Speaking My Language

Does a parent's low literacy affect their child's language acquisition?

That was the question that came up yesterday in a class I'm taking.  I'm neither a linguist nor a developmental psychologist, but I have plenty of experience helping parents with literacy and language acquisition. In hearing the question, I thought: Absolutely not.  At least, it shouldn't have to be that way.

First, defining terms, "parental low literacy" entails a struggle in one or more of the pillars of reading, e.g. decoding, fluency, phonemic awareness.  (In their own language, I mean; a lot of folks struggle to read English while learning to speak English, and the two are connected, but that's for another day).

Many of my adult clients have had low literacy in their native language, but they were all fluent speakers of their language.  And there's no reason their children can't pick up language well, too.  The parent needs to use a lot of "parentese"--real words, phrases, and sentences tailored to the child.  Lots of back-and-forth with the child, even if it's responding to their babbling with words and questions.  High-pitch, slow cadence, overemphasizing some words.  That's not all you need for language acquisition, but it's the bedrock.

Beyond that, the amount of language and kind of language the child hears has a big impact on their cognitive development.  Lots of words, and not just commands or admonitions, but speech about the past, future, colors, objects, emotions.  Mixed with songs, which are a great way to teach cadence and introduce children to rhyme.  The more of that you get, the better those kids' brains as they head to school!

And at home, it can happen in any language--Somali, Spanish, Mai Mai, you name it.  The development is the key.

We know that kids from tough backgrounds come to school having heard fewer words, and less of a variety.  That affects their learning.  Their parents may tend to have low literacy, but that doesn't mean the latter caused the former.  If your mom's got low literacy, it doesn't doom you to low language acquisition--as long as there's a healthy serving of good, solid "parentese."

A final note: The question for policy-makers and nonprofits is, How do we help parents help their children pick up language?  In a way that's respectful, cost-effective, and reaches the parents most in need of help?  How do we increase the supply of high-quality childcare that's brimming with language enrichment?  Going forward, there's a whole lot I'd like to say about that.