More to Know: The Scientist in the Crib Language development begins well before infants begin making their first words. In their widely read book, The Scientist in the Crib (1999), Gopnick, Meltzoff, and Kuhl maintain that processing speech sounds begins in early infancy. Infants quickly become language- specific listeners—by four months they pay attention only to sounds heard in the language to which they have been exposed. Infants make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms of adult talk. They “read” gestures and facial expressions and begin to associate words and meanings. At birth, even before they speak or understand language, infants begin processing the speech stream around them in order to determine the sounds of the language (phonology), and the form and structure of the language (syntax). By the time they are 12 months old, they will have “cracked the code” for many of these properties as they prepare to produce their first spoken words. Here they will show they are mapping what they know about the form of language to what language means (semantics). Over the first 12 months, the infant is conducting many different analyses of the speech stream, working on all the dimensions of language at once—phonology, syntax, and semantics (Lust, 2006). By the time children are about three years old, they will have mastered much of the basic system of the language around them (Lust, 2006). Learning to Use Language Parents differ in the amount of structure they use; for example, as children grow and develop into the preschool years, many parents pull back from repeating and extending their child’s language. They also ease up on directives and invite the child to take the lead. The impact of directness varies across ages. In the early toddler period, higher degrees can support language skills, but by preschool, it begins to interfere. Though it’s important to maintain a “moderate level” of linguistic challenge, it’s also essential to let the child take the initiative with language and not be overly directive (Landry and Smith, 2011). We can observe children’s literacy development through their use of literacy materials. After babies can purposefully grasp and manipulate objects, board books become a part of their exploration. Infants between eight and 12 months who are read to regularly progress from mouthing books to playing with the covers to turning pages. This book handling is usually accompanied by babbling, which reflects an adult’s vocalizations during reading (Pinnell, 2018; Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998; North Central Regional Educational Laboratory). As children continue to develop as language users, they learn the grammatical structure of their language, expand their vocabulary, and gain metalinguistic skills. Metalinguistic skills involve not only the ability to use language but also the ability to think about it, play with it,
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EARLY READERS ORAL LANGUAGE—THE FOUNDATION OF LITERACY
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