Language and literacy are connected, but only the spoken aspect of language is natural. Each child at birth comes equipped with the necessary wiring for the development of oral language. Multiple parts of the brain are hardwired together to produce this essential communication system. Listening and speaking are two of the major components of early language learning.

Literacy in the early years of language development refers to reading and writing. They are mutually dependent on each other. In order to read a collection of words, a writer must put the words in print. It’s a different way to communicate other than that of the spoken word. However, knowing how to read and write doesn’t come naturally and must be taught. The foundation for early literacy skills is the spoken language.

The concept chart at the top of the page shows the major elements that support the developing reader. Acquiring language happens first using their listening and speaking skills. Next, early literacy skills-reading and writing are learned through experiences and instruction both at home and school. The foundation for success will be determined by the influencers in their life. The list of influencers is long. They include the following: relationships and experiences with — parents, caregivers, family members, educators– and other connected factors —home & school life, social media, multi-media, health care and MORE!

WORDS are the crucial keys for opening-up the literacy doors.

In some cultures, a language may only consist of spoken words, sounds and/or hand signs, while other societies use oral language and written symbols together to communicate.

The English language is comprised of 26 letters used to produce approximately 44 sounds or phonemes. These consonant and vowel sounds together form the majority of words in English. Some letters only make a single sound while other letter combinations make additional sounds. What is interesting to consider is that the Oxford English Dictionary – 20th volume has 171,476 current words listed in their book, with additional new words being generated yearly. It is incredible to think that this small number of letters can be combined in so many ways as to generate this massive language.

Resources & References

Birsch, Judith R. & Carreker, Suzanne, (2018), Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, 4th Edition , Chapter 3-Oral Language Development and Its Relationship to Literacy, by Soifer, Lydia H., Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, (2015), InBrief: What is Resilience?, developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/resilience/

Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, (2024), Infants’ Brain Responses To Social Interaction  Predict Future Language Growth, UW ILABS, https://youtu.be/pbLR988GDSY?si=WSx0fZfNgH4sj2SP

Moats, Louisa Cook, (2020) Speech to Print,Language Essentials for Teachers,3rd Edition, Paul H.Brookes Publishing Co., Chapter 1 – Why Study Language? & Chapter 2  Phonetics: The Sounds of Speech

Wolfe, Patricia & Nevills, Pamela, (2009),  Building the Reading Brain, PreK-3, Corwin Press, Chapter 1-On the Nature of Reading

The post Language to Literacy appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

The first beginnings of language start when the child is inside the womb. Before birth, a baby eavesdrops on the outside world, voices and noises are absorbed. At arrival, small tiny ears are already tuning into the sounds being produced by their parents.

Dr. Karen Mulak, at MARCS Institute and the Center of Excellence for Dynamics of Language said, “In order to learn language, infants must mentally sort through massive amounts of variation in speech and speech production. This is quite a difficult task given their limited exposure to language at such a young age. But despite this difficulty, we have found that infants are capable of interpreting this data and that they are aware of and can identify variations in language.”

An infant has an internal warehouse of 800 speech sounds or phonemes, (600 consonants & 200 vowels) stored in their brain. This allows them to acquire any language around the world: Spanish, Chinese, French, English, German etc. Amazing!!!  It is even more mindboggling when one learns there are about 7,000 languages spoken globally.

The repetition of hearing their native language or even a second language in the home at this early baby age creates the patterns for reproducing it later. The words communicated to them all day long becomes their language of choice. The baby brain has been busy recognizing the more frequently used speech sounds, organizing them and eliminating others. The pruning or thinning of weaker synapses will open-up more room for new information. At about twelve months old, all those unneeded sounds have faded away. The familiar speech sounds of their native language has won out!

What about learning a second language? It is always easier for a younger child’s brain. Scientist have and are still doing more studies on this topic; however, most agree that after the age of seven proficiency becomes more difficult. It doesn’t mean one can’t acquire another language, no it’s just the acquisition skills are different for the brain and may take longer.

Early learners thrive on the connectedness of language, they have a want to be understood and to understand their native language.

It’s well known that creating an emotional bond with a baby is very important for their health and well being. What is now truly amazing is the specialized discoveries have been made over the past years regarding a baby’s brain growth, social communication and their ability to process early life experiences. Scientist around the world are currently focused on researching the very early months of the mother-baby relationship. It’s this reciprocal partnership that is essential to a babys’ over all development.

Two well-known pioneers who have led the way with their scientific contributions regarding very young babies  emotional/social development are Dr. Beebe and Dr. Tronick. They have been instrumental in providing evidence on exactly how communication styles between mother and baby impact their future life.

NOTE: A MUST SEE–There are two short videos found in the Resource section that explain all this further.

