bachelor of education in foundation phase language …

BACHELOR OF EDUCATION IN FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING

ENGLISH HOME AND FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY TEACHING IN

THE FOUNDATION PHASE 2

YEAR 2 F-EHF 222

Level 6 Credits 15

CURRICULUM AND LEARNING GUIDE

Copyright SANTS Private Higher Education Institution. Pty. Ltd. PO Box 72328, Lynnwood Ridge, 0040

2020

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without permission in writing, from SANTS.

ENGLISH HOME AND FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY TEACHING IN THE FOUNDATION PHASE 2 CURRICULUM AND LEARNING GUIDE

BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) i

2020 Edition

Program coordinator Prof Ina Joubert

SANTS Private Higher Education Institution

Discipline Coordinator Dr Giulietta Harrison SANTS Private Higher Education Institution

Author(s) Ms Angi Jones Rhodes University

Reviewer Dr Melanie Moen University of Pretoria

Language editor Dr Laraine O’Connell Language Practitioner

Technical editor Ms Julie Dorling SANTS Private Higher Education Institution

Graphic artist N/A

Printing BusinessPrint


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) ii

BACHELOR OF EDUCATION IN FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING

1. WELCOME TO THE MODULE Dear SANTS student,

We welcome you to the English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2 (F-EHF 222) module that forms part of the Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase Teaching programme and wish you success in your studies. The purpose of the Bachelor in Education in Foundation Phase Teaching programme is to offer a curriculum that develops teachers who can acquire and eventually articulate focused knowledge, skills and general principles appropriate for Foundation Phase teaching, as specified in the Revised Policy on the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2015).

The Bachelor of Education (BEd) qualification requires that teachers develop a depth of specialised knowledge, practical competencies (skills) and experience in a Foundation Phase context. As part of the BEd qualification, you will need to gain experience in applying what you are learning during a period of Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL). This means you will spend some time teaching Foundation Phase learners in an authentic (real) context.

The BEd qualification programme is aligned with the Revised Policy on the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications, in particular Appendix C of the policy that outlines the Basic Competencies of a Beginner Teacher (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2015, Government Gazette, No. 38487, p. 62).

2. OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAMME At the end of the four-year Bachelor of Education Teaching programme, you must demonstrate the following competencies related to your own academic growth and potential to work with Foundation Phase learners:

Read, write and speak the language in ways that facilitate your own academic learning.

Read, write, and speak the language/s of instruction related to Foundation Phase in ways that facilitate teaching and learning instruction in the classroom.

Demonstrate competence in communicating effectively, in general and in relation to Foundation Phase specialised knowledge in order to mediate and facilitate learning.


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) iii

Interpret and use basic mathematics and elementary statistics to facilitate your own academic learning and to manage teaching learning and assessment.

Use information and communications technology (ICT) in daily life and in teaching.

Explain the contents and purpose of the national curriculum with particular reference to Foundation Phase.

Demonstrate skill in planning, designing, and implementing learning programmes that are developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive to Foundation Phase context.

Demonstrate competence in identifying and accommodating diversity in the Foundation Phase classroom, and in the identification of learning and social problems. This includes planning, designing and implementing learning programmes to accommodate diversity.

Demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical and pedagogical fields of study that influence education and teaching, as well as learning decisions and practices.

Demonstrate the ability to function responsibly within an education system, an institution and the community in which an institution is located.

Demonstrate a respect for and commitment to the educator profession. Demonstrate an understanding of:

o the principles underpinning the disciplines for the various learning areas;

o pedagogical content knowledge of the learning subjects to be taught;

o planning and designing learning opportunities; o resourcing teaching and learning; and o reflecting on teaching.

Demonstrate competence in observing, assessing and recording learner progress regularly.

Reflect upon and use assessment results to solve problems and to improve teaching and learning.

Demonstrate competence in selecting, using and adjusting teaching and learning strategies in ways that meet the needs of both learners and context.

Demonstrate competence in managing and administering learning environments and supporting learners in ways that promote social justice ideals.

Conduct yourself responsibly, professionally and ethically in the classroom, the school and the broader community in which the school is located.

Display a positive work ethic that benefits, enhances and develops the status of the teaching profession and of early childhood education more broadly.


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3. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE The BEd degree is presented on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Exit level 7 with minimum total credits of 498, earned over the four years. The table below shows the curriculum implementation plan of the BEd degree you are studying. It also tells you how many credits each module carries. You will also see at which NQF level the study material has been prepared and which modules you need to pass each year. This four-year programme has been planned to strengthen the competencies you will need as a beginner teacher. Outline of modules of the BEd in (Foundation Phase Teaching) programme

Module name Code NQF L Credits Module name Code NQF L Credits YEAR 1

SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2 Academic Literacy B-ALI 110 5 10 Critical Literacies for Teachers B-CLT 120 5 10

Fundamental Mathematics B-FMA 110 5 10 Introduction to Mathematics Teaching in the Foundation Phase F-MAT 120 5 10

Computer Literacy B-CLI 110 5 10 Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 1: Classroom Practice F-PFS 121 5 10

Education Studies 1: Theories of Child Development B-EDS 111 5 10 Education Studies 2: Theories of

Learning and Teaching B-EDS 122 6 12

Introduction to the Language and Literacy Landscape in the Foundation Phase

F-LLL 110 5 10 Introduction to Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase F-LSK 120 5 10

Language of Conversational Competence: isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi

C-LCX 120 C-LCZ 120 C-LCS 120

5 10

50 52-62 Workplace Integrated Learning Year 1 F-WIL 101 5 18 Sub-total credits for Year 1: 120 - 130

YEAR 2 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2

English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1

F-EHF 211 6 15 English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2

F-EHF 222 6 15

Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1: Afrikaans / isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi

F-HLA 211 F-HLX 211 F-HLZ 211 F-HLS 211

6 12 Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2: Afrikaans / isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi


6 12

Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 2: School and Classroom Management

F-PFS 212 6 12 Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 3: Social Justice and Current Issues in Education

F-PFS 223 6 12

Education Studies 3: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment B-EDS 213 6 12 Education Studies 4: History of

Education and Education Policies B-EDS 224 6 12

Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1: Personal and Social Well-being

F-LSK 211 6 12 Mathematics Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1 F-MAT 221 6 12

English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1

F-FLE 221 6 12

First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 1: Afrikaans / isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi

F-FLA 221 F-FLX 221 F-FLZ 221 F-FLS 221

6 12

48-63 60-63 Workplace Integrated Learning Year 2 F-WIL 202 6 20 Sub-total credits for Year 2: 128 - 146


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Module name Code NQF L Credits Module name Code NQF L Credits YEAR 3

SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2


F-EHF 313 6 15 First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2: Afrikaans / isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi


6 12



6 12 English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2

F-FLE 322 6 12

Mathematics Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2 F-MAT 312 6 12 Mathematics Teaching in the

Foundation Phase 3 F-MAT 323 6 12

Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase 2: Physical Education

F-LSK 312 6 12 Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase 3: Creative Arts F-LSK 323 6 12

Education Studies 5: Sociology of Education B-EDS 315 7 14

Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 4: Teacher Identity and the Profession

F-PFS 324 7 14

50-65 38-50 Workplace Integrated Learning Year 3 F-WIL 303 6 22 Sub-total credits for Year 3: 122 - 125

YEAR 4 SEMESTER 1 SEMESTER 2


F-EHF 414 7 14 First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 3: Afrikaans / isiXhosa / isiZulu / Sepedi


7 14



7 14 English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase 3

F-FLE 423 7 14

Digital Pedagogies for Teachers B-DPT 410 5 10 Mathematics Teaching in the Foundation Phase 4 F-MAT 414 7 14

Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase 4: Natural Sciences and Technology

F-LSK 414 7 14 Life Skills Teaching in the Foundation Phase 5: Social Sciences F-LSK 425 7 14

38-52 28-42 Research in Education B-RED 400 7 22 Workplace Integrated Learning Year 4 F-WIL 404 7 26 Sub-total credits for Year 4: 128 - 128 Total credits for programme: 498 - 529

Language competencies will be assessed during the course of your programme. The modules in the programme can be divided into four broad types of learning (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2015, pp. 9-11). Each type of learning develops specific knowledge, values and attitudes, competencies and skills to achieve the overall exit level outcomes of the programme. The different types of learning are: Fundamental learning, which includes student personal and academic development:

This type of learning involves academic literacy, critical literacies for teachers, fundamental mathematics, computer literacy and digital pedagogies for teachers.


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) vi

Disciplinary learning:

This learning includes subject matter knowledge and includes the study of education and its foundations and specific specialised subject matter;

knowledge of the child and how the child grows, develops and learns; understanding of the processes of teaching and learning and the articulation

between child development and teaching and learning; and understanding of the historical, socio-political, policy and curriculum contexts

of education particularly in South Africa. Situational learning:

Situational learning refers to knowledge of the varied learning situations of learners. This learning involves specifically learning about the context of the learner. These modules are called professional studies.

Professional Studies focuses on: o the complex context of teachers and teaching and learning in general

and Foundation Phase in particular; o multi-faceted and multi-layered positions and roles a teacher occupies;

and o relationships between teaching and learning in the context of the

school and classroom and specifically the Foundation Phase classroom.

Pedagogical learning:

This learning includes disciplinary general pedagogic learning knowledge referring to the study of principles, practices and methods of teaching;

pedagogic content knowledge includes specialised pedagogic content or subject knowledge which includes how to present concepts, methods, strategies, approaches and rules of a specific discipline when teaching; and

it also includes tools for implementing teaching and learning and assessment in context.


