Enjoyment of Language for Literacy Development

Instructor: Clio Stearns

Clio has taught education courses at the college level and has a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.

It is easy to focus on aspects of literacy development like decoding, fluency and comprehension but then forget about the importance of joy. This lesson will discuss the importance of enjoyment of language in literacy development.

Enjoyment of Language

One morning, April, a teacher of three-year-olds, notices a group of children in one corner of her classroom. They do not have any toys in front of them, but they look calm and happy. One girl is making clicking noises with her tongue, and a boy joins in. Another girl makes motor noises and grins. These children seem to be engaged in nonsense, but April knows they are actually enjoying language. In this case, they are getting pleasure from making speech sounds, any sounds they can make with their mouths and throats, and also from the pragmatics of language. Pragmatics are the aspects of language that we use every day to communicate, and, in this case, the children in April's class are learning about call and response. Overall, pragmatics are the parts of language that connect with social conventions and how language is actually used in daily life, rather than the way language functions or the way words and sounds are put together. You can remember this by remembering that pragmatic sounds like practical, so we are dealing with the practical, useful parts of language.

April is not worried about the fact that this game seems nonsensical because she understands that enjoying language as young children will actually help make her students stronger readers and writers as they grow older. In this lesson, April will share some of what she knows about the enjoyment of language and how it relates to literacy development.

How might this group of children be enjoying language as they play together?

Oral Language and Play

April has seen the use of oral or spoken language in play again and again, and she understands that the pleasure students find in using oral language playfully has profound implications for phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is the idea that sounds are distinct elements of speech, and eventually children learn the relationship between sounds and the letters that represent them. When students make funny sounds or nonsense words at each other, they are both enjoying themselves and developing phonemic awareness. This should not be thwarted!

Written Language and Pleasure

April's students are mostly not reading and writing, but her colleagues who work with older children have shown her examples of creative writing that exhibit a tremendous joy found in language. Similarly, these teachers have shared examples of their students' reading that show great fun in language. When students read tongue twisters and double over in laughter, for example, they are enjoying the sounds of language and practicing their reading fluency. When students read puns and silly stories that play with words, they are taking pleasure in language and developing critical comprehension skills. April's colleagues caution time and time again that just because learning to read and write are on balance, serious pursuits, this does not mean that students should not enjoy language as they grow in literacy.

Poetry

April knows that students of all ages can enjoy reciting, reading, and writing poetry. Poetry is a great way to find joy in language because poets are often incredibly creative with their use of words to create particular images. Poetry often employs language in beautiful and sensual ways that appeal to children's creative and fresh outlook on the world. When young children learn to recite nursery rhymes, they are taking pleasure in language and sometimes in sharing language with a group. Later, their knowledge of rhymes will help them decode vowels and understand word families. Older children, who might already be able to decode independently, can grow as literate individuals by losing themselves in the moving, beautiful, and sometimes hilarious ways that poets make use of language. All students can also write poetry with the right assistance or support, and often writing poetry is a good way for the most reluctant readers and writers to take risks and enjoy language as they write.

There is no question that poetry incorporates a great joy for language and literacy development. How do you see Wordsworth playing with language in this poem?

Multilingualism

Many of April's students speak two or more languages, and these students often find particular joy in learning about the ways languages are similar to and different from each other. April cautions teachers of students of all ages never to discourage multilingual wordplay. Comfort speaking, listening, reading, and writing in one language almost always translates into a richer use of the same skills in other languages, even if it might take longer. Students who are English language learners and need more time to grow comfortable with literacy tasks in English can enjoy word play and poetry in their first language and even find joy in sharing their expertise with classmates.

Lesson Summary

Enjoying language helps students develop as literate individuals. Playing with sounds, words, and sentences is a great way to make learning fun, and it also helps students develop skills in decoding, fluency, comprehension, and writing. Poetry and humor can be great ways to encourage the enjoyment of language while students are on their path to literacy.

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Enjoyment of Language for Literacy Development