Resources & References

Bach, Deborah, (2017)Bilingual Babies: Study shows now exposure to a foreign language ignites infants’ learning, University of Washington News, https://www.washington.edu/news/2017/07/17/bilingual-babies-study-shows-how-exposure-to-a-foreign-language-ignites-infants-learning

Beebe, Beatrice Dr., (2022), Video Accompaniment for The Mother-Infant Interaction Picture Book Origins of Attachment, https://youtu.be/TifkQl3iOdc?si=k4-Z7-NnXP_lS7ul

Kuhl, Patricia K., (2014), The Linguistic Genius of Babies, TED, https://youtu.be/G2XBIkHW954?si=a34LZ-h-Gg0GmES7

Tronick, Edward, PH D.,(2026), Still Face Experiment Dr. Edward Tronick, Harvard University, https://youtu.be/YTTSXc6sARg?si=w8yY2BeKpoi-gPjG

Western Syndney NEWS, (2017), The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development, Shhh your Baby is Listening, westernsydney.edu.au/marcs/news/infants_and_language

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Listening is the receptive part of language, it’s the hearing and understanding of what the spoken word means. A baby is a captive audience of one, ready and able to hear voices and surrounding sounds. They are the receivers. Their ears are like antennas, always taking in the flow of sounds and words. It’s too early for infants to make any meaning, they’re just soaking in the abundant noises around them.

Listening does not happen without hearing! But hearing is not the same as listening! The ears are the pieces of the body that collect all the incoming sounds. These sound waves vibrate through the inner parts of the ears, creating signals that are transferred first to the brain stem, before going onto the brain. This physical action is called hearing. The sense of hearing tells what type of sound and its location: loud, soft, high, low, near, far. A newborns auditory sense (hearing) is fairly-well developed but it takes months before they recognize a variety of different sounds. The body’s hearing system is automatic and begins even before birth.

Resting and building up strength are part of what fills up the early weeks of an infant’s life. Soon this will change, and the baby will start to react more frequently to a variety of sounds. They may do the following in response to hearing a parent’s voice: smile in acknowledgement, move head towards the sound or use direct eye contact.

However, hearing a sound or word spoken by a parent does not mean there’s understanding. The brain is the master interpreter. It’s in charge of identifying, sorting, storing and making meaning of what has been heard. When the baby is older, the skills of hearing and translating the words into meaning will occur very fast, taking milliseconds. The brain’s ability to understand sounds-words is called auditory processing.

How does a baby learn about the world of listening? The exciting answer is experiences, experiences and more experiences! The learning brain gobbles up all the stimulus they’ve been exposed to and engaged in daily. This feeding frenzy of loving social interactions allows the baby to grow in their listening development. Parents sharing language by reading stories, singing songs and continuous talk, provide the necessary models for listening growth.

These listeners are watching, too! They are focusing on how sounds are physically pronounced by the speaker during these engaging interactions. This is a complex process that involves many parts of the baby brain. Networks are being built to strengthen the pathways needed to produce speech.

Once babies have started to recognize numerous sounds, they begin to undertake the job of learning how to understand what’s being heard. Here’s some important listening skills :

• Gives attention to & participates in activities (songs/rhymes/stories)
• Discrimination-knowing same or different sounds: (letters/words)
• Responds to spoken language (body movements, vocal noises)
• Comprehension-understands the content of what is being said (follows simple directions & requests)

What’s the role of a parent? Being an engaged listener is important, the child becomes the sole focus and the center of one’s attention. It’s shown by giving them direct eye contact and responding to their communications.

Resources & References

Blumenrath, Sandra, PHD, MS, (2020), How Hearing Works, BrainFacts.org.,
https://www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/hearing/2020/how-hearing-works-011020

Child Development-CDC, (2023), Early Brain Development and Health,
 https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/early-brain-development.html

MED-EL, (2016), The Four Stages of Building Your Child’s Auditory Skills, https://blog.medel.com/tips-tricks/tips-tricks-for-parents/the-four-stages-of-building-your-childs-auditory-skills/

Riggs, Lori, MA, CC/SLP, (2009), National Association for Child Development , nacd journal, Auditory Processing – What is it? (Hearing vs. Processing), http://www.nacd.org/auditory-processing-what-is-it-hearing-vs-processing/

Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Age-Appropriate Speech and Hearing,
https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=age-appropriate-speech-and-hearing-milestones-90-P02169

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Speaking is the expressive part of language, it is communicating one’s wants, needs, thoughts and ideas . A baby does this almost immediately! Not speaking but producing vocal sounds. Crying is one of the first ways an infant will let a parent know a “need”. Feed me or change me are at the top of their list! Later different sounding cries are communicated, signaling a specific “want”. As the baby grows older other sounds will begin to develop. These beginning non-sensical sounds will lead to later speech patterns.

Cooing and gurgling start usually within the first few months. This is an important first step in learning to talk. The baby brain is coordinating its physical body to develop  ooh  aah  sounds. These cooing vowel- like sounds are formed by using the roof of their mouth, tongue and lips. Cooing is followed by babbling.