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) vii

Types of learning and modules in the BEd (Foundation Phase Teaching) programme Types of learning Modules

Fundamental learning Student personal and academic development

Academic Literacy Fundamental Mathematics Computer Literacy Critical Literacies for Teachers Digital Pedagogies for Teachers

Disciplinary learning Education studies

Education Studies 1: Theories of Child Development Education Studies 2: Theories of Learning and Teaching Education Studies 3: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment Education Studies 4: History of Education and Education Policies Education Studies 5: Sociology of Education

Situational learning Professional studies

Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 1: Classroom Practice Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 2: School and Classroom Management Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 3: Social Justice and Current Issues in Education Professional Studies in the Foundation Phase 4: Teacher Identity and the Profession

Pedagogical learning Pedagogy

FOUNDATION PHASE (FP) Introduction to the Language and Literacy Landscape in the FP Introduction to Mathematics Teaching in the FP Mathematics Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4 Introduction to Life Skills in the FP Life Skills Teaching in the FP 1: Personal and Social Well-being Life Skills Teaching in the FP 2: Physical Education Life Skills Teaching in the FP 3: Creative Arts Life Skills Teaching in the FP 4: Natural Sciences and Technology Life Skills Teaching in the FP 5: Social Sciences Languages: Five language options: English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4 Choose another (additional) language at Home Language level OR First Additional Language level: Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi Only if Afrikaans is chosen as another language: choose between isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi as Language of Conversational Competence (LoCC) Afrikaans Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) viii

Types of learning Modules

English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2 and 3 Choose between isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi as Language of Conversational Competence (LoCC) isiXhosa Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4 English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2 and 3 isiZulu Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4 English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2 and 3 Sepedi Home Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2, 3 and 4 English First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the FP 1, 2 and 3

We call these four types of learning, the knowledge mix of a module (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2015, p. 11). The level of knowledge for this module is set at level 6 and it carries 15 credits. For every credit you should spend approximately 10 hours mastering the content. You will thus have to spend at least 150 hours studying the F-EHF 222 material and doing the assignments and any assessments. The knowledge mix of this level 6 module with the related credits is as follows:

Disciplinary learning, (Study of education and its foundations, 1 credit and Subject knowledge, 5 credits);

Pedagogical learning, (General pedagogic knowledge, 2 credits and Pedagogic content knowledge, 6 credits); and

Situational learning with 1 credit. 4. PURPOSE OF THIS MODULE Purpose Through this module, students will (a) understand the structure of the English language, (b) understand the various reading theories and the impact on literacy teaching, (c) understand how the structure of the English language impacts and therefore has particular implications for the teaching of reading and writing, (d) understand and analyse literature, (e) understand and use children’s literature (fictional texts) to enhance language development and literacy teaching for Grade 1, (f) draw on language and learning theories to plan an appropriate language and literacy programme in Grade 1, (g) discuss the elements of a language-rich environment, (h) explain some of the barriers to learning impedes optimal language acquisition and effective instruction in literacy.


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This module will also introduce students to pedagogical components essential for teaching English as an additional language.

Learning outcomes At the end of this module, students should be able to:

Understand the structure of the English language. Explain the differences between the various reading theories. Plan appropriate instruction for the teaching of Reading and Writing in Grade 1 Analyse children’s literature (fictional texts). Understand the importance of children’s literature in conventional literacy

practices. Plan a language and literacy programme by:

o Planning appropriate literacy events and practices for Grade 1 learners. Assess Grade 1 learners’ development in reading and writing. Discuss the elements of a language-rich environment. Appropriate methods for teaching English as first additional language. Support learners with barriers to language acquisition and literacy teaching.

Content

Understanding the structure of the English language, namely: o Phonology; o Morphology; o Semantics; o Syntax; and o Pragmatics.

Differentiating between the different theories of reading and the impact on literacy teaching

Planning appropriate instruction for the teaching of Reading and Writing in Grade 1:

o Alphabetic principle; o Sound-spelling patterns; o Decoding and encoding strategies for Grade 1; o Language and listening comprehension; o Mechanical skills essential for successful writing; o Creative writing skills for successful writing; and o Writing short narrative texts for Grade 1.

Analysing children’s literature (poetry and prose) appropriate for Grade 1. Understanding the importance of children’s literature in promoting conventional

literacy practices:


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) x

o Use children’s literature to teach: alphabetic principle; sound-spelling patterns; and high-frequency words.

o language and listening comprehension. o Mechanical skills essential for successful writing:

the structure of narrative texts. o Creative Writing skills essential for successful writing:

Poetry. Identifying and applying suitable theories and methods for teaching Home

Language English in Grade 1. Planning literacy events and practices with accompanying teaching resources

appropriate for Grade 1: o E.g. alphabet frieze.

Assess Grade 1 learners’ development in reading and writing. Discuss the elements for designing a language-rich environment appropriate

for Grade 1. Select appropriate instructional methods for teaching English as additional

language in Grade 1. Identify and support learners with barriers to language acquisition and literacy

teaching. Competencies

Applied subject and pedagogical content knowledge; Planning and development of responsive learning environments; Planning and assessment of and for learning; Language integration in Grade 3; Strategies to support language transitions to Grade 4; Applied knowledge of classroom practice; Identification of language learning barriers; Development of resources; and Reflection on teaching practice.

5. WORKING THROUGH THE CURRICULUM AND

LEARNING GUIDE (CLG) We developed the CLG to help you master the content through a distance education mode. You will not have full time tutoring or support but the Student Orientation Booklet, accessible at MySANTS, offers guidelines for distance learning. Aspects such as plagiarism are also explained in this booklet. Make use of MySANTS as a support system for any academic queries.


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xi

These guidelines will help you to:

Work consistently throughout the semester; Manage your time efficiently; Complete assignments on time; and Prepare for tests and examinations.

As you read the CLG, draw on your own experiences and the knowledge you already have. The core text and recommended reading texts included in the CLG will also help you to deepen your understanding of the content and concepts you are working through. In the CLG, you will find a glossary (word list). The wordlist will help you understand difficult concepts by providing the definitions (meaning) of such words. You will also find icons (small pictures). The icons indicate the type of activity you must do. If you do each activity as suggested, you ought to advance and consolidate your understanding of the core concepts in the module. You will find a list of the icons used in this CLG on the next page. Reading and writing activities have been designed to help you make connections with what you already know, master the content and reflect on what you have learnt. Scenarios (situations resembling an authentic (real-life) context) and dialogues provide background to what you are learning. The review/self-assessment questions are based on the learning outcomes. Doing each activity will help you understand the content. Get a book or file in which you complete all your activities. Write full sentences and always use your own words to show your understanding. Working systematically through each activity, according to the estimated time for each activity as provided, will also help prepare you for assessments (assignments and the examination). Try to find other students to work with. It is easier to share ideas and complete activities when working in a study group. Doing so, may help you to master the content more easily. Commentaries appear at the bottom of some activities. Commentaries are not answers but rather a reflection to guide your understanding of the activity and to assist you in knowing whether your own answer is appropriate or not. These commentaries alert you to aspects you need to consider when doing the activity.


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WRITING ACTIVITY An activity is designed to help you assess your progress and manage your learning. Sometimes you will have to define, explain, and/or interpret a concept. Scenarios and dialogues are often used to contextualise an activity. They will also help you bridge theory and practice by linking the concept and real life situations. When responding to the activities, use your own words to show your understanding. Do not copy directly from the text of the CLG. At the end of most activities, you will find commentary that aims to guide your thinking and assess how well you have understood the concepts. The activities are numbered for easy reference. READING ACTIVITY Reading activities may require you to read additional material not printed in the Curriculum and Learning Guide. These readings will be either the full text or part of a core or recommended journal article. Journal articles will give you an expanded or alternative view on a concept. You might be required to explain the concept from a different perspective or compare what has been stated in the CLG with what you read in the journal article. STUDY GROUP DISCUSSION All study group discussions or peer activities require preparation BEFORE the discussion. Preparation includes reading and completing activities in writing. Study group discussions are an opportunity for reflection and for you to apply what you have learnt. Sharing your learning experiences may help you to learn with and from each other. Study group discussions can be done in your own study group or with a peer. REFLECTION Reflection means to think deeply or carefully about something. Reflection activities require you to review critically what you have learnt and link this with your personal experiences or what you have observed during Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL).


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REVIEW SELF-ASSESSMENT Often questions are provided at the end of each unit to assist self-assessment. These questions are similar to the type of questions that you may be asked in assignments or examinations.

6. SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

As a distance education student, it is your responsibility to engage with the content and to direct your own learning by managing your time efficiently and effectively.

We designed the following self-directed learning programme template so that you can plan your time carefully and manage your independent learning. The template will also help you to keep to due dates and thus complete the assignments on time. Careful time management and breaking the work up into manageable chunks will help you work through the content without feeling too stressed. Once you have worked through the activities you should be able to contribute to discussions in your study group and during the non-compulsory student academic support sessions with peers and academic tutors. When completing the template, consider the following:

This module is offered in the second semester of your second year of study.

The semester is 15 - 20 weeks long. The module carries 15 credits and has been developed for NQF Level 6.

It should take you about 150 hours to work through this module. The 150 hours will be spent reading, studying, and completing the

activities in this CLG, as well as the assignments. You will also spend time preparing and writing the examination.

The estimated time to read for and complete each activity has been suggested.

You will need 5 to 10 hours to complete each assignment. This means you will need to budget about 20 hours in total.

You should plan to spend about 10 to 20 hours preparing for the examination in order to be successful.

Plan your studies and keep pace of your progress by completing the template below. It is not divided into specific weeks, but into the number of units in the CLG. Depending on the nature of the content, it is possible to complete two or more units in one week. Sometimes, you may only be able to complete one unit in a week. Use


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xiv

the template as a guide to help you plan and pace yourself as you work through the content, and activities in each unit. Add dates to the template indicating when you plan to start working through a particular unit. In addition, using a SANTS academic calendar will also assist you to pace your learning. There is also space to indicate the due dates (deadlines) of the assessments.

UNIT IN CLG CONTENT IN CLG DATE PLANNED

UNIT 1 SOUNDS AND

SPEECH

What is Language?

The difference between listening and hearing

From listening to speaking

Assessment of speech

UNIT 2 READING AND

PHONICS

Reading readiness

Components of reading

How to teach reading

Use and assessment of reading strategies

UNIT 3 WRITING AND

WORDS

Drawing and graphics

Handwriting and creative writing

The writing process

Traditional methods to teach handwriting


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UNIT IN CLG CONTENT IN CLG DATE PLANNED

UNIT 4 LEARNING IN

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Introduction to EFAL

Code-switching within classroom practice

Assessment of EFAL as LOLT

ASSIGNMENT 1

ASSIGNMENT 2

EXAMINATION

7. CORE READING Core readings are an important part of your studies as you need to refer to these text(s) when answering some of the questions in the activities.

