The earliest years of life are important in a child’s literacy and language development and, during this time, the child’s relationships and interactions with parents and other primary caregivers are key.
The development of early literacy and language skills begins at birth through adult-child interactions in everyday activities such as talking, singing, reciting nursery rhymes and sharing books. Such literacy-rich environments stimulate brain growth and enhance opportunities for learning.
A strong foundation in language and literacy during these early years enables a child to build up important characteristics conducive to a happy and healthy school life, such as perseverance, resilience, effective communication and problem-solving abilities.
International research suggests that parents may be unaware that talking to and interacting with their young child can have a positive impact on early literacy and language development. They often perceive early literacy development as starting at school and may think that children simply pick up the language.
However, it is verbal interaction between parent and child that stimulates the child’s brain and promotes cognitive and linguistic development. So, while phonemic awareness, phonics, reading, writing and print are all important, high-quality adult-child verbal interaction is the essential building block in early literacy and language development.
Early literacy skills can be broadly categorised into two main types, namely constrained and unconstrained skills.
Constrained skills are set in quantity, such as learning the 26 letters of the English alphabet or writing one’s own name. While a necessity, they alone are insufficient and do not comprise early literacy.
Unconstrained skills, on the other hand, such as oral language, vocabulary, critical thinking skills, general knowledge and comprehension, are unlimited in nature and continue to develop throughout the lifespan via meaningful interaction.
Parents are a child’s primary caregivers and first teachers, with a very important role to play in their child’s early literacy and language development. To do this effectively, however, parents must first be aware of this role and understand what early literacy and language development means in the first few years of a child’s life, how they can go about it and why it is so significant.
A recent doctoral study by the present author explored parental perceptions of early literacy and language development in the Maltese context. Drawing on social constructivist theory, the study adopted a qualitative research methodology.
Data was collected through informal, semi-structured, photo-elicitation interviews with parents of kindergartners, and explored their understanding of early literacy and language development in the earliest years of a child’s life, the learning experiences and interaction they provide at home, their awareness of the parental role and the challenges they experience in this regard. Reflexive thematic analysis provided the framework for data analysis, classification and interpretation.
“The rich potential for the development of linguistic and literacy skills during these initial years must be carefully addressed if we are to enable children’s cognitive, linguistic, socio-emotional and cultural growth”
The study’s key findings suggest that participants did not fully grasp the capacity for language learning in the first few years of a child’s life nor the value of high-quality parent-child verbal interaction. The parents held a narrow view of early literacy that, in turn, had a direct influence on the home-learning environment.
Participants equated early literacy with learning to read and write. This resulted in an emphasis on the teaching of letters, numbers, colours and shapes, with limited opportunities for quality conversations, vocabulary growth and general knowledge acquisition within the home. They relied heavily on childcare and kindergarten educators for guidance about early literacy and how best to help their child at home.
Since early childhood education (ECE) settings are places of learning, this is understandable and could indeed be beneficial if the educator in question is a highly qualified and reflexive practitioner. However, when early childhood educators themselves continue to
emphasise letters and numbers over vocabulary, general knowledge and high-quality verbal interaction, parents need to be more critical of their children’s early learning experiences.
It is thus important that parents gain a greater awareness of the broader parameters of early literacy. This would enable them to expand the range of early literacy activities within the home, and to consider all the varied opportunities for early literacy and language development present in the basic, habitual routines of daily living.
The rich potential for the development of linguistic and literacy skills during these initial years must be carefully addressed if we are to enable children’s cognitive, linguistic, socio-emotional and cultural growth.
The study advocates for practical learning in the early years that is authentically embedded in our community, society and culture, so that early literacy and language learning takes on a deeper and broader meaning for the benefit of all very young children.
The research concludes with implications for educational stakeholders and recommendations for further research, policy and service development.
Stephanie Borg holds a doctorate in education from the University of Sheffield, which was fully funded by the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme.
For more parenting articles, click here. For more Child stories, follow this link.
