FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT: EARLY LANGUAGE STIMULATION, LITERATE COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENT Essay

FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT: EARLY LANGUAGE STIMULATION, LITERATE COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENT; STORY READING QUOTES â€Å"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.† ― Nelson Mandela â€Å"Your children can be around you all day, but if you don’t spend quality time with them and you don’t pay attention to them and talk to them and listen to them, it doesn’t matter that they’re just around you.† ―Brandy Norwood â€Å"The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.† ― Mark Twain INTRODUCTION Language and literacy development does not begin in the first day a child attends school. Human beings develop language, even before actual words are formed in spoken language. From the time of birth, children’s literacy is influenced significantly by their family and environment. Their teachers serve as only one influence on the road to developing adequate literacy skills. This term paper is about the factors affecting development: early language stimulation, literate communities and environment; story reading that helps you to know how children acquire language and become literate. It enables you to understand how children learn language, the role of others in supporting this learning, and how a child becomes a reader and writer. Learning language and becoming literate are shown to be social, interactive processes. []In some cases, it also appoints people who live and work with very young children to interact with them in an appropriate way and to provide developmentally appropriate experience to support their development. Therefore, the vital role of others in supporting children’s learning is emphasized throughout this term paper. OBJECTIVES * To be ableto acknowledgeand understand these factors affect the language and literacy development of a child. * To be aware of how these factors affect the feelings of the child. * To be able to know how these factors affect the actions of a child as it grow and learn. Children likely to develop literacy skills when the day they born. However, there are several factors that affect a child to develop and master the language and literacy; these some factors are in the following: 1. Children living in poverty One of the most significant factors affecting children’s learning and development is growing up in an area of social deprivation. Deprivation has a negative impact on educational attainment. In the long term children who grow up in poverty leave school with fewer qualifications and skills, which in turn affects jobs and employment. Poverty is linked to poorer health and has been shown to have a negative impact on engagement with society; for example, an increased likelihood that an individual will engage in criminal activity.[] 2. Income and material deprivation A low income has been shown to mean a lack access to books, computers, and other reading materials and space to study quietly. It affects the quality of the home environment and neighborhood as low income restricts where families can live. There may be no quiet spaces in which to work to or sleep and this has an impact on emotional well-being. Children’s diets may be  inadequate because of lack of money, and poor nutrition can lead to physical changes that affect cognitive ability and performance of the brain. [] 3. Health Low birth weight is more likely in children from lower socioeconomic groups and this is associated with risks to cognitive and physical development throughout childhood. Poorer children are likely to suffer poorer health throughout their childhood, including chronic illness. [] 4. Cultural and social capital, and the experience of schooling Some research has suggested that a lack of social and cultural capital leads to low attainment for children living in poverty. I am suggested that children from lower socioeconomic groups have different background knowledge skills and interests that aren’t reflected in the school curriculum. The differences in cultural capital mean that the curriculum is more difficult for these children to access. The Social Exclusion Task Force reported that young people in deprived communities often lack social capital: access to sources of inspiration, role models, support and opportunity and even those children with high aspirations were found to lack the understanding about what to do to achieve their goals. [] 5. Deficiencies from Inadequate Diets A common problem for young children who do not eat enough meats and green vegetables is lack of iron, which results in chronic fatigue. Serious iron deficiencies lead to iron-deficiency anemia, a common nutrient deficiency. Some children may be malnourished even though they consume enough calories. These children fill up on â€Å"empty† non-nutritional calories (such as those found in cookies, and potato chips) and fail to eat enough healthful foods. Undernourished children tend to have stunted growth and delayed motor development. They are also are at risk for cognitive disabilities such as  low levels of attention, learning impairments, and poor academic school-related performance.[] 6. Functional Isolation Functional isolation results from direct and indirect effects of poor environment and inadequate nutrition. Diminished brain from stimulation–influences children’s behavior. The children may become more wary, easily tires, less attentive, and less playful, and they rarely show delight and pleasure. Because these children are not very responsive, caregivers do not interact with them much.[] 7. Parents as Teachers Probably the most important one is spending time with children. Although most parents are aware of the importance of reading to their children, not all parents routinely provide this type of experience. Many children are read to very little or not at all, and how often children are read to varies by income level and the race/ethnicity of the family.