38-2330 Language Development & Emergent Literacy

This seminar develops students’ understanding of both typical and atypical language development in the first five years of life and principles that govern the process. The language learning process is studied as an integral part of the development of thinking and of the child’s sense of self, and as it relates to emergent literacy. Students learn how various con-texts, both inside and outside a child’s home, interact with factors such as age, sex, and cultural experiences of participants in a conversation to affect language and literacy competence and performance. Students examine the role of adults, peers, and siblings in fostering language and literacy development, with an emphasis on how group experiences in childcare and early childhood programs can be arranged to maximize language and literacy development. Special attention is paid to the effects of speech and language delays and disorders on young children’s learning and development and how to support the learning and development of children with communication disorders, both in the classroom and at home. Students are expected to assimilate and document understandings taken from course readings and assignments into their daily Head Start practice. They are supported in the field component of the course by regular site visits from program faculty.

6 Credits
Requirements Permission Program Dir