LING 322
TEACHING LITERACY SKILLS – READING &
WRITING
WHAT IS LITERACY?
 The ability to read and write different texts for
different purposes
 Expressing and sharing meanings between people –
social and cognitive
 Skills and knowledge about how the written language
operates when processing texts
 Literacy event – story book reading, writing birthday
cards, etc
READING A TEXT
SEMANTIC INFO
READING
PHONOLOGICAL
INFO
VISUAL INFO
READING IS …
 LINKED TO SPEAKING – WRITTEN WORDS ARE
DECODED INTO SPOKEN WORDS
 BRINGS TOGETHER VISUAL INFORMATION –
WRITTEN SYMBOLS, PHONOLOGICAL
INFORMATION, SEMANTIC INFORMATION
 PHONOLOGICAL INFO + VISUAL INFO +
SEMANTIC INFO = UNDERSTANDING OF TEXT +
SOCIAL USE OF THE TEXT
WRITING IS …
 TURNING SPOKEN LANGUAGE INTO WRITTEN
WORDS
 MASTERY OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS TO FORM
WRITTEN SHAPES, HOW WRITTEN SYMBOLS
ARE COMBINED TO REPRESENT WORDS
PROBLEMS IN LITERACY
 CONVENTIONS AND RULES IN THE USE OF
WRITTEN FORMS
 SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION
 SOCIAL CONTEXTS FOR USE
 TEXT ORGANIZATION
WHAT DO SKILLED READERS DO? (pg 135)
 Combine VISUAL, PHONOLOGICAL, SEMANTIC
INFO
 Build up an understanding of text – CONTEXT,
TEXT ORGANIZATION, PARAGRAPH,
SENTENCE/CLAUSE,WORDS, MORPHEMES,
SYLLABLES, LETTERS
FACTORS AFFECTING READING AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
 FIRST LANGUAGE
 FIRST LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE
 AGE
FIRST LANGUAGE
 Tuned into how L1 works
 Eg : fluent english reader needs to learn whole new
Russian alphabet. In learning Arabic, FL learners
have to learn the alphabet and also the direction of
writing.
 Transferability of knowledge, skills, and strategies
depend on how the 2 languages work
FIRST LANGUAGE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
 The way the child is taught to read in L1 needs to be
considered
 When L1 does not have a written form or when the
medium of instruction is a foreign language – there
will be no L1 literacy
LEARNERS KNOWLEDGE OF FL
 ORAL SKILLS
 PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
 VOCABULARY
 PRONUNCIATIONS SKILLS
AGE
 Youngest age (under 6) – master fine motor skills,
joining shapes to form letters. Tracing names, or reading
single words or simple sentences
 6-9 years – can use similar methods with children for
whom English is L1
 10 years – understand how written texts work, L1 oracy
and literacy are established, able to talk and think about
differences between languages
READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH AS FL
 SET CLEAR AND BROAD APPROACH TO
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
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OBJECTIVES
CREATING A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT IN THE
CLASSROOM
ACTIVE AND MULTI SENSORY EXPERIENCE
ROUTINES AND EVENTS IN THE CLASSROOM
FORMAL APPROACHES –EMERGENT LITERACY,
LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE, WHOLE WORDS,
PHONICS
FORMAL APPROACHES
 EMERGENT LITERACY – L1 phenomenon where
children learn to read and write without any
teaching, through exposure to text and reading
 Works only with some children. A child needs lots of
time individually with a skilled adult, plentiful
supply of good books.
EMERGENT LITERACY
 KEY FEATURES :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Children choose the books they want to read
Children are motivated by choice
Children often read the same book many times – a valuable
learning experience
Meaning comes first
From meaning, attention moves to whole words, letter,
initial consonants, final consonants, vowels
Link between reading and oral skills is strong
Parents can be involved
FORMAL APPROACHES
 LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE – starts when children read and
write at sentence level. Can be done as a whole class or
individually.
 KEY FEATURES :
a. Child’s ideas are used to compose the reading text
b. Child and teacher compose the sentence together
c. Learning moves from meaningful idea-unit yo whole words
and letters
d. Words and meaning have physical reality
e. Punctuation is present
f. Integrates reading and writing
FORMAL APPROACHES
 WHOLE WORDS APPROACH – starts from word level
(the use of flash cards shown very quickly) to encourage
rapid whole word recognition. Words shown are usually
the most frequently used words
 KEY FEATURES :
1. Practice at fast recognition
2. Good sense of achievement and motivation
3. Sight of vocab provide resource to help the child work
out how letters combine into syllables
FORMAL APPROACHES
 PHONICS TEACHING – letter sound relations.
 Usually dry, boring, demotivating if done in isolation.
 Can be integrated into story reading, class joint writing,
sentence writing
 PROGRESSION – ORDER OF CONSONANTS
1. b c d g h j m n p t w
2. f l r s
3. c g
4. v x y z