User:LehmanGirlMD/Literacy

Lead
=== '''Literacy in its most basic definition is the ability to read and write. There are many factors that work to influence a child's development of literacy. In modern society, reading and writing are conventionally taught within a school or classroom setting however emergent literacy is influenced by many direct and indirect components. Many researchers have collected data to make the connection between socio-economics and literacy development in young children and more poignantly that "[socio-economics] has a profound effect on reading development."''' ===

One aspect of socio-economics that affects a learner’s literacy is the effect it has on brain development. Because the brain functions is heavily involved in processing activities based on both input and output, it is only logical that a learner’s outside environment can affect internal cognition when learning how to read and write. Before a child enters a school setting, their executive function is influenced by their home environment. Research demonstrates that for children who grow up in poverty, their socioeconomic circumstances severely strain their "neuro-endocrine and brain function". These negative implications affect a child's ability to control environmental stimuli, process and structure information with brevity, and clog the brain's ability to plan and effectively execute tasks that involve their working memory. All of these are necessary cognitive facilities to successfully learn how to read and write. Living in poverty is stressful for all people involved but is cognitively damaging for young children. A study done by the Eunice Kennedy Shiver National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) indicates that socio-economics plays a greater role for younger children at the time of those circumstances and conditions but shows that there is no indication of adverse effects on reading achievement or behavior for children past their adolescent years. The data substantially states that children from low socio-economic backgrounds have poorer literacy performance, especially in reading. This consensus is not only within the United States but globally. A study done by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which included over 26 countries in Europe, found that among all the countries included in the study, students who lived in low-income households scored lower than students who lived in high-income households in reading.

Parenting is another factor that studies show affects a child's literacy. Field research was done that collected data on professional, working-class, and welfare households and the results showed that children in the professional household, as in households with parents with a profession or white collar careers experienced an average of over 200,00 words whereas in a working-class household children on average only heard about 125,000 words. The results for the children from welfare-bound households were exposed to the least amount of words with an average of 62,000 words for a 100-hour week. This indicates that a child from a low-income household would be exposed to 8 million fewer words than that of a child from a professional family. Outside of word exposure, which is essential for word acquisition, the National Center for Educational statistics found that 41.9% of children from low-income families scored severely lower on most of the reading achievement for Grades 4, 8 and 12 in 2013. According to a study performed by ANOVA, various variables influence children from different socio-economic backgrounds such as parent education level, parent occupation, health history, and even usage of technology within the home. With these factors in mind, their study showed that young children are especially susceptible to environmental components thereby making socio-economics affects them cognitively while in that lifestyle and can have adverse effects as their brains continue to develop.

However, another study done by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) suggest a slightly different conclusion. Though, the study agrees with the concept that poverty negatively effects childhood literacy there are some nuances that are added. In both cases, children who experienced poverty scored lower in reading assessments but the NLSY's study noted that the duration of poverty altered the literacy outcome. It was found that children ages 5-11 categorized as having experienced "persistent poverty" were more adversely affected than children within the same age group who were categorized as having never experienced poverty. It is to be noted that this study acknowledges other factors that affected these children's reading scores. Particularly their interaction and indirect effects of maternal influence.The mothers of these households were scaled based on what was called a home environment score which measured their emotional and verbal responsiveness, acceptance and involvement with the child and organization. The study also points out that the effects of poverty on child literacy differed by ethnicity,culture and gender.

References