Learning of Early Language and Literacy in
Nali-Kali Classrooms
National Conference on Early Learning, New Delhi
Shailaja Menon
Sep 25, 2013
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Focus: Language teaching and learning (Grades 1-3).
Work conducted as a part of a 2-year pilot for a larger
project, Literacy Research in Indian Languages (LiRIL).
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LiRIL project:
–
Longitudinal; multiple levels of analyses; mixedmethods.
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Multi-site/language: Sonale (Maharashtra) and Yadgir
(Karnataka).
What Do We Know About Early Language
Learning?
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•
•
•
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Not an autonomous set of skills, but a socioculturally
situated practice.
Language acquisition best supported by rich,
stimulating environments.
The communicative function is a driving force of
language learning for the child (Tomasello, 2003).
Language use in homes and schools may or may not
over-lap.
First-generation literates may come from homes with
low exposure to print and with discourses that are
different school-based discourses.
[Heath (1982), Purcell-Gates (1997), Moll, et al. (1992), Gee (2001),
etc.]
• This presentation, will focus
on data from Yadgir,
Karnataka.
• Yadgir: 44% BPL;
• Half the population, small
or marginal farmers,
another 28% landless.
• Northern dialect of Kannada is spoken by over 90% of
the population; Telegu & Urdu are other significant
languages.
• 70% of the 6-14 year olds are in schools; of these, 88%
attend government schools.
• Karnataka’s instantiation of the Multi-Grade Multi-Level
(MGML) Curriculum: Nali Kali.
• MGML curricula now in approximately 15 states across
the country.
• One of the fastest spreading early language/literacy
interventions.
• Self-paced, “joyful”, “child-centered”.
The Nali Kali Curriculum
• Learning Ladder
• Milestone
• Step/Activity
• Phases/Groups
Sources of Data
•
Desk review of Nali Kali curricular
materials – teacher manuals, activity cards,
readers - 3 milestones per grade X 3 grades
= 9 milestones reviewed.
Grade Activities
in
Milestone
1
Grade
21
1
Grade
14
2
Grade
23
3
Total
Activities
in
Milestone
2
19
Activities
in
Milestone
3
22
Total No.
of
Activities
Analyzed
62
15
16
45
25
22
70
177
• 9 days of
observation X 2
classrooms = 18
days.
• Student
Assessments – 125
students (Grades
1-5).
• Selective
presentation of
results.
Key Finding
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A curriculum that is tightly organized around the
sequential introduction of letters.
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All other goals of language and literacy learning
appear to be subordinated to this primary goal.
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First decoding, then comprehension.
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Elaborations of this finding will be presented.
Elaboration 1: Oral Language?
• Severely restricted and repetitive
oral conversations.
• Oral Language typically appears in
the “Whole Class” activity at the
start of each session.
• Typically includes action songs – a
few cards may be repeated
throughout the 3 years of N-K
instruction.
• We did not observe opportunities • No spaces for children
within the curriculum for children
to bring in stories from
to engage in extended/meaningful
own lives outside
conversations with each other or
school.
the teacher.
Elaboration 2: Disconnect with Children’s
Lived Words/Worlds
•
“Content” of curriculum
determined by sequence of letters
being learnt.
•
Common words from children’s
spoken vocabulary avoided
(Beginning of Grade 1), since they
either include vowel sounds
(gunitas), or have conjunct
consonants (vattaksharas).
•
Logic of moving from known to
new is reversed.
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More common words appear in
Grades 2 and 3, than in Grade 1.
Gara-Gara,
Garagasa,
Garagasada
Example:
Disconnect with Children’s Lived Words/Worlds:
Picture card shows a picture of an elephant
Teacher A: Asks child to say what she sees in the picture
Aane?
Child: “aane”
Teacher A : Looks very puzzled because she realises that “aane” is correct and
does not fit the milestone alphabets. She then reads the word in the card and
says yes “Aane” is correct but there is another word and it is called “salaga”
Child: Does not respond
Teacher A: Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three
pictures and points to the elephant picture again.
Child: “aane”.
Teacher A : Yes correct but I said “salaga” is another word. Makes child repeat
after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant
picture again.
Child: “aane”.
Teacher : I said say “salaga” (impatiently). Makes child repeat after her, then
goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again.
Child: I don't know
Teacher A Moves on to the next student.
Salaga?
Picture
Child's Word
Nali Kali Word
Arrow
BaNa ಬಣ
shara ಶರ್
Necklace
Sara ಸರ
HavaLa ಹವಳ
Trumpet
pipi ಪಿಪಿ
Oolaga ಓಲಗ
Circle
rutu ರುತು
Vruta ವರತ
Phone
phone ಫೊನ
dooravaNi ದೂರವಣಿ
Thread
dara
Nooloo
Dawn/Sun*
surya
Udaya
* Picture showed sun rising
“…I have always insisted that words used in organizing a literacy program come
from what I call the “word universe” of people who are learning, expressing their
actual language, their anxieties, fears, demands, and dreams. Words should be
laden with the meaning of the people’s existential experience, and not of the
teacher’s experience” (Freire & Macdeo, 1987).
Progression in Word Familiarity Across
First Grade
Beginning of First Grade
Middle of First Grade
23%
52%
77%
48%
End of First Grade/Second Grade
Key
32%
68%
Unlikely to be in Oral
Vocabulary of Child
Likely to be in Oral
Vocabulary of Child
* Total Number of Words Analyzed = 58 (First Grade) + 81 (Second Grade) = 139
Elaboration 3: Bottom-Up Model of Literacy
Acquisition
Story
18%
Grade 1
Song
2%
Song Grade 2
2%
Story
25%
Decoding
81%
Grade 3
Higher Order Work
100%
Decoding
73%
Example: Emphasis on Lower-Order Skills
Teacher: Asks child to read a passage.
Child: Reads slowly and correctly, some
words are decoded akshara by akshara,
others are read as whole words.
Teacher: Makes whole words out of
the words child cannot blend together.
Interrupts 2 times and asks the class to
be quiet.
Child: Completes book.
Teacher B: Asks child to read it again
and then copy in notebook.
Child Is done with the task in 10
minutes and spends rest of class time
sitting quietly.
Given this Emphasis on Decoding,
it’s Fair to Ask: Are Children
Learning to Decode in These
Classrooms?
Akshara & Matraa Recognition
Mean No. of Akshara/Matraas Recognized at Each Grade Level
40
35
30
25
Akshara
Matraa
20
15
10
5
0
1
2
Grade Level
Word-Lists
% Students reading at Different Levels of the
Word Lists
100
90
4.2
0
16.6
8.3
25
25
80
70
8.4
60
33.3
50
40
79
8.4
58
30
33
20
10
0
1
2
Grades
3
WL 7-9
WL 4-6
WL 1-3
Below WL 1
Passages
% Students reading at Different Levels of the
Passages
100
0
12.5
4.2
20.8
90
80
8.3
70
16.7
37.5
60
50
87.5
40
4.1
66.7
30
41.7
20
10
0
1
2
Grades
3
P 7-9
P 4-6
P 1-3
Below P1
• Sizeable proportion of students struggling with decoding-level
tasks.
• Unsurprisingly, they were also struggling with
comprehension and free-writing.
• Problems in comprehension are related to at least 4 issues
that we were able to identify:
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•
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Simple decoding problems - to such children, we read out the
passages and tested their listening comprehension;
Explicit questions were easier than implicit. Even with explicit
questions, narrating story events, sequencing, etc. were
challenging. Inferential questions were very difficult.
Vocabulary was an area of concern for many of the students.
Discourse-related issues (oral vs. written discourse) seen in
some students – need to probe further.
Conclusions
What is the
Child Doing?
Transitioning
from Home
to School
Programme built on ECCE principles
should -
Nali-Kali Curriculum


