Assessments:  Article Critique. Choose your own, peer-reviewed article related to literacy research. Professionally and briefly describe the main idea and important findings. Discuss the article’s implications on literacy. Formatting (APA), Microsoft Word, 

 

Article Critique

The article is called, “The sooner, the better: Early reading to children.” It was written by Niklas et al. (2016), and it delves into determining which is the best age to start reading to children. The article starts off by offering a review of literature delving into the issues of early reading to kids. For instance, there are other researchers who explore the ecological theory to guide the process of reading to kids. The theory argues that the environment in which kids grow has an immense impact on their development. Another framework that explores this aspect is referred to as the social constructivist theory. It posits that children will often learn through observation and having interaction with knowledgeable people. Thus, it is critical to create a conducive home learning environment (HLE). Reading books to kids is a key concept in HLE.

Apart from the above, the article looks into the concept of early linguistics development and its impact on a child’s life. Notably, the language and literacy abilities during the initial 3 years of a kid’s growth are pivotal to advancing literacy competencies later in life. Kids who developed literacy competence earlier on tend to outperform the kids who started late. The article goes on to look into the aspect of HLE and how it influences reading to kids. Aspects such as exposure to books, the frequency and quality of reading, and the family characteristics influenced the acquisition of different literacy competencies.

To offer a detailed answer to this issue, the linguistic abilities of 104 kids were examined prior to entering school. The parents were questioned on the age at which they started reading to their kids. According to the results of the study, a majority of the kids were read to by their parents prior to attaining six months. Notably, the study contends that early reading to kids is associated with better linguistic competencies. In cases where parents used shared reading, it resulted in better outcomes in terms of verbal comprehension and rhyming ability. The study goes on to assert that children who were read to early gave an indication of the general literacy habits in the household. Another critical aspect addressed by the article is the importance of reading aloud to the kids. That is because it aids the child’s linguistic growth immensely.  

The research also asserts that the start of a parent reading to a child and the reading regularity is influenced by the migration background and the social-economic status. Children who tended to excel in different linguistic tasks came from higher social-economic backgrounds. In addition to that, such kids had English as their first language. The sample from the study indicated that boys were read to with increased regularity when compared to girls.  Despite that, girls tended to perform better in cognitive tasks.  The article asserts that parents to boys may have thought their kids needed more attention and read to them more frequently. Even though the study addressed the aspect of why it is critical to embrace reading to kids early, it does not expound on kids who have developmental problems such as dyslexia. Does early reading make an impact on their development of literacy competencies? As well, does the onset of shared reading vary among kids with dyslexia? In general, the article shows that reading to children early helps to improve their linguistic abilities

Reflection.

The study has an immense implication on how parents and educators perceive literacy. In specific, it highlights key aspects that parents should emphasize when aiming to improve a child’s literacy competencies. To start with, it is critical to create a conducive home learning environment. For instance, ensure there is easy access to books and people around kids have a culture of reading. In addition to that, the study shows the importance of reading early to kids. The results of the research indicate that reading early to children improves their literacy competencies. That will affect the academic development of the kids later in life.