HOW ARE LANGUAGE & LITERACY CONNECTED?

Pacific CSD Literacy Institute

Activate Your Background Knowledge

What is the relationship between communication, speech, and language?

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How would you define language and language and literacy? Are they separate constructs?

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How are language, learning, and thought related?

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE, & SPEECH

Communication, Language, & Speech

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• Separate but related processes

Communication

WHAT: The sending and receiving of information, ideas, feelings, needs, and desires.

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HOW: All kinds of ways! Ex- talking/listening, reading/writing, text messages, pictures, emojis, Braille, nonverbals, art, music, dance, style choices, design, etc.

The Process of Communication

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(Pence Turnbull & Justice, 2012, p. 18)

Language: A System of Symbols

Language: A Rule-Governed System

Language: Shared within a Culture

Language: A Tool for Thinking, Learning, & Communicating

5 Components of Language

Pragmatics

(Owens, 2020)

Speech

• Verbal or spoken means of communicating

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• Oral expression of language

Brain The computer center

Articulation: The producers of speech sounds (lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, mandible)

Resonation: the tone shapers (pharynx, mouth, and nasal cavities)

Phonation: the noise source (vocal folds)

Respiration: the power supply (inhalation- thoracic muscles; exhalation- abdominal muscles

The Process of Communication

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(Pence Turnbull & Justice, 2012, p. 18)

THE LANGUAGE/LITERACY CONNECTION

Definitions: Language

“Language is a complex and dynamic system of conventional symbols that is used in various modes for thought and communication. Contemporary views of human language hold that: (a) language evolves within specific historical, social, and cultural contexts; (b) language, as rule-governed behavior, is described by at least five parameters- phonologic, morphologic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic; (c) language learning and use are determined by the interaction of biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and environmental factors; and (d) effective use of language for communication requires a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and sociocultural roles” (ASHA, 1983, p. 44).

Definitions: Literacy

Many definitions of literacy, broad & narrow views

• Fundamental necessity of creating meaning from print
• Multifaceted construct
• Foundational skill & lifelong learning process

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“Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society” (UNESCO, 2004, p. 13).

Defining Comprehension

“At a minimum, this construct of comprehension requires sophisticated language processing (complex, written forms of vocabulary and grammar), inference, reasoning, perspective taking, and interpretation. It requires regulating a set of skills and strategies toward goals of building new knowledge, making a decision, solving a problem, or applying what one learns. Note that this description of comprehension applies to reading (visual processing of texts), listening, or comprehending any mixture of media (e.g., animation, film, etc.)” (Sabatini et al., 2018, p. 22)

Complexity of Reading Comprehension

Image: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB8024.html

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Reading comprehension is not a single ability!

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Multidimensional view of reading (RAND, 2002)

(Ehren, 2006)

Language by Ear, Mouth, Eye, Hand

• Language has no end organ and therefore teams with the sensory and motor systems to interact with the world (Liberman, 1999)
• See Models of Spoken and Written Language Comprehension (Kamhi & Catts, 2012, p. 4-5)
• Similarities between listening, speaking, reading, and writing
• All language-based processes
• Processes are interrelated
• There is evidence of a reciprocal relationship (problems in these areas are related)

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Image: Berninger, Swanson, & Griffen (2014)

Simple View of Reading (SVR)

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R = D X C

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Comprehension of written text

Decoding

Listening Comprehension

Comprehension of written text is the product of decoding & listening comprehension/language comprehension

(Gough & Tunmer, 1986)

SVR Quadrant

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Decoding

Poor

Adequate

Listening Comprehension

Adequate

Poor

Definitions: Language Impairment

“A heterogeneous group of developmental and/or acquired disorders and/or delays principally characterized by deficits and/or immaturities in the use of spoken or written language for comprehension and/or production purposes that may involve the form, content, and/or function of language in any combination” (Owens, 2014, p. 430).

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Placeholder for the figure

(Oetting, 2018, Fig. 1)

Diversity within Disorder

Implications for the Classroom

Prompts for discussion on the interactive practice day

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• If the modality of written language (reading & writing) is a relative weakness for students, how might we provide access points for learning through other modalities?

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• How do you incorporate a focus on comprehension from printed materials even when decoding and fluency are still developing?