Age, Orthography, and Language Maturity
Effect of age on language development, cross-linguistic influence, and orthography are one variable worthy of consideration. However, the focus of this research segregates age from language maturity, that is, we measure the orthographic understanding of the mother tongue, or first language (L1), against the second language (or additional new language). Therefore the issues that I believe need consideration are the ability for individuals to read, recognize, say or write, according to their present stage of educational development. These issues cover the motor skills, for young, disabled or elderly, and cognitive development, infants, toddlers, children, preteens, etc., up to elderly.
The reason for …show more content…
In 1988 Japan’s Ministry of Education issued a new set of Kanji and urged that the Kanji that is more closely related to child’s life and those that are easier to remember should be learned earlier (NLRI, 1972, as cited in Akamatsu, 1998, p. 12). This means, the focus of learning the native written language changes as children develop and mature. The Ministry of Education also provides a brief guideline of Kanji instruction for each grade. For example, first graders tend to ignore the ideographic nature of Kanji, so the instruction focuses on helping the children understand that Kanji characters are not only pictographs, but also ideographs. Subsequent grades transition into focusing on reading, all the while building vocabulary. Once pupils understand the nature of Kanji, they are taught its history and how Kanji characters have been changing orthographically and phonologically over time (Sato, 1988, as cited in Akamatsu, 1988, p. 13). In Junior High school, the emphasis changes to other subjects. However the systematic learning continues until high school where Kanji is supplemented with learning is academic language, introduced through other subjects. This raises some important issue for my study. One is the use of prompts; they must be age appropriate and relevant to their current …show more content…
Writing problems of school children includes additions, deletions, substitutions, and other errors for more advanced learners. Developmental problems include dysgraphia and inventions. Inventions from my experience are not so much age-specific but developmentally specific. An individual who is motivated to try will do their best to write a word. From audio stimulus, the problem can be alignment (the ability to understand the speaker's accent), or phonetic. From written input, it could be a misunderstanding of the written stimulus. For example, the Kanji for small (小) has more than one meaning, and therefore what is the mistake? The word will depend on the child’s age and vocabulary knowledge of the second language. Therefore, in effect, age is important, but not as an effect on the outcome but on the care necessary in crafting the research
Effect of age on language development, cross-linguistic influence, and orthography are one variable worthy of consideration. However, the focus of this research segregates age from language maturity, that is, we measure the orthographic understanding of the mother tongue, or first language (L1), against the second language (or additional new language). Therefore the issues that I believe need consideration are the ability for individuals to read, recognize, say or write, according to their present stage of educational development. These issues cover the motor skills, for young, disabled or elderly, and cognitive development, infants, toddlers, children, preteens, etc., up to elderly.
The reason for …show more content…
In 1988 Japan’s Ministry of Education issued a new set of Kanji and urged that the Kanji that is more closely related to child’s life and those that are easier to remember should be learned earlier (NLRI, 1972, as cited in Akamatsu, 1998, p. 12). This means, the focus of learning the native written language changes as children develop and mature. The Ministry of Education also provides a brief guideline of Kanji instruction for each grade. For example, first graders tend to ignore the ideographic nature of Kanji, so the instruction focuses on helping the children understand that Kanji characters are not only pictographs, but also ideographs. Subsequent grades transition into focusing on reading, all the while building vocabulary. Once pupils understand the nature of Kanji, they are taught its history and how Kanji characters have been changing orthographically and phonologically over time (Sato, 1988, as cited in Akamatsu, 1988, p. 13). In Junior High school, the emphasis changes to other subjects. However the systematic learning continues until high school where Kanji is supplemented with learning is academic language, introduced through other subjects. This raises some important issue for my study. One is the use of prompts; they must be age appropriate and relevant to their current …show more content…
Writing problems of school children includes additions, deletions, substitutions, and other errors for more advanced learners. Developmental problems include dysgraphia and inventions. Inventions from my experience are not so much age-specific but developmentally specific. An individual who is motivated to try will do their best to write a word. From audio stimulus, the problem can be alignment (the ability to understand the speaker's accent), or phonetic. From written input, it could be a misunderstanding of the written stimulus. For example, the Kanji for small (小) has more than one meaning, and therefore what is the mistake? The word will depend on the child’s age and vocabulary knowledge of the second language. Therefore, in effect, age is important, but not as an effect on the outcome but on the care necessary in crafting the research