How Young Children Pay Attention to Shape, Size, Spatial Orientation in Producing Writing Scripts - Essay Example

Lecturer: How Young Children Pay Attention to Directionality, Shape, Size, Spatial Orientation in Producing Different Writing Scripts Introduction Young children have a number of ways or channels in which they could use in a bid to learn different writing scripts. In this instance, different writing scripts or systems or directionalities refer to the use of symbols, pictures, shapes and writing specialities by the child. As such, the child can be in a very comfortable position to use different scripts to communicate with their friends or peers. Despite these capabilities, there has been concern that some children can get confused as they try to use different directionalities to communicate. That is the reason why as they grow up, their primary school teacher may choose to stick to one or two writing scripts depending on the child so as to eliminate the chances that the child may be caught up in the mix of these writing scripts. Based on that, the aim of this research essay is to gain more knowledge about bilingual learning and/ or script writing in young children; emergent literacy; the issues related to the acquisition of literacy in young children; how children learn different writing systems; writing different scripts and the design of symbols and embodied knowledge. Discussion Bilingual learning and/ or script writing in young children In a study that was conducted by Kenner et al. (2004), children who had bilingual capabilities always had the capability to communicate in between “two worlds” or “multiple worlds” for the case of those who were highly talented. In addition to that, these children had the capability to determine their unique and/ or distinct differences in their specific writing systems, other writing systems and graphic representations. From the same study, the young children involved showcased that they were not only capable of incorporating different writing scripts into their learning experience, but they were also capable of determining the fact that they were in actual fact using different writing scripts and/ or directionalities so as to communicate efficiently. A good example is that of the Chinese children who were in a position to determine that their language involved the use of symbols and not alphabetical letters when compared to other languages such as English. In addition to that, the Arabic children were able to determine that their language was different in the sense that they wrote from right to left and not vice versa as compared to the English language. Lastly, the Hispanic children were able to determine that their language vowels were different from the English spoken vowels (Kenner et al., 2004). Based on these results, it was determined that these children were highly talented to know and recognise their bilingual writing skills which incorporated the use of: symbols and their angles, shapes, sizes, spatial organisation while writing on a page and different directionalities. How children learn different writing systems Children are in a position to learn new and different writing systems using a number of channels. These include: through the people that they interact with like family members or through the teachers who teach them at school. Apparently, when children are exposed to such environments, they tend to showcase complexity in their writing. As noted by Kenner et al. (2004), these children have the capability to also use pedagogical input while learning the different writing scripts. Pedagogical input refers to ability of a child to not only learn or be taught by their teacher but it is the capability of learning as a science. As such, children who use pedagogical input as their mode of learning as well as being taught have the capability to also identify the correctness of a writing script. For example, a bilingual or multilingual child can be able to differentiate between which direction a script should follow – that is either left to right or vice versa for the case of Arabic. Based on this, it should be noted that when a child learns to use different writing systems, they can get to also acquire different embodied knowledge’s. Emergent literacy Children have the capability to build on new knowledge bases but only with correct strategies as well as approaches by the educator. With that, an educator should also have the capability to differentiate children’s needs. That is, some children may need literacy in writing, others in speaking and so on. As noted by Gregory (1996), there are a number of activities that an educator could use so as to enhance the writing capabilities of bilingual children. For example, the educator could use different words to describe situations, emotions, events and objects and the child could be requested to write and memorize these words. When the teacher does such exercises with the child for a long period of time, the end result would be that the child would acquire lexical knowledge. Bates (1995) noted that, while children are being educated on an emergent literacy skill such as writing scripts, the educator should seek to use intriguing story lines and/ or themes which are clear, distinct and detailed. The benefit of this trend is that it helps the child to develop their literacy skills in an expedited manner as compared to telling stories that are not interesting and contain a lot of complex words. Bates (1995) adds that, the use of pronouns in story telling as well as interactive writing experiences can be very handy for the child and/ or children. In addition to that, the teacher could also implement the usage of specific and/ or needed lexical sets which include words that are attached to a certain theme for the child to understand and relate to. This helps to boost the child’s needed skills be it literacy or numeracy skills it is that they need. As noted by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) (2011), literacy skills are essential as they help the child to have the capability to read and understand the different forms of communication such as printed text, language spoken, broadcast and digital media that exist. In addition, the child can also be in a position to develop numeracy literacy skills that enable them to not only use the basic mathematical equations but also understand and solve mathematical problems. As such, this helps these children to have emergent literacy skills in writing and spoken language which they can use later on in their lives to advance themselves in aspects related to either business or employment as revealed by Green and Craig Ridell (2003). Embodied knowledge Embodied knowledge can be referred to as knowledge that does not need any routine, thoughts, habits, learning or understanding. As noted by Manen (2011), embodied knowledge refers to knowledge that “the body knows”. Based