Parents are now confronted to find innovative ways to further develop the vocabulary skills of their children. One of these strategies is to practice joint attention which is attested by many researchers play a critical role in early word learning (Akhtar and Gernsbacher, 2007). Baldwin (1995, as cited in Akhtar and Gernsbacher, 2007) defines joint attention as the moments an adult and a child are concentrated on the same thing and both share the focus of attention. Joint attention also refers to a “whole complex of putatively social cognitive behaviors” (Akhtar and Gernsbacher, 2007) that surface toward the end of the first year of life that includes social referencing, pointing and gaze following. In vocabulary development, joint attention …show more content…
Unfortunately, many parents today do not completely distinguish the importance and positive effects of story reading. Beaty and Pratt (2003) assert that young kids are dependent readers, thus, they rely on their parents to read to them. In the storytelling activity, children are audience members who pick up the story structure, ideas about the books and elements of print and most importantly, they enhance their vocabulary through parent-child reading practices (Beaty and Prat, 2003). When parents read stories to their children, kids experience new words, topics and characters. Parents on the other hand, get to answer the inquiries of their children about the nature and features of the book and the …show more content…
Reading aloud has been connected to the growth of children’s literacy ability (Duurusma, Augustyn, Zuckerman, 2008). During shared reading sessions, children learn the meaning of new words with their parents. Reading aloud acquaints children with the language discovered in books. Duurusma, Augustyn, Zuckerman (2008) affirm that books contain sophisticated words that children might never encounter in a normal conversation. Moreover, shared reading can encourage verbal exchange or interaction between parent and child, hence, the child’s language and vocabulary development increases than any other activity. Hart and Risley (1995) affirm that among professional families, parents employ more words and provide greater opportunities to use nouns, modifiers and verbs. Parents exert more effort in asking children questions, affirming and expanding children’s responses and encouraging their children to listen and notice how words are related to each other. Through shared reading, children benefit from learning new vocabulary, as well as the use of language to communicate new information. When parents read to their children at an early age, the children’s language development is higher compared to children whose parents did not read to their
This activity suits the child’s current stage of oral development will interest them and aid in them progressing in their oral development. Children at this stage of development enjoy listening to stories which is good not only for their receptive skills, but also for their expressive language (Fellows and Oakley, 2014), in all four key components of spoken language. It helps with phonemes by getting the child to focus on the phonological patterns throughout the text (Fellows and Oakley, 214). Syntax knowledge allows them to observe the sentence structure and grammar in the book which allows them to develop a stronger awareness of the syntax. Visual aids in storybooks can aid in the child in the understanding of semantics (Fellows and Oakley’s), as the story is read aloud their receptive skills hear those more difficult words, when paired with a visual cue such as a picture in the book the child understands better and thus they are able to gain a better understanding of how to speak these difficult words. A better understanding of pragmatics can also be gained from storybooks as they understand how people communicate in society such as greetings and asking for things (Fellows and Oakley,
… Being read to has been identified as a source of children’s early literacy development, including knowledge of the alphabet, print, and characteristics of written language. By the age of two, children who are read to regularly display greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies and higher cognitive skills than their
In other words, children who are read to more by their parents show faster cognitive development than children who are read to less often (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2007).
Support from parents has proven to be of extreme importance in the literacy success of a child. This often begins with the simple ritual of “bedtime stories” in the home. Studies show that children who are read to as infants perform better in literacy later in life. From a young age, children begin to understand the workings of the written word if they are exposed to it frequently. Babies who are nowhere near having the mental capacity to read and comprehend a book are still able to “follow along” when their parents or caregivers read to them. These children understand that each segment of writing represents a word and they are even able to recognize when a text is upside-down because they are accustomed to the appearance of writing. This puts the child significantly ahead when the time comes to learn to read.
"Reading." The Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence. Ed. Jerome Kagan and Susan B. Gall. Online Edition. Detroit: Gale, 2007.
Early language and reading development (such as the ability to read and write) starts in the initial three years of life and is connected to a kid's soonest encounters with books and stories. The communications that youthful kids have with such education materials as books, paper, and pastels, and with the adults in their lives are the foundation for speaking, reading, and writing maturity. This new understanding of early reading growth supplements the additional new research supporting the key role of early encounters in molding mental health and development. Late research also upholds an experiential procedure of adopting spoken and written dialect skills t...