Van der Walt, C. & Evans, R. (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. Pretoria, South Africa: Van Schaik Publishers. Available at EBSCHOhost permalink: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live

8. RECOMMENDED READING As a distance education student, you cannot only rely on your CLG. We recommend that you also study the following sources so that you have broader insight into the study material:

1. Department of Basic Education, 2011, National Curriculum Statement: Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement: Foundation Phase Grades 1-3, Pretoria: Government Printers. Available online at: https://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/CurriculumAssessmentPolicyStatements(CAPS)/CAPSFoundation.aspx


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2. Joubert, I. (Ed.), Bester. M., Meyer., E., Evans, R. & Phatudi, N. (2019). Literacy in the Foundation Phase. 2nd ed. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers. Available at EBSCHOhost permalink: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2125844&site=ehost-live

You can access the recommended reading texts by using the library tab on MySANTS and then click on the EBSCOhost link. 9. ASSESSMENT OF THE MODULE The SANTS assessment policy is included in the Student Orientation Booklet and is also available on MySANTS. The policy provides information regarding the types of assessment you will need to do. It includes information about progression rules, perusal of marks, or requests for remarking assessments. In this module, both formative and summative assessments are done over a period of time (continuous assessment). The activities in the Curriculum and Learning Guide (CLG) are varied and are aimed at assisting you with self-directed learning. Reflecting on what you are learning and discussing it in a study group, is always helpful through self-assessment. The personal reflection or review is aimed at revision, reinforcement, and self-assessment while informal peer assessment takes place during the group discussions. The following table provides a summary of the assessment for this module: 9.1 Summary of assessment TYPES OF ASSESSMENT

FORM OF ASSESSMENT WEIGHTING

Formative assessment Two written assignments (100 marks each)

60%

Summative assessment Examination (100 marks) 40% TOTAL 100%

9.2 Self-assessment An activity aimed at self-assessment is included at the end of each unit. Before you complete the self-assessment activity, reflect on what you have learnt in the respective unit. Revise the main concepts and if there is any topic or concept you are unsure about, go back to the relevant unit and revise.


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9.3 Assignments To support you in your self-directed learning and to keep track of your own progress, we will provide guidelines or the memoranda on MySANTS after the assignments have been marked and returned. In order to demonstrate that you have gained the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes described in the learning outcomes of the module, you need to do the following:

Complete and submit each assignment (100 marks); and Submit both assignments that constitute 60% of your final promotion mark to

qualify for admission to the examination. The task brief (specific information regarding what to do and how to prepare for each assignment) will be explained in the assignment itself. These assignments are provided at the beginning of the first semester together with your CLG for this module. The assignments are also available on MySANTS. 9.4 Semester examination At the end of the semester, you have the opportunity to sit for a formal summative assessment. This includes the following:

Write a formal examination, out of 100 marks that will constitute 40% of your

final promotion mark. Please read the SANTS Assessment Policy that deals with all aspects of the general assessment and the examination policy.

A minimum of 40% in the examination is required to qualify for a supplementary examination.

10. PLAGIARISM WARNING FOR STUDENTS Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct that can lead to educational or disciplinary action and has severe consequences - in some cases, civil or criminal prosecution. You are guilty of plagiarism if you copy from another person’s work (e.g. a book, an article, a website or even another student’s assignment) without acknowledging the source and thereby pretending it is your own work. You would not steal someone’s purse so why steal his/her work or ideas? Submitting any work that you have written but have already used elsewhere (thus not “original”), is also a form of plagiarism (auto-plagiarism). An example is when you submit the same assignment or a part of it for two different modules.


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Avoiding plagiarism by being academically honest is not difficult. Here is what you should do:

Submit only your own and original work. When using another person’s actual words, sentences or paragraphs,

Indicate exactly which parts are not your own (even if presented in the CLG). You must do this by referencing in accordance with the Harvard style - a recognised system specified by SANTS, and you must use quotation marks (“...”).

You must also reference precisely when using another person’s ideas, opinions or theory. You must do so even if you have paraphrased using your own words.

You must acknowledge any information or images that you have downloaded from the Internet by providing the URL link (web address) and the date on which the item was accessed (downloaded).

Never allow any student to use or copy any work from you and then to present it as their own.

Never copy what other students have done to present as your own. Prepare original assignments for each module and do not submit the same

work for another module. Always list any student who contributed to a group assignment. Never

submit the work as if only you worked on the assignment.

The Examination Regulations and Procedures policy contains the following in Section 7.10:

Students may not act in a dishonest way with regard to any test or examination assessment, as well as with regard to the completion and/or submission of any other academic task or assignment. Dishonest conduct includes, among other things, plagiarism, as well as the submission of work by a student for the purpose of assessment, when the work in question is, with the exception of group work as decided by the Academic Committee, the work of somebody else either in full or in part, or where the work is the result of collusion between the student and another person or persons.

All cases of suspected plagiarism will be investigated and if you are found guilty, there are serious consequences. Disciplinary action that may result includes:

You may lose marks for the assignment/activity. Your marks may be reduced by as much as 50%. You may even be given zero.

The module may be cancelled and you will have to enrol again. This is a great waste of time and money.


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Your registration for that entire year may be cancelled. That means not all the marks you achieved in all the modules you enrolled for will count anything.

In some cases, prosecutions in courts of law may be instituted. Plagiarism is considered such a serious academic crime that you are required to sign the standard document (Declaration of Original Work) to every assignment that you submit by either using the assignment booklet or electronic submission. The Declaration of Original Work is printed on the cover of the assignment booklets.


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CONTENT

BACHELOR OF EDUCATION IN FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING ii 1. WELCOME TO THE MODULE ........................................................................... ii 2. OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAMME ................................................................ ii 3. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE ............................................................................ iv 4. PURPOSE OF THIS MODULE ........................................................................ viii 5. WORKING THROUGH THE CURRICULUM AND LEARNING GUIDE (CLG) .. x 6. SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ......................................................................... xiii 7. CORE READING .............................................................................................. xv 8. RECOMMENDED READING ............................................................................ xv 9. ASSESSMENT OF THE MODULE .................................................................. xvi

9.1 Summary of assessment ....................................................................... xvi 9.2 Self-assessment .................................................................................... xvi 9.3 Assignments ......................................................................................... xvii 9.4 Semester examination .......................................................................... xvii

10. PLAGIARISM WARNING FOR STUDENTS ................................................... xvii

ENGLISH HOME AND FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY TEACHING IN THE FOUNDATION PHASE 2 1

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 2. PURPOSE OF THE MODULE ........................................................................... 1 3. STRUCTURE AND OUTCOMES OF THIS MODULE ....................................... 2 4. GLOSSARY ....................................................................................................... 3

UNIT 1: SOUNDS AND SPEECH 7 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 7 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 1 ................................. 7

SECTION 1: WHAT IS LANGUAGE? 8 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 8

1.1 Definition of language .............................................................................. 8 1.2 Other important definitions ...................................................................... 8

2. HUMAN LANGUAGE ......................................................................................... 9 3. LITERACY ....................................................................................................... 11

3.1 Emergent literacy .................................................................................. 11 3.2 Literacy in current society ...................................................................... 13 3.3 Traditional and changed literacy practices ............................................ 14 3.4 The South African Context .................................................................... 14 3.5 The role of the Foundation Phase teacher in facilitating language

development .......................................................................................... 16

SECTION 2: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND HEARING 20 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 20 2. PROMOTING LISTENING ............................................................................... 21


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xx

3. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND HEARING ......................... 22 4. TEACHER INPUT AND LEARNER INTAKE .................................................... 22

SECTION 3: FROM LISTENING TO SPEAKING 24 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 24 2. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ....................................................................... 24 3. TEACHER LANGUAGE USE .......................................................................... 26 4. THE PRACTICE OF STORYTELLING ............................................................ 27

4.1 How a teacher can use a story to improve literacy development .......... 28 4.2 How this story can be used to teach...................................................... 32 4.3 Selecting a story .................................................................................... 33 4.4 Types of stories ..................................................................................... 36

SECTION 4: ASSESSMENT OF SPEECH 37 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 37 2. ASSESSMENT OF TEACHER TALK .............................................................. 37 3. ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................ 38

3.1 Assessment for learning and assessment of learning ........................... 39 3.2 Different forms of assessment ............................................................... 39

3.2.1 Observation - involves the teacher watching a child doing something ................................................................................. 40

3.2.2 Oral - involves the child talking, doing something and/or explaining something ................................................................ 40

3.3.3 to complete a task .................................................................... 40

UNIT 2: READING AND PHONICS 43 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 43 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 2 ............................... 44

SECTION 1: READING READINESS 45 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 45 2. READING READINESS AND EMERGENT LITERACY................................... 45 3. INDICATORS OF READING READINESS ...................................................... 46 4. PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR MANIFESTATIONS ....................... 48

4.1 Visual perceptual problems are predominant in reading problems ........ 49 4.1.1 Visual memory .......................................................................... 49 4.1.2 Visual sequencing .................................................................... 49 4.1.3 Visual motor coordination ......................................................... 49 4.1.4 Visual figure ground perception ................................................ 50 4.1.5 Visual attention ......................................................................... 50 4.1.6 Visual closure ........................................................................... 50 4.1.7 Visual discrimination ................................................................. 50

4.2 Auditory discrimination .......................................................................... 50 4.3 Additional readiness .............................................................................. 50


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xxi

4.4 Tearing and cutting paper ..................................................................... 51

SECTION 2: COMPONENTS OF READING 53 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 53 2. COMPONENTS OF READING ........................................................................ 53 3. A PHONICS LESSON...................................................................................... 57

3.1 Different language structures ................................................................ 59 3.2 Three types of phonics .......................................................................... 63

SECTION 3: HOW TO TEACH READING 66 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 66 2. APPROACHES TO READING ......................................................................... 66

SECTION 4: USE AND ASSESSMENT OF READING STRATEGIES 69 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 69 2. READING STRATEGIES ................................................................................. 69 3. STAGES OF READER DEVELOPMENT ........................................................ 71 4. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF READING ................... 73

UNIT 3: WRITING AND WORDS 77 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 77 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 3 ............................... 77

SECTION 1: DRAWING AND GRAPHICS 78 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 78 2. COLOURING IN VERSUS DRAWING............................................................. 79 3. PERCEPTUAL SKILLS NEEDED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF

HANDWRITING ............................................................................................... 80

SECTION 2: HANDWRITING AND CREATIVE WRITING 86 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 86 2. SHARED READING AND WRITING ............................................................... 87 3. HANDWRITING AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS ......................................... 89 4. IDEAS FOR PROMPTING CREATIVE WRITING ........................................... 91

