Make a plan for using both
80:20?
• Accept individual differences
• It takes at least four years to • Support communication attempts
develop fluency • Maintain an additive philosophy
• Provide a stimulating, active, diverse
community
• Use informal observations to guide
planning
Family Contacts
• Find out about families
• Provide an accepting climate
• Use multiple strategies to
involve families
Challenges and Conclusions
• Children can and do learn two
languages at one time.
• Learning two languages does
not hurt the acquisition of
either language in the long run.