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Online TEYL Course | Unit 1

Module 10.0: Introduction

Pre-Chapter Questions:
These questions are designed to stimulate your thinking and introduce you to the Unit
material. Do not submit answers as they are not part of your assessment. The thinking
process will get you ready for the following:

1. What kinds of activities do you think will best promote reading and writing in second
language learners? Relate their use to your own experiences with developing literacy in
your first or second language. You may want to consider experiences you have already
had as a teacher.

2. Are there any types of activities that you would avoid? Again try to relate their use to
your own experiences.

3. Do you think it is important for reading and writing to be taught simultaneously? Why
or why not? To what extent do you feel they should receive separate treatment?

Although all the previous chapters encourage the development of literacy, this chapter
focuses more directly on it. The philosophy that we adhere to is an extension of the
communicative approach and is based upon the belief that learning to read and write is a
communal process. This approach assumes that the major goal of literacy is to effectively
create meaning as a writer or as a reader. Each learner comes to the classroom already
rich in knowledge and experience, which develops with age.

In this Unit, the following topics will be discussed:

o The language experience approach

o Literature-based curriculum
o Writing workshops

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Online TEYL Course | Unit 1

Module 10.1: Language Experience Approach

The language experience approach appeared in the educational field just before the whole
language approach, as discussed earlier in the course. Even though it originally lacked a
well-developed theoretical base, the language experience approach was so efficient that
it gained repute as a viable method of teaching reading to native speakers. Later on,
several versions of the method were suggested for use with second language learners.
This approach is founded on the idea that students can write by dictating to the teacher
what they already know and can express verbally, and that they can then read that which
has been written. The students' first reading materials therefore come from their own
repertoire of language.

The process always begins with the students' experiences. It may be a trip to the city, a
movie, a new food experience, a story, a new toy, and so on. The students first discuss the
experience with the teacher and fellow students and then dictate a "story" about that
experience to the teacher individually. The teacher writes down exactly what the student
says, including the errors. The teacher then reads aloud each sentence after it is written,
giving the student a chance to make changes. The teacher may want to wait until the story
is finished before reading it back, making sure that the student sees the connection
between what is being said and what is written. The student is then encouraged to read
the story first silently and then aloud to the teacher or to another student and then to
rewrite it, again making changes that seem necessary.

An interesting alternative is for the whole class or small groups within the class to dictate
a "group" story while the teacher writes it on the board. This is particularly effective for
young learners, aged 5 - 8. What makes this process particularly interesting is that the
students build upon each other's comments and vocabulary, without even realising the
co-operation between them.

Once the stories are ready they can be put into a collection and displayed in the classroom
as reading material for the other students. Students can also provide illustrations for their
stories, either through their own efforts at drawing or by cutting out from magazines. As
the students gain more skill in grammar and vocabulary, they can gradually be introduced
to books that are within reach and easily attainable for them.

In the transition to books and stories, teachers often find it easier to break down a story
into component parts, often through putting the story on Bristol board, cutting it into
sentence strips, and asking the students to put it back together again in proper sequence.

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Module 10.2: Advantages of the Language Experience

Approach
The biggest advantage of this approach to reading and writing is that the material is
appropriate both linguistically and cognitively since it comes from the students
themselves. Moreover, it reflects the culture of which the students are a part. The students'
own ideas and thoughts are validated from a young age, which fosters confidence and
independence in the learning process. The material being studied is relevant – it is a
creation and a finished meaningful product rather than isolated words or sentences. With
group work, students are learning from one another as well as building upon one another's
ideas. The teacher serves as a facilitator in the process rather than as an editor of what is
being produced.

Possible Limitations

Some ESL educators find that writing down the students' errors as part of the dictation
process reinforces the errors themselves rather than drawing attention to them as mistakes
to be corrected. These theorists tend to be advocates of the "pure" language approach to
learning and teaching. Most ESL educators feel that the benefits far outweigh the
disadvantages, especially for children and beginning students who are in particular need
of encouragement.

A second limitation is that through dictation, students may get the idea that writing is
simply recorded speech. Of course, it is much more than that, and through the act of
learning to write itself, students create meaning, adjust, correct, amend, and rewrite.

Here is an example of a story creation where the teacher takes the role of facilitator in
active student collaboration.