The essay explains how children perceive books they read. The author tells the story about how his mother used to read to him and how much he loved imagining things from these stories He explained how children do not see books as a “behavioral” standpoint, such as opinions on racism, sexism, classism and others, but they use their imagination and make it grow. They enjoy imagining about dragons, ogres, or a princes journey to find a long lost damsel in distress (Kingsley, Squire & Mars, 2000).
For a literate family, literacy begins in the home when parents read to their child and have books in the home. Reading aloud to children is a very important part of early literacy because it “encourages children to form a positive association with books and reading later in life” (Reach Out and Read, 2015). Both of Jenny’s parents could
Literacy is most commonly understood as reading and writing. But before children can read and write, they need to learn about sound, words, language, books and stories (Raising Children, 2015). Children begin to develop and gain knowledge quite differently and with support and developmentally appropriate learning skills children will also come to understand the connection between letters and sounds. Literacy development or early literacy is the most essential in the first three years of life as it the earliest experience children have with language, sound and the positive interactions between child and adult. Vygotsky (1978) believed in how children developed, and the important role of adults in leading child’s early development. The interactions
As a teacher, you need to encourage all attempts at reading, writing, speaking, and allowing children to experience the different functions and use of literacy activity (The Access Center, n.d.). Moreover, it is crucial for educators to understand phonological awareness and phonics; know what constitutes good children’s literature and how to use it; know children who need additional assistance with beginning reading and writing (Cunningham et al, 2004 as cited in McLachlan et al, 2013, p. 112). Educators also need to plan effective activities to assist children experience reading aloud, listening to other children read aloud, listening to tape recordings, and videotapes so children have opportunities to integrate and extend their literacy knowledge (The Access Center, n.d.). Morrow (1990 as cited in The Access Center, n.d.) notes that classroom with greater teacher facilitation promote literacy behaviours, so it is educators’ role to provide literacy rich
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
Joint attention refers to “when a child and adult are focused on the same thing, and when they are both aware the focus of attention is shared” (Baldwin, 1995). It is suggested that infants acquire joint attention and begin to follow the gazes of adults to add a third party to learn from others. Scafie and Bruner (1975) found that children aged 2-14 months began to understand that others have different attention spans and interests by following adult’s gazes, and that infants first words are often related to objects of joint attention. Carptenter, Nagell and Tomasello (1998) conducted a study in which they tested children’s socio-cultural skills through structured tasks and observed the mother’s and child’s joint attention. They also tested the child’s language ability by asking mothers to assess a variety of words that their child could understand or say.
Reading has been a part of my life from the second I was born. All throughout my childhood, my parents read to me, and I loved it. I grew up going to the library and being read to constantly. Especially in the years before Kindergarten, reading was my favorite thing to do. I grew up loving fairy tales and thriving on the knowledge that I could have any book I wanted, to be read to me that night. Having no siblings, my only examples were my parents, and they read constantly. Without a family that supported my love of reading throughout my childhood, I wouldn’t appreciate it nearly as much as I have and do now.
Reading aloud helps a child’s memory, curiosity, and it builds their motivation (“Importance of Reading Aloud”). “Reading aloud introduces the language of books which differs from language heard in daily conversation, on television, and in movies. Book language is more descriptive and uses more formal grammatical structures”. Children learn many things while being read to. The more books that are read to children, the more their vocabulary expands. Reading to children can introduce them to different literature they might not find on their own (Koralek). Another essential skill that children need is the ability to listen, which they learn while being read to (“Importance of Reading Aloud”). Not only does reading give children the ability to listen, it gives them the ability to understand how stories work. “The more a child knows about and experience the joys of reading before kindergarten, the easier it will be to learn to read,” (“Why Reading to Children Is Important”). Reading is fun and the more it is done, the more children will enjoy it
Literature has an enormous impact on a child’s development during the early years of his or her life. It is important for parents and teachers to instill a love of reading in children while they are still young and impressionable. They are very naive and trusting because they are just beginning to develop their own thoughts, so they will believe anything they read (Lesnik, 1998). This is why it is so important to give them literature that will have a positive impact. Literature can make children more loving, intelligent and open minded because reading books gives them a much wider perspective on the world. Through reading, children’s behavior can be changed, modified or extended, which is why books are so influential in children’s lives while they are young (Hunt, 1998). Literature has the power to affect many aspects of a child’s life and shapes their future adult life.