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10 - Creating Equitable Opportunities for Language and Literacy Development in Childhood and Adolescence

from Part One - Factors Influencing Language Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

By
Catherine L. Taylor ,
Daniel Christensen  and
Stephen R. Zubrick
Edited by
James Law ,
Sheena Reilly  and
Cristina McKean
James Law
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Sheena Reilly
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Queensland
Cristina McKean
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
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Summary

Language is one of the most remarkable developmental accomplishments of childhood and a tool for life. Over the course of childhood and adolescence, language and literacy develop in dynamic complementarity, shaped by children’s developmental circumstances. Children’s developmental circumstances include characteristics of the child, their parents, family, communities and schools, and the social and cultural contexts in which they grow up. This chapter uses data collected in Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) that was linked to Australia’s National Assessment of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) to quantify the effects of multiple risk factors on children’s language and literacy development. Latent class analysis and growth curve modelling are used to identify children’s developmental circumstances (i.e. risk profiles) and quantify the effects of different clusters of risk factors on children’s receptive vocabulary growth and reading achievement from age 4 to 15. The developmental circumstances that gave rise to stark inequalities in language and literacy comprise distinct clustering of sociodemographic, cognitive and non-cognitive risk factors. The results point to the need for cross-cutting social, health and education policies and coordinated multi-agency interventions efforts to address social determinants and break the cycle of developmental disadvantage.

Keywords

language developmentliteracy developmentreadingdevelopmental trajectoriesmultiple risk factorssocial determinantscognitive skillsnon-cognitive skillslatent classanalysisgrowth curve modellingLongitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)National Assessment of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
Type
Chapter
Information
Language Development
Individual Differences in a Social Context
 , pp. 231 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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