SECTION 3: THE WRITING PROCESS 95 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 95 2. THE MECHANICAL PROCESS OF TEACHING HANDWRITING ................... 95 3. HANDWRITING SKILLS THAT NEED TO BE DEVELOPED IN GRADE 1 ..... 96

SECTION 4: TRADITIONAL METHODS TO TEACH HANDWRITING 99 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 99 2. HANDWRITING SKILLS ................................................................................ 101 3. PATTERNS AND LETTERS .......................................................................... 102 4. OTHER INFLUENCING FACTORS ............................................................... 103 5. CREATIVE WRITING .................................................................................... 104


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xxii

UNIT 4: LEARNING IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 110 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 110 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 4 ............................. 111

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO EFAL 112 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 112 2. LITERACY ACQUISITION ............................................................................. 112 3. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION .......................................................... 113 4. WHO IS THE EFAL LEARNER? .................................................................... 114

SECTION 2: CODE-SWITCHING WITHIN CLASSROOM PRACTICE 115 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 115 2. WHAT IS CODE-SWITCHING? ..................................................................... 115 3. CONTEXTUAL FACTORS ............................................................................. 117

SECTION 3: ASSESSMENT OF EFAL AS LOLT 118 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 118 2. ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES ....................................................................... 120 3. LINKING LESSON AIMS TO ASSESSMENT ................................................ 123 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 134

ADDENDUM A: SANTS LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE ................................................... 140

ACTIVITIES 1 - 49

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Print-rich environment ........................................................................... 17 Figure 2: Wall content .......................................................................................... 17 Figure 3: The difference between the word tail and tale ....................................... 49 Figure 4: The Reading Competence Connection ................................................. 56 Figure 5: Young child writing ................................................................................ 79 Figure 6: Chalk drawing on environmental surface. ............................................. 86 Figure 7: Learner self-portraits in Grade 1 ........................................................... 87 Figure 8: The Communicative Act illustrated........................................................ 91 Figure 9: An example of a word wall .................................................................... 92 Figure 10: Hands used for creative activities.......................................................... 98 Figure 11: Child making patterns to develop writing skills. ................................... 100 Figure 12: Child tracing handwriting patterns. ...................................................... 102 Figure 13: Patterns and letters ............................................................................. 103


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) xxiii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Time allocation per week in Grade 1 ..................................................... 20 Table 2: Short definitions of key aspects of reading ............................................ 62 Table 3: Comparison between a top-down and bottom-up approach to teaching

reading .................................................................................................. 67 Table 4: List of handwriting skills for Grade 1 ..................................................... 97 Table 5: Weekly allocation of instructional time for language in FP .................. 119 Table 6: Minimum time allocations per literacy component per grade............... 120 Table 7: Maximum time allocations per literacy component per grade .............. 120 Table 8: Comparative analysis between activities and assessment criteria

between English HL and EFAL ........................................................... 124


BEd (FOUNDATION PHASE TEACHING) 1

1. INTRODUCTION Teaching learners how to read and write is a complex process. Motivation, engagement and enjoyment should run through every literacy activity in learning so that learners are excited, enthusiastic and confident about literacy. This is largely in the hands of the teacher, who needs to know about literacy development in learners and in the curriculum. This module follows on the first English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy Teaching in the Foundation Phase module (F-EHF 211) where the focus is on the teaching and learning of the Grade R learner. Being knowledgeable about the teaching and learning of English as Home and First Additional Language in Grade R will be a sound foundation for the second module as this module (F-EHF 222) focuses on the Grade 1 learner. In this course, 4 units are used to introduce and extend the teachers’ knowledge of literacy teaching. Each unit is structured to allow optimal time for either reading, writing, researching or reflecting. You will be guided at the beginning of each unit: Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 17,5 hours 25,5 hours 13,5 hours 13,5 hours

2. PURPOSE OF THE MODULE In the first unit, the theoretical and practical knowledge of sounds and speech are unpacked. The unit will provide an understanding of the concept of literacy. It focuses on hearing and listening and the speaking skills that need to be developed in Grade 1. The practice of assessment is also discussed with the emphasis on the assessment of teachers’ and learners’ speech. In unit two, the student is equipped with a practical understanding of the emergent skills necessary for the learning of reading. It will focus on integrated phonetic and reading skills development and aims to improve the student’s knowledge of emergent and developing reading skills within the reading strategies used in the classroom. Unit three is aimed at increasing the student’s understanding of the connection between handwriting and writing for communication purposes. The importance of drawing and fine motor skills development is highlighted and activities for Grade 1 learners are developed and assessed.

ENGLISH HOME AND FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY TEACHING IN THE FOUNDATION PHASE 2



In the fourth unit of the module, the theory of language acquisition is introduced. The emphasis is on the acquisition of English, especially the introductory aspects of teaching English as an additional language within the South African context. The assessment expectations for English Home Language (EHL) and English First Additional Language (EFAL) are compared and similarities are noted.

Classroom management and teacher responsibilities are factors that are referred to throughout the module. These are good general teaching practices and will add to the maintaining of discipline in the classroom and ensure effective teaching and learning.

There are some additional readings and video clips attached to the units. Most of the units have some introspective questions and opportunities to make notes on your learning.

3. STRUCTURE AND OUTCOMES OF THIS MODULE This module consist of 4 units with the following outcomes:

ENGLISH HOME AND FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY TEACHING IN

THE FOUNDATION PHASE 2

UNIT 1 Sounds and Speech

Outcomes: At the end of this unit you should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of

the broad concept of language learning.

Distinguish between hearing and listening.

Create speaking opportunities and activities at Grade 1 level.

UNIT 2 Reading and Phonics

Outcomes: At the end of this unit you should be able to: Outline emergent reading skills. Illustrate an understanding of the

use and assessment of reading strategies.

Demonstrate an understanding of phonetic and reading skills development.



4. GLOSSARY

Understanding these terms will assist you when working through this module.

Acquire - In language-teaching terms, naturally develop language knowledge and/or skills, like learners picking up a language without formal instruction.

Activity - Something teachers expect learners to do that does not directly influence the mastery of new content.

Additive bilingualism

- Fostering the mother tongue by introducing the language of instruction alongside it. The language of instruction adds to the language profile of the learner rather than becoming a substitute for the home language.

Approach - A flexible attitude to language teaching which incorporates methodology, procedures and techniques in a class, depending on the needs of the learners and the physical resources available.

Assessment - A systematic approach to collecting information for the purpose of making decisions about the ability of a learner

UNIT 3 Writing and Words

Outcomes: At the end of this unit you should be able to: Recognise the difference

between writing and handwriting. Categorise and appraise the

perceptual skills needed for handwriting development and remediation.

UNIT 4 Learning in English as a Second

language

Outcomes: At the end of this unit you should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding

of the theory of second language acquisition.

Compare the development of BICS and CALP in language learning.

Reflect on own practice of code-switching.

Outline the differences in assessment requirements between EHL and EFAL.



or the quality of the course being presented. It can be done by observation or formal testing.

Behaviourism - A school of thought that believes that babies mimic their mothers when producing speech, and in the same way second language learners should learn through mimicry memorisation in the form of pattern sentences or drills.

BICS - Acronym for Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills – the skills needed to engage in everyday conversational skills.

Bilingualism - The ability of an individual or a group of people to use two languages.

Bottom-up - Analysing from the bottom up – understanding at word and clause level first.

CALP - Acronym for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency – being able to deal with abstract and context-reduced language in academic settings.

CAPS - Acronym for Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement – South Africa’s curriculum guide which became law in 2012.

Code - Any system of symbols that can be used to convey meaning. Language is a code.

Code-switching - Changing from one language to another by a speaker. In South Africa code-switching is used in classrooms to ensure comprehension.

Cognitive - Related to intellectual or mental ability.

Conceptualise - To create a general idea which is associated with a word or symbol in a person’s mind.

Dialect - A variety of language spoken in one part of a country (regional dialect).

Discourse - Written or spoken communication, e.g. conversation, interview, paragraph.

EFAL - Abbreviation for English First Additional language – a learner will learn in their home language and learn English



as a second language. In South Africa learners in all schools (except Afrikaans schools) learn in English from grade 4.

EHL Abbreviation for English Home Language.

Evaluate - Systematically gather information for the purpose of assessing the worth of a task or skill.

Express - Speak or write in a way in which the speaker conveys feelings or attitudes about something.

Fluency - The ability and skill to speak as naturally and normally as a mother-tongue speaker.

Incidental learning

- Learning that results from something more important, e.g. Labels on classroom furniture in 3 languages.

Input - Visual and auditory information in which everyday use of language is presented to learners. It is concerned with the development of the receptive skills of reading and listening.

Integrated teaching

- Teaching that is based on a close relationship between all the learning areas. In language teaching in South Africa, there should be integration between the home language and learning in English.

Learn - Acquire the language or develop a skill (reading or writing) through instruction in a formal environment.

LoLT - Acronym for Language of Learning and Teaching – the language which is used in class by the teacher to transfer knowledge.

Mechanical reading

- The act of reading without understanding.

Method - The way for a teacher to go about teaching a specific skill, using a set of procedures which are prescribed to the.

Methodology - A set of procedures according to which a subject is taught.

Morpheme - The smallest grammatical unit of speech.

Morphology - The branch of linguistics that deals with the structure, classification and relationships of morphemes.



Output - The expressive language a learner produces through speaking or writing skills.

Phonology - The sound units of a language and how they produce meaning when put together.

Proficiency - A person’s skill in using language for a specific purpose e.g. reading/writing.

Scaffolding - The language structures the teacher provides as support for the learners to enable them to acquire linguistic structures beyond their capacity.

Scanning - A speed-reading strategy to locate information in the passage.

Structure - A sequence of linguistic units that relate to each other in a language, or a pattern which can generate new combinations.

Subtractive bilingualism

- Achieved when the language of instruction replaces the mother tongue.

Syntax - The rules for putting words in the correct order.

Task orientated - Activities constructed around the completion of a task which has a bearing on everyday language situations.

Text - A written passage – sentences together that form a unit of meaning.

Time on task - Time within the lesson during which learners are actively engaged in working with the content of the lesson.

Top-down - Starting from the larger component or higher level and becoming simpler, in comparison with bottom-up.