Developing
Oral
Language



Build curricular and pedagogical bridges from
home to school.
Set larger goals of language and literacy
learning; establish it as meaningful and
purposeful.
Providing rich opportunities for extending
oral language learning; vocabulary acquisition
and meaning making.
Using language that moves from the known
to the new.




Acquiring
Familiarity
with Written

Language

Introducing children to relationship

(similarities and differences) between oral and
written language.
Establishing meaningful contexts for the use

of written language.

Introduction to sound-symbol relationship –
whole-part-whole.
Home culture doesn’t seem to
have a place in this curriculum.
Language learning presented as
decoding a series of aksharas
and low frequency/utility words.
Extremely restricted
opportunities for oral language
development, vocabulary
development and meaningmaking in Grades 1 & 2.
Language moves from
uncommon to more common.
Written language introduced in
a manner that is largely
disconnected from oral speech.
Literacy as “decoding”.
No attention to Conventions of
Print , etc.
Discussion
• Need to evaluate the language components of early learning
programmes in terms of what is known to be facilitative of
children’s early language and literacy acquisition.
• Need more content-specificity in identifying programmes
that work; general pedagogical principles may be good, but
not good enough.
• Learners who rely exclusively on schools to provide them
with a context for acquiring early literacy are likely to suffer
the most.
• Bernsten (2003): “Collapse at the Foundation.”
Thank You!