Reading Attitudes and Language Development in Children

Language Development and Reading in Children

Language skills are fundamental to children's social and psychological development, because language provides the means by which children learn about the world and other people. Parents impart language skills to their children by teaching them to encode and decode messages. Some parental messages are encoded subtly, as with emotional responses. For example, Paulson, Keefe, and Leiferman (2009) found that parental depression impacts the reading habits of parents, which in turn impacts the reading habits of children. Parents who read regularly to their children and who also solicit two-way dialogue promote more advanced reading skills than parents who offer only one-sided conversation (Zimmerman et al., 2009).

Furthermore, language shapes the child's social identity construction and conceptions of reality. The importance of language in social identity construction and reality construction is evident as early as infancy (Hoff, 2012). Identity becomes a salient feature of language development as children grow older, due in part to the cultural implications of language as a marker of culture (Hoff, 2012). As children mature into adolescents, the importance of language becomes increasingly salient in marking personal boundaries of identity.

Reading is a unique function of language. While seemingly unrelated to verbal language skills for social development, reading skills nevertheless play an important role in the overall evolution of language skills in children. Vocabulary mastery is a two-way street: reading improves vocabulary awareness, and vocabulary awareness results in improved reading scores (Hoff, 2012). Vocabulary mastery also influences attitudes toward reading (Hoff, 2012). Furthermore, spoken and written language skills are linked in the context of learning disabilities (Hoff, 2012). Whereas phonological development in reading is more important at early ages, reading comprehension becomes more important later. In general, attitudes toward reading are important to understand because each child will have a different perception of the role reading plays in their life and in social situations. Parental influences, peer group influences, and cultural variables all bear on a child's attitudes toward reading as well as on reading aptitude.

This study evaluates six children from three different age cohorts to illustrate core concepts of language development in childhood. It focuses on attitudes toward reading and reading practices, which are believed to change over time. The design of the study was selected because research shows that "language develops over an extended time span" (Dickinson, Golinkoff, & Hirsch-Patek, 2010, p. 305). It is particularly important to understand childhood perceptions of reading because reading and language literacy are linked with school achievement (Wells, 1986). Based on the literature on reading development in children, it is hypothesized that older children will demonstrate increased appreciation for the role reading plays in their lives compared to their younger counterparts.

References

Dickinson, D. K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsch-Patek, K. (2010). Speaking out for language. Educational Researcher, 39(4), 305–310.

Hoff, E. (2012). Language Development. Cengage.

Paulson, J. F., Keefe, H. A., & Leiferman, J. A. (2008). Early parental depression and child language development. Journal of Child Psychology, 50(3), 254–262.

Wells, G. (1986). The Meaning Makers. Heinemann.

Zimmerman, F. J., et al. (2009). Teaching by listening. Pediatrics, 124(1), 342–349.