1. INTRODUCTION

This unit will provide an understanding of the concept of language and literacy in society. It focuses on the hearing, listening and speaking skills which need to be developed in Grade 1. It also focuses on the role of the foundation phase teacher in language teaching, the practice of storytelling and the learner contribution to classroom discussions as part of the process of listening and speaking. Being able to hear sounds and identify their meaning and create sounds that have meaning, are the basic skills being taught in Grade 1 through the social practice of learning. There are 2 hours built in to read the module and 15,5 hours to spend on reading, writing and reflection activities during Unit 1. 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 1 Unit 1 consists of the following 4 sections and learning outcomes.

UNIT 1: SOUNDS AND SPEECH

UNIT 1 SOUNDS AND SPEECH

SECTION 1 What is Language?

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section you should be able to: Recognise the different

characteristics of language Demonstrate an understanding

of literacy in society. Identify the role of the FP teacher

in the learning of language.

SECTION 2 The difference between listening and hearing

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section you should be able to: List the differences between

hearing and listening Explain why listening should

be taught. Reflect on your own practice.



1. INTRODUCTION In this section we will provide a definition of language and discuss aspects of language and how we understand language.

1.1 Definition of language

Language can be described as a set of symbols and a system of rules that determine how the symbols can be combined (Van der Walt & Evans, 2019). The simplest definition according to http://www.wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn is that Language is a “systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols”. By this we mean that we use sounds when we speak and symbols when we write in order to make meaning. There are a limited number of sounds which can be combined in a myriad of ways and linked to graphic representations. The system in which they are linked to form meaning in a language, functions at different levels. The concept that language can be represented at two levels: 1. phonology, which is the sound that a speaker produces; and 2. meaning, which is a function of syntax and semantics, is known as the duality of language.

1.2 Other important definitions

Phonology is the system of sounds that is recognised as meaningful in a particular language. For example, in English the ph combination is pronounced differently to how

SECTION 1: WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

SECTION 3 From listening to speaking

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section you should be able to: Plan speaking opportunities

according to allocated time. Adapt questions to evoke learner

participation. Identify relevant stories,

motivating your choice.

SECTION 4 Assessment of speech

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section you should be able to: Distinguish between informal

and formal assessment activities.

Create activities to use in practice.



it is pronounced in isiXhosa or Setswana. There are also no sounds that are equivalent in the English language to the click sounds used by the Xhosa or Khoisan people. Morphology refers to the way words are formed in a language. Each language strings sounds or signs together to make meaning. This is why we can read words even with some missing letters. (The m__n is b_g and y_llow,) Syntax refers to the way we put words together to form sentences. This is done differently, in different languages. For example, Subject – Verb – Object, is the English sentence structure. (I love you.) The way in which sentences are arranged in a language to form ideas, paragraphs, essays, conversations and other texts beyond the sentence level, is known as the discourse structure of a language. Decisions about appropriate language use, despite the sentence and conversation correctness, is known as the pragmatics of a language. One would, for example, never say Howzit to greet someone of a higher status, in a formal setting. Communities develop norms for their own languages and many people who speak the same language use different forms. These can be described as different conventions or varieties of the same language. 2. HUMAN LANGUAGE Language is a complex, rule-governed but creative system. It is a shared code, which, once understood, can create an infinite number of combinations which make meaning. Language is a social tool that humans need to interact with other humans. They use language to manifest what they are thinking or want others to think. Animals are able to communicate in a variety of ways, for example, through mating-calls, dances by bees to inform others of food, and trumpeting by elephants. These do not constitute human language. Human language has many purposes and identifiable characteristics that animal communication does not share. Linguistic researchers, Barber (1972), Crystal (2010), Owens (2012) and Yule (2006), describe the characteristics of language that are unique to the human species. Animals react to an instinct when they reply to human speech. They do not know what they are saying. Human language, in contrast, involves complex mental processes to communicate thoughts and feelings. Humans need other humans to speak to or communicate with. Human language is collaborative. Animals react to hand signals or tone of voice.



Language is culturally transmitted. Animals are bound to the species they are born into and are only able to make those sounds. Humans acquire language from those who speak to them and they learn the language most often spoken to them. For example, an Afrikaans child adopted by a Xhosa family will speak isiXhosa as a home language.

Human language depends on sufficient and appropriate input by caregivers. Babies are born with the ability to make the sounds needed for any language to develop. They all make the same sounds for the first five months of their lives. After this, they mimic the sounds that their caregivers make and so a specific language or languages develop. A young child is able to acquire competency in a few languages.

Human language is produced by specially designed speech-producing structures that are different to the breathing system of animals. For example, French people speak nasally; in isiXhosa, there are many clicks which are made by placing the tongue strategically and forcing air through.

Human language is infinite. There are many different ways of saying the same thing in the same language. There is a definite set of rules, which, combined in an appropriate way, can reproduce an infinite number of meaningful utterances.

Human language is organised, yet creative. It can be broken up into small units that can be organised and reorganised into words and sentences that have meaning and can be combined into a larger unit. For example, sounds form words; words make sentences; sentences convey ideas and can be built into larger units, to create a story.

Human language allows for displacement. Humans talk about people and things that are not physically present, and also about abstract concepts such as love and fear.

All languages have highly complex grammar systems and can be codified into other forms such as writing, pictograms, music, tables, diagrams and numbers.

Human language is dynamic – it is ever-changing, growing and evolving. The 21st century has given us many new words with the development of technology, for example, gigabyte, terabyte and selfie.

1

60 minutes

Please read the following article and complete the task. https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/characteristics-and-features-of-language/



List and describe the characteristics of human language in your own words. Commentary: When making your list and descriptors, please consider the following:

Have a good understanding of the characteristics of human language you have described.

Read each heading in the article and look up any words you are unsure of. Identify the main points under each heading and connect the ideas if they are

associated. Summarise the main ideas in your own words. Use no more than 50 words per characteristic.

3. LITERACY

As you have learned in the previous section, the function of language is communication. There are many different forms of communication. Humans have gradually evolved from speaking to reading and writing down their ideas. Literacy refers to the ability to read and write. 3.1 Emergent literacy

2

120 minutes

Google the following theory and summarise what you learn about the concepts listed below.

Lev Vygotsky’s:

collaborative learning, social interaction, thought and language, practising a concept, and ZPD.

Vygotsky's (1978) theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition, as he strongly believed that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning".

Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.



Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development. Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors that contribute to cognitive development.

According to Vygotsky, adults are an important source of cognitive development.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge.

Marie Clay’s concept of emergent literacy, its origins and implications for remedial support and general support of language and literacy in Grade R: A New Zealand researcher, Marie Clay, introduced the concept of emergent reading in 1966, using it to describe the earliest behaviours and concepts young children employ in interacting with books even before they are capable of reading in the conventional sense. The following are emergent literacy skills: Print motivation This component relates to a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. A child with print motivation might enjoy pretend reading and writing, listening to stories and interacting with books and other printed material. Vocabulary The component "vocabulary" is related to the knowing of the names of things. Children with rich vocabularies are at an educational advantage. Print awareness This component relates to noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow words on a page. The understanding of reading from left to right and turning pages, forms part of this component. Narrative skills This component relates to the ability to describe objects and events, and to tell stories. Letter knowledge This component relates to the understanding that letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds, and recognising letters everywhere.



Phonological awareness This component relates to being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. It involves the recognition of syllables in words and words in sentences. Teale and Sulzby’s theories of early literacy and the process of “becoming literate”.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, robust research activity in children's early language development, early childhood education, and re-examination of the concept of reading readiness was undertaken. This resulted in Teale and Sulzby assembling a book authored by various leading researchers of the time that proposed reconceptualising what happens from birth to the time when children read and write conventionally as a period of emergent literacy

Since then, an extensive body of research has expanded the concept, illuminating that a child's literacy development begins well before formal introduction in school, and can be influenced by social interaction with adults, exposure to literacy materials, and the use of engaged learning activities.

3.2 Literacy in current society

When an individual grapples with reading, the societal impacts are substantial. A person who is not capable of reading may have a low self-image or feel emotions such as embarrassment, fear and inadequacy. Learners who struggle with literacy feel left out of academia, evade circumstances where they may be exposed, or find themselves unable to fully join in society or government.

Dr Bernadette Dwyer (2018) says, “Literacy permeates all areas of life, fundamentally shaping how we learn, work, and socialize. Literacy is essential to informed decision-making, personal empowerment, and community engagement. Communication and connection are the basis of who we are and how we live together and interact with the world.”

https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/illiteracy-impacts/

3

120 minutes

How do you see literacy and the need for literacy learning and practices in current society? Are we educating learners for an online existence? If so, will they need to know how to read and write? Where does handwriting fit in? Should we not teach the learners to type? Write brief notes about each of the above reflective questions.



Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection. Write your answers down and discuss them with your mentor teacher during Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL).

3.3 Traditional and changed literacy practices Public and educational discussions continue about the fundamentals of literacy. While many have not recognised that these fundamentals may never be the same again, rapid changes in digital communication provide facilities for reading and writing to be united with various and often quite intricate aspects of music, photography and film. At the same stage, educational policy and national testing requirements are still chiefly focused on the reading and writing of print-based works. The kind of literacy progress that is necessary in current times, alongside reading and viewing, ought to include responding to and producing multimodal and digital texts. Using multimedia in the Foundation Phase can be effective, since learners are accustomed to watching television and YouTube. It must not be used to replace the teacher but rather to enhance learning with added visual and auditory stimuli. There needs to be interaction between traditional and digital literacy practices. The use of books, magazines and newspapers should be afforded equal place beside television, YouTube and Google. 3.4 The South African Context South Africa’s post-apartheid Language in Education Policy (1997) document (LiEP) states that in terms of the country’s constitution, the Department of Education is aware that our cultural diversity is a valuable national asset and is therefore tasked, amongst other things, to endorse multilingualism (DoE, 1997). This LiEP is seen to be an essential and necessary feature of the new government’s plan of building a non-racial nation in South Africa. (Please consult your first year module (F-LLL 110) where the multilingual classroom contexts in South Africa and the South African language policies are also described.) South Africa’s LiEP document infers that the right to select the language of learning and teaching is entrusted to the individual but has to be implemented within the overall context of the obligation of the education system to promote multilingualism (DoE, 1997). In practice, the right to choose which of South Africa’s eleven official languages to select as language of learning and teaching is exercised by schools’ governing bodies, and, nationwide, this has resulted in an overwhelming decision in favour of English from Grade 4 onwards. In most ex-model C schools, there are a significant number of non-mother tongue English learners, learning in English.



