Early Exposure to Language May Enhance Child’s Reading and Writing Skills

• New evidence suggests that children start learning about the important aspects of reading and writing at an early age
• In the pre phonological activity, the study found that the children used letters that did not reflect the sounds in the words
• The research will enhance the possibility that teachers could get useful information from children's early attempts to write

July 25, 2017: The important part of reading and spell is to learn about the use of letters in written words and sound in spoken words. A study carried out by the researchers from Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri, United States has discovered that early exposure to language may enhance a child's ability to identify and comprehend important rules and pattern of how letters are used in a particular language to develop words.

"Our results show that children begin to learn about the statistics of written language, for example about which letters often appear together and which letters appear together less often before they learn how letters represent the sounds of a language," said study co-author Rebecca Treiman to ANI.

Researchers examined the spellings of 179 American children aged three years, two months to five years and six months, who were pre phonological spellers. The children used letters that did not reflect the sounds in the words they were asked to spell when asked to try to write words.

The older pre phonological spellers showed more understanding about English letter pattern than the younger pre phonological spellers.

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Treiman said, "The findings are important because they show that exposure to written words during the three-to-five-year age range may be important in getting children off to a strong start with their reading, writing and spelling skills."

He further added, "Our results show that there is change and improvement with age during this period before children produce spellings that make sense on the basis of sound."

The research further enhances the possibility that teachers could get useful information from children's early attempts to write. It would thus show whether a child is on track for future success or whether there might be a problem, Treiman explained.

– prepared by Naina Mishra of Newsgram, Twitter @Nainamishr94