Language development refers to children’s emerging abilities to understand and use language. Language skills are receptive—the ability to listen to and understand language—and expressive—the ability to use language to communicate ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Children’s language ability affects learning and development in all areas, especially emerging literacy.
For infants and toddlers, emerging literacy is embedded in the Language and Communication domain. This reflects how closely connected these emerging literacy skills are to very young children’s beginning receptive, expressive, and vocabulary skills. For preschoolers, Language and Literacy are distinct domains. They reflect children’s growing skills as they begin to grasp differences between spoken and written language, as well as how they are connected.
Language Literacy Development in Kids
Language and literacy skills can develop in any language, and for the most part, they develop first in the child’s home language. Supporting the development of the home language helps prepare young children for learning English. However, children who are dual language learners need intentional support to develop their home language as well as acquire English. For example, this may include creating environments that include their home language and culture; planning and organizing thematic instruction; and supporting them through transitions.
Literacy is described in different ways over the years. In the past, being able to sign your name was considered an appropriate symbol of literacy. Our understanding of the meaning of literacy has changed and the present definitions have taken into account the literacy needs of the society in which we live. The latest definition of literacy is to understand, evaluate, use and incorporate written texts to participate in society, to achieve personal goals and aspirations, and to develop knowledge and strengths.
Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in ways that will allow us to communicate effectively with different audiences and to make sense of the world. Literacy, combined with speaking, listening and observation, and deep thinking, are valuable literacy tools in modern life. Literacy is a critical part of ensuring that all learners have a good chance of succeeding in their studies and their daily lives.
Numeracy Skills Development in Kids
We all need to use math to develop our skills and make a positive contribution to society. In our world of high technology, the ability to calculate, especially the ability to translate data, is becoming more and more popular with employers. Lack of mathematical confidence and limited calculation skills are barriers to employment as mathematical testing is increasingly becoming part of the recruitment process.
The rapid technological advancement makes the need for accounting skills is very important in the workplace. As more and more employees perform more complex tasks, computational calculations are an important skill for employment.
Numeracy is important for people to develop logical thinking patterns in their daily activities. We need calculations to solve problems and understand numbers, time, patterns, and the structure of tasks such as cooking, learning receipts, learning instructions, and playing games.
Literacy and Numeracy help people acquire the basic skills needed to succeed in life. There is a major national strategy to improve literacy and to support students to live a fulfilling and rewarding life as well as to participate actively as active and knowledgeable citizens. Literacy skills are important for achieving a comprehensive curriculum because they are applied to many aspects of our lives. Literacy and numeracy skills in the workplace are often used collaboratively. These required skills are often combined and are required for any job.
The following points help in improving language literacy and numeracy skills:
- Attending & Understanding
- Communicating & Speaking
- Vocabulary
- Emergent Literacy
- Phonological Awareness
- Print & Alphabet Knowledge
- Comprehension & Text structure
- Writing
- Empower with Confidence
- Element of Competition