Why do children find it so hard to read?

• What’s so difficult?
• Children experiencing an act which is unnatural to them
• Learning to read alphabetical orthography is a tough activity
• Complex unnatural cognitive interactions that the brain and environment have to engage
• For a long period of time, humans lived without any form of writing, new invention?
• The alphabet is part of technology? It is a device which conveys information?
• Many words perhaps aren’t spell how they are sound – ‘enuff’ – ‘enough’
• Single letters are pronounced differently depending on context ‘Coke’ – ‘oCean’
• Some words have silent morphenes, therefore how are children able to understand this complexity? – ‘Knight’ ‘Pneumonia
•  Reading is one of the more complicated processes – uses attention, knowledge of linguistics, mental speed to read out loud
• Different ‘processors’ have to work in unison to be identify the written word – phonological, orthographic, meaning, context
• It is said by Masha Bell (Coventry Uni) that English is the hardest language to not only spell, but read.
• She said that there are around 800 words which Children often misuse, such as; monkey, asparagus, caterpillar because they contain a combination of letters which are pronounced differently.
• 'It is the worst of all the alphabetical languages. It is unique in that there are not just spelling problems but reading problems. They do not exist anywhere else.'
• She also stated that there were around 200 words on the list that can be improved by dropping ‘surplus letters’ such as the ‘I’ in friend or the ‘u’ in the shoulder
• She argues that the spelling system was a huge financial burden on schools and that in countries such as Finland, words are more likely to be pronounced as they look
• This means that children are likely to be able to read within three months, whereas the UK average is around three years.
• Obviously it is dependent on the child’s actual life, for example disability can undoubtedly impose restrictions, as well as if the parents are reading aloud to them
• Many countries are making modifications to their language to make it easier for young children to learn, for instance, Turkey changed their entire alphabet from Arabic to Latin
• John Wells, professor of phonetics at University College London and president of the Spelling Society. 'It happened in the Soviet Union.' In Germany there were changes made in the 1990s to make the writing system more consistent. English has also developed with words such as 'olde' and 'worlde' dropping the 'e'.
• Perhaps one of the solutions can be to change the spelling of words to avoid any confusion, and spell words how they are spoke ‘enough’ ‘ocean’

 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jun/08/schools.English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0n1LHCqbNs

Child reading research

Research on children’s reading development

Reading, arguably, is an activity in which many children partake in and may even have a big influence on their actual development.  The school environment is one that places particular emphasis on reading, with a lot of Literacy content being on actual reading. However, the way in which Children read and learn how to read, is what makes the topic so consuming. Perhaps the conventions of a children’s book is what makes it so appealing to them; adventurous story line, vibrant illustrations etc.. We often see parents reading to their children in many instances, which could be to ensure that they are actually reading something or to encourage them to sleep. For early infants (0-4 years), ‘Book Trust’ claimed that ‘The Snowman’ and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ are books that are most popular within this age group. Here we have two popular books regarding dissimilar subjects, however they both share similar conventions. Obviously, the characters within the book are perhaps the most foremost aspect and they play the most pivotal role in engaging the children. The the company also claimed that ‘A Bear Called Paddington’ and ‘The BFG’ were the most popular books amongst infants, particularly the ages 5-8. Again, these books also have a storyline which is almost tailored around the main character, which is even represented in the title. Now, because these stories almost always show a positive change in character by showing the children morals and the ‘rights and wrongs’, children almost want to replicate this behavior due to their liking of the character. For instance, the ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ is a book which exhibits how people should aspire to be what they want regardless of restrictions. As well as this there is a clear underlying message of eating healthy and because the caterpillar is so memorable and relatable for children, they may replicate the same beliefs and values in their own lifes.

As a child, I can specifically remember enjoying books in which you can interact with the story. Books in which allowed you to listen and feel through the use of sound and materials were the ones that really encapsulated me. A particular favourite of mine was the ‘Captain Underpants’ books, not only because the humour was very relatable to me at that time, but it also allowed you to actually interact with the story. In every book, a particular segment allowed you to interact with the story by using a flip book animation. The flip book animation was a feature used in every fight scene and by quickly flicking through each page, it would create a moving picture. This feature, at the time, was perhaps considered unique to books and allowed you to interact in a fun and engaging way. Perhaps that is what engages children most know, with books such as ‘Jungle Sounds’ implementing different materials and sounds to embellish the experience when reading the book, and allowing the child to immerse themselves.

However, a large part of a school’s curriculum is to encourage children to read and their approach to this is perhaps what makes their development unique. According to the Huffington post, the way in children are taught to read is mainly reliant on the teaching of phonetics. Children are now more exposed to phonemes and how they are glued together to create a word, whereas before children may have been taught by the ‘look and say’ method. This is where children were taught to read words as whole units, rather than several morphemes. Then, children would learn to recognise the word through repetition and then gradually build up an eclectic range of vocabulary. An advantage of this ‘look and say’ method is that parents are easily able to replicate this teaching at home, meaning that they can further educate their child. Whereas with the method of focusing on the morphemes, it may be difficult for parents to teach their child this way as it is more complex. Now, the proposition of how we teach children to read changing over the years, it may impose another problem on how the child actually understands. If a child is being taught differently at home to in a school environment, they may become confused and become discouraged to actually read at all. Therefore it is important for the caregivers to sustain communication to allow the child to improve his reading ability.