Reading and writing are essential skills for literacy practices. With the development of new technology, new skills will be needed. Teachers will need to teach learners new courtesies and self-control mechanisms to support an online learning experience.

Fluency in reading and writing are necessary for traditional literary practices. Written language was created in Mesopotamia. There are many types of literacies such as social literacy, cultural literacy, and financial literacy. Technological literacy is embracing tools that connect students to the outside world via social media, and collaboration and shared access to content so that they are able to view more opinions from around the world. The teacher would need to teach learners to actively interact with others online and treat the opinions of others with respect. The learner would be taught to be fluent in his/her ability to read content and engage with it by asking questions, making connections and inferences, and using the knowledge him/herself. Learners have become creative and innovative. They no longer just read text and answer teacher-generated questions. They are now able to navigate content to make it their own and to answer their own questions and the questions of others. Technology will help to transition learning from being teacher-centred to learner-centred.

4 180 minutes

Watch the video below on a brief history of literacy and literacy practices in the 21st century and answer the questions:

https://medium.com/literate-schools/technology-and-literacy-in-the-21st-century-1c0ee74a20b4 1. Two types of fluency are necessary for traditional literacy practices. What are

they? 2. Where did the creation of written language occur? 3. In the 21st century, there are many types of literacy. Name them. 4. Discuss the term fluency in technology. What does it mean to you? 5. How will the 21st century, technologically-empowered teacher have to change

his/her methodology to keep up with the learners?

Commentary: Consider the access your learners have to the internet and a device that can be used for access to information. Acknowledge skills that the learners already have. Be creative in your thoughts about activities and the skills that should be developed.



3.5 The role of the Foundation Phase teacher in facilitating language development

The teacher should have knowledge of the literacy skills she will be developing during the year. She should have a plan of action (teaching strategy) that she will use to ensure that the learner achieves the outcome and learns the skills. The teacher should also ensure that the time on task is in keeping with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (Department Basic Education (DBE), 2011) requirements for each component of language learning. The balance between activities and tasks needs to be given careful consideration. Time on task is the time allocation recommended in the CAPS document. It also refers to the actual time that the teacher allocates to each activity in the planning of the lessons.

The teacher should ensure that she knows each learner, their stage of development and their interests. Stories and texts should be selected based on the learner’s cultural context and experience. The teacher should create equal opportunities for listening, speaking, reading and writing for all learners. The teacher will expose learners to multimedia literacy material, balanced with enough personal literacy time with each learner, and sufficient opportunities for practising the skills. Classroom space needs to be used optimally and seating arrangements need to be carefully planned. The teacher should have sufficient freedom of movement, so that every learner can be observed. Teachers should also understand and plan their movements – standing still while talking to the group and explaining, but moving around when the learners are busy working at their tables. A large mat for the learners to sit on during whole-class discussions, story-time and group guided reading is an essential resource in a Grade 1 class. The teacher needs to ensure that the learning environment is conducive to learning. The classroom needs to be clean, organised and tidy – a neat environment creates orderly thinking, especially for the learners learning in English as a second language. The teacher needs to create a space for individual reading for pleasure, for example, the reading corner. She needs to be knowledgeable about appropriate books and continue to teach the learners to take care of books. The classroom should be print rich. The teacher needs to make sure that key words and sight words are displayed, that their font, size and colour are clear, easy to read



and visible to all. Word walls and classroom labels are also incidental reading that takes place.

Figure 1: Print-rich environment

(Photo: Angi Jones, 2019) Notice the content on the walls.

Figure 2: Wall content (Photo: Zenex, 2018)



Please note the bright colours used and how the teacher has used homemade resources. There are many literacy teaching practices that remain constant throughout the Foundation Phase. There are also new elements that enter into the learning space. Below are examples of these (CAPS, 2011). Aspects of literacy teaching that remain the same from Grade R:

Reading aloud – books must be more challenging in Grade 1. Shared reading – books must be more challenging in Grade 1. Oral language development – very similar, more challenging; vocabulary

development very important. Phonological and phonemic awareness/alphabetic knowledge – this should be

the focus only during the first term (except for readers who are struggling, and writers who will need sustained attention to this).

New elements that are introduced in Grade 1:

Phonics – there is a strong emphasis on decoding (letter-sound relationships) in Grade 1.

Word recognition – is the first step in building automaticity, sight word-recognition practice should be a daily occurrence.

Handwriting learners learn to print (our students must be able to form letters correctly themselves).

Shared writing – learners write short texts for a purpose and audience. Group guided reading – this is the most important of the reading strategies

because the teacher spends individual time supporting each learner within a small group while the rest of the class continues with written work.

Towards the end of the year the focus is on reading fluency, maybe paired reading, with two learners of differing abilities being able to support each other’s reading practice. Encourage as much practice as possible. Frequency is more important than duration.

5

360 minutes

Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Please read, Chapter 11, Paragraph 11.5, all sections, for additional strategies for teaching large classes During WIL analyse your own class in relation to the following:



Note 5 strategies you would use to ensure balance in literacy teaching. Reflect on what you have observed your mentor teacher doing and note where your strategies are the same or different from the mentor teacher’s. When doing the above activity, please consider the following:

Classroom management strategies to ensure time on task for all activities as well as increasing learner participation.

Positive discipline strategies observed. Type of communication used. Resources needed.

Commentary: This activity is for discussion with your mentor teacher.

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120 minutes

Please answer the following questions based on your reading. Make bullet points to consolidate your knowledge. At which stages of literacy development are learners likely to be in Grade 1

beginning or end? What is the focus of the literacy curriculum in Grade 1? How does it differ from

Grade R? Which components of literacy does the teacher focus on? What needs to be achieved by the end of the year?

Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection on your readings. Discussing your thoughts with a study buddy or teacher currently in the profession is good practice.

Below is a copy of a slide, giving the time allocations from the CAPS (2011) document. Please note the minimum time allocations and the maximum time allocations per week and per literacy component.



Table 1: Time allocation per week in Grade 1

This section introduced the concept of language and literacy. It aimed to provide an insight into traditional and changing literacy practices and resources to enhance the learning and teaching experience. The role of the teacher in literacy teaching was explored and additional strategies were provided in the prescribed literature. It then allowed for some reflection on balancing literacy teaching in the classroom. Finally, it reinforced the CAPS (2011) time allocations and provided a solid base on which the next section is built. The first language skill that children acquire is listening. The next section aims to illuminate and compare the difference between listening and hearing.

1. INTRODUCTION

This section focuses on the difference between hearing and listening. The characteristics of hearing and listening are discussed. It is of utmost importance that the child is able to hear properly, as basic auditory development has an impact on literacy development. The section ensures that the student has some theory to build on and encourages the student to present an argument to answer the question, “Should listening be taught?”

SECTION 2: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND HEARING



2. PROMOTING LISTENING

Listening and speaking are interrelated skills and CAPS views listening and speaking as a unit. We will be focusing on listening in this section. MacNaughton and Williams (2004) suggest that the first step in a child’s natural acquisition of language is listening, which plays an important social role in the life of a young child. Teachers should create authentic situations for listening development. Telling the learners to listen will not ensure the development of listening skills – if learners’ interest is not captured, they will not listen. The teacher is challenged to create situations and choose topics that promote different kinds of listening. CAPS (2011) refers to these activities as: “focused listening activities.” Some practical examples of these are as follows:

Allow learners to take part in class discussion and listen to their opinions. Allow learners to listen to one another in a structured activity and emphasise

good listening behaviour. Read different texts aloud and encourage participation by the learners by

allowing them to take turns with the class to read. This could be presented as a game and not an evaluation of reading ability.

Create opportunities and props for dramatisation – this promotes active participation and improves listening skills.

Make sure learners understand instructions for activities and games – make them interesting, sound like fun, and easy to remember.

Encourage learners to listen to poems and stories with rhyming words. Identification of these words must be guided.

Create opportunities for learners to read their own written work to their classmates.

7

90 minutes

Watch the video clip and list 4 activities the teacher used to promote listening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNxGthphKc&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T Commentary: Consider the activities you have read about and the value the activity has for the promotion of listening skills.



3. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING AND HEARING

The difference between listening and hearing is one of cognitive demand. By this we mean that taking information from speech needs both hearing the words and making meaning out of them. Listening is done for a reason such as understanding a challenging situation that needs resolving, whilst hearing is a physiological process that is involuntary. Rogers and Farson (1986), in a classic article on active listening, define “active” as meaning: the listener has a very definite responsibility. He/She does not passively absorb the words which are spoken, but actively tries to grasp the facts and feelings in what is heard, to help the speaker work out his/her own problems (p. 149). Should a learner have an auditory problem, neither of these skills will develop. Many factors influence listening and hearing, viz. the number of people participating in a conversation, their individual roles, and the background noise. The level of interest in the topic plays a major role in the development of listening skills, especially in the case of young children, who have been exposed to more visual than auditory material via multimedia. They use the images to make meaning of the topic and do not rely as much on their auditory skills. This leads to a delay in the development of listening skills – adults support lazy listening skills by endlessly repeating instructions. Children soon realise that they do not have to listen the first time, a repetition is certain to come. Gifted learners in large classes may not feel cognitively challenged and may retreat into an imaginary world and not listen to the teacher. 4. TEACHER INPUT AND LEARNER INTAKE It is important to understand the connection between teacher language use (input) and learner understanding (intake). There are many challenges to learners in comprehending language. What a teacher says and what a learner hears and understands are sometimes not connected at all. This could be due to the teacher’s accent and/or manner of speaking, to whom the Foundation Phase learner listens most often. Input is provided and intake is absorbed according to Savignon and Berns (1984). There are three elements that Krashen (1982) identifies as requirements for input to be successful as the provider of learning.

If learners do not understand the information that they are reading, they will not be able to benefit from the reading activity. The level of the language of the material must thus be comprehensible to the learners.



If the material is too easy, learners will be bored. If it is too difficult, learners will be discouraged. Krashen suggests the current level plus 1 should stimulate learners and present the right amount of comprehensible input to stimulate them to listen or read closely.

