When Children Learn

By Devon

In the article The Development of Initial Literacy by Yetta Goodman, she wrote about the learning process of literacy with children. Her research took place in 1973 with children ranging from the ages of two to six. Some of the main points she mentioned are the ways children seem to be learning, the surroundings, and the principles children use to become literate. The main way children seem to be learning is by being immersed into situations which will allow them to learn; either if they are learning by listening, watching, or speaking.

The way children learn also depends on their surroundings. According to Goodman, children that grow up in middle class families are more likely to have more confidence and become literate compared to lower class children. This is also because of “the attitudes and values about literacy expressed by other members in the social group” (Goodman pg. 317). What Goodman also points out is that through culture, family, and social groups, just by observing activities, children will become literate. But this needs to take place when they are young. Just by being exposed to experiences of parents reading stories, adults talking, and children going out into social activities is where literacy begins.

Children are like sponges. They seem to reproduce what they see and hear. This goes with Goodman’s principle of linguistics. As children grow up, they will overgeneralize with almost all words. For example children will add –ed to all words to make them past tense because that is the general rule that they grow up learning until they learn otherwise in school; like the word ‘goed’ instead of ‘went.’

Overall I enjoyed this essay by Goodman because this is a topic that catches my attention. I agree with Goodman and what she writes about in this article because in other linguistic and anthropology courses, I have learned that if children do not experience language by the age of five that they will most likely not be able to comprehend language and that the most that can be attained are words but not the knowledge to create sentences. That is why it is important that children are raised in a loving environment which puts education as a priority; that without a healthy environment where children are left to fend for themselves (like many of my students) education and becoming literate will be a burden instead of a pleasure and difficult to accomplish.