Authors:
Taylor, C. L.; Maguire, B.; Zubrick, S. R.
Authors notes:
In Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) Annual Statistical Report 2010. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies
Keywords:
Children's language development 0-9 years
Abstract:
Language development is one of the most important developmental accomplishments of early childhood and is the foundation for literacy, educational achievement and post-school opportunities (Law, Rush, Schoon, & Parsons, 2009).
Decades of research have shown that there are striking patterns in the way children acquire language and develop literacy (Shonkoff& Phillips, 2000).
This large body of research informs national curriculum standards and benchmarking such as the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) (Centre for Community Child Health CCCH and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2009) and the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority ACARA, 2010).