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Language Acquisition By Children

This research reviews literature relevant to the acquisition of language by children. The contemporary rage in the teaching and learning of language is the whole-language approach (Levine, 1994, pp. 38-43). The whole-language approach exposes children to interesting reading and writing at the expense of systematically teaching specific reading and writing skills. Whole-language teachers, for instance, encourage young students to recite along with them as the teachers read aloud from entertaining big-print books. One of the central tenets of the whole-language approach is that language should be learned from whole to part, with word-recognition skills being picked up by the child in the context of actual reading, writing, and immersion in a print-rich classroom (Bates, Bretherton, & Snyder, 1988, pp. 25-44). Proponents of the whole-language approach contend that children taught in this way are more motivated to read and write, and that comprehension increases.

The whole-language approach, however, can deprive children, particularly low-income and other disadvantaged students, of the intensive instruction in phonics·the study of sound-letter relationships·that they need to master reading (Levine, 1994, pp. 38-43). Evidence also is mounting that the whole-language approach may not be as effective as claimed by proponents, and that its underlying premises simply may be false. Some of the many school districts that have tried the whole-language method have been attacked by educators and parents for a subsequent drop in test scores. In Texas a significant minority of schools have elected to spend their own money on phonics-based reading programs rather than use whole-language courses funded by the state. Some critics of the whole-language method concede that traditional phonics instruction could benefit from several of the whole-language method's innovations, and they are seeking to combine the best of both approaches. Common ...

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Language Acquisition By Children. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:17, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1695612.html