Learners will not pay attention if the material is irrelevant and uninteresting. Teachers should take the learners’ interests, level of development and context into account when presenting material.

8 90 minutes

Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Read Chapter 5, Paragraph 5.1.3, ‘The theory of input and the problem of intake’. This refers to a learner learning in English as the Language of learning and teaching (LoLT) of the school. 1. What is the difference between the input and intake of language? Write a short

paragraph of no more than 200 words. 2. What are the facets of comprehending spoken language? Write a short

paragraph of no more than 180 words. 3. Discuss, in your own words, Krashen’s three requirements for input to be

successful. Your answer should be 300 words in length. Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection.

9

120 minutes

Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Do additional reading on listening activities in the teaching cycle. Read Chapter 5, Paragraph 5.8: Integrating listening with other skills.



Make notes of what you learn about reading on listening activities from your core reader. Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge.

In this section the difference between hearing and listening has been highlighted. The importance of the teachers’ material input and the learners’ understanding/intake in the development of listening skills is emphasised. The connection between listening and speaking is enforced.

1. INTRODUCTION This section will reinforce the connection between listening and speaking. Listening skills expected from a Grade 1 learner and activities that promote these skills will be analysed within the context of classroom management, the teacher’s language use, the practice of storytelling and the choice of story. The student will display an understanding of the benefits of storytelling and the different types of stories. Selecting a book to read and preparing to tell the story is explored (from the teacher’s perspective). 2. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Classroom management in the learner’s transition from listening to speaking can be an important tool. In large classes the learners easily become distracted. When these learners are learning in English, which is not their home language, they are already at a disadvantage. The teacher needs to ensure that all learners have sufficient opportunities to listen to stories and participate in activities that flow from the story. Ensuring that there are enough questions and encouraging answers from a number of different learners, is part of the effective management of listening and speaking practices. The teacher needs to put routines for literacy and managing transitions between groups in place. Developing self-regulation such as giving learners responsibilities and choices, helping them to focus, abiding by classroom rules, rules for using the Reading corner and care of books are also management skills which support literacy teaching and learning.

SECTION 3: FROM LISTENING TO SPEAKING



Planning of learning and for learning are essential practices that will add to the effective management of the classroom literacy practices.

Planning of learning refers to the planning of teaching and learning activities, including assessment. It ensures that there are enough opportunities to collect evidence of learning. The plan should include timing, and integrate curriculum and assessment, for example, the Daily lesson plan. Planning for learning refers to developing the way in which the teacher uses evidence of learner understanding to inform teaching and enable learning, for example, the Subject Improvement Plan.

In the context of moving from listening to speaking, the teacher needs to choose activities based on the learners’ interests and level of comprehension. Telling stories and asking relevant questions, initiating class discussions about a picture or object, asking about personal experiences or reading a story during a shared reading lesson, need to be planned. The time allocated to the listening and speaking lesson in the CAPS document and the time allocated to literacy during the day, need to be taken into account.

Progression and pacing of the lesson and the time spent on each section as well as on routines and transitions between activities, are important. The teacher needs to plan the lesson to include these. Resources providing structured choices and scaffolding for language structures will support literacy development. For example, stories with repeated phrases encourage the learner to say the words with the teacher and give them confidence to use the phrase in context, in conversation. In order to keep a lesson fun and enjoyable yet maintain discipline within the class, the teacher needs to use good voice control and pictures, books or objects that are large enough for all the learners to see. All this takes careful planning.

10

120 minutes

Plan a listening and speaking activity for a Grade 1 class. Make use of the SANTS Lesson Plan template (see Addendum A). Please remember that respect and mutual enjoyment within literacy learning practice need to be the aim of each listening and speaking lesson. Commentary: When preparing the lesson, please consider the following:

Choice of activity; How much time you spend on each; Time allocated to activities;



CAPS requirements; Progression and pacing of the lesson; Inclusion of routines and transitions; Classroom management where and how; Creating and managing opportunities for speaking; and Deciding on learner responsibilities.

3. TEACHER LANGUAGE USE

The teacher is the director of the class and ensures that learning takes place. The learners follow the teacher’s example in the Foundation Phase. The way in which teachers communicate with regard to their verbal communication and language use is imitated by the learners. The teacher should be aware of the clarity of their speech, the modulation of their voice (particularly pitch) and the volume. A learner will not be able to follow a softly-spoken, indistinct teacher, nor one with a high-pitched voice or one who uses careless language. The learner may experience discomfort if the teacher’s voice is constantly at an excessively loud volume, causing the learner to switch off. A teacher who uses interpretational gestures her facial expressions and body language and who changes her tempo, voice pitch or volume to add to the story effects, will succeed in keeping the attention of the learners.

11

120 minutes

Choose an African story to tell the class. Create ten different questions you have selected to encourage the learners to participate verbally in the story. Try out the story and questions with your class during WIL and then list the responses from the learners. Note the following:

Which questions worked well? Could the learners relate to the story and how do you know this? What challenges did you experience?

How would you overcome those challenges? Commentary: When engaging in the above task, please consider the following: The story should have repetitive phrases.



There should be pictures to guide vocabulary development and consolidate comprehension. Questions should be carefully worded.

Please refer to the blog below to see additional activities and teacher language that promote listening: https://blog.brookespublishing.com/11-ways-to-improve-your-students-oral-language-skills/

Incorporate ideas such as encouraging conversation; modelling syntactic structure; maintaining eye contact; reminding learners to speak slowly and articulate properly; explaining the subtleties of tone; attending to listening skills; having question-a-day activities; making a booklet of learner responses to a question; asking questions before and after the activity; and never assuming that the learners understand your instructions. Teaching concept words is also an idea to incorporate into the listening lesson. 4. THE PRACTICE OF STORYTELLING Storytelling is a perfect activity to assist the shift from listening to speaking, so that learners are able to respond to questions centred on the story or retell the full story or part of it, encouraging individual oral expression. Storytelling can help develop an appreciation of the rest of the world and diverse nations. Storytelling has been recognised to help cultivate a sense of empathy as children are stimulated to put themselves in the situation of the story's characters; to consider their actions and responses and why they may have acted the way they did. As Brand and Donato (2001) state, “Children whose parents regularly read to them usually read more often and more extensively. In addition, reading to young children develops their language and conceptual skills”. These children have an advantage over those who have not been exposed to stories. Listening to stories broadens the learners’ frame of reference. New ideas are integrated and opportunities for thinking and reasoning are designed as the learner is engaged in making deductions and encouraged to apply higher-order thinking abilities. Stories can link pleasure to reading as they are connected with pleasant practices and the storytelling occasion generates an intimate opportunity for sharing and cooperation. Stories aim to involve children emotionally and aid them to make sense of their surroundings. Stories also encourage the imagination and can be used to stimulate acceptance and respect for diverse cultures and language groups.



There are some simple practices that enable telling stories successfully. Using bright language that the children can recognise, while maintaining eye contact and using movement and sounds, are just some of the evident ones. Altering your voice to represent different characters will help make the characters unforgettable and relevant. Using dramatic silences to create effect and drawing a theme out of the story to give it greater depth of meaning, are other methods. Connecting the story to the situation of the children creates real-life connections, making certain the story is trustworthy and telling the truth when a tough question around the story arises. This ensures that children learn about challenges and imaginable solutions or responses, from imaginary characters. Keeping the story simple and appealing for interaction from the learners will create something astonishing out of something ordinary. The teacher should have a hook in the opening, know the ending before the start, and make the finish strong, with a main take-away point. Keeping to the core points so as not to confuse learners, specifically those learning in English as a second language, and encouraging the learners to retell the story, will support understanding and oral language ease. 4.1 How a teacher can use a story to improve literacy development The following activity has been chosen to model how a teacher can use a story to support literacy development. Aspects that are being developed have been numbered for easy reference. It is important for the teacher to choose a simple story. For example: How the tortoise got its scars, a traditional tale. 1. Vocabulary development:

The grass shrivelled up and turned a pale grey. Rivers and pools dried up. All day long animals scurried around, looking for food and finding nothing. Mr Tortoise was getting desperate. Every day he woke up to the sound of his wife and children crying. One day, while he was wandering the countryside looking for food he knew he wouldn’t find, he noticed a flock of birds flying overhead and disappearing on the other side of the mountain range. The next day, he saw more birds flying in that direction and disappearing over the mountain range and again the next day. It occurred to him they might be onto something, and he tried to attract their attention. He shouted. He screamed. He danced. He



jumped up and down. He shouted while jumping up and down. He ran in circles and waved a stick. None of the birds paid any attention to him; none even slowed down. Many animals would have given up, but not Mr Tortoise. He decided he would compose a song to the vulture. He thought the vulture might just be vain enough to stop and listen. That night he finished composing the song and the next morning positioned himself in a nice open spot by the side of a field. When he saw the first birds in the sky, he started to sing his song:

The vulture is so good The vulture is so wise Everyone admires him As he flies through the skie-ie-ie-ie-ies

The vulture heard snatches of the song, and he was intrigued. So he came down to land and strode over majestically to where Mr Tortoise was sitting. When Mr Tortoise saw vulture approaching, he sang again:

The vulture is so good The vulture is so wise Everyone admires him As he flies through the skie-ie-ie-ie-ies

2. Making meaning:

Aaaah, the vulture exclaimed, what a beautiful voice! What enticing (inviting) music! Mr Tortoise thanked him profusely (plentifully) for his praise (admiration), then asked very politely (respectfully) if he could ask a favour of Mr Vulture. Certainly, the vulture beamed (looked very happy), go ahead my lyrical (singing) friend! Tortoise explained that because of the drought, there was no food left where they were living. If Mr Vulture could only give him a lift to the other side of the mountain, he could look for food for his family. Vulture readily agreed to help his new friend. He raised himself and flapped his wings. Just hang on to my waist, Mr Tortoise, and we’ll be there in no time at all.

3. Reading comprehension:

Mr Tortoise grabbed hold of Vulture’s scraggy feathers. Vulture flapped his giant wings, took a few great strides, and up they went. And vulture had been quite right, it seemed to take hardly any time at all, and they were floating over the mountains, and Tortoise could see a glimmer of



green appearing below. A few more flaps of those giant wings, and they were landing in the middle of a truly amazing landscape. The place was covered in trees and bushes bearing every fruit imaginable. Mangoes, bananas, pears, oranges, apples, pineapples, papayas, plums, you name it, it grew there in abundance.

