Running head: LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 1

Major Assessment Project

Catherine Thompson

EDSD 7081
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 2

Abstract

Language and literacy development begins when children are in the womb as a fetus and

continues to develop until adulthood. What parents do for exposure determines if a child will be

successful in all areas of literacy. The home environment is an important setting for the

acquisition of literacy knowledge because children have opportunities at home such as observing

others and engaging in reading activities. Researchers suggest that storybook exposure and

parental teaching about literacy are types of activities that differently promote language skills

and the acquisition of early literacy skills. This study is based on the research of children

learning English as a second language, limited English in the home, and the effects of dual

language on early learning.

Keywords: Language and literacy development, dual language, Spanish, acquisition,

exposure, parental involvement

LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 3

Major Assessment Project

Learning language and literacy in a second language is a complex process that involves a

variety of skills and abilities. Children need to be able apply their existing knowledge and

experiences to communicate and understand different reading tasks. Literacy is one of the most

important academic skill areas and because of this, it influences language development and all

other areas of academics. Nearly one in 4 children in the United States is Hispanic and more

than one in 5 comes from a home where a language other than English is spoken and for the vast

majority it is Spanish. (Figureas-Daniel & Barnett, 2013).

Introduction: My Child in Context

Edgen is a 9-year-old Hispanic male who was born in the United States to an illegal

Hispanic mother and father. He has been exposed to very little English in the home since birth.

Edgen began school at the age of 3 and is now in third grade. He has struggled in all areas of

academics due to the language barrier and parental support in the home. The focus of this study

will be on language and literacy skills and the growing consensus that early childhood is a

critical time for language and literacy learning because of phonological awareness, letter word

recognition, writing and spelling skills, and oral language abilities- the foundational skills for

monolingual childrens ability to read and write. ( Paez, Tabors, and Lopez, 2007) This study

will be about his life and the development of language and literacy from birth until currently at

age 9.

Home Life and family:

Edgen Tolentino is a healthy 9-year-old male who lives at home with his biological

parents, 2 older sisters, and a dog in a small rural town in southwest Georgia. Edgen was born at

36 weeks gestation weighing 5lb 3 oz. According to his mother, she was on bedrest leading up
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 4

to his birth with high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. Post-delivery was successful,

whereas he was released from the hospital with his mother 3 days after birth. The only medical

condition he has had since birth is ear infections and asthma. He sees the doctor a lot during

winter months and he also has seasonal allergies. His father is the primary caregiver and the

closest parent to him. His mother tends to be the closest to his older sisters. His mother is in the

home the most with him because his father works a lot in the fields and travels for work in order

to provide for the family. During their spare time and when the father is not working, which is

mainly on Sunday, they enjoy going to the park, shopping, cooking, and watching TV together.

The father likes to take them shopping to buy ingredients to cook authentic meals and clothes for

school. This helps him feel successful with parenting since he is not at home most of the time.

Community and culture, including language spoken:

Edgen is a loving, shy, and caring, 9-year-old Hispanic male who is very eager to please

his teachers, peers, and family. His shyness often leads to emotional distress and frustration.

The reasons for distress are that he has limited English in the home and the only time he is fully

exposed is when he is at school. He was born in the United States to Hispanic parents who do

not speak fluent English. His father speaks more English than his mother, but still very hard to

communicate with. Sensitive parenting has been linked with positive child outcomes, including

early language knowledge and literacy development. (Pungello, Iruka, Dotterer, Mills-Koonce,

and Reznick, 2009) In the small, rural community where they live, there is a compound of

Hispanic families that live, work, and interact together daily. When Edgen is not at school, he is

communicating with Spanish. His family feels the most comfortable when they are around other

Spanish speaking families. They feel confident and the most adequate this way. The

environment in which children develop consists of four interrelated systems: immediate settings
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 5

such as home and school, relationships among the settings, neighborhoods and the community

that have indirect impact, and the culture of the environment in which the children are reared.

(Hammer, 2002). The mother and father want to learn English but do not have the courage to

receive classes. Edgens mother is very introverted and his father is work driven and oriented to

provide. Socioeconomic status affects a variety of mental and physical health outcomes, such as

language development, which also connects poverty with parental emotional distress that affects

parenting and the focus on basic needs being met. (Perkins, Finegood, and Swain, 2013)

Edgens father says that it is not his priority to learn English. His priority is to earn money so

that he can provide. Infants born prematurely have lower birth weights, a measure associated

with a range of brain differences compared to full-term babies, which may help explain language

effects. (Perkins, Finegood, and Swain, 2013). The children are very limited to language/literacy-

rich experiences in the home. This deficit is primarily because of the parents lack of language.

