BY: Beanie Geoghegan
In recent years, much attention has been paid to literacy rates among K-12 students. Unfortunately, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), we know they are not heading in the right direction. It’s important to hold schools accountable and ensure they use the most effective teaching methods and curricula supported by cognitive science, but it’s also vital that parents recognize their role in their children’s literacy development well before any formal education begins.
Research has shown a direct correlation between the amount of oral language children are exposed to and their ability to develop literacy skills, such as reading and writing, later in life. Deficits in oral language exposure were once linked to low socioeconomic status and attributed to parents’ lack of literacy and to homes without books. Unfortunately, thanks in large part to tablets, phones, and other handheld devices, more and more children entering kindergarten today, across all socioeconomic levels, are severely lacking in vocabulary and communication skills. This is not the fault of any school system, but it is the reality they must contend with.
Parents have every right to hold schools accountable for ensuring that students learn to read and write proficiently. They should ask questions about what is being taught and how, but they also need to recognize and embrace their role as their child’s first literacy teacher. It starts on day one and continues until they become adults.
Some parents might be skeptical and even a bit intimidated when told that they are their child’s first literacy teacher. What many fail to realize is that literacy is much more than simply reading words. It is the ability to read, write, listen, and communicate effectively– the foundations for those things begin at home.
Well before babies can speak, they can understand speech. They listen intently to your voice, watch your mouth as you form words, and study your facial expressions and what they convey. Most parents do these things naturally and don’t think about the fact that in those moments they are acting as “literacy teachers” for their children.
Throughout their first year of life, babies will rehearse and mimic the sounds and words they hear from adults. When their parents read books to them, they begin to match pictures to words and increase their vocabulary. By the time they reach toddlerhood, they might begin to “read” books to themselves using the words they’ve learned from their parents or making up words they learned through daily conversations.
Singing rhyming songs with older toddlers and preschool-age children while walking through the neighborhood, driving in the car, or during bathtime helps them develop phonological awareness. Even playing games with made-up words that rhyme builds literacy skills. Parents don’t need a special program or any training to do what it takes to build a solid literacy foundation for their children. They just need to pay attention and have fun with them.
Parents reading, singing, and talking to their children used to be very normal. Unfortunately, since the introduction of cell phones and other devices, it has become much harder for parents to pay attention to their children without distraction. It has also become much more challenging for parents to garner their children’s (even toddlers’ and preschoolers’) attention once they become entranced by screens. Sadly, studies show that the excessive use of devices has had a negative impact on children acquiring early literacy skills.
While the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry provides recommendations on the amount of time children spend on screens and devices, little is said about the time their parents spend on them instead of playing, singing, or talking with their children. If elementary teachers spent their days playing games on their phones or watching TikTok videos, parents would likely take issue with it, and they would be justified.
An elementary teacher’s job is to ensure students acquire the skills they need to become literate. But the parents’ responsibility is to ensure the foundation is laid before their children enter school. When parents fail to lay that foundation, students can still learn to read, but it makes the teacher’s job much harder and the process much longer and often more frustrating for the student.
We strongly encourage parents to remain vigilant and hold their schools accountable for effective reading instruction. We also implore parents to take seriously the responsibility and embrace the privilege of being your child’s first literacy teacher.
