Reading To a Child Everyday and Language Development - Essay Example

Reading To a Child Everyday and Language Development Reading To a Child Everyday and Language Development Introduction Every human being needs speech and language skills to communicate with others. The ability to communicate verbally is what sets human beings apart from other living creatures. People often develop language and speech skills during their early stages of life. While speech refers to the uttered sound that forms words, language refers to how people use words to communicate with each other. Language entails the use of words as well as gestures to relay information- the meanings of what we say and also the comprehension of what others say. Talking and reading to a child often boost his or her speech and language skills. This paper offers a critical analysis of the hypothesis: “Reading to a child every day (even an infant) is beneficial for language development." Development of Language in Children Language development in infants involves learning receptive and expressive language. Receptive language learning entails listening and understanding language whereas expressive language learning refers to the process of learning how to speak and apply language. Receptive Language Development in Children When do children start to develop language skills? Children begin to develop language skills at birth, that is, newly born babies often respond to sounds in their surroundings. Children usually listen to how people around them speak. They are frightened or cry in the event of an unanticipated noise. If there is a loud sound, children become still in response to the loud sound. Between the age of 0-3 months, babies can recognize when someone speaks and turn to them when they hear a voice. They become familiar with voices they hear regularly and will often stop crying upon hearing a familiar voice. Babies below three months usually stop whatever they are doing to focus on unfamiliar sound. They usually respond to comforting tones, irrespective of whether the voice is familiar or unfamiliar. Between 4-6 months, babies can respond to variation in the tone and sound. At 7-12 months, babies usually listen when spoken to and respond by turning when called by their names. At 1-2 years, children can point at pictures when asked and also touch a few parts of the body when told to identify them. At 2-3 years of age, the child can differentiate meanings of certain words and tell the difference between contrasting words such as bad and good and cold and hot among others. Between 3-4 years, a child can hear when called from a different room and responds. Between 4-5 years, children enjoy stories and answer simple questions about the stories. Expressive Language Development in Children Babies often make sounds that can tell whether they are in pain or happy. Between 0-3 months, babies usually smile at people who come into their view (Deiner, 2012). Between 4-6 months, babies usually make speech-like babbling and can tell through sound or gestures if they want something. Between 7-12 months, the babbling sounds of the baby changes and incorporates more consonants. Between 1-2 years, the baby learns more words each day and can ask short questions. The baby’s speech is becoming clearer. At 2-3 years, the baby displays astounding vocabulary growth. Between 3-4 years, the baby learns to construct longer sentences as the child develops the capacity to combine more words. Between 4-5 years, the child speaks with clarity and fluency. The child is able to construct long sentences that are detailed (Deiner, 2012). Theories of Language Development Learning perspective theory: According to the learning perspective theory, children learn through imitating what they see and hear as well as through punishment and reinforcement (Kotaman, 2007). According to the proponents of this theory, adults strengthen babbling speeches of children, thus shaping their speech and language development. Nativist perspective: This theory was suggested by Noam Chomsky and has remained significant in understanding language acquisition in children. The nativist perspective postulates that children learn through their innate ability to organize language laws. However, the theory acknowledges that children cannot utilize their ability to organize and utilize language laws in the absence of adults. Based on this theory, children have in-born Language Acquisition Device embedded in their brains, which enable them to learn language skills as they grow (Martin, Fabes & Fabes, 2009). Social interactionist theory: This theory emphasizes on the environment and context in which language is acquired. According to this theory, pragmatics of a language precedes grammar. Children and adults live in a negotiated environment where there is likelihood of feedbacks. As such, language develops through one’s negotiation of his or her environment (Martin, Fabes & Fabes, 2009). Language development stems from children’s desire to learn and share new information with others. The theory argues that language acquisition takes both biological and social dimensions. Cognitive theory: In this theory, Jean Piaget postulated that symbols and structures constitute language and becomes exposed as children’s brains develop. Consequently, language is a mental activity. Piaget’s cognitive theory on how a child’s brain develops has for a long time been influential in shaping educational theory (Ellis, 2006; Pütz, 2001). Critically assessing language acquisition theories, it emerges that children have flexible brain that enables them to learn new things and master the art of communication (Martin, Fabes & Fabes, 2009). One does not start speaking immediately after birth, which makes language acquisition a gradual process that unfolds as a child grows into a complete adult. Adults aid language development in children, thus it is crucial to regularly read to children in order to ensure that they grow and develop critical language and speech skills. How Reading To a Child Everyday Benefits