Language, Literacy And Numeracy

In this essay I will be explaining the terms of language, literacy and numeracy. I will be identifying and describing the developmental stages of each and finally, I will evaluate theories I have implemented on placement and describe the effectiveness of this.

Language is the human form of communication and it can be expressed in various ways. Language can be communicated through speech, written word, symbols, signs etc. Language is always developing and becoming broader as we discover new words, this means that our language is always evolving and is fundamental for us to be able to communicate our thoughts, ideas and feelings to other people. As we grow our capacity of language expands and we can communicate more effectively.

Literacy is our ability to be able to read, write and understand language in different forms and structures. Our ability to understand language aids us in our literacy development as they both go hand in hand. We are taught from a young age to learn to recognise written words and be able to understand that the written word corresponds to the spoken word. Literacy plays a massive part in our lives and is so important for us to be able to read and write so that we can communicate through written word and not just through speech.

Numeracy is the understanding of numbers and sequences. This involves being able to count, tell time, categorise etc. Numeracy also plays a vital part in our lives as we grow it becomes something that we need to understand for actual life skills like telling the time, working out wages, prices of things etc. We need to have a good understanding of numbers and how they work to be able to problem solve. Maths is taught to us in schools and we continue to use these teachings throughout our lives.

Developmental Stages of Language

Language development is split up into six different stages. The first being the prelinguistic stage. This stage takes place during the first year of a child’s life. This is where language is more sound making like cooing, babbling and crying. (www.edubloxtutor.com, 2019) Babies hear our voices and listen to the tones of our voices and start to try and mimic them by using these expressions.

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The second stage is the holophrase stage this means that the child will use one-word sentences and this stage is usually between 10-18 months. All children develop their language and communication skills at different stages and therefor some may be more advanced at this stage than others. The next stage is the two-word sentence this is when the child begins to objectify and describe things to a basic but more understandable standard such as ‘Doggy big’. Multiple word sentences usually begin to appear between the ages of two and three. They can begin to form sentences with some meaning for example ‘where is ball’ we as adults begin to understand more clearly what the child is trying to communicate and can conversate back with the child to try and continue the conversation. The next stage is more complex grammatical structures this is where a child begins to understand how to construct more intricate sentences and can begin to have a longer conversation with adults. They begin using conjunctions. Finally, they begin to have adult-like language structures. They begin formulating much more sophisticated sentences and can understand a broader use of language. (www.edubloxtutor.com, 2019)

Developmental stages of Literacy

The first developmental stage of literacy is emergent readers and spellers. This is the stage where children have little or no education and are only just beginning to understand the concept of written words. This is their first exposure to letters and sounds. They will usually lack understanding as to why words are spelled that way as they would try to spell it as they hear it. Children at this stage seem to have a real interest in books and will often bring a book to and adult to read to them. The next stage is the alphabetic stage. At this stage a child will usually be able to recognise words by sight and guess some unknown words. They will also ‘silent read’ (whisper reading to vocalise the sound of the word) and use their finger to point to the words as they go. As they move on they begin to use their finger less and start being able to recognise words more quickly and with better understanding. They will also begin to self-correct when they realise, they have maybe pronounced a word wrong or the word doesn’t look like what they are trying to say. (www.theliteracybug.com, 2019) (www.study.com, 2019)(Video clip)

Developmental stages of Numeracy

Children in the emergent stage of numeracy development will often know some numbers but not a wide range. This is the very basic stage of understanding of numbers for children and do not yet comprehend how to count one to ten for example and will often say the incorrect number next in the sequence. Children who are in the perceptual stage are beginning to develop the ability to recognise number patterns and can more than likely count a little higher than one to ten. They are able to count visual objects by touching. Children in the figurative stage can begin to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of numbers through categorising, separating and combining. The counting on stage of numeracy is where the child has a wider 0understanding of how numbers work and can be added or subtracted together to make another number. They can understand sequencing better and therefor know exactly what number comes after the previous. (www.theclassroomkit.com, 2019)

Lev Vygotsky’s theory was that of a social interactionist. He believed that children benefitted more from social interaction between the developing child and a linguistically knowledgeable adult. His theory talks about three different forms of speech commonly found in children. Social Speech is when a child uses speech to express simple thoughts and emotions such as crying, laughter, shouting etc. Private speech, Vygotsky sees private speech as a means for children to plan activities and strategies and therefore their development. Finally, Inner speech was used by Vygotsky to describe a stage in language acquisition and the process of thought. Working in an environment with four to five-year olds this is seen frequently for example if they are drawing a picture they would say what colour the are going to use and what that colour is for and why that object must be that colour. Vygotsky also talks about the more knowledgeable other (MKO) this means that it is not always the teacher or older person who is more knowledgeable and that they can learn from the child also. This theory is effective in school environments where the younger pupils have a buddy usually from primary seven and they take time to read with them, help them with their work or even just someone to talk to about their interests or hobbies. So in regard to Vygotsky’s theory anyone can be the more knowledgeable other depending on the subject.

One of Jean Piaget’s theories talks about the preoperational stage. Piaget believes that children need concrete objects in front of them to be able to count or comprehend how many objects there are. This is commonly seen in children in the early stages of education. Where children need to be able to touch to count the objects in front of them as they cannot visually count objects yet. I have seen this theory in play on placement and a lot of the children in the class can only count all the objects if they touch each one individually. This seems to help the children progress with their counting much faster and they end up with a better understanding of numbers by doing this. (www.origoeducation.com, 2019)

Jerome Bruner’s literacy theory of iconic representation is about how children correlate pictures with word and therefor this is often why children’s books have a lot of pictures, not just to make it more fun or colourful but to allow the child to associate the words with the pictures and therefor construct their own understanding and knowledge. When reading a book with a child often they will point to images that they are familiar with and say the word. This helps them to begin to look at the spelling of the word and remember how it is spelled so that when the child comes across the same word again, they may recognise it quicker. This theory is very effective especially in young children as they are only just beginning to understand words and the pictures help to prompt the word out of the child. For example, if the child is being read a story about a dog the child will most likely point to the image and say ‘dog’. As they develop their skills, they will soon be confident enough to recognise the written word on its own. (www.simplypsychology.org, 2019)