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"Understanding the Brain", The Birth of a Learning Science, 2007, page 87
Literacy Being Built “on Top of” Language
While the brain is not necessarily biologically inclined to acquire literacy, it is biologically inclined to adapt to experience. It is, for instance, endowed with language circuitry capable of processing visual input.
The brain’s plastic capacities of adaptability enable the stimuli coming from experience to utilise language structures when constructing the neural circuitry capable of supporting literacy. This is often expressed as literacy being built “on top of” language. In the terms of Vygotsky’s classic metaphor, language structures provide scaffolding for literacy to be constructed in the brain (Vygotsky, 1978).
Since literacy is built, in part, with language circuitry, future research should investigate the possibility that developmental sensitivities for certain aspects of language acquisition influence the facility with which the different aspects of reading are acquired.
If such influences were identified, this would have implications for educational policy and practice regarding the timeframe for teaching different literacy skills, and could well reinforce the importance of developing pre-literacy skills in early
childhood.
Research aimed at delineating the cortical areas supporting reading is rapidly accumulating. The most comprehensive and well-supported model of reading to date is the “dual route” theory (Jobard, Crivello and Tzourio-Mazoyer, 2003).
The brain’s plastic capacities of adaptability enable the stimuli coming from experience to utilise language structures when constructing the neural circuitry capable of supporting literacy. This is often expressed as literacy being built “on top of” language. In the terms of Vygotsky’s classic metaphor, language structures provide scaffolding for literacy to be constructed in the brain (Vygotsky, 1978).
Since literacy is built, in part, with language circuitry, future research should investigate the possibility that developmental sensitivities for certain aspects of language acquisition influence the facility with which the different aspects of reading are acquired.
If such influences were identified, this would have implications for educational policy and practice regarding the timeframe for teaching different literacy skills, and could well reinforce the importance of developing pre-literacy skills in early
childhood.
Research aimed at delineating the cortical areas supporting reading is rapidly accumulating. The most comprehensive and well-supported model of reading to date is the “dual route” theory (Jobard, Crivello and Tzourio-Mazoyer, 2003).
"Understanding the Brain", The Birth of a Learning Science, 2007, page 87
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