‘Young readers should be corrected whenever they make a
mistake’
Early in the transcript there is evidence to support the
idea that young readers should be corrected whenever they make a mistake;
George struggles to pronounce the concrete noun ‘sandbags’ this is likely to be
due to the fact that it is low-frequency lexis and appears to be an example of
a consonant cluster with the letters ‘d’ and ‘b’. After his mother asks him to sound out how
to correctly pronounce it, praise is given. According to Skinner’s operant
conditioning theory, by using the terms ‘well done’, George’s
mother is positively reinforcing his linguistic behaviour. By doing this he is
more likely to repeat this behaviour, this shows that by correcting young
readers it leads to better language development and therefore supports the
question. However, it could be argued that it was the praise that George’s
mother gave that is causes language development as oppose to the correction,
therefore contradicting the statement in the question.
Linked to my first point is the idea that modelling and scaffolding causes development in linguistic ability. Later In the transcript George's mother models how to say the word 'sandbags' by splitting it into the two morphemes 'sand' and 'bags' and asking him to repeat what she says. This is evidence of the primary caregiver providing scaffolding to help the child reach Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. in essence, bridging the gap between what George does know and what he can know. Therefore, by George's mother scaffolding for him when he makes the mistake of mispronouncing the word 'sandbags' his linguistic ability is being developed, thus, supporting the phrase in the question.
Certain theories (with evidence from the text) appear to contradict the statement in the question, The fact that we know that George is 7 years old allows us to see the stage he is currently at in developmental theories. One such developmental theory is Piaget's critical stage hypothesis; according to Piaget's theory George is in concrete operational stage of language development. This is an innate stage of development which can't be effected by correction from making a mistake. At this stage George would be expected to think in a rational way but lack understanding of abstract or unclear topics and ideas. There is evidence from this in the text in that George spells words out phonetically to understand them but lacks understanding but often reverts to local topics and basic phonetics when he isn't sure on how to pronounce a word such as when he says 'upstairs' instead of 'upset'. because Piaget's theory is so well supported, this contradicts the statement in the question.
In summary, there is evidence to support and contradict the statement 'young readers should be corrected when the make a mistake'. It could certainly be argued that development of language is more innate and that correcting a child does not aid their linguistic development. Theorists such as Piaget and Noam Chomsky show this. However, it could also be argued that without being corrected, children will continue to make the same mistakes, evidence from George using correct forms after being corrected in the text shows this and it is further supported by theorists such as Skinner and Vygotsky
Linked to my first point is the idea that modelling and scaffolding causes development in linguistic ability. Later In the transcript George's mother models how to say the word 'sandbags' by splitting it into the two morphemes 'sand' and 'bags' and asking him to repeat what she says. This is evidence of the primary caregiver providing scaffolding to help the child reach Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. in essence, bridging the gap between what George does know and what he can know. Therefore, by George's mother scaffolding for him when he makes the mistake of mispronouncing the word 'sandbags' his linguistic ability is being developed, thus, supporting the phrase in the question.
Certain theories (with evidence from the text) appear to contradict the statement in the question, The fact that we know that George is 7 years old allows us to see the stage he is currently at in developmental theories. One such developmental theory is Piaget's critical stage hypothesis; according to Piaget's theory George is in concrete operational stage of language development. This is an innate stage of development which can't be effected by correction from making a mistake. At this stage George would be expected to think in a rational way but lack understanding of abstract or unclear topics and ideas. There is evidence from this in the text in that George spells words out phonetically to understand them but lacks understanding but often reverts to local topics and basic phonetics when he isn't sure on how to pronounce a word such as when he says 'upstairs' instead of 'upset'. because Piaget's theory is so well supported, this contradicts the statement in the question.
In summary, there is evidence to support and contradict the statement 'young readers should be corrected when the make a mistake'. It could certainly be argued that development of language is more innate and that correcting a child does not aid their linguistic development. Theorists such as Piaget and Noam Chomsky show this. However, it could also be argued that without being corrected, children will continue to make the same mistakes, evidence from George using correct forms after being corrected in the text shows this and it is further supported by theorists such as Skinner and Vygotsky