Teacher: (referring to a story she has just read aloud to the students). Let's write what
we think about the story. Did you like the story?
Ali: I didn't like the story.
Teacher: You didn't? Why? Why didn't you like it?
Ali: I didn't like it when Felix kept the ring. It was not his.
Teacher: Do the rest of you feel the same way? Did you not like it when Felix kept the
ring? (Five students raise their hands.) How do the rest of you feel?
Mai: It's okay.
Teacher: What's okay?
Mai: To keep the ring. It was his father's ring.
Ali: But his father gave it to his friend.
Teacher: How many of you agree with Mai that it was okay to keep the ring?
(Three students raise their hands.) Okay, what should we write?
Omar: Write, "We want Felix to keep the ring. It belonged to his Father."
Teacher: We wanted Felix to keep the ring? (She looks at Mai as she begins to write. Mai
nods. She writes "We wanted Felix to keep the ring. It belonged to his father.")

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And so the writing continues as the teacher guides the students, bringing out their ideas
and helping them to shape the language. The teacher is co-author, facilitator, and provides
new language upon which the children can scaffold. Indirect correction is made through
modelling. Gradually students begin to write more independently and need less and less
guidance by the teacher. Students eventually are able to finish their compositions begun
as collaborations.

Module 10.3: Literature-Based Curriculum

Even at beginner levels, the teacher can use literature as the pivot around which curriculum
can revolve. Stories can draw children into the excitement of language and literature
before they can even utter a word. Other activities using stories, as discussed earlier in the
course, can help students as they begin and continue their journey through the language
learning process. All the while, speaking, listening, and writing can be incorporated as they
relate to the literature being used. Often speaking events can be turned into writing events
as well. In addition, the language experience approach just outlined offers major
contributions to the development of literacy by providing students with materials they
themselves have written or helped to write.

Why Use Literature?

Literature is authentic. It generally is not written for the purpose of teaching new
grammatical structures or categories of vocabulary, yet children gain valuable language as
they are exposed to ideas, plots, action, dialogue, and situations in literature in the ESL
classroom. More often than not, literature absorbs and engages students in the things
they really care about, both cognitively and emotionally. Through it, they become
intimately involved with the characters and their emotions. Often they become so engaged
that they lose their inhibitions and other barriers generally associated with learning
another language. Literature provides contexts for language learning in which the
language itself (the syntax, semantics, and lexicon) becomes more memorable. Literature
also exposes the children to variety – to diversity within categories of language and culture.
For example, homes around the world, families, clothing, sports and play, occupations,
schools and education, food, and so on. By reading about these categories in other areas
and cultures of the world, the children are not just learning the language but picking up
valuable cultural knowledge as well.

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Module 10.4: The Pre-Reading Unit

Using literature in a second language classroom involves three stages or
components: Pre-reading, Reading, Post-reading. In this chapter we discuss each stage
along with suggested activities and strategies for the classroom.

The Pre-reading Unit

There are three main purposes for the pre-reading activities:

1. To help the child relate the text to prior knowledge and experience both in their
first language, and in English.
2. To pique the interest of the student.
3. To gain cultural and topical information that will contribute to further
comprehension of the text.

Pre-reading Activities

A. Asking Specific and Open-Ended Questions - these are questions in the realm of
"what do you think about . . ?", "think about your own situation; now think about [someone
else's]"; "try to imagine what it would be like to . . . "

B. Using Devices for Graphically Representing Ideas – Charts, Diagrams, etc. – A

learning chart to find out what the students already know about the theme in the
upcoming story:

WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT... WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT...

________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________

After the students finish the story, they fill in a third category - What We Learnt About . . .

The next example is a cluster, or web, which is filled in after the students answer a specific
question, such as the following:

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What do you think it means to be a hero? Is a hero someone who is brave or has extra
speed and power? Name some people you think are heroes. They may be famous people.
They may be someone from your neighbourhood. They may be make-believe people or
characters from a movie or a book. Think about what makes them heroes. Make a list with
your group. Show it to the rest of the class.

C. Using Prediction Strategies and Anticipation Guides - Students can predict what is
going to happen next in the story. To add interest, the teacher may want to write down
some of the predictions as they are given and refer to them after the reading to see which
ones come closest to the actual narrative.

D. Journal Writing – Intermediate students can be given the central theme or idea of the
upcoming piece of literature or topic. They are then asked to describe their own
experiences in this area, those of others, they may express their own opinion, or they might
write their predictions.

