This chapter reviews the development of language and literacy in Primary-grade children and explores the relationship between these areas of development and school life. The most significant language advancement during this period is in children's ability to use language in a variety of new and different ways.

1. First- and Second-Language Acquisition

1. primary-grade children are remarkably competent in their use of language
2. An advancement in the primary years is an ability to differentiate among words that have similar meanings
3. Children come to understand that huge implies much greater size and maybe even carries greater emotional impact than big.
4. Primary-grade children have become so proficient in language that only minor refinements are needed for them to possess full adult competence.
5. Phonology

1. Children have acquired most of the phonemes-speech sounds-of their native language by age 5.
2. In English, the sounds l, r, s, sh, and ch are still very difficult for many 6- and 7-year -olds
3. Phonology and Second-Language Acquisition

1. Simultaneous second-language learners-that is, children who are exposed equally to both languages from birth- become quite proficient in both by the end of the preschool years
2. These bilingual children have learned to distinguish among and produce the unique sounds of the two languages
3. Successive second-language learning occurs when a child learns a primary language first and a second language later.
4. A common example is a child who spends the first 5 years of life in Puerto Rico and then moves to the US during the primary years
5. Substitutions are a creative way that children solve the problem of pronouncing unfamiliar speech sounds

1. Atypical Phonological Development

1. Three kinds of phonological difficulties that occur in the primary grades require special services: articulation problems, disfluency, and poor voice quality
2. Articulation problems relate to an inability to pronounce specific phonemes that are usually acquired by a particular age
3. One way to determine the severity of speech errors is to test children for stimulability
4. This involves asking children to imitate the sounds they are not articulation clearly.
5. Whether children with phonological impairments are referred for special services will be determined, in part, by whether they are communication well with peers and teachers in school
6. Articulation problems occur for several reasons
7. They may arise from physiological causes
8. A child who has a cleft palate-a genetic condition in which the palate did not fully form during prenatal development-may have difficulty making certain speech sounds
9. A child with cerebral palsy may have trouble coordination articulators
10. Chronic otitis media-a condition characterize by buildup of fluid behind the eardrum which results in hearing loss-may contribute to articulation problems
11. Another phonological problem which is identified in the primary years is disfluency, or stuttering
12. All young children stutter
13. Re-starts or whole-word repetitions are very common in childhood discourse
14. In the primary years, children who have severe problems with disfluency will begin to stutter in different ways and with greater frequency
15. Struggle behaviors such as facial grimaces and contortions of the mouth, may appear
16. Poor voice quality is a less common speech disorder identified and treated in the primary years
17. Such problems may be physiological
18. Hoarseness can stem from polyps or other growths on the larynx
19. A cleft palate or cerebral palsy may contribute to nasality
20. The most common source of poor voice quality is vocal abuse
21. Some children talk so loudly or scream so often they create callouses, called nodules, on their vocal tissues

1. Semantics

1. Children's vocabulary continues to grow throughout childhood
2. The rate at which new words are acquired slows beginning in the primary years
3. This is a period of refining and coordinating word meanings
4. Primary-grade children also begin to construct relationships among the many words they have learned
5. They create semantic networks: internal maps which show connections among words within one's mental dictionary
6. Children begin to understand that some words are opposites, that some hold the same meaning, and that some have similar but subtly different definitions
7. Semantics in bilingual Families

1. Bilingual primary children begin to differentiate between words from the two languages in their mental dictionary
2. One factor that influences this process is school,
3. Children who speak both Spanish and English often hear only English spoken in first grade
4. Language shock results when children suddenly discover that their native language is not understood by others
5. Children's experiences with language in the home can also assist them in separating their vocabularies
6. When one parent speaks one language and the other parent speaks a second language, a child can more readily distinguish the two
7. Over the course of the primary years, many children successfully separate their languages

1. Atypical Semantic Development

1. Children with semantic delays may be unable to identify opposites or synonyms or to generate lists of related terms in a free association task
2. They may even struggle to correctly name pictures or objects
3. Some children may have trouble learning morphemes-small units of language that hold meaning

1. Syntax

1. Children are able to construct very complex sentences by only 6 or 7 years of age
2. A few syntactic structures are still challenging to them
3. Passives (the cup was dropped by the girl) are acquired only gradually during childhood
4. Children in the primary years are accustomed to straightforward declarative sentences, such as I hit the ball
5. In these sentences, the agent performing the action I comes first, then the action hit, and finally the object ball.
6. In passive sentences the object comes first: The ball was hit by me
7. Children misinterpret the object to be the agent; in their minds the sentence becomes The ball hit me
8. Syntax and Bilingual Development

