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LEARNING MATERIAL 9

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

Introduction
Theories of development provide a framework for thinking about human growth,
development, and learning. If you have ever wondered about what motivates human thought
and behavior, understanding these theories can provide useful insight into individuals and
society.

You were exposed in Learning Material 9 to the different cognitive theories on human
development. This time, you will be exposed to the language and literacy development
theories. So, get your notebooks again and take note of the important concepts!

Our ability to acquire and continue to learn a language is something we often take for
granted. Most of us don’t give much thought to the physical and mental processes our brains
undergo to pick up and utilize language.

Have you thought much about how we’re able to use simple symbols and sounds to
communicate complex ideas? Have you really considered how and why this all came about?
Of course you have! You’re a dedicated language learner.

You might find that studying the theories surrounding this topic might help with your
own learning experience. It’s difficult for some to find a learning method that works for them,
especially when it comes to language. Nowadays we’re surrounded by an abundance of
learning resources playing on different language theories and known learning styles. That’s
why it’s important to look at the process of learning itself, so you can more easily find and/or
develop a method that works for you.

Learning Outcome
At the end of the lesson, you, the students should have:
 Synthesized the various theories on human development.

Warm Up Activity
Of all the theories on cognitive development that were discussed with you in Learning
Material 9, which do you think is also considered and/or associated as language and literacy
development theory/theories? To find out if your guess/es is/are correct, go over the
presented lecture below.

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Subject: EDUC 145
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: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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 ACTIVITY 1. Understanding Language and Literacy

Development Theories
I. Read the content input below that discusses the different language and literacy theories
on human development. Take note of important points because you will be needing these
in answering the questions that will follow as well as in accomplishing your chapter
requirement.

Content Inputs
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY THEORIES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

A. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

This section discusses five (5) theories on language development, which include
Chomsky’s Theories, B. F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Perspective, Piaget’s Cognitive Theory, and
Vygotsky’s Constructivist Learning Theory.

1. CHOMSKY’S THEORIES
Noam Chomsky has been studying and developing his theories since the 1950s. In his
book “Aspects of the Theory of Syntax” published in 1965, he has pushed forward the
fundamental observation that there are deep structures and surface structures in every
sentence, no matter what language. This is the reason why you can form sentences with
similar meaning using a theoretically infinite combination of words.

Essentially, deep structures are the thoughts and meanings we want to express and
surface structures are the words, sounds and symbols we use to try and express them.

Let’s look at some examples. Take a look at the following sentence:

Language development seems really complicated to me.

I think language development is really complicated.

Both express exactly the same thing using different words and a different word order.
The deep structure is the same (the notion that language development is obviously not the
simplest thing in the world), though the words used (surface structure) are different.

The use of these words and their structures are refined over the course of time. It
changes and evolves on the surface, but the deeper structures remain. This is a part of
Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar theory.

Another important contribution Chomsky made to linguistic studies is the theory

of universal grammar. He asserted that the human brain contains a mechanism for language

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Subject: EDUC 145
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Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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acquisition, meaning that our languages share the same deeper structures despite the
largely superficial surface structures.

This is why it’s possible for anyone to learn a foreign language, regardless of the
complexity of its grammatical structure or script.

2. B.F SKINNER’S BEHAVIORIST PERSPECTIVE

Tackling the issue of language from a different perspective was B.F Skinner, the
behavioral psychologist. Simply put, the behavioral perspective postulates that everything we
do is dictated by our environment and that our behavior is a response to external stimuli
through operant conditioning, the process through which behavior changes with positive and
negative reinforcement.

B.F Skinner theorized that language acquisition is dictated by our environment and the
positive or negative reinforcement we receive from it. Parents, for example, enforce correct
usage of a word in children with positive facial or verbal reactions. They play larger roles in
our “verbal behavior,” a concept Skinner describes in his book. Verbal behavior introduces
the concept of functions to words, as well as meanings.

For example, a child may know what to call a toilet, but they must also learn what
the use of that word will allow them to acquire or express. They’ve heard their parents say
this word, but what happens when they say it? Most likely, their parents take them to it.

So in this case, the most basic function of the word is to express a need to use the
bathroom. A pretty important thing to be able to express, wouldn’t you say?

3. PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY

Jean Piaget was another prominent psychologist who offered yet another take on
language acquisition and development. His focus was on child development and the stages
children go through to develop and learn.

He asserted that children would only be able to fully grasp some concepts within
specific developmental stages, due to the fact that certain sections of the brain would only
further develop at certain ages.

For example, since the sensorimotor area develops first during the first two years of a
child’s life, children focus on their immediate surroundings, experimenting with the things
around them by playing with them, biting them or throwing them.

Throughout this stage, they’ll take things apart, put things back together and explore
the concept of things existing in and out of sight. By the end of it all, they’ll be able to
visualize things that aren’t there in front of them, which is arguably the most crucial part of
this stage when it comes to language and communication.

