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What is the Difference Between Speech, Language, and Literacy?

Pres mult | 30 Sep 2021

What is the Difference Between Speech, Language, and Literacy? The answer isn’t so much in their differences but their interrelationships. Literacy is a combination of the individual components of language and speech. They support one another and work together. Let’s start by looking at the technical definitions for each.

The Difference Between Speech, Language, and Literacy

Merriam-Webster defines each term and includes how the actions are connected.

Definition of Speech

The base definition of speech is, “the communication or expression of thoughts in spoken words.” Although it can also be used in context meaning conversation, something said, or more formally as a public address, we will be talking about it in terms of communication. A simple explanation of speech is that it is the combination of sounds used in the formation of words or our method of communication.

Definition of Language

The word language is most commonly thought of in terms of a specific, such as French, English, Spanish, and even American Sign Language. Our focus will be on the communication aspect, specifically, “communication or expression of thoughts in spoken words.” Language refers to the method, or how, we communicate, through spoken or written words. 

Literacy is defined as, “the quality or state of being literate.” To break that down further for our purposes here, being literate simply means being able to read and write. To read and write is to understand written communication. Literacy is the foundation of the learning process. It includes reading, writing, talking, and listening.

Giving Your Child a Head Start

Every parent wants their child to excel. From a young age, we begin speaking directly to our children to teach them sounds, words, and sentences. All of these “normal” parenting things are giving your child a jump start toward literacy.

We read to them, teaching them the multitude of noises that form coherent communication. While reading, we moo and cock-a-doodle-doo and oink through the barnyard. We talk to them while feeding them, making choo-choo and airplane noises as we guide food to their tiny mouths. Everything parents do with infants and toddlers is the beginning of communication.

Do they know? When we babble at our children about ba-ba for bottle and da-da for daddy? Do our children know we are teaching them? Every sound we make as parents with an infant is teaching that child a language skill. In this respect, you are providing your child a head start toward literacy.

Before reading and writing comes speaking and associating the sounds with images. This early interaction lays the groundwork for paving your child’s path to learning. Reading and writing (literacy) will come later, but communication begins from the moment a child is born.

Language Skills Are the Foundation for Literacy

Developing language skills with your child includes a full array of tools that aid them along the way.

Gaining understanding, learning to follow directions, ask, and answer questions all lead to language comprehension. Your child may struggle but finally succeed in pronouncing the “g-r” sound in grape, as they are mastering speech. As you log each new word your child learns, they are expanding their vocabulary.

Your child continues to gain awareness of language as they learn multi-syllabic words such as na-na for banana and wa-wa for water. With each new word, a greater sense of phonological awareness grows. Pretty soon your child will learn the beginnings of sentence structure by putting sounds in a specific order to ask for, “Gass wa-wa, pease.” Pronunciation and enunciation skills will improve as they grow.

Grammar and narrative skills (storytelling) develop over time. As you continue reading, children can follow short story progressions. This not only increases their vocabulary but it offers them hidden lessons in predicting and problem-solving. Stories give lessons in cause and effect. They show our children, through images and words, how life works.

Although there are specific differences in speech, language, and literacy, they are all interconnected. That does not mean that learning speech and language will automatically make your child “literate,” but it will give them the foundation for reading and writing.

Speech Disorders vs. Language Disorders

Determining the difference between speech and language disorders often requires evaluation by a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP).

A speech disorder is associated with sound production, such as speaking with a lisp. The physical inability to pronounce certain sounds is also known as a speech-sound disorder. Speech disorders can be broken down further into classifications as phonological disorder or articulation disorder.

An articulation disorder occurs when a person has trouble saying certain speech sounds, such as the “l” sound. A phonological disorder is when a person consistently neglects to pronounce a specific sound, usually in a consonant-vowel-consonant configuration. This results in the person skipping the “m” sound, saying “ad” when they mean “mad.”

A language disorder may involve an inability to learn language usage rules, or the incorrect usage of words. One common example is when a child says, “Me go to store,” when they mean “I go to the store.”

While the differences can be indiscernible to many people, an SLP can accurately evaluate, assess the problem, and provide a course of correction through speech and language therapy.

The Benefits of Speech Therapy

President Joe Biden has had a life-long stutter. Through speech therapy from a young age, he has been able to overcome his stutter to become a successful public speaker. Singer Mel Tillis could not utter a sentence without stuttering. Using music and memorizing lyrics, he was able to sing, becoming a world-famous country music star.

In almost every instance, speech therapy, especially at a young age, can assist children in overcoming speech and language difficulties. Some results of early therapy:

• Social interaction and conversational skill development
• Effective expression of feelings, thoughts, and ideas
• Clarity of speech
• Proper pronunciation of word sounds
• Non-verbal body language skills
• Greater understanding of social cues

If you think your child has speech or language problems that may affect their literacy, it is best to have them evaluated by an SLP by pre-school age.

Speech and Language Services at WhizKidz Tutoring

WhizKidz Tutoring offers in-home speech and language assistance for children beginning at the Pre-K level. Students through college-age can get assistance in many areas including:

• Stuttering/fluency
• Articulation
• Receptive and expressive language
• Tongue thrusts/myofunctional disorder
• Auditory processing disorder
• Pragmatics

If you are concerned about your child’s speech and language development, a private evaluation with WhizKidz Tutoring can help.