[] 8. Parent-child relationship This is concerns with social-emotional and interpersonal aspects that relate to literacy practices. The absence of such relationships can be a detrimental factor in a child’s emergent literacy development.[] 9. Parental Characteristics There are two characteristics, the culture, ethnicity and parental beliefs. Culture and ethnicity affects areas such as the expectations for education, the patterns for language use in bilingual families (e.g., primary language used at home, language of the community, bilingual education).Parental beliefs include the family’s beliefs about the importance and role of the educational system in the literacy development of their children.[] 10. Child Characteristics It include the child’s level of engagement and social interaction in literacy-related activities, as well as language proficiency, cognitive abilities, developmental achievements, motivation, attention, and health conditions that might affect language and literacy development. Each of the child characteristics can influence the extent to which a child can use the support that the environment provides for early literacy learning. For example, the substantial body of research demonstrating that preschool children with language delays are at a significant risk for later difficulties in learning to read indicates that factors within the child can influence emergent literacy development.[] 11. Home LiteracyEnvironment It includes such aspects as book sharing between parents and children, parents reading aloud with their children, print materials being available to the children, and parents’ positive attitudes towards literacy activities. The home literacy environment is comprised of both direct and indirect literacy-related events. Direct literacy related events are those in which the child engages, such as book sharing with a parent or labeling the printed letters of the alphabet. Indirect literacy-related events are those about which the child learns through the observation of individuals as they engage in those activities (e.g., reading the newspaper, writing notes). [] 12. Teenage Mother Teenage mothers generally have less knowledge of child development than mothers who postpone childbearing. The teenage mother’s lack of general knowledge in child development can affect the child’s cognitive achievement and behavioral adjustment in school. The lack of understanding of development knowledge behavior can affect the language and literacy of the child that may lead to physical and emotional harm. [] 13. Sex Boys are faster than the girls in learning to talk. Compared to girls the mean length of sentence uttered by boys is less. The comprehension vocabulary is also small in case of boys. Boys commit more grammatical errors and their pronunciation is less accurate. Sex differences in favor of girls remain and become quite pounced with every increase in age.[] 14. Intelligence Intelligence plays a vital role in language development. Babbling at an early age is better predictor of child of child’s intelligence. Children of high intelligence show better linguistic competence both in vocabulary, length of sentences uttered and correctness of sentence structure.[] 15. Twins Twins and triplets are slower to learn the language than the single child. Their vocabulary skill is so faster than the twins.[] 16. Bilingual Homes In bilingual homes the child face several problems to the language because the learn more than two languages at a time so it is very difficult to child to remember the two or three languages at a time.[] 17. Language of Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Children Children with hearing impairments often do not develop oral language skills as fully as other children do, but they are quite capable of acquiring a language of gestures called American Sign Language.[] But as these factors affect the language and literacy development of a child however there are ways to avoid this if people will apply some circumstances like as the following: 1. Teacher & Parents Parents should promote cognitive development by constructing an optimal learning environment in the home-they provide materials, experiences, and encouragement that help children to become curious explorers of their worlds. When children are exposed to a large variety of learning materials in a safe environment and when they receive encouragement for learning, they score higher on tests of language development and cognitive development than do children with less stimulating environments.[] 2. Story Telling -storytelling to children, exposing the child to different play things, naming the object describing the object.[] 3. Family Support – parent(s) and/or primary caregiver(s) provide the child with high levels of consistent and predictable love, physical care, and positive attention in ways that are responsive to the child’s individuality.[] 4. Positive Family Communication – parent(s) and/or primary caregiver(s) express themselves positively and respectfully, engaging young children in conversations that invite their input.[] 5. Caring Climate in Child Care and Educational Settings – caregivers and teachers create environments that are nurturing, accepting, encouraging, and secure.[] 6. Time at Home – the child spends most of her or his time at home participating in family activities and playing constructively with parent(s) guiding TV and electronic game use.[] 7. Early Literacy – the child enjoys a variety pre-reading activities including adults reading to her or him daily, looking at and handling books, playing with a variety of media, and showing interest in pictures, letters, and numbers.