In June, an Australian study shed light on the link between students’ behaviour and language – including how the latter regulates emotions.
The report said efforts to improve teacher-child relationships with children with speech and language difficulties, or whose parents are concerned about their communication, need to start early.
Now a surprising new study out of the US shows how children with language skills can perform better in math, science and all other subjects as they go through school.
Amy Pace, University of Washington (UW) assistant professor and co-author of the study, said that a lot of other research focuses on math, science and literacy without considering that language could be playing an important role.
“[Language] emerges as a strong predictor across subject areas. Why do kids succeed in math, for example? Part of it could be having a strong math vocabulary,” Pace said in a UW news release.
Along with her colleagues from Temple University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Carolina, Pace analysed data of more than 1,200 children in grades one to five.
The researchers looked at students’ academic and behavioural assessments, their assigned scores, and measured a child’s level of performance overtime, citing rates of change throughout elementary school.
Out of the skills evaluated – social interaction, language, reading, and math – only language skills predicted their performance both within that specific subject area and in others.
For example, a child’s reading ability in kindergarten helped boost their skill set in that subject area, as well as math and language in later grades. Likewise, math proficiency correlated with language and reading performance overtime.
Literacy is often confused with language, Pace said. Reading skills are determined by the ability to decode letter and sound to pronounce words and to understand the meaning of words and their contexts.
Language involves using words and appropriate syntax to communicate both verbally and in writing. That’s why language is so crucial in affecting other areas of development, she added.
Interestingly, kindergartners with higher levels of skills across all subject areas appeared to make fewer developments and academic gains than those who started at lower levels. It’s worth exploring how to accommodate higher-performing students, Pace said.
Nonetheless, Pace wants to stress the importance of language in everyday learning.
“Language ability at school entry consistently emerges as an important predictor of student outcomes. This may be why the first three to five years are so critical for future academic and social development,” Pace said.
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