Module 10.5: Pre-Reading Strategies for Students

While You Read

o Relax and feel how the words and sentences flow together.
o Ask questions of yourself as you read. Is the story real? What is coming
next? Do not stop reading every time you find a word you do not
understand.
o The meaning may come to you a little further.
o If a word seems important and the meaning is not coming clear as you
read further, then look in the glossary or check with the teacher. You may
want to consult a classmate as well.
o If there are parts you do not understand, make a note of them so you can
return later.
o Re-read for better understanding. Return to the parts you did not
understand. Re-read them. Are they clearer to you now? If not, discuss
them with a classmate or with your teacher.

After You Read

o What did you learn from this book? Has it changed the way you thought
before?
o Did the book turn out as you expected?

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Talk about it with fellow students.

Pre-reading activities should not be too long - a word of caution to teachers: in an attempt
to cover "all the bases" teachers tend to expose the students to too much information,
thereby delaying the experience of reading for the children. Although it is necessary for
second language learners to be exposed to cognitive frameworks and to have their
curiosity piqued, do not saturate them in pre-reading activities.

Module 10.6: Reading Activities

The reading Unit refers to what happens while a language learner is reading. The reading
selections should contain illustrations, photographs, artwork, subtitles, glossaries and
footnotes, all as clues to meaning.

Particularly important for language learners are footnotes and glossaries that the teacher
adds at the bottom of each page. These offer definitions and clues to help students
determine meaning through context. They are extremely valuable to a second language
student as they provide help while they are reading, when the need to understand is
immediate and the motivation is strong. The younger the reader, the more this is true.

In the communicative classroom, reading is an essential component, and in ideal

situations, a scheduled time for reading will occur daily, with the teacher acting as
facilitator and aide to the students. Often, however, there is insufficient time to fully cover
a piece, in which case the teacher breaks down the reading into comprehensible pieces to
be taken up daily as a skill-based activity during class time.

Once the students have read the assigned piece, they often benefit from hearing it read
aloud by the teacher, or by listening to it on cassette. They need to hear the intonation,
the pauses, the rhythm, and the pronunciation of the words. Language students are
renowned for their love of repetition in music and story and will want to listen again and
again.

Being read aloud to for a language student is a rewarding and often exciting experience,
but being forced to read aloud in front of a group is often just the opposite. It can create
anxiety and fear in those students who do not read aloud well. Moreover, it is difficult for
a second language learner to focus on meaning while reading aloud. It is an acquired skill
and should only be expected from those who volunteer.

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Module 10.7: The Post-Reading Unit

In this stage students test their conjectures and opinions about the story and re-read any
necessary parts. They discuss with their peers and their teachers the relevant Units of the
story and at the same time, stretch their vocabulary and oral proficiency to higher levels.

Groups can consist of the whole class and the teacher, or of smaller numbers of students.
The teacher can move from group to group, acting as facilitator and guide. Planned groups
in reading activities seem to work best, as students of varying abilities can be grouped
together - each group's work will be more likely to reflect a variety of proficiency levels as
well as perspective.

Letting students choose their own groups often works with older children and adolescents,
but be careful of member selection in that hurt feelings and bruised egos can result.
Inevitably there will be a student left out for one reason or another. In order to allow
students to have more freedom of choice, and at the same time, preserve self-esteem, it
may be wise for the teacher to ask the students to write down the names of the students
with whom they would most enjoy working. The teacher can then take these lists into
consideration when forming working groups.

Questions for Discussion

Two basic types of questions are discussed here: knowledge-based questions and
reflective questions.

Knowledge-Based Questions.

Often the whole class and the teacher discuss this kind of question. The purpose is to
ensure that students have comprehended the main points in the reading or story. Often
the questions begin with how, when, where, and why. They allow the students to know
what is essential to the meaning or central idea of the story or reading.

Reflective Questions.

Discussion questions requiring more thought are best handled in pairs or small groups
where students have more opportunity for genuine interaction. The teacher can circulate
and guide when necessary. A spokesperson from each pair or group shares the ideas with
the class. The teacher may want to summarise, both orally, and with a summary paragraph
on the board, for all to see.

When pre-teen and adolescent students are working in small groups or in pairs, it is
important that they be able to select or create the questions they want to deal with. There
are some questions that the students might prefer to write about privately in their journals
rather than discuss. This should always be an option.

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Intermediate students should be encouraged to express their opinions and feelings about
the readings. Teachers should always promote higher level thinking skills as well, such as
critical thinking, analysis, debate, and so forth. Students should be encouraged to form
their own questions. Being able to think of and ask good questions is just as important as
being able to answer them and is an integral part of solid language development.

