Language Competence Of Children From Low Ses Backgrounds

Socioeconomic status refers to the level of education, income, and professionalism of an individual or group. The effect of lower socioeconomic status on student achievement is difficult to disregard. Students of a lower socioeconomic status often face additional challenges including a deficiency of learning resources, difficult learning conditions and a lack of motivation that can negatively affect their academic

Multnomah County had a survey done for kindergarten teachers. The results suggested that 19.4% of their students were not headed toward literacy success, due to a lack of necessary language and pre-reading skills. There is a 90% probability of a child that is a poor reader in first grade, still being a poor reader three years later, in fourth grade (http://www.co.marion.or.us). As Early Childhood Educators, we must help our students.

The aim of this action research is to find and develop the book corner with the use of stories to support children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) within an early years setting. Recommendations in the form of evaluation to show the best methods which will help to improve the way support is given to children with EAL within the early years setting.

How about the children from low income families, educated in schools such as Parramatta High? Don’t they deserve the same opportunity as those educated in private schools? Dr Watson concludes that “[public] schooling as it is presently delivered does little to alter the early distribution of educational outcomes between social groups. In fact, the achievement gap between rich and poor students persists in the early years of schooling and widens as they progress through the school system”.

Poverty is nothing more than the origin of a low SES, “Families with low socioeconomic status often lack the financial, social, and educational supports that characterize families with high socioeconomic status. Poor families also may have inadequate or limited access to community resources that promote and support children 's development and school readiness. Parents may have inadequate skills for such activities as reading to and with their children, and they may lack information about childhood immunizations and nutrition”

Socioeconomic Status is where a particular person or group of people stand in regards to social class. The main measurement that determines one's socioeconomic status is level of education, occupation and income. Although it may not be considered a factor in child development, socioeconomic status can actually play a huge role in determining what kind of adolescent a child develops into. It can influence a child’s morals, self-esteem, grades and many more aspects of a child's life. Socioeconomic status can play a role in determining where a person resides, the occupation they end up getting, their education and their income as well. So, although one’s socioeconomic status is technically made up of these aspects, one can be born into a low socioeconomic status which could result in them continuing to have one throughout their life. It is a cycle that one must break in order to change the outcome. Low socioeconomic status can result in child poverty. Child poverty over the years has risen and fallen but has remained consistently apparent in America. Child poverty can have detrimental effects on developing children and adolescents. It may influence the way they are raised, taught, cared for and many more aspects of the child's life which are important for successful development. Low socioeconomic status can determine how well children and adolescents develop and the type of person they develop into, including

range of factors, including the nature and severity of their language difficulties, strengths and skills,

Language is a code made up of rules that include what words mean, how to make words, how to put them together, and what word combinations are best in what situations. Speech is the oral form of language. The purpose of this study is to find out the developmental stages the child goes through in the acquisition of language from birth to 5 years.

What different features, properties, and/or experiences in the word and with people allow infants and young children to learn and develop language? Mutual exclusivity, infant-directed speech, and a child’s socioeconomic status are all factors affecting language development in infants and young children. Children, between the ages of 3- to 4-year-olds, expect that a given entity will have only one name, that is they will not apply a new word to an object they already know which leads them to pick the novel object when given a word they do not know, this phenomenon is known as the mutual exclusivity assumption. Infant-directed speech studies have revealed that infants, between the ages of 6.5 to 7.5 months, who hear infant directed speech, find it easier to segment and discriminate words over part words than those who hear adult-directed speech. Finally, studies examining family socioeconomic status and language development have shown that the mothers in high SES groups had higher speech properties (number of word types, number of utterances, length of utterances, etc) that in the long term influenced the development of the children’s vocabulary complexity

The Department of Education and Training and TISC have produced research that has indicated that children from low socio economic areas on average have far fewer students that enter university. The reason for this is that these parents have no previous experience with higher education and often don’t value this education in the same way parents from affluent areas do, hence the children do not have the role models to follow. Many of these families also do not have the finances to access school of choice and provide resources within the home that may enhance their development. Many of these parents also lack their own educational knowledge that allows them an understanding of how a child’s development processes. A simple example of this may be the fact that these parents may not understand the value of early intervention with developmental processes such as reading (How Kids Develop, 2008) i.e. simply reading to them each night.

The two articles acknowledge ECEs about the importance of that critical period for children to learn their first language. Also how their language skills relate to other skills that is needed for them later in life. Now knowing this information I can plan activities and understand how to help children with hearing loss later on when I’m in the work field. Sign language is also very important for children that are deaf. I would put posters that teach sign language in the class room for the children to see. As well as encourage them to communicate with others in any ways that they can. Therefore, these two articles show educators the information that is very useful, so they are relevant to

In America, English exists as the standard language. For that reason, it is understood that children will learn this as their primary language. However, according to the “National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders” website, “about two to three children per 1,000 are born deaf or hard of hearing”(Quick Statistics [NIDCD Health Information]) . Moreover, an article by Karen Kalivoda points out that “depending on the age of onset and the severity of the hearing loss, an individual's spoken language development may be radically affected”. Babies learn to speak by parroting the sounds around them; however, a deaf child does not hear these noises and, therefore, the child does not “develop their language” skills

When children experience early speech difficulties they tend to be at risk later on. By being susceptible to language skills early on allows the child (ren) to be more proficiency and react in a way that contributes to them being able to express themselves in a way that causes them to use a variety of different phonemes and at the same time mix and maneuver other language and literacy skills. Numerous studies have found that there is a strong link between language problems, reading and overall academic achievement (Konza, 2006, Snow Burns and Griffin, 1998, Justice and Ezell, 2000).

To begin with, socioeconomic status is categorized an individual’s or family’s social status regarding income and occupation. I believe children from a low socioeconomic status have a disadvantage in learning language as opposed to a higher socioeconomic status. Language acquisition is the process that humans can perceive, dissect, and understand language. Much research has been conducted on infants and children to support this. According to Spencer, Clegg, and Stackhouse (2012), many young children in that are from areas of social disadvantage learn words at a different pace than their peers that are more advantaged. Many studies have been published to support this. However, one

At 18 months, the virtual child had over 50 words at her command that she was able to use to make two-word sentences such as “Mama up” and “Doggie outside.” In their effort to further encourage the child’s development of her language skills, the parents applied B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory (Berk, 2012). They would respond, using slightly longer sentences such as “Yes, the doggie is outside” before introducing descriptive and useful new words. The parents would encourage imitation and respond with positive reinforcement, which would further enthuse the child to develop her language skills (Berk, 2012). When the child was 2 years old, the parents would converse with the child at any given opportunity and would read books of her choice which further influenced her language development. Research has found that when mothers are more responsive during the first few years of a child’s life enable their children to achieve language development milestones at an earlier stage than children whose mothers were less responsive (Leigh, Nathans & Nievar, 2011). The mother had a more influential role in the virtual child’s language development as she would allow the child to explore the surrounding environment through daily walks and teach the child new words as they did. It was due to parental involvement and an encouraging, safe environment, the virtual child developed her language skills not only due to influence but to a desire to learn new