[] SUMMARY Developing language and literacy in early childhood can be affect by several factors; it can be a barrier or a key to early childhood from successful development in language and literacy. Those factors as barriers that affect the language and literacy development of children are children living in poverty, income and material deprivation, health, cultural and social capital, and the experience of schooling, deficiencies from inadequate diets, functional isolation, parents as teachers, parent-child relationship, parental characteristics, child characteristics, home literacy environment, teenage mother, sex, intelligence, twins, bilingual homes and language of deaf and hearing-impaired but if you sum up these factors the general outcome are family and environment. The family is the first one who will expose the child in language and literacy by teaching them before entering the school and before to interact in other human being while the environment will enhance what information they get from home and will also improve their understanding. But these hindrances can be prevented if the family of the child willing to give them a quality time in spite of many obstructions they has besides it is their responsibility to their children, they should give them a positive communication by talking to them often, reading them a story or giving them an activities that will help to develop their language and literacy. While when the children interact in the surroundings, family should guide them and know the limitation of their child on who they will interact with. This term paper can helps the parents how they will develop the language and literacy of their children and it also helps to guide them in the right way while growing and learning new things. REFERENCES Neaum, S. (2010).Child Development for Early Childhood Studies.Southernhay East, Britain: Learning Matters Ltd. Fabes, R.& Martin, C. L. (2011).Discovering Child Development.USA: Houghton MifflinCompany. 3rded. Wasik, B. H. (Ed.) (2012). Handbook of Family Literacy.Third Avenue, New York: Routledge.2nd ed. Rhyner, P. M. (Ed.) (2011). Emergent literacy and language development: promoting learning in early childhood. Spring Street, NY: The Guilford Press. 2nd ed. Neaum, S. (2012).Language and Literacy for the Early Years.London: Learning Matters. Brown, A. I. (2010). Children of Teenage Mothers: school readiness outcomes and predictors of school success. United States: ProQuest LLC. Nisha, M. (2009).Milestone of Child Development.India: Kalpaz Publication. VanderVen, K. (2011). Promoting Positive Development in Early Childhood: Building Blocks for a Successful Start. NY: Springer. 2nded. ACTIVITY A. Answer DA if that factors Does Affect the language and literacy development of a child and DNA if it is a factor that Does Not Affect the development of language and literacy of a child. ____ 1. Poverty ____ 2. Ball ____ 3. Parents ____ 4. Doll ____ 5. Income ____ 6. Health ____ 7. Culture ____ 8. Quality Time ____ 9. Teacher ____ 10. Material Deprivation B. Multiple Choice. Encircle the best answer for the following. 1. This factor is concerned with social-emotional and interpersonal aspects that relate to literacy practices. The absence of such relationships can be a detrimental factor in a child’s emergent literacy development. a. Parent-child relationship b. Parent and Teachers relationship c. None of the above 2. In this factor, the low birth weight is more likely in children from lower socioeconomic groups and this is associated with risks to cognitive and physical development throughout childhood. a. Spiritual Aspect b. Poverty c. Health 3. This factor is linked to poorer health and has been shown to have a negative impact on engagement with society; for example, an increased likelihood that an individual will engage in criminal activity. a. Health b. Deficiency c. Poverty 4. This factor has been shown to mean a lacked access to books, computers, and other reading materials and space to study quietly. a. Child b. Low Income c. Health 5. This factor is the child face several problems to the language because the learn more than two languages at a time so it is very difficult to child to remember the two or three languages at a time. a. Functional Isolation b. Low Income c. Bilingual Homes Answer Key: A. Answer DA if that factors Does Affect the language and literacy development of a child and DNA if it is a factor that Does Not Affect the development of language and literacy of a child. 1. DA 2. DNA 3. DA 4. DNA 5. DA 6. DA 7. DA 8. DA 9. DA 10. DA B. Multiple Choice. Encircle the best answer for the following. 1. a 2. b 3. a 4. b 5. c ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Rhyner, P. M. (Ed.) Emergent literacy and language development: promoting learning in early childhood. Spring Street, NY: The Guilford Press. 2011. p24. 2nd ed. [ 3 ]. Neaum, S. Child Development for Early Childhood Studies. Southernhay East, Britain: Learning Matters Ltd. 2010. p132. [ 4 ]. Ibd p132. [ 5 ]. Ibd p132. [ 6 ]. Ibd p132. [ 7 ]. Fabes, R. & Martin, C. L. Discovering Child Development. USA: Houghton: Mifflin Company. 2011. 3rd ed [ 8 ]. Ibd [ 9 ]. Ibd [ 10 ]. Wasik, B. H. (Ed.) Handbook of Family Literacy. Third Avenue, New York: Routledge. 2012. 2nd ed. [ 11 ]. Rhyner, P. M. (Ed.) Emergent literacy and language development: promoting learning in early childhood. Spring Street, NY: The Guilford Press. 2011. p24-25. 2nd ed. [ 12 ]. Ibd p25. [ 13 ]. Ibd p25. [ 14 ]. Brown, A. I. Children of Teenage Mothers: school readiness outcomes and predictors of school success. United States: ProQuest LLC. 2009. p38. [ 15 ]. Nisha, M. Milestone of Child Development. (India: Kalpaz Publication. 2010. p196. [ 16 ]. Ibd p196. [ 17 ]. Ibd p196. [ 18 ]. Ibd p196. [ 19 ]. Neaum, S. Language and Literacy for the Early Years.London: Learning Matters. 2012. [ 20 ]. Fabes, R. & Martin, C. L. Discovering Child Development.USA: Houghton: Mifflin Company.2011. 3rd ed [ 21 ]. Nisha, M. Milestone of Child Development. India: Kalpaz Publication. 2009. p196. [ 22 ]. VanderVen, K. Promoting Positive Development in Early Childhood: Building Blocks for a Successful Start. NY: Springer. 2011. p8. 2nd ed. [ 23 ]. Ibd p8. [ 24 ]. Ibd p9. [ 25 ]. Ibd p10. [ 26 ]. Ibd p11.