Analysis of Tom

Analysis of Tom -  Child Language Acquisition

Imitation and reinforcement are the most crucial tools for children’s language acquisition’

Perhaps the foremost theory about imitation and reinforcement was conducted by theorist Skinner, who constructed the idea of operant conditioning having a substantial impact on children’s language and their development. Operant conditioning is the proposition that children develop their language through response from their caregivers, whether it be through positive or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the process in which the caregiver almost rewards the child for accurate language use or good behavior, which can be accomplished through praise or echoing the child’s previous utterance to show positivity. The main purpose of positive reinforcement is to enhance the child’s positive face needs, in the hope that they will repeat the same accuracy/behavior in the future. However, negative reinforcement is the idea that caregivers model the children’s language, meaning that there is no praise for the child. The same principle can be shown with a child’s behavior in which a form of praise or treat is taken away. For instance, if a child is consistently behaving in a ‘naughty’ manner, then his caregiver may not give him any more chocolate for the rest of the day. This idea of operant conditioning focuses specifically on how caregivers act around the children, suggesting that the actual behavior of those around the child will directly impact their language use in the future. Still, the idea that imitation and reinforcement is the most crucial tool is one that questions and debates the importance of other theories.

There is a clear exhibition of positive reinforcement within text A, which is used frequently by Tom’s mother. At the beginning of the transcript, Tom uses the declarative utterance ‘the bike (.) the dad bike’; a usage of over-generalisation, potentially because Tom labels every bike ‘dad bike’ due to conversation in the past. The interlocutor, Tom’s mother, then replies ‘dad’s bike’ which shows Tom the standard form of how to show possession and standard rules of grammar. What perhaps is most influential in the mother’s utterance is her recasting of ‘dad’s bike’, and how she maintains this positive reinforcement despite Tom using non standard. If the mother expressed a negative approach to show Tom the standard version, for instance, ‘no you say dad’s bike’ perhaps the inclusion of the interjection ‘no’ may affect Tom’s negative face needs. This may mean that Tom will perhaps feel more nervous when communicating in future conversations, in the fear that he will be ‘told off’. Instead, his mother’s response in the adjacency pair suggests that he is not being criticised for using the non standard form, but is encouraged to use the standard ‘dad’s bike’ possessive. Later on in the conversation, we can see that his mother’s use of positive reinforcement has clearly worked, as Tom consistently employs the standard form and also embeds the noun phrase ‘dad’s bike’ into compound clauses. For instance, within the compound clause ‘I am on dad’s bike but I not on dad’s bike’, Tom uses the standard usage of the noun phrase twice and although he is still making the categorical overextension of the noun phrase ‘dad’s bike’, he is using it in a standard form. It is this idea that perhaps amplifies the importance of Skinner’s theory to child language acquisition, and perhaps shows how the mother’s behavior is a key element to the child’s language development.

Still, the notion of positive and reinforcement being a crucial tool can be debated when looking at text B. Within the interrogative clause ‘is these drawing Cartoon Network cup of tea mum’ perhaps what is most interesting is the actual construction of the clause, and how there is no agreement between the relational verb ‘is’ and the determiner ‘these’. We can potentially interpret this data as an idea that Tom is in the telegraphic stage, as it could be debates that he is still developing his knowledge on standard grammar rules.  Throughout the conversation, Tom fails to imitate standard grammar forms as exemplified by his caregiver. This poses the question as to whether we do actually learn language from imitation, or if we already have innate ability to already understand grammatical rules. How can children learn language from imitation when caregivers so frequently utilise non standard grammar? We can take a Chomskyan perspective to counter argue operant conditioning and its impact on children’s development. Chomsky constructed the idea that from a nativist perspective, a child cannot just learn grammar. Instead it is hardwired into our brains, with the child being able to obtain these grammatical rules when they are ready, as apposed to actually being a teaching process. We can apply this when looking at text A, as when he elides the suffix in the dynamic verb ‘make’, this means that there is no agreement between the dynamic verb and the abstract noun ‘noises’. His mother then recasts the phrase with the standard agreement of ‘makes noises’. It is unlikely that Tom learnt this phrase from his mother – presumably because she would naturally have a better understanding of grammar - therefore we cannot assume that imitation is the key to child’s development.

However, within the conversation the foremost aspect of analysis is the importance of contextual factors, and how this can manipulate language. Within the conversation it is not evident what time of day it is, the emotions of the participants or the actual positioning of the participants. For this reason, it may not show an accurate representation of the participant’s typical language, meaning that the application of theories and debates may not be reflective of their language. Perhaps for this reason, it may show that imitation is not actually the most crucial tool for child language acquisition, as it is heavily dependant on the actual context itself.