Language Development A child exposed to regular speech and language has higher chances of learning language skills faster than one who is surrounded with limited language and speech. There are many ways through which parents as well as early childhood teachers can ensure effective language acquisition in children. parents and caregivers can boost language acquisition in children by speaking to them as often as they can, using pictures to aid receptive skills, motivating them to talk, using gestures and reading to them as frequently as possible among others. Talking to and regularly reading to a child has a profound impact on the child’s fluency of communication in his or her future life. Children whose parents do not regularly speak or read to them often display slow language acquisition than their counterparts whose environments are filled with high reading and speaking (Kotaman, 2007). Reading everyday to children yields numerous benefits to the children. Reading aloud to children speeds up their acquisition of language skills. Loud reading to children has been acknowledged as one of the most effective ways of promoting language development. It fosters in children word-sound awareness and is a crucial determinant of successful reading. Besides stimulating language as well as cognitive skills, reading aloud to children also builds their enthusiasm, memory and curiosity. Studies indicate that the more words a parent uses to communicate with her child, the earlier their children develop greater vocabulary (Kotaman, 2007). Reading everyday to a child will make him or her develop deep love for books as well as reading in future. Children nurtured in an environment in which they are exposed to books early, from which their parents read to them aloud, develop positive relationship with books and are likely to display good reading skills. Reading aloud to children boosts their language development rate and broadens their sense of imagination (Martin, Fabes & Fabes, 2009). Despite the fact that the child may not be in a position to understand the words uttered by the parent during the loud reading process, the sounds and tone that the mother uses often impress and motivates the child. Pictures shown to them during the reading process are [particularly appealing and will evoke the child’s sense of imagination, which is central to language development process. The reading success in later phases of life heavily depends on the reading foundation laid for them at their infancy stage. Children’s ability to read begins right after birth. Consequently, grooming them in the right way by reading to them daily immensely improve their reading skills in the future. Mukherji et al. (2000) argue that “good language development is the foundation for learning to read” (p.81). Babies hugely enjoy the tempo of nursery rhymes and fancy close relationship with the reader. Children who are read to a lot grow up to fancy books as their play material, which they later explore by looking at the pictures in the books. Children usually love to hear some stories repeatedly. By reading to them the stories aloud every day, they will develop confidence and become familiar with words, which immensely contribute to their language development (Mukherji et al., 2000). Reading to children every day will help them to acquire new terms as they grow. It helps children to master correct pronunciation of words. When children hear their parents read to them aloud, they will try to imitate what their parents are doing and even attempt to speak some words after their parents. This is in line with learning perspective theory, which postulates that children acquire language through imitating what adults do and say (Martin, Fabes & Fabes, 2009). Moreover, children will also copy the reading trend and become darling of books in the future. The practice of reading out aloud to children culminates a culture for loving books, which is pivotal to their reading proficiency in the future. Conclusion Language and speech skills remain crucial part of every human being and distinguish them from other organisms. Children begin to acquire language at birth and language acquisition is a gradual process rather than instantaneous one. Reading every day to children remains one of the most crucial ways of speeding up their language development and acquisition. Parents who read to their children every day provide a platform for them to clearly understand the laws of grammar and also provide them with an opportunity to develop good speech skills in the future. Reading every day to children has the potential to speed up their language acquisition process. Children whose surroundings involve less speaking and reading usually have delayed language acquisition compared with their counterparts who are spoken and read to. Therefore, parents should read and speak to their children regularly as it comes with many benefits to children concerning language acquisition and development. References Deiner, P. (2012).Inclusive Early Childhood Education: Development, Resources, and Practice. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. Ellis, N. C. (2006). Cognitive perspectives on SLA: The associative-cognitive CREED. Aila Review, 19(1), 100-121. Kotaman, H. (2007). Impacts of Dialogical Storybook Reading on Childrens Receptive Vocabulary Development and Their Parents Self-efficacy for Storybook Reading. Pennsylvania: ProQuest. Martin, C. L., Fabes, R. A., & Fabes, R. A. (2009). Discovering child development. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Mukherji, P., ODea, T., Hobart, C., & Frankel, J. (2000). Understanding childrens language and literacy. Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes. Pütz, M. (2001). Theory and language acquisition. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Appendix 1. The databases used: ProQuest 2. I used key words such as: language development in children, language acquisition, and boosting language development in children. 3. All the sources used were secondary sources. Read More