Module 10.8: Individual Projects and Activities

Interviewing

One way for students to interact with one another and with fluent English speakers is to
interview them. Students not only receive the benefits inherent in the social aspects of the
situation, but they learn and develop skills in asking questions, recording answers, and
sharing information that they learn in the interview. The teacher can readily draw on the
expatriate teaching community and invite English teachers from other parts of the world
into the classroom for the students to interview.

The following are some sample questions for the students to ask:

1. You come from a country where English is widely spoken. Now you are in . . .
[whatever country] where English is not spoken. How does that make you feel?
2. Is it difficult? Is it exciting? Are there advantages?
3. Have there been times when you felt fearful? Explain, please.
4. How did you overcome the problems involved in being in a new culture?

Interview several people that are fluent speakers of English. After each interview, write
down what you can remember of the answers you received. Share them with your class.

Writing in a Specific Genre

Intermediate students often like to try their own hand at writing in a specific genre, often
poetry, a short story, a play, and so on. When the ESL teacher as a regular teaching tool
uses literature, students tend to be highly motivated to express their own feelings and
opinions about what is important in life. One exercise that students can work on
progressively is a Desiderata collage.

Write your own list of things that you think are important in life. Share your paper with a
partner. Ask your partner to write a brief response, either agreeing or disagreeing, or both.

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Module 10.9: Speech Writing

Writing a short speech on a topic about which the students feel strongly can be very
exhilarating for a second language student. Students are encouraged to write their own
short speech and share it first with their group and then with the class.

Write your own "I Have a Dream" speech (modelled after Martin Luther King's
autobiographical speech). It may be about a dream or wish that you have. Think about
what you would like the world to be like.

Students are encouraged to share their speech within their group. The student can either
read it or record it on cassette and play it for the group. The group members are then
asked to make a list of the ideas they feel to be most important in the speech. These ideas
are then discussed. Do they agree with what has been said in their colleague's speech?
Why or why not? What do they like about the speech? Do they have any questions about
it?

Journal Writing

Journals provide children the opportunity to express their thoughts in writing and to relate
what they read and learn from the teacher to their own lives. In a standard journal, students
often describe events, experiences, family, and for older children, hopes and dreams. Often
students write about what happened on a given day; other times they are given a specific
topic from the teacher, usually related to what they are studying.

Reaction Entries: here the children write their responses to something specific - a story,
poem, lesson, a picture, or a song. The topic should be something that the children find
interesting and thought-provoking.

Dialogue Entries: Using a double column format, students write about their specified
topic in the left hand column; in the right column, a partner or the teacher responds. The
writing then becomes a conversation between the student and peers or the student and
the teacher.

Journal writing can be used as the root from which longer, more detailed writing emerges
as the children become more skilled in the language. It is a venue for students to express
thoughts, a brainstorming mechanism, a means for generating and clarifying ideas, and a
means for ongoing dialogue with the teacher.

Book Reviews

Book reviews can become an integral part of the independent reading process and provide
a means by which students can share their impressions and initiate dialogue and debate
with their peers and teacher. The following is a sample form:

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BOOK REVIEW

Title: _______________________________________________

Author: _____________________________________________

Type of Book: _________________________________________

Your Name: __________________________________________

Date: _______________________________________________

What did you feel this book was about?

___________________________________________________

What did you like about this book?

___________________________________________________

Was there anything that you did not like about this book?
___________________________________________________

Do you think your classmates will like this book?

___________________________________________________

Summary: There are many ways to promote literacy in a second language classroom,
some of which are better than others. In this chapter, we have presented a few activities
that have proven successful with the communicative method of teaching a second
language. Using versions of the language experience approach, we begin where each
student is. In other words, we offer and invite students to work not only on their speaking
skills, but their reading and writing as well. We involve them with a literature-
supplemented curriculum, we use the power of voice and language to heighten awareness
and fully engage the minds of the children. Motivation and guidance are provided through
a group approach to literature investigation in which the students can take full advantage
of the classroom community they and the teacher have established. At higher levels,
students take on progressively more complex and advanced reading and writing tasks in
an effort to become more broadly prepared in the second language. All the while, all four
skills are integrated and absorbed at the rate of each individual learner, and the language
is allowed to grow naturally out of what is being learnt.

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