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How speaking helps with children's reading
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Warm up your vocal chords and flip open a good book because a study has found that children find it easier to read a new word if they’ve already heard it spoken.
Researchers with the CCD Reading Program assessed the reading abilities of 36 children aged nine to 10 - the age when kids should have a well-developed understanding of the connections between sounds and letters.
By tracking the eye movements of each child as they read a new word, researchers found that the children who'd already heard the word spoken spent less time looking at it in print. Those children found it easier to read the word than children who’d never heard it said out loud.
Fresh findings
This study is somewhat of a Eureka moment, because these findings are the first to provide evidence about how oral vocabulary in kids is tied to their ability to learn to read new words.
The lead researcher, Signy Wegener says, ‘We found that when children have heard a new word spoken, and know how it is pronounced and what it means, they are then able to process this word with more speed when they have to read it for the first time'.
Spelt as it sounds…
It seems children benefit most from 'oral familiarity' with a word when it sounds the way it's spelt. Ms Wegener adds, 'The findings indicate that when children get to the stage where they 'read' spoken words for the first time, they have already formed expectations about how the written form of these words should look, even before seeing them in print'.
So what does this mean, apart from the fact that 'hippopotamus' is a great word to say out loud? Well, the study re-affirms the importance of reading to children.
The program leader, Distinguished Professor Anne Castles says, 'While it is understood that reading is good for language acquisition in children, the link between how reading and talking to your child helps them identify the spelling of new words has been difficult to uncover.
The results certainly add weight to the fact that reading to your kids helps their language development in an array of different ways, including helping them learn to read themselves.'
Five ways to promote early literacy
There are lots of simple oral strategies to help children learn to read. From good books to great games, why not lend your voice box and vocabulary to these activities:
- Read books out loud. Exposing kids to different genres is a great way to introduce new words, and they'll benefit from hearing fiction and non-fiction. The library is your friend and variety is the spice of life!
- Start a conversation. Whether you're at the dinner table or waiting for a bus, find opportunities to chat with your child and flex the vocabulary.
- Go on a family excursion. Visiting a zoo, museum or even supermarket is a chance to read out a wide variety of words. Signs, brochures and packaging take on a new level of entertainment!
- Engage in storytelling. Children will love hearing about the time Grandad caught an old boot on his fishing line. Whether an anecdote is real family history or a tall tale, stories are a fun way to sound out new words and phrases.
- Play games that involve word sounds and rhythms. 'I Spy' is a classic way to point out new things and it's fun to see how many words your family can think of that rhyme, like ‘Hop, top, mop, drop, ok, let's stop!'
Visit Get Ready to Read for more information.
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