on that, children can be in a position to learn different types of writing scripts as well as be able to differentiate them without difficulty once they get used to them. With regard to the study that was conducted by Kenner et al. (2004), it was realised that after the children were taught the different scripts which included spatial orientation, shapes, symbols, they were able to differentiate them without difficulty during their consequent interactive classes with their educators. Hence, developing the aspect of embodied knowledge as defined by Manen (2011). Writing different scripts and the design of symbols Apparently, the numbers of children in the world who are bilingual is higher than those who are monolingual. Moreover, there are higher numbers of children who are educated in two languages other than their mother language only (Tucker, 1999). A good example is children in India. Datta (2000) stated that children in a majority of Indian cities are taught three languages in school. These include Bengali, Hindi and English. As such, each of these languages is definitely represented using different scripts which each individual child has to be familiar with. Based on this scenario, it reveals that children not only have the capability to learn only two writing scripts, but they could also be in a position to learn three different writing scripts. It is however important to note that a majority of children who have the higher capability to become bilingual or multilingual are those who do not originate from English speaking nations. In a study that was conducted by Kenner and Gregory (2003), it was revealed that children in nations such as USA, UK and Australia were more of monolingual since English was taught to them at a very early stage and that is the only language that they grew up with. As such, only a few percentages of parents realize the importance of their children learning a second language and that is why they engage their children to learn a second language. When it comes to the design of different symbols, young children who acquire knowledge of different writing schemes have the capability to also develop “signs of difference” (Kenner et al., 2002) so as to be able to interpret different graphic symbols and their meaning. Moreover, as they develop these differences, progress is measured by their personal interest (Kress, 1997; Kenner, 2000). The issues related to the acquisition of literacy in young children As much as the fact that children have the capability to learn a number of writing scripts together with their symbol representations, it is without doubt that issues such as confusions and misunderstandings between different translations are prone to occur. As such, educators, teachers, care givers and parents should try and understand the different children needs as they learn emergent literacy and in their new road to transitioning between reading and writing (NCREL, 1999). Conclusion Children can learn to use different writing scripts as they grow up. All these scripts depend on the child’s abilities as some may use another method that may not be successful with another child. As such, the common input method that children use to learn can be related to pedagogical input. This is when a child learns and/ or is taught using different methodologies. Hence, they can be in a position to gain much more as the teacher not only enables the child to learn certain things, but they can also teach the child a thing or two. Moreover, a child can incorporate the two (2) input techniques to a better advantage. Through that, the child becomes bilingual - that is, they can be in a position to learn a number of different writing scripts that involve the use of symbols, shapes, writing scripts and even different directionalities. Some children, depending on how talented they are become multilingual – that is, they develop more than two writing scripts. Moreover, they can be in a position to switch in between the different writing scripts it is that they have learnt from their family members at home or in school from the teachers (Hall et al., 2003). Emergent literacy is the capability of the child to not only learn and be taught by their educator but it also incorporates the ability of the child to understand what they are being taught by their teacher. Teachers can use a number of channels to help the child learn and understand different writing scripts. One of them is the use of pronouns and morphemes (Nunes and Bryant, 2006) which develop writing skills as well as linguistic skills in children. Moreover, the teacher could also use interesting story lines and themes to help the child remember different words. Finally, it can be concluded that as much as children are open to the capability of being taught a number of different writing scripts as well as different linguistic styles. A child may undergo some issues in understanding and interpreting as they transition to and forth these different languages. The solution to these issues would be for the teacher and/ or educator to impact on these young learners’ different writing scripts at a pace that is suitable for each individual child. Works cited Bates, L. (1995). Promoting young ESL children’s written language development. Working with Bilingual Children. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Pp. 109-27. Datta, M. (2000). Bilinguality and literacy: Principles and practice. London: Continuum. Department of Education and Skills (DES). (2011). The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011 - 2020. [Online] Available from: http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Policy-Reports/lit_num_strategy_full.pdf [Accessed: 24 April 2014]. Gregory, E. (1996). Making sense of a new world: Learning to read in a second language. London: Paul Chapman Publications. Green, D. A., and Craig Ridell, W. (2003). Literacy and earnings: an investigation of the interaction of cognitive and unobserved skills in earnings generation. Labour Economics, 10(2). Pp. 165-184. Hall, N., Larson, J., and Marsh. J. (2003). Handbook of early childhood literacy. New York, USA: Sage Publications. Kenner, C., Kress, G., Al-Khatib, H., Kam, R. And Tsai, K. (2002). Signs of difference: How children learn to write in different script systems. ESRC End Of Award Report Award No. R000238456. Pp. 1-21. Kenner, C., Kress, G., Al-Khatib, H., Kam, R. And Tsai, K. (2004). Finding the keys to biliteracy: How young children interpret different writing systems. Language and Education. 18(2), pp. 124-144. Kenner, C. (2000). Home pages: Literacy links for bilingual children. Stoke-On-Trent: Trentham Books. Kenner, C., and Gregory, E. (2003). Becoming Biliterate. Handbook of early childhood literacy. London: Sage, pp. 178-188. Kress, G. (1997). Before Writing: Rethinking the Paths to Literacy. London: Routledge. Manen, M.V. 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