1. When children learn two different languages, they must learn two sets of syntactic rules
2. At first they may learn only the syntactic rules of their native language
3. For a time, they may apply these when speaking in the new language as well
4. Some languages are viewed more favorably by dominant society, others less so
5. Children acquire the syntax of a second language in unique stages

1. Metalinguistic Awareness

1. One advancement in the primary years that greatly enhances language learning is the emergence of metalinguistic awareness
2. This is the ability to think about language itself
3. As children enter the primary years, they become more aware of language itself
4. They can think about and comment on sentence structure, how speech sounds are formed, and the various definitions of words
5. Children are able to identify sentences that are grammatically correct or incorrect
6. Primary-grade children are able to define words, not simply use them in sentences
7. Primary-grade children can define words by relating them to other words they know
8. Primary-grade children now understand that a word can mean two different things
9. One problem they begin to overcome is missegmentation: an inability to know where the sounds and words of an utterance are divided
10. In the primary years, children can contemplate sounds and breaks in language
11. They can better think through and correct missegmentation errors
12. Awareness of phonology can also be observed in children's humor
13. Children are aware of the sounds in their language
14. They have knowledge of typical articulation errors in childhood, such as substituting w for r
15. Metalinguistic awareness is extremely important in second-language acquisition, because when children can reflect on language forms and rules they are better at differentiation between the two languages they are learning
16. The struggle to sort out differences between languages may cause bilingual children to think more deeply about language forms and functions

1. Pragmatics

1. Simply speaking the correct language forms is not enough to ensure communication
2. Children must use words, sounds, and sentences effectively to express ideas and get what they need
3. They must learn to persuade or argue with peers during a game, converse with adults at a family gathering, explain to a parent that a cherished possession was accidentally broken, or entertain siblings with a scary story
4. Each situation is guided by different social rules
5. During the primary years, children acquire basic social rules of language
6. Primary-grade children are quite competent at referential communication: the ability to adjust language to the viewpoint of the listener
7. Pragmatics in School

1. An understanding of the social rules of language is especially important when children enter school
2. The social rules that govern conversations in the classroom are more numerous and more rigidly enforced than in the home
3. One rule that is common in schools in most cultures is that formal language should be used
4. Formal and informal language styles are referred to as registers
5. In the primary years, children must learn register switching-that is, shifting back and forth between these two very different kinds of languages
6. A part of the formal language rule is turntaking and structured conversation
7. Lessons in school generally are quite orderly: the teacher speaks, the students listen, and a brief time is devoted to questions and answers at the end
8. Rules of language in school are shaped by the values, customs, and the status and role assignments of teachers within a particular culture
9. Besides adopting an overall formal style of language in school, children must learn to use language to accomplish new purposes
10. A child is often expected to explain or inform with a great deal more clarity than was previously required

1. Pragmatics, School, and Culture

1. Children from historically under-represented groups may have more difficulty acquiring the pragmatics required for success in American schools
2. Conversations in typical classrooms in the US reflect the communication styles of dominant culture, so children who have learned very different rules of language use may be at a disadvantage

1. Bilingual Education

1. The term bilingual education refers to a variety of strategies in school for assisting children who speak languages different from that of the dominant culture
2. Several models of bilingual education exist
3. One, called immersion, involves placing children who speak one language into a classroom in which a new, second language is spoken primarily
4. Some immersion classrooms in the US have been cynically dubbed submersion classrooms because children must sink or swim in language learning without special support
5. Most non-English speaking children in America are simply placed in regular classrooms, where they fail to learn a second language well, do poorly in academic subjects, and drop out of school more often than their English-speaking peers
6. Other bilingual models are designed to enhance children's learning in their native language and at the same time help them acquire the language of dominant culture
7. In the maintenance/developmental model, children are taught primarily in their native language, so they acquire the same important school-related skills and concepts as dominant-language children
8. At the same time, they are introduced to English as a Second Language (ESL)
9. The two-way bilingual education model is preferred by many educators, not only because it promotes second-language learning, but because it promotes appreciation for all languages
10. In this approach, both the dominant language and the second language are used equally in the instruction of all children
11. Some teachers assume a subtractive approach to language teaching, in which the goal is to replace a child's native language or dialect with that of dominant culture
12. An additive approach is more culturally sensitive,
13. In this approach, children add a new language but maintain and refine their native speaking abilities as well
14. The goal is to expand the child's linguistic repertoire
15. Social Strategies in Bilingual Education

