Methods of teaching integrated English BEC 4203
Explain the main causes of writing problems in lower primary and how they can be addressed?
Comparative BEC 4202
Explain why there is need for a teacher to study comparative education (15 marks)
Reading is the ability to recognize, identify, interpret and make meaning of the graphics
Therefore teaching methods refer to general primary pedagogy and management strategies used
for classroom study.
Look and say method
It is a method that allows children to recognize the whole word by its appearance, length and
shape rather than individual letter it is made of. Children are shown a sound, letter, a symbol, a
word or even a sentence and asked to read after the teacher they are trained to associate words
with objects. The teacher presents the printed material and using e pointer, points at each letter,
number, word, shape or object and asks the children to name them.
Electic approach
This is a combination of several methods because no one method is adequate on its own. A
variety of methods are applied simultaneously or sequentially. In all these methods the caregiver
must consider the factors given earlier. This is a more intergrated way of teaching young
children. For example an ECDE teacher may show the letters first then ask children to identify
them. Next they will be asked to sound them and then to comnine consonants and vowels to form
words.
2. Outline the main causes of writing problems in lower primary and how they can be addressed.
Pronunciation problems
Pronunciation affects writing. One of the most frequent errors in the pupils writing is the
omission of the ‘s’ nad ed endings especially after consonants. The teacher, should give enough
practice to counter this problem.
Insufficient structural guidance
This is as a result of translation from their mother tongue. The pupils should be given sufficient
help with the arrangement and linking of the sentences from the teacher so that they cannot fall
back on translation from their mother tongue.
Insufficient oral drill
This occurs when an item has not been adequately practiced orally thus pupuls cannot be
expected to use it fully in writing and will cary over the pattern of mother tongue interference.
For example some of the pupils firs languages do not show past time through verbal tenses,
whereas English does. If such pupils resort to translation they will not get the past tense ending
right. The teacher should therefore give them enough and sufficient oral drill in the past tense
making it easy for them to learn tense correctly.
Insufficient oral preparation
This often results when the pupils have insufficient knowledge of what they are writing. This
strain of searching for ideas and language simultaneously may lead to translation increase of
careless mistakes and sometimes nonsensical writing may result. The teacher therefore should
provide sufficient oral preparation or content guidance to avoid such from occurring.
Insufficient reading
Writing like speaking mainly through imitation. Written English and spoken English are not
quite the same. If the pupils are not exposed to enough written English, they will naturally have
difficulty in writing it. Therefore the teacher should train them to read widely to avoid difficulty
in writing.
Low is a procedure for look and say method
Step 1 oral practice and of word
At tis oral stage, the teacher revises the word orally using for instance the questioning technique,
visual aids such as objects and pictures, simple demonstrations and actions.
Step 2 presentation of the word in written form
The written form of the word is presented to thepupils on the chalk board or with the use of the
flash card or flashboard. The teacher then reads the word as pupils look at it and listen.
Step 3 Imitation or repetition
During this stage the teacher reads the word and then the pupils imitate his or her model. Care
must be taken to read the word with the correct pronunciation, stress and intonation
Step 4 practice stage
At this practice stage the pupils identify the newly taught word from a list of others which they
already know. They then practice reading the word of its own or in a context for example in a
sentence. Activities in this stage are conducted using pairs, individuals or groups and must be
thorough enough for pupils to understand.
2. The Phonic method.
This is the method where children are taught the various sounds of the letters of the alphabet
when the children have mastered the sounds then they are shown how to combine letters to make
syllables and syllables into words. This is used for a basis of introducing reading. The phonic
method concentrates on forming words by pronouncing them. An example is the formation of the
words like /h/f/a/t/ =hat
In Kiswahili and many bantu langauges the phonic method is recommended because it is easier
to distinguish sounds than in English where there are conflicting sounds as in /a/ and /u/
However, the method mainly deals with words whose sound corresponds to spelling for example
pen and ten, set mat hat, net. This means the relative between the symbol and the sound is
predictable.
The phonic method is divided into two
Pure phonic and mixed phonic
Pure phonic
Learning letters and the sounds they represent
Step 1: The teacher introduces single letters and associate them with the sounds which they
represent.
Step 2: Blending
Letters sounds are blended to form words from the set of letters such as a, e to o,u, b,c,d,g,f we
can form words such as dog, fog, cod, bed, fed.