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Subject: EDUC 145
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: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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Next comes the preoperational stage in which children are able to develop their
imagination and think in slightly more abstract ways. They begin to toy with symbols. They’ll
use words in ways that aren’t generally accepted or understood. For example, they may use
the word “pillow” to mean “cloth” purely because of the few shared characteristics between
the two objects.

They do this for egocentric communication. Anyone who’s ever tried to communicate
with a two-year-old will know that they aren’t all that interested in other perspectives.
They’re too busy trying to explore their own mind, so don’t take it personally.

You may have noticed already that these concepts focus less on language and more on
cognitive development during childhood and you’d be right. That being said, it’s still
important to know because Piaget did establish that language plays a huge role in cognitive
development, chiefly in the way children use language throughout each stage.

During the sensorimotor stage, children experiment with sounds, and language is
mostly about the auditory aspects. They don’t care about the meaning, they just like to create
sounds. During the pre-operational stage, children use language to express themselves, but
they can’t really distinguish conversation from pure expression.

During the concrete operational stage, children state facts and observations. Finally,
during the formal operational stage, children are able to use language to express, discuss and
debate abstract concepts.

4. VYGOTSKY’S CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING THEORY

Not completely unrelated was Vygotsky’s theory of social development. It’s referred
to as the constructivist perspective and describes the concept of development through
construction of thought and meaning. To understand it completely, you first have to
understand his perspective.

It challenges the more widely-held concept of knowledge and proposes that

knowledge is a construction of meaning unique to the individual. How a person grew up
(their culture) will affect how they think. He emphasizes the importance of others in our
development (i.e., social interaction and guided learning).

Vygotsky postulated that language develops similarly, but focused on the

development of social speech, private speech and inner speech.

Social speech is the language we use with others while private speech (talking to
ourselves) is not meant to communicate with others (this happens around the age of three).
Inner speech only really begins to appear around the age of six or seven with private speech
being internalized.

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Subject: EDUC 145
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: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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It’s a complex idea that goes beyond the scope of this post, but children at this stage
begin to internalize language and meaning and, as Vygotsky says, begin “thinking in pure
meaning.”

Suffice it to say that our relationship with language becomes increasingly more
sophisticated and goes beyond the meaning of the words and into the feelings or ideas the
words elicit.

 WHAT THESE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT THEORIES MEAN FOR YOU

To be honest, we’ve only scratched the surface of these theories. Considering the
impact they’ve made on education, parenting and the academic world at large, we invite you
to dive deeper by reading the many papers on each one.

But what can you do with this newfound knowledge right now?

In the same way that these theories have aided children and teachers in refining their
learning and teaching techniques, you can use this knowledge to fine-tune your language-
learning methods.

With a better understanding of these theories and their roots, you can understand
the method behind the madness of some learning programs. Is the approach you’re using
right now working for you?

If we consider Chomsky’s ideas of universal grammar, we can say that all languages
adhere to certain grammatical parameters (like word order). Our job is then to figure out
those parameters by hearing example sentences and formulating the rules of the second
language. With this approach, your study session would include analyses such as,”In English,
word order is subject + verb + object, but in (target language) it’s…”

Or should you try tackling grammar from another angle? For example, you might do
that by spending time in a different environment where that foreign language is abundant as
the constructivist perspective might suggest?

What about those of you who are trying to find ways to teach your children a second
language? Perhaps taking a look at Piaget’s developmental stages could help you figure out
where your child’s mind is focused and how best to introduce a new language to them.

With so many theories out there concerning language development, see what works
for you and which theories or perspectives you’d like to explore.

It’ll make you a better language learner and, perhaps later on if you so choose, a
better language teacher.

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Subject: EDUC 145
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: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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B. LITERACY DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

1. THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (JEAN PIAGET)

 This theory describes the ways in which the quality of children’s thinking changes over
time.
 Piaget sought to explain the different ways in which his children processed information
throughout their development. He provides a framework for teachers to understand the
way children at different stages think about objects and events.

Factors That Affect The Quality Of Thinking As An Individual Grows

1. biological maturation: genetic heredity that is present at birth
2. activity: physical experiences that the child goes through
3. social experience: the child's interactions with others
4. equilibration: the child's search search for cognitive balance

As a review, here are Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor period (birth-2 years): thinking is based on sensory exploration of the
world
2. Preoperational period (2-7 years): The child starts to categorize their world with words
3. Concrete Operational period (7-11 years): the use of concrete objects to start to think
about abstract concepts
4. Formal Operational period (11-adult): the movement beyond concrete to use language
in an abstract way

2. MATURATION THEORY

 Morphett and Washburne (1931) conducted research to determine the optimal

age at which a child was developmentally old enough to learn to read.
 They found that a child 6 ½ would perform better on a reading achievement test
than did younger children.
 Recommended that reading instruction not begin until students reach this age.
 Teachers and parents could cause damage to a child’s reading ability if they
attempted to teach reading to children who were too young.
 Invented spelling was based off of this theory.