The older siblings do, however, read books to their little brother and practice the alphabet. It is

possible that genetic factors play a role in the acquisition of language and the linguistic

proficiency of language-impaired people because different genetic factors affect the linguistic

abilities of language-impaired and normal people. (Stromswald, n.d.)

My Childs Language and Literacy Development Journey: Developmental Characteristics

Preschoolers

When Edgen began pre-kindergarten, he was extremely introverted and had a difficult

time transitioning. He was placed in an inclusion classroom with a 4:21 ratio. In the inclusion

setting, he was placed in small groups that would receive additional support for all academic

areas. He was also pulled out for interventions for speech and language development. His

teachers knew that there were potential delays due to language barrier and home environment.
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 6

Just like statistics indicate, Edgen is at a deficit in all academic areas because of his language

barrier. Children from homes in which a language other than English is the primary language are

at risk for poor reading outcomes (Hammer, Lawrence, & Miccio, p. 237, 2007). He was below

grade level norms in receptive, expressive, and oral language. He was also at a deficit on

prekindergarten skills on the screener given to all four-year olds entering school. Even though

he had a year of school prior to pre-kindergarten, he was evaluated at school using the English

norms and standards for learning. He was given a score on phonological awareness, expressive

vocabulary, letter-word recognition, and concepts of print. He also had to orally retell stories and

recall what happened in the story. Researchers found that childrens English letter-word

identification abilities and Spanish expressive vocabulary predicted Spanish letter-word

identification abilities. (Hammer, et al, p. 238, 2007)

Learning to read is a process and it can be a complex task if a child is monolingual much

less bilingual and having learning delays. The complexity increases when a childs home

language differs from that of the school and when the child comes from a home with limited

academic and economic resources. Edgens home learning environment was mainly Spanish

other than his older sisters. His parents English skills were very broken and hard to understand;

therefore, they could not teach him effectively. Typically, children are exposed to language

acquisition opportunities in the home that help reinforce what has been taught at school. For

Edgen Tolentino this was not the case. The process of learning to read, however, is more

multifaceted when childrens primary language is different from the oral and written language

they encounter at school. (Hammer & Miccio, p. 1, 2015). Spanish speaking children have

disadvantages when their home life is challenged and they do not have access to academic

materials.
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 7

Over the summer between the three- year- old full day program and pre-kindergarten,

Edgen attended a four-week summer session. During these sessions, his interventions consisted

of English letters and sounds, vocabulary acquisition with simple everyday/common terms- such

as, boy, girl, mom, dad, colors, numbers, labels in the classroom and bathroom, and the terms of

the school environment around him. He was also encouraged to say his peers names. This was

to enhance his social skills and the general learning skills of pre-kindergarten. The teachers and

interventionists developed a Response to Intervention during the first twelve weeks of school.

These skills and goals consisted of: recognition of letters in his first name, count to 5, colors, and

verbalization of his teachers and peers names. Children with limited proficiency in the language

of schooling are certain to experience increased difficulty in coping both academically and

socially, and it is important to identify these difficulties to understand what intervention or

remedial approaches are needed (Bialystok, 2008). He began these interventions immediately, 5

days a week for 10 minutes a day. According to the data recorded by the teacher and

interventionist, Edgen could only recognize the letter E in his name, and he could count to 5.

During this process, he was progressed monitored every 2 weeks for a total of 6 weeks. The

team met again and determined that the interventions should continue for another 6 weeks. This

continued for a total of 18 weeks and a student support team meeting was scheduled to discuss

progress and to determine if Edgen needed psychological testing. At the end of the 18 weeks, the

teachers, parents, interventionist, ESOL teacher, speech pathologist, and interpreter reviewed

progress based on the data and determined that he scored significantly below the norm. The

recommendation was made for psychological testing and a visit to his pediatrician. His parents

had to have an advocate shadow them so that they would understand and get his needs met.

During testing, which can be difficult because of the bilingualism, clinicians have to accurately
LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 8

assess a bilingual childs problematic and unproblematic abilities in terms of sounds, words,

grammar, and conversation in each language, evaluate if there is a delay, weigh the childs

linguistic/cognitive capacities in comparison to typically and atypical, developing monolingual

children, and bilingual children of the same age, and finally develop an effective intervention

that targets subareas of linguistic and cognitive competence in one or both languages (Heinlein &

Williams, 2013). After testing was complete and eligibility was determined, Edgen was served

the remainder of his pre-kindergarten year by a regular education, special education, 2 support

teachers, speech, ESOL, and an interventionist. He qualified and received a multitude of

services so that he would be able to reach his full potential. Goals were set, accommodations,

and modifications were made, based on the testing.

LANGUAGE AND Literacy development 9

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