Literacy Development: Reading

Literacy development — the acquisition of reading and writing skills — is a critical area of child language study. Unlike spoken language, which children acquire largely through immersion and interaction, reading is a skill that typically requires explicit instruction. This lesson examines the stages of reading development, the models that explain how reading works, and the debates surrounding teaching methods.

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Reading vs Spoken Language

An important starting point is the distinction between spoken language and reading:

Feature	Spoken Language	Reading
Acquisition	Acquired naturally through immersion and interaction	Requires explicit instruction and practice
Evolutionary basis	Humans have evolved to speak — speech is a biological capacity	Writing is a cultural invention (approx. 5,000 years old) — no evolved biological mechanism
Universal?	All human cultures have spoken language	Not all cultures have written language; illiteracy is common worldwide
Age of onset	First words around 12 months	Reading typically begins at 4–6 years
Modality	Auditory — processed through the ear	Visual — processed through the eye