In summary, Maturation Theory (1931) tells that literacy instruction should be delayed
until children are 6.5 years old (age where you are most successful to learn how to read)

3. HOLDAWAY'S THEORY OF LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

Reading is a natural developmental occurrence Parents are models for children Social
interaction. Holdaway’s Theory of Literacy (1979) tells that:
a) literacy development begins in children’s homes and is based on meaningful
learning experiences

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Subject: EDUC 145
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Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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b) created activities such as big books and shared reading to help educators re-create
the kinds of early literacy experiences that were found in homes

4. STAGE MODELS OF READING

Stage Models of Reading (1983, 1985, 1991) presents stages through which children
progress in the development of their word identification abilities

By knowing what stage students are in, teachers can better understand and plan for
the students’ needs. Prealphabetic Stage (Logographic Stage) Partial Alphabetic Stage Full
Alphabetic Stage Consolidated Alphabetic Stage Notable theorists: Ehri Chall Frith

5. EMERGENT LITERACY THEORY

Emergent Literacy Theory (2001, 2005, 2012) explains how word identification abilities
develop from birth onward
Emergent literacy: from birth to when children can read and write at about a 3rd
grade level. Literacy development starts at birth and is ongoing Children's literacy ability
correlates closely with literacy environment. In the emergent literacy stage, children
master concepts of print and concepts about books. Listening, speaking, reading, and
writing are all interrelated

6. FAMILY LITERACY THEORY

Family Literacy Theory (1993) a. focuses on unique the unique role of the home and
parents in children’s literacy development

Family literacy- the ways families, children, and extended family members use literacy
at home and in their community (Morrow, 2009). Family Literacy Theory is a series of
ideas proposed by many researchers who share viewpoints on: 1. The design and
implementation and evaluation of family members. 2. The relationships between literacy
use in families and students academic achievements. 3. The ways in which literacy is
naturally used within the context of home. (Phillips et al. 2006).

Research Applications of Literacy Theories

1. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development ○ Bryant (2002) used theory to study how
children learn spelling ○ determined that children first learn to use single pattern then
learn alternative spelling pattern but single pattern is inadequate overgeneralize
pattern.
2. Maturation Theory ○ Abbott (2010) studied effects of grade retention ○ found
retention of young students is only effective when accompanied by significant
amounts of small-group, high quality reading instruction.
3. Theory of Literacy Development ○ Coker (2006) examined effects of five variables on
children’s writing development student background, vocabulary knowledge, reading
skills, classroom literacy environment, and first grade teacher ○ found variables such

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as student background, reading skill, first-grade teacher, and first-grade classroom

environment all predicted the children’s writing growth

Classroom Applications of Literacy Theories

Holdaway's (1979) Theory of Literacy Development presents literacy growth as a
natural process that begins in a young child's home. Practices to use in the classroom:
● Big books
● Shared reading
● Stage Models of Reading

ACTIVITY 2. CONCRETIZING YOUR LEARNING

Have you seen what theory/ies you guessed in the warm up are correct to be
classified as language and literacy development theories? How many did you get right?
You probably saw that the stages and/or processes in each of the theories correspond to
a certain stage of human development. Again, just like cognitive development theories,
your understanding on the different language and literacy development theories further
enhances your appreciation on the developmental tasks in each stage of human
development that you studied.

With this, you now enhance more your discussions in your digitized Personal
profile making use of the theories discussed above.

Assignment
GROUP ACTIVITY: (Major output to be passed after discussion of Chapter 3 but can be done
every after a Learning Material in this chapter)

Collaborative Task: Observations on the Growth & Development of Children and

Adolescents

What to do:
1. Form 7 groups (7 members per group, 1 group shall have 8). Your Section Mayor
will do the honor of grouping you.
2. You will observe individually but combine your observations for a group report.
3. Your subject must be somebody in your household or neighborhood, preferably
relatives. You could observe and interview. If you don’t have a child in your
household, you can view video clips of children that are available online.
4. Observe the activities of a child or an adolescent and your observations/
write a case study about him/her highlighting the theory/ies demonstrated in the
observation

Activity Title: The Learner’s Characteristics and Needs

See the powerpoint presentation I uploaded as additional resource for details.

Prepared by : Vida V. Antonio

Subject: EDUC 145
Prepared by (TCALLP)
: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)
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References:
Macleod, S. (2018) Jean Piaget’s Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development. Retrieved
online from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Narayanliu (n.d.). In Theory: A Brief Overview of Language Development Theories. Retrieved

online from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/language-development-theories/

Tele Caster (2018). Theories of Literacy Development. Retrieved online from

https://www.slideshare.net/tele1957/chap-5-theories-of-literacy-development

Prepared by : Vida V. Antonio

Subject: EDUC 145
Prepared by (TCALLP)
: Vida V. Antonio
Subject: PHYED 131 (Waves & Optics)