Child Language Acquisition - reading and writing

Stages:

1.  capital letters, forming words, drawing and sign writing, writing short texts 

2. longer, write as they speak 

3. distinguish between speech and writing, purpose and audience 

4. personal styles 

B.M. Kroll (1981) - four stages:

1. age 5-6, preparation

2. age 6-8, consolidation 

3. age 9-10, differentation 

4. 11 years, integration 

Barclay (1996):

1. scribbling 

2. mock handwriting 

3. mock letters

4. conventional letters - phonics 

5. invented spelling 

6. appropriate spelling 

7. correct spelling 

J.R.Gentry (1982):

1. precommunicative stage - random letters and symbols 

2. semi-phonetic stage - letters might be used to represent whole words, some letter-to-sound connection 

3. phonetic stage - based on the sound of words 

4. transitional stage - combine phonetic approaches as well as visual approaches 

5. 'correct' stage - difficult spellings have been learnt 

Speling error:

• over/under generalising spelling rules 
• omission 
• transposition 
• substitution 

• directionality - write from left to right 
• size of the handwriting 
• linearity - writing in horizontal lines 

• rothery - recount, report, comment, narrative
• perera - chronological, noon-chronological 
• britton - transaactional, speech, poetic 

• LASS (language acquistion support system)

1. gaining attention - getting the baby's attention on a picture 

2. query - aksing the baby what the object in the picture is

3. label - telling the baby what the object in the picture is

4. feedback - responding to the baby's utterance - positve/negative reinforcement (Skinner)

• 1983
• stage 0: pretend to read stories, identify letters, write own name 
• stage 1: sounds and letters, read simple texts, tested by gov. at this age 
• stage 2: consolidate and increase reading skills and vocabulary 
• stage 3: to gain knowledge and for pleasure
• stage 4: more complex materials 
• stage 5: confident, rapid readers and recognise the practical and recreational benefits of reading 

• semantic - understanding the meanings of words and making connections between words in order to decode new ones 
• visual - looking at the pictures and using the visual narrative to interpret unfamiliar words or ideas 
• syntactic - applying knowledge of word order and word classes to work out if a word seems right in the context 
• contextual - searching for understanding in the situation of the story - comparing it to their own experience or their pragmatic understanding of social conventions 
• miscue - making errors when reading: a child might miss a word or substitute another that looks similar, or guess a word from accompanying pictures 

• text size
• font choice 
• word density 
• lexis - monosyllables or polysyllabic?
• early books are naturally centered around a child's environment, whke older books move away from this and are more imaginative
• syntax - patterning in sentence structure
• alliteration, rhyme

• when a child understands the rules, they will progress more rapidly to producing texts that are understandable 
• national curriculum testing 

• a child should be allowed to experiment creatively with language 
• should not receive strict correction
• trial and error 
• less afraid of making mistakes 

• synthetic phonics - individual phonemes, blend together to pronounce a word 
• analytic phonics  - breaking down of words into key sections (onset and rime)
• rime is the section of the word that follows the onset