Then you fall behind – that's
the grim truth
The more young people read, the better their
vocabulary and the more difficult texts they understand. A positive spiral – or
a whirling merry-go-round that is difficult to jump on in the moment. The more
young people read, the better their vocabulary and the more difficult texts
they understand.
Because what happens when our children don't
read? It starts early. Already at the age of three, the differences between
children's vocabularies seem to be established. Around the start of school, the
gap widens further – and it continues in the teenage years.
We talk
about two vocabulary spurts during early childhood. One occurs between the ages
of one and three, when some children gain a solid head start, The child's linguistic upbringing
environment is behind the differences in the first leap, conversation and reading aloud. says
Mats Myrberg, professor responsible for the vocabulary project.
At the age of six to seven, comes another
leap. - It is probably connected with the children encountering the written
language and starting to read themselves. But the injustice is founded early. When children start reading, they come
across a vocabulary that is significantly larger than the vocabulary of spoken
language, notes Mats Myrberg.
An American study from the turn of the
millennium showed that the percentage of unusual words that appeared in a
children's book was on average about 50 percent more than what appeared during,
for example, an entertainment program on television. The results are clearly
transferable to today and to
Every year the vocabulary gap between those
who read and those who don't read widens. But correlations can be tricky. Do
children who initially find it easier to read read more? In several studies,
researchers have controlled for both intelligence and the so-called decoding
ability. And yes, those who find it "easy" to read generally read
more. But even when you control for these factors, the connection remains: We
seem to get better at reading from reading - and reading itself contributes to
a larger vocabulary.
Dawna Duff, linguist at
But what was a basic good language ability,
and what was connected with the children reading many books? To try to isolate
the reading effect itself, the researchers took into account the students'
measured language skills during preschool, and also their socioeconomic
background – a factor that in studies always correlates strongly with
children's vocabulary. The higher the socio-economic background, the more words
the children know.
But even when these factors were taken into
account, it was seen that reading made a difference to how much vocabulary
increased. How well students read at age
nine was linked to their vocabulary at 15 – and reading could predict
vocabulary as well as their socio-economic background. During our video
meeting, Dawna Duff holds her hands up at an angle. - Because it affects over
such a long period, the differences increase over time. When the students are 15, there is already a big difference in
vocabulary.
In short, word comprehension and reading
comprehension seem to be linked - and increasing exponentially. It's just that
Swedish children and teenagers read less and less every year. In the National
Media Council's report Children & media from December, 7 percent of
13–16-year-olds stated that they read books or newspapers daily – compared to
20 percent in 2012. It is children of parents with low education who read the
least, regardless of age. Among teenagers, 20 percent of those with parents
with low education stated that they never read, among those with highly
educated parents: 8 percent. How much we read affects our vocabulary. Alice
Sullivan, sociology professor at the
Todde
Also check: https://axiom1b.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-origin-and-development-of-alphabet.html