Babbling is really the beginning of the talking process. It starts around six months and continues throughout the first year. Babies are getting more control over their speaking muscles enabling them to form word sounds. First one syllable sounds pop out–ga, ga–which later change to 2 syllable sounds – baba nana. These are followed by multiple syllable sounds dagaba. 

Language play is all about practicing sounds. Soon these babblers are communicating with their parents. This progression of language learning leads to putting together the correct speech sounds to form a word which carries meaning. Mama or Dada may be blurted out when calling for that specific person.

The first word brings joy to all, a day to celebrate!

Initial noises, babbling sounds and a first word are the beginning steps to language production. The baby is learning how to comprehend and express more words. Vocabulary development is now in full swing, learning new words is the name of the game!

Now the toddler is ready to communicate using other single words to state a thought, or want, such as “go” means, I want to go. Once the single words have started to get responses, it won’t be long before word grouping occurs. A toddler will combine two words to express an idea.

( More milk Me go )

After tons of praise and encouragement more words are strung together when talking. These almost sentences will not contain perfect grammar but will have additional words. Usually, their speech is understood by their parents but not necessarily by everyone.

( I sees cat Me want ball )

A toddler nearing three years of age produces more complete and/or longer sentences that are understood by most people.

Developmental milestones are important for showing the progression of language acquisition.  However, it’s important to remember that children move through these stages at their own pace. Yes, individuality is what it’s all about for the developing reader!

Resources & References

Kaplan, Ann MD, (2018), Language Milestones: 1 to 2 Years,  https://www.healthline.com/health/baby/toddler-language-milestones

Mayo Clinic, (2023), Healthy Lifestyle, Infant and toddler health, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/basics/infant-and-toddler-health/hlv-20049400

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIHCD, (2022), Speech and Language Milestones, https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/speech-and-language

The post Language Speaking appeared first on Early Literacy Learning.

Early language development has two key components: listening and speaking. These elements were presented separately, but they operate in conjunction with each other.

Listening leads the way, since the auditory system is ready to go at birth. Speaking is in the metamorphosis stage — like a chrysalis evolving into a butterfly.

The body of a baby does not have the physical or mental capabilities to produce speech yet.

Learning to speak is preprogrammed in the baby brain. However, someone must be available daily to model their native language in order for a baby to produce it later. The exciting news is that every new baby meets their first teacher at birth! Yep, besides being a loving caretaker, the role of teacher is automatically included in the parent package, too!

Parents are lifetime teachers who teach a wide range of concepts and skills, not just the domain of language-communication. Here are three other important domains and some of their elements:

• social/ emotional: affection for family and friends, self-control, trust in self and others, be responsible
• cognitive: problem-solving, curiosity, resilience, creativity, critical thinking, decision making, remembering 
• physical: maintain healthy body, stay active, good food choices

Parenting is hard that’s for sure–and rewarding too! Delightful experiences show up daily through the exchanges of warm smiles and laughs or wrap around hugs. Welcome and celebrate their accomplishments–first sound or word or sentence. What exciting days! Enjoy the time together, it’s a remarkable language journey!

All parent-child interactions pave the way to their child’s language growth.

There’s a wonderful peppy song from an old musical movie, The King and I called “Getting To Know You”. It was written by the famous composers, Rodgers & Hammerstein. A few lines from the chorus are as follows: 

Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you, Getting to hope you like me.

Those words really do sum up the months before birth and the first months after birth. Well–actually, the getting to know you phase continues throughout a child’s life and their parents. It’s the newness that’s in the air everywhere for everyone in the beginning. It’s all about “Getting to know each other”, creating family and so much MORE!

Oh, and soon the infant will be in the — “Getting to know me” phase.  How does my body work? What are these hands for? How do I tell them what I need? The baby’s brain is going in high gear, trying to process, respond and make sense of it all.

Parents may be learning to parent for the first time or encountering the change that comes when adding a new family member. This is true, but for a new baby– it’s ONLY first-time life experiences!

Learning to connect through language begins instantly. The baby has the goal to communicate, express and understand what is being said daily. Parents are partners in helping their child attain language. There are numerous ways to engage and support their development, here are four key learning times:

My BLOG Posts contain more detailed information about these four areas: TALKING Time, MUSIC Time, READING Time and PLAY Time. Check them out!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

College of Early Childhood Educators (2025), Common child development domains in practice, https://www.college-ece.ca/pn-cd-domains-in-practice/

Moats, Louisa & Tolman, Carol, Speaking is Natural: Reading and Writing Are Not, Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/article/speaking-natural-reading-and-writing-are-not

Shananan, Timothy, PH.D., & Loigan, Christopher, PH. D., The Role of Early Oral Language in  Literacy Development, Language Magazine, https://www.languagemagazine.com/5100-2/

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