Article Writing Homework Help

Create a 7 pages page paper that discusses language development and socioeconomic status. Research indicates that of all the parent-child activities, reading to children has a major influence on the subsequent language development of the child. This is so, because the other verbal interactions between parents and children that occur during meals, playtime, dressing up, etc, are nowhere as verbally rich as reading is. It is also a well-established fact that parents from middle-class and higher socioeconomic backgrounds spend more time reading to their children than their poorer counterparts. This implies that children from the lower strata of society are at an increased risk of language delay. They are also generally found to possess poorer reading skills and below-average academic performance (Mendelsohn, Leora, et.al. 2001, p.130).

Another strong influence on the language acquisition of children is the quality of care that they receive. And the quality of child-care is determined by the SES of the respective families. In one study performed on African American children aged between 6 and 12 months, nearly two-thirds of them had otitis media with effusion and 2 out of 5 subjects also suffered partial hearing difficulties. The affected child suffers a partial hearing loss and hence the reception of auditory signals is poor and irregular. The ability of the child to discriminate and process speech and to store up that information in its developing repository of language is made difficult. The overall effect of all of this is a sluggish development of language skills (Roberts, Burchinal, et.al, 1998, p.353).

Some of these children also suffered frequent ear infections and performed below par in language tests. The African American community generally fits in the lower-middle-class or lesser bracket, which goes to show the relationship between the SES and language development in children.

The consistent underachievement of African American students academically, including language skills is a widely recognized fact.&nbsp.