Language, Literacy And Numeracy Development

There are 6 stages of language development. Firstly, the Prelinguistic stage occurs early in a child’s life when they are exploring speech and sound. They will often cry, babble and try to mimic others. Approximately, around 10-13 months is when the child reaches the holophrase or one-word sentence phase. They are not yet able to speak full sentences so they communicate by using single words to express a complex idea in order for their needs to be met. An example would be “up” when the baby wants to be picked up. By around 18 months the child reaches the two-word sentence stage. These sentences are not usually grammatically correct however they are still able to communicate what they are trying to say. Such as if the child said “Where is ball?” we would understand that they are asking where is the ball. Multiple word sentences (also known as the telegraphic stage) are used when the child is around 2-2 and a half years. During this stage their vocabulary will expand and more words will be introduced. The child may ask “Where is ball?” as opposed to “Where ball?”. Moreover, the complex grammatical structures stage is reached between the age of 2-3 years. Sentences will include more complex grammar and the child begins to make more sense of what they are saying. By the age of 5-6 years, children reach adult-like language structures. At this stage children are able to ask questions or express their needs using full sentences.

Literacy Development includes the ability to read and write. This can only be done after the child is able to speak, listen, understand, watch and draw. There are 5 stages of literacy development. The awareness and exploration stage is when a toddler understands the difference between the spoken and written word. At the experimental reading and writing stage children start to grasp letters, and start to recognise letters in their name. They often point out environmental print such as the McDonald’s logo. Furthermore, the early learning reading and writing stage is when children start to write phonetically. The way the word is pronounced is the way they will write it (often misspelled). The emergent reading and writing stage is when children become more independent by recognising the meaning of words. The competent reading and writing stage is when the child becomes totally independent whilst reading books and can make sense of it. The stages of written development is when children master fine motor skills in order to write properly. They start with a palmar grasp, by holding an object in their palm and grasping onto it with their fingers and thumb. They then start to use the dagger grasp when holding an object, children will often hold a pencil or a crayon like this whilst scribbling. They then use a tripod grasp to support a pen, pencil, crayon and it sits between the thumb and the first two fingers.

Numeracy development includes skills such as spatial awareness and pairing matching objects together. Spatial awareness is the ability to be aware of the space around us and the objects within it. This cognitive skill is one which must be developed from a young age. Matching is being able to identify that one thing is like/the same as another and can group them together to form a pair. The stages of numeracy development are: emergent, perceptual, figurative, counting on and facile.

Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) was a behaviourist theorist who argued the nurture side of the nature verses nurture debate. Skinners’ reinforcement theory advocates that language is learned as a result of rewarding children. He believed that by praising a child’s behaviour they are then encouraging to repeat their actions and therefore are most likely to develop language. On the other hand, negative responses to behaviour are likely to decrease the changes of language development. An advantage of Skinners’ theory is that children notice adult’s reactions and this will probably determine if they will repeat language or not. However, a disadvantage is that this may not work with every child and therefore is not a totally accurate or reliable theory. In support of this theory the Scottish Government (2014) states that “there should be rich opportunities for children to acquire language and encourage communities.” This is at the heart of Building the Ambition.

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Furthermore, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a cognitive theorist who considered numeracy to be part of cognitive changes of child development. His theory includes four stages that describe how children develop mentally. These include: The Sensorimotor stage, Preoperational stage, Concrete Operational stage and Formal Operational stage. Overall, his theory states that children use language to construct a clear understanding of their world. One advantage of Piaget’s theory is that he influenced how adults looked at a child’s methods of numeracy. However, on the other hand, a disadvantage would be that due to Piaget focusing on nationwide stages of development, he was not able to take into consideration other factors such as the social and cultural settings of specific countries and how the impact may differ whilst explaining cognitive development. In practice, Piaget influenced staff in Early learning and development child care settings to promote active learning using real life materials to make sense of numbers in their world.

Another theorist is Albert Bandura who introduced the social learning theory. In 1961 Bandura set up the Bobo doll experiment in order to study children’s behaviour of imitating an adult’s aggression towards a toy doll. This theory puts forward the idea that children are heavily influenced by those surrounding them and as a result of observing them they will often mimic their actions which then impacts their own behaviour and actions. The theory also states that if the child can relate to a model in some way, they are more likely to mimic them. For example, if an adult enjoys reading and writing, children will learn to love this too. Bandura’s experiment has a few advantages, one is that the results are reliable and not forced as those involved were not fully aware of the aim of the experiment and were not aware of being watched (this would be considered to be unethical in today’s research ethics). However, a disadvantage is that as the doll was located in the centre of the room the participants possibly believed their intensions were to copy the adult’s actions.

However, Bandura’s implications for literacy learning are clear. Adults need to be positive role models for children in terms of reading and writing. This is supported by ‘Every Day is a learning Day’ (Education Scotland 2012) which states: “Reading stories, rhymes and action songs are great fun and can support young children’s literacy learning”. (ES 2012; pg. 26). Bandura’s theory is also reflected in Building the Ambition (Education Scotland 2014) which states that: Adults should provide experiences to toddlers which “share writing for everyday purposes, explaining why and pointing out signs and symbols and what they mean…

In the early years of a child’s life their social skills are developed through their parents/carers guidance and this is known as Primary Socialisation. This process is important as it moulds a child’s personality and views towards society. The family of the child and the home environment in which they are brought up in plays a unique role in the development of their language, literacy and numeracy skills as children often mimic what they see and this influences their behaviour. Parents and carers who provide a nurturing, home learning environment and encourage their children to read, write, talk and count from a young age are giving them a great advantage in that they are a lot more likely to develop their language literacy and numeracy skills opposed to a disadvantaged home learning environment. Some homes with disadvantaged backgrounds that may have family issues such as stressed parents which will often have a negative impact on the child’s learning. If a child is brought up in a non-academic household where language, literacy and numeracy is not being promoted then the child’s development can be affected as they probably will not be switched onto learning themselves.

Colwyn Trevarthen, a child psychologist put forward the idea that children’s brains grow through interactions. He studied language development and proposed the idea that babies adapt to the sounds and tones of a reader and show their awareness of voices and faces through movement, sounds and facial expressions. Trevarthen states that children need a rich environment where they will be given the attention in order to grow a bond to communicate. When talking about the early brain development, Suzanne Zeedyk suggests that babies come into the world already connected and the early years of a child’s brain development is crucial and interactions play a huge role in doing this. Furthermore, Robin Balbernie explains that when babies are born, their brains are hard-wired and this can be shown through mimicking, such as if you were to stick your tongue out to a baby the are likely to copy you. Also, Balbernie states that physical contact will impact a baby’s brain development, therefore the feeding experiences are important and the mental state of the mother plays a huge role in this.