comprehension and vocabulary: the building blocks of literacy esl conference 2009...
TRANSCRIPT
Literacy SKILLS
‘The bodily dimension of writing, that is sitting and labouring to construct a text, which is habituated technique in proficient writers, is generally taken for granted within contemporary literacy pedagogy.’ (Knapp & Watkins, 2005 p. 81)
What else is taken for granted?
Research on comprehension & vocab
Repeatedly demonstrates a strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension [Proportion of difficult words in a text = single most reliable predictor of its difficulty]
Vocabulary development is both an outcome of comprehension and a precursor to it, with word meanings making up as much as 70-80% of comprehension
Direct instruction in vocabulary influences comprehension more than any other factor. Although wide reading can build word knowledge, students need thoughtful and systematic instruction in key vocabulary as well
Teaching fewer words well is more effective than teaching many words in a cursory way.
Some literacy basics
For students to read a text with ease, and with some help from the teacher, they need to recognize over 90-95% of the vocabulary (Nation, 2001; Westwood, 2003).
For low literacy learners, a ‘whole language’ approach must be supplemented by an explicit and continuing focus on building sight vocabulary and comprehension strategies. (Westwood, 2003)
Insights from theory about reading
Prior knowledge is needed to gain meaning from text :
• Semantic = knowledge of the world• Syntactic = knowledge of the structure of
language• Graphophonic = knowledge of sound-letter
relationships
These are used simultaneously
Q. Where do we get our ideas about teaching literacy?
A. Models of literacy pedagogy
The curriculum cycle (e.g. Derewianka; Gibbons)
• Building the field (content knowledge, vocabulary, speaking, listening, viewing,
reading, understanding, note-taking)
• Modeling the text type(purpose, structure, language features, form)
• Joint construction(Teacher and students write a sample text together; illustrating
the process of writing; content + language)
• Independent writing(Students plan, write and redraft their own text)
Reader roles (Luke & Freebody 1990)
• Code breaker• Text participant• Text user• Text analyst
Transformative pedagogy Cummins (2000)
Pedagogical focus on meaning, language and use
Experiential phase (activating prior knowledge) Literal phase (comprehension – who, what, where,
when, how etc) Personal phase (compare and contrast with
personal experience) Critical phase (inferences, generalisations,
alternatives, hows/whys) Creative phase (actions eg letter to editor, survey,
play, art, newsletter)
Explicit teaching
• A systematic and explicit focus on A systematic and explicit focus on vocabularyvocabulary (form, meaning & use)(form, meaning & use), , sentence structuresentence structure, and , and grammatical formsgrammatical forms
• RecyclingRecycling and and revisingrevising the language structures the language structures are vital for memory and language learningare vital for memory and language learning
..
Choosing the text
intrinsically interesting / relevantintrinsically interesting / relevantage appropriateage appropriatenot too long or too difficult not too long or too difficult illustratedillustratedenlargedenlarged fonts with easy layout (modified input) fonts with easy layout (modified input)representativerepresentative of the genre (but usable as a of the genre (but usable as a springboard to other genres)springboard to other genres)inspiring or informative or quirkyinspiring or informative or quirky (or all 3!) (or all 3!) We want students to respond!We want students to respond!
Reading the text
# teacher reads aloud# teacher/ s’o else records the text# teacher reads leaving gaps (SS fill in orally)# students read in pairs/groups # students read in role# students read around the class# students rehearse a section at home # students record themselves reading
4 phase approach
Prereading activities (activate prior kn) Focus on meaning (macro level) Gist,
main ideas Focus on meaning (micro level) – Detail +
attention to forms [vocab; grammar; genre]
Post-reading Creating and having fun with text; ‘critical’ level
(image) – news article
Diver goes headfirst into great white’s jaws and lives
(headline)
Prereading (activate prior learning)
Show headline only – predict content What 3 questions could we ask about this
story? Show a picture of a shark – 5 mins
brainstorm link to text
OR ASK ‘Has anyone ever been bitten or
attacked by an animal?’ link
Macro-level tasks - gist
Title & date
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Matching sentence halves1 The diver was looking for A to punch the shark in the eye
2 Everything went black B near the border of NSW and Victoria
3 The man used his right arm C that the shark was very big
4 Eric’s son Mark was in the boat
D abalone
5 Cape How is a fishing spot E and helped pull his father out of the water
6 Eric told the police F because he was in the mouth of a great white shark
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Micro level tasks Word-meaning match Alphabetical order Labelling a diagram Word chains / concept mapping Cloze (paraphrase of text) Generating a word bank/ word wall/ word cards Spelling and vocabulary games Sentence completion Jumbled word order Mindmap of this genre
Grammar tasks
Inanistanthismaskwassmashedintohisface Past tense (underline in green) Direct speech (underline in red) Proper nouns (circle in blue) Word classes (sort a box of vocab into
groups) Sentence line-ups (envelopes) Sentence building
Sample tasks (post-reading)A. In your group, talk about why animals attack
people. Make notes.B. Write and perform the TV news excerpt on
this story.C. Write an email from the man’s son to a
friend.D. Write the story from the shark’s point of view.E. Construct a concept map of harmful
Australian animals (land, sea and air)F. For each animal in the concept map, add a
terrific alliterative adjective to describe it. E.g. terrifying taipan, furious funnel web
G. Do a research project on another survival story.
Workshop tasks
1 Text analysis (vocab list; difficulties; goals or focus)
2 Pre-reading tasks + suggest additional resources
3 Focus on meaning – macro level
4 Focus on meaning micro level (vocabulary)
5 Focus on meaning micro level (grammar)
6 Post–reading tasks