Spring 2005

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Opening the World of Reading

Liz Warwick

The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network collaborated with the Centre for Excellence in Early Childhood Development (CEECD) to create the language and literacy development entry into their encyclopedia of early childhood development. The research summaries below expand upon the current state of knowledge in the area of language development.

For further information please visit the Centre for Excellence in Early Childhood Development (CEECD) website at http://www.excellence-earlychildhood.ca/home.asp?lang=EN and the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network’s website at http://www.cllrnet.ca.

Starting primary school usually signals the start of teaching children how to read. However, to succeed at this complex and essential task, children must have and use many skills, including an awareness that words are made up of small units called phonemes and a strong knowledge of letters, as well as being familiar with various printed materials. Two recent studies show that these skills can be fostered in the early childhood years by parents and caregivers.

Researcher Monique Sénéchal, a Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network researcher has followed 168 middle- and upper-class children in the Ottawa, Ontario, area for five years, looking at how early exposure to print, be it through reading books or more formal teaching about letters and words, has an impact on reading ability in Grade Three. In her study, Sénéchal found that early exposure to books contributed to more fluent reading in the third grade. The link between parental teaching and better reading was far less clear; however, a key component in children’s success in learning to read was phonological awareness, which may be fostered through reading rhymes and poetry.

Help From Mother Goose
For Judith Poirier, Coordinator of Early Literacy Activities for the Fédération québécoise des organismes communautaires Famille (FQOCF), Sénéchal’s study highlights the importance of early exposure to language, particularly through poems, songs and rhymes. “We encourage Mother-Goose type programs,” she said, in which parents and children listen to rhymes and sing simple songs. Poirier notes that one key challenge is helping families, particularly those who are poor or from other cultures, to integrate reading into daily interactions with their preschool children. “For many families, buying books is out of the question. There isn’t the money,” says Poirier. Many aren’t comfortable visiting a library. She would like to see more research and ultimately more programs to help families from all socio-economic levels make literacy activities a key part of the early childhood years.

Training Caregivers Pays Off
With so many children spending significant time in daycare each day, researchers have also begun to look at the impact of caregivers’ interactions on children’s language development. Not surprisingly, children whose caregivers responded to their efforts to talk, encouraged conversation among peers and helped children expand their ideas and vocabulary by providing new words and concepts, showed better language skills. A study by a Canadian research team led by Luigi Girolametto showed that children benefit when their caregivers are trained to provide high-quality language interaction. Children whose caregivers received the training used more word combinations and spoke more often with their peers.
“This research verifies what I’ve seen in my work,” says Brenda Braunmiller, a speech language pathologist at the Early Language and Learning Nova Scotia (Central Region Dartmouth) Family Centre. “It shows what a difference can be made when training is provided.” Braunmiller notes that the training did not create new or onerous demands on the caregivers. “It wasn’t extra work, it was an increase in awareness. By making certain changes in their interactions, they had an impact on the children’s language. This is all about enriching the quality of the interaction.”

Sénéchal M, LeFevre JA. Parental involvement in the development of children’s reading skill: A five-year longitudinal study. Child Development 2002;73(2):445-460.

Girolametto L, Weitzman E, Greenberg J. Training day care staff to facilitate children’s language. American Journal of Speech - Language Pathology 2003; 12(3): 299-311.

The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, The Hanen Centre and the University of Toronto, Graduate Department of Speech-Language Pathology produced and funded the dissemination wing of this research which was a symposium, proceedings manual and then the Canadian Language and Literacy Calendar.