1. Children who do not speak the dominant language of a community often engage in creative social strategies in an attempt to cope with the strangeness of the new classroom environment and to fit in with the dominant-culture peer group
2. They may pretend to understand what is being said
3. They may smile and nod, join in a group play activity, imitate peers, and utter a few simple words in an effort to make others think they can speak the dominant language
4. Sometimes children stay close to dominant-culture friends and emulate their speech or behavior

1. Stages of Production in Bilingual Education

1. Children who have just entered a bilingual setting are often very quiet and reticent to speak
2. Over time, as children become familiar with teachers and peers, they advance through stages of vocalization or production of the second language
3. In the preproduction stage children in bilingual classrooms are quite silent; they focus on understanding the second language rather than trying to speak it
4. In the transition to production stage, children demonstrate a readiness to make brief verbalizations in the second language
5. In; the early production stage these utterances become longer
6. Only when they reach the expansion of production stage are children able to speak in full sentences or respond in the second language to open-ended questions from teachers or peers
7. In the final stage, introduction to written forms, children show an interest in reading and writing in the second language

1. Literacy

1. Children's literacy development resembles the process of oral language learning
2. Their motivation for reading and writing stems from a desire to acquire meaning from others' writing and to communicate through their own writing
3. Writing in the Primary Years

1. Many children have begun to write by the end of the preschool years
2. Their writing, which may be comprised of scribbles or isolated letters, looks very different from adult text
3. They likely progress through three distinct writing stages before they write conventionally
4. Prephonemic Stage

1. Primary-age children who still write using random letters to stand for stories are said to be in the prephonemic stage of writing
2. Letters have no relationship to the sounds of phonemes in this stage
3. Letters are merely used as placeholders for meaning

1. Phonemic Stage

1. Primary-grade children gradually begin using consonants that match some of the sounds in the story they are writing
2. Often only one or two consonants are used to stand for a complete work
3. When children do this, they are said to have entered the phonemic stage

1. Transitional Stage

1. During the primary years, children enter a transitional stage in which their writing becomes very conventional
2. During this period, they spell out words using letter sounds and write in full sentences, but they often misspell words
3. Because of the creative aspect of construction words, the phrase invented spelling has been used to describe this characteristic of children's writing
4. One interesting advancement that occurs during the transitional stage is that children discover that breaks between words must somehow be marked
5. Many children begin conventional writing by the end of the primary years

1. Reading Development

1. reading development and writing development are highly interrelated
2. As children write they learn to read, and vice versa
3. Sulzby has described stages of storybook reading through which most primary-grade children develop
4. Picture-Governed Reading

1. Children begin reading books by studying the pictures and disregarding print
2. They point to or name persons or objects that are depicted
3. Their reading behaviors are disjointed comments about illustrations
4. Sulzby called this the story not formed stage
5. Somewhat later, children who are read to or have much experience with books will tell a full story as they look at the pictures and turn the pages
6. Sulzby named this the story formed stage
7. In the written language-like stage, children begin to read the story by heart; their retellings match the actual text
8. During this period, children may begin to notice and comment on print

1. Print-Governed Reading

1. Once children are aware of and curious about print, their reading responses change significantly
2. In the print watched/refusal to read and aspectual stage, children show early conventional reading competence
3. Refusal to read refers to the child's initial reluctance to use words in reading stories
4. A child might say, I don't know the words, but I do know the pictures
5. Aspectual reading in which the child selects just one aspect of the reading act-perhaps the memory of certain words or phonics-and uses this strategy exclusively in reading the text
6. This is the period when some primary-grade children laboriously sound out letters without attending to whole words or sentences
7. Others rely only on whole-word vocabulary and never pay attention to phonics
8. Children eventually enter a print watched/holistic stage, in which they use multiple reading strategies-sight vocabulary, sentence context, and phonics-to acquire meaning from print
9. Near the end of the primary years, most children have become independent readers and are able to apply on their own the particular reading strategies that are most helpful for a certain text

1. Literacy and Culture

1. Children of different cultures show distinct aptitudes for and dispositions toward literacy
2. Literacy is important in most societies, although what is written and read, and how literacy is taught, varies significantly
3. What are the educational implications of research on cultural differences in reading and writing?
4. Literacy programs should be broadened in schools to includes all kinds of reading and writing material-magazines, newspaper, catalogs, non-print books, posters, notes, and fliers, as well as books
5. Also, storytelling, humor, rhyming, chants, singing, and other modes of self-expression should be incorporated

1. Biliteracy

1. Bilingual children must read and write, as well as talk, in tow languages
2. Most experts believe that Biliteracy begins with the acquisition of verbal skills and early print awareness within one's native language
3. Being able to speak a language to some degree, before you try to read it, makes a great deal of sense
4. The majority of bilingual education programs stress bilingualism before biliteracy