INFS 431 LITERATURE AND SERVICES FOR CHILDREN Session 2 – Factors that Affect the Development of Reading Habits in Children I Lecturer: S. Nii Bekoe Tackie , School of Information and Communication Studies, Department of Information Studies Contact Information: snbtackie@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Overview • Educationists have tried to establish when children start reading. For some time, it was believed that certain traits in the development process of a child contributed to the child’s ability to read. It was thought that children acquired all these traits by a specific age which then makes them ready to read. It has, however, been realized that some children acquire those traits earlier or later in their developmental process. Thus, it became obvious that there may be other issues that affect children’s ability to acquire the habit of reading. This Session, therefore, looks at some of the factors that prevent children from developing the habit of reading. Slide 2 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Session Objectives By the end of this section, you should be able to: • Understand the need to find out when children become ready to read. • Identify the general factors that prevent children from acquiring the habit of reading. • Discuss the solutions to the problems. Slide 3 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: • Topic One: The Search for Reading Readiness • Topic Two: Dyslexia • Topic Three: General factors that affect the development of reading habits in children Slide 4 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Reading List • Bradford, J.(2009) What Causes Dyslexia? http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/mag24.html Slide 5 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Topic One: THE SEARCH FOR READING READINESS Slide 6 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Reading Readiness Educationists occupied themselves with the task of finding when children are ready to read. • This is what is known as reading readiness. • They believed that visual ability, listening ability, personality development, interest and experiences, emotional stability, language achievements, Combine to indicate reading readiness of the child. It was generally agreed that by the time the child reached age 6 ½, these characteristics are developed well enough for the child to begin reading. Slide 7 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Reading Readiness • As a result, most schools begin to teach children how to read from age 6. • Belief questioned by many educators • Reasons: not automatic that by 6 ½ years of age all children would have acquired those characteristics. Some children may not develop those characteristics till age 8; Some develop the characteristics as early as age 4. • Apart from the age, many other educators believe that the ability to read depends on whether the child can focus his mind on letters and words that make meaning. • This is what is called Emergent Literacy. Slide 8 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Emergent Literacy(EL) Term used to explain a child's knowledge of reading and writing skills before they learn how to read and write words. • Belief that long before children are able to physically read and write, they begin developing the knowledge necessary to execute the skills of reading and writing even one- and two-year-olds Emergent Literacy Theory(Marie Clay) explains that children learn to read and write through first hearing stories, touching books, and seeing letters, numbers and words(Blake, 2014) Slide 9 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Emergent Literacy Defined It signals a belief that, in literate society, young children are in the process of becoming literate. Defined as the developmental steps a young child takes prior to actually • reading a text, including – interacting with a book, – responding to texts, and – pretending at reading or – writing before actually being able to do so. • Slide 10 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Emergent Literacy Defined(Cont) A child who has achieved emergent literacy has oral language skills, phonological awareness, print awareness and letter awareness. Slide 11 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Achieving Emergent Literacy A number of skills and abilities are required for the achievement of Emergent Literacy. • These include: Print motivation -first step of emergent literacy. children become interested in print materials. seen through the child’s enjoyment of being read to, playing with books pretending to read or write. Vocabulary Vocabulary development is a significant pointer to a child’s overall academic achievement. Vocabulary is seen as a child’s ability to know the name of things. Slide 12 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Achieving Emergent Literacy(Cont.) Print awareness stage at which children learn how to -handle a book -begin to recognize the differences between letters and words. -learn how texts are organized, -realize that reading is completed from left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom of the page. Narrative skills -when children develop the ability to tell a story or describe a sequence of events. Slide 13 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Achieving Emergent Literacy(Cont.) Letter awareness -when children understand that letters are unique from each other and begin to recognize different letters and their sounds. Phonological awareness -when children begin to understand that words are made up of different sounds or phonemes, and that stringing these sounds together creates words that results in meaning. Slide 14 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Activity 1. Enumerate the skills and abilities that a child would need to achieve Emergent Literacy. 2. Describe how each of the skills and abilities manifest itself in an Emergent Literate child. Slide 15 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Topic Two: DYSLEXIA Slide 16 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Introduction Research has shown that • Children begin to associate sound with symbols that they stand for at an early age. • Reading readiness for children of all ages therefore can begin from their language related experiences. • Children’s experiences both at home and school influence how well they learn to read. • Some children, however, find it difficult to read though the characteristics that make for reading readiness may be present. Slide 17 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Introduction(Cont.) This phenomenon set researchers wondering why some children are not able to read. Series of studies proved that the issue was more complex than it was thought. Thus instead of looking for the problems, it was decided to focus on solutions rather. • In trying to find out why some children have problems with reading, it was thought that dyslexia accounted for children’s inability to develop the habit of reading. • However, other experts have questioned that assertion. • Because there are children who are not dyslexic and yet are not able to read. • Thus it was decided that reading disabilities will be a better way of expression for problems that children face with reading. Slide 18 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
What is Dyslexia? Term given to the condition that makes it difficult for children to acquire reading ability. • Dyslexic children see letters and words and sometimes figures turned upside down or inside out. • Thus a dyslexic child may see the letter w as m; or d as b; or p as q; tar may be seen as rat; or won as now; or saw as was. Slide 19 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Causes of Dyslexia Exact cause or causes not known. • Studies have shown, basically two causes of dyslexia. developmental dyslexia which comes from inherited traits; acquired dyslexia which is brought on by frequent colds and throat infections in children between age zero and five years. Lack of early treatment, causes hearing problems in the child as a result of intermittent blocking of the ear passage. Slide 20 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Causes of Dyslexia(Cont.) • As a result, the developing brain is not able to make the links between the sounds it hears. • The early learning of sounds and words is primary to a child’s ability to deal with language and text. • Failure to hear clearly will make it difficult for the child to hear the difference between words like • pin and thin ; or • fan and van . Slide 21 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Causes of Dyslexia(Cont.) • Again lack of clear hearing will slow the child’s phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear that words are made up of smaller sounds and syllables such as • c-a-t ; or • in-ter-est-ing . • Parents may easily fail to be aware of the problem until a doctor actually looks into the child’s ear. • This problem is often called glue ear or conductive hearing loss . • For developmental dyslexia, studies have shown that children who come from families that have left-handed members are more at risk of getting the condition. • For example, it has been discovered that more than half of children with learning difficulties have a family member who is left-handed. Slide 22 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
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