Tortoise walked around in a daze, he picked an apple here, tasted some mango there, and found some blackberries on a small bush. The most remarkable thing was that apart from the birds who must have discovered this pleasure paradise flying over it, there seemed to be no other animals here at all! This set our Mr Tortoise thinking.

4. High frequency words:

Now you may have realised already that Mr Tortoise was not just any old tortoise, but that he had a very good brain, and a great imagination. So, slowly but surely, he hatched a plan. The next morning, he found a spot on the hillside which gave a good view of the orchard. He stood upright and started speaking in as loud a voice as he could muster.

5. Mechanical skills that can be used for successful writing:

Yo! Yo! All you birds, listen to me for a few moments! Yo! Yo! I have bad news for you all! I’m afraid you’re all trespassing here on this land. This land belonged to my great-great-grandfather. When he died, he gave it to my grandfather.

And my grandfather left it to my daddy, and my daddy, well now, my daddy gave it to me before he died.

There was consternation among the birds, they weren’t sure how to take this news. Then Mr Tortoise carried on: I’m going to count to three, and at the count of three, I want all of you to have left this place.

ONE! Hey, Mr Tortoise, you’re joking, aren’t you? Is he joking? No, man, he’s not joking!

TWO! Some of the birds started flying. We thought you were joking! We never intended to trespass, after all, we’re all just law-abiding citizens, you know. More and more birds flew off.



THREE! Now they were all leaving. Mr Tortoise looked for his friend, Vulture. When he saw him, he ran up to him and called out: Heyo, Vulture, hold on, you’re my friend aren’t you? You can stay here with me.

After feasting on the fruit for several hours, Mr Tortoise had another idea. He really wanted to find out exactly what he had here. So he approached Vulture and said: Vulture, you’re going to carry me high into the sky! Then I will know how big my own land is, and I will see how useful it will be. Vulture replied: Yessirr! Hang on to my waist. So, Mr Tortoise clung on to Vulture’s waist, Vulture flapped his wings, gently at first, and up and up and up he went. It was very breezy so high up in the sky, and Mr Tortoise was enjoying himself. Whoa, whoa, he shouted, this is wonderful, I’m enjoying this breeze, its just beautiful! Then, in his excitement he started scratching Vulture’s armpits; that was not such a wise thing to do. Please, screeched Vulture, I am ticklish, do-do-do-don’t do that PLEEEEASE, Stop it, please, I’m sooooo ticklish! Unfortunately, Tortoise wouldn’t stop. In desperation Vulture shook his wings so violently that Mr Tortoise lost his grip. He went down and down and down and down and down, and there was nothing at all to stop him. It was Mr Tortoise’s rather bad fortune to land in a place that was covered in hard jagged rocks. There was an enormous crashing sound when he made contact with the rocks. Cracks appeared all over Mr Tortoise’s body. He tried to shout for help, but his voice only made a very small sound. Luckily for Mr Tortoise, Vulture saw him lying there, his body all cracked up, and felt sorry for him. So, Vulture decided to get the ambulance, and they managed to get him to a hospital. Because he was in such a bad way and it looked as if he could die any minute, Mr Tortoise was taken straight into the operating theatre and three doctors started work on him. They worked for hours on end, stitching, stitching, stitching all the cracks in his shell. Eventually all the sores healed, and he was discharged, but of course he was left with the scars. And that is why every time you see a tortoise you can still see the scars on the back of his shell.



4.2 How this story can be used to teach 1. Vocabulary –There are many unfamiliar words in the story. The teacher explains

the difficult words and provides a synonym or explanation of the word in the home language, if there are significant numbers of second language learners in the classroom. For example, the highlighted words in the first paragraph of the story could be unfamiliar words.

2. Meanings of words – Many of the synonyms for unfamiliar words also have no

meaning for the learners. Providing definitions in the form of pictures which connect to the words, or synonyms which simplify the words are good ways of supporting meaning. For example, paragraph 2 has synonyms in brackets next to words that may be meaningless to the learners

3. Reading comprehension – Asking questions about the story frequently, is key

to keeping the learners’ attention and assessing and improving comprehension. For example, after reading paragraph 3, the following questions can be asked:

How did Mr Tortoise hold on to Mr Vulture? How did they get over the mountains? What did Mr Tortoise see below? What did he find when they landed? Who else was there?

4. High-frequency words – These are words that occur most frequently in text.

They are generally a mixture of decodable words, for example but, and words that cannot be decoded, for example, one. Paragraph 4 has words that are highlighted as high frequency words (the, and, a, but). Sight words are words that the learner can read quickly without needing to decode them.

5. Mechanical skills essential for successful writing – These are patterns or

repeated words that can be used to emphasise the shape and formation of letters. For example, YOYO is a good example from this story.

6. The structure of narrative texts – This story is structured with a beginning, a

middle and an end. Draw the learners’ attention to this. 7. The structure of expository texts – A newspaper article or more formal writing

is called an expository text. The teacher could write this account as an article for the learners to read.

8. Poetry – Any rhythm or rhyme in a passage needs to be emphasised. For

example: The vulture is so good



The vulture is so wise Everyone admires himAs he flies through the skie-ie-ie-ie-ies.

Additional African stories can be sourced on http://fairytalesoftheworld.com/africa/

For more tips and ideas, please see

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-storytelling-tips-for-educators/

12

120 minutes

Providing additional information to reinforce the link between being read to and becoming a strong reader, this article follows the progress of reading development from pre-school to Grade 3. Repeated readings appear to reinforce the language of the text as well as to acquaint children with the way different categories are structured (Eller, Pappas & Brown, 1988). Understanding the forms of informational and narrative texts seems to separate those children who have been well read to from those who have not (Pappas, 1991). In one study, for example, Pappas found that with abundant exposure to a story (three readings), children's retelling became progressively richer, joining what they knew about the world, the language of the book, and the communication of the writer. Thus, considering the benefits for vocabulary progress and understanding, the case is strong for interactive storybook reading. Increasing the volume of children's playful, exciting experiences with good books is related to quicker growth in reading ability.

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/learning-read-and-write-what-research-reveals Commentary: This activity is for additional knowledge.

4.3 Selecting a story

The stories that are selected must relate to the learners’ experiences. The choice of story should be right for the target group (more information can be found in Chapter 3, Paragraph 3.2.5 of the core reader, Van der Walt & Evans (2019) and should not categorise any group of individuals. There should be emphasis on culturally-appropriate stories. Reading material is selected to promote learners’ critical listening abilities.



Six criteria for selecting material to read out loud to children (Walker, R., Salvadore, M. 2016):

Appeals to the children’s stage of development, maturity and intelligence levels. Excites the mind and imagination. Supports and cultivates ethics and standards. Affords useful information. Can be read over again – a classic story children will not get tired of hearing or

reading. Provides enough repetition to scaffold oral language and confidence,

understanding and vocabulary consolidation.

To choose applicable material we also need to look at the class we are teaching and the language ability of the learners. Authentic material that reflects real-life situations, and which can be supplemented by paralinguistic signs (body language) should be used. When choosing a story, the teacher should keep these factors in mind, as reading or telling the story will be the teacher’s practice.

13

60 minutes

Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Read Chapter 5, Paragraph 5.2 ‘Choosing appropriate material’. Make notes about what you read for future reference. Commentary: Summarise key points from the text.

Some additional information: Plan enough time for each session (15-20 minutes) You'll want to give yourself and the learners enough time to read aloud, enjoy, and discuss the story, poem, or information text. Choose stories or texts that respond to children's interests and experiences For very young learners or emergent readers, choose books with vivid pictures, a strong story line, engaging characters, and evocative language. Humorous and predictable books are particularly successful. Preview the book before you read it with the group so you can anticipate questions or reactions



Practice reading the book so you can decide where to pause for emphasis and where to elicit questions, predictions or reactions. Introduce the book to the group Point out the cover illustration, title, and author. Invite the learners to predict what the book is about and talk about how the book might connect to their own experience or to other books they've listened to or read. You can also give a brief explanation about why you chose to read the book. "This is the story of a boy who goes on an unusual trip. I chose it because you have just come back from a trip." Or "This is the story about a special friendship between a mouse and a whale. I have read it many times. I wonder what you will think about it." Read with expression Let your voice reflect the tone of the story or the personalities of the characters. Don't read too fast. Vary your pace so you can pause for emphasis. Allow time for learners to think about what's happening or what might come next. Build in time for listeners to respond along the way Allow time for learners to study the pictures as you read, make comments, and ask questions about the story. Encourage predictions Ask learners what they think will happen next. Help them confirm or revise these predictions as the story unfolds. Try to honour many ideas and interpretations, not only the "correct" ones. Instead of accepting or rejecting comments or ideas as right or wrong, use comments such as "That's one possibility, let's see what the author has in mind." or "That's an interesting idea. How did you think of that?" Watch your audience Watch the learner's expressions and body language and be sensitive to signs of boredom or confusion. You may need to change your reading plan, change the book, or do more preparation next time. Allow time at the end of the story to get reactions Ask open-ended questions that don't have right or wrong answers and that can't be answered with a yes or no response. For instance, ask what the learner liked (or disliked) about the book and why. You may ask what he or she thought about the characters or how the problem was solved. Find out if the book made the listeners think of any personal experiences or other books they've listened to or read. Point out parts of the story you noticed or particularly liked Show the learners special language patterns or phrases or parts of the text that made you feel an emotion or visualise something. Ask learners if there were other parts of the book they noticed.



Remember that for some children, listening to stories is a new experience Some learners aren't used to being read to and will need to develop that interest and ability. Start with short, interesting stories with strong pictures. In some cases, allow active learners to manipulate play dough or to draw while listening. Be responsive to facial expressions and body language. Encourage discussion about the story Ask the learners questions about what happens in the story and encourage them to predict what will come next. Be careful, though, not to turn the discussion into a quiz! Most importantly: Have a good time! https://www.readingrockets.org/article/hints-how-read-aloud-group

4.4 Types of stories Many different types of stories are accessible. The following are examples. Picture books are valuable in the Grade 1 class. Learners are encouraged to chat about the picture and make up what they think the description should be. They can have just pictures, without words, such as Raymond Briggs' The Snowman, or have pictures with small amounts of text, like Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Picture books often feature repetitive phrases, to support learners who are learning to read. They can be of any genre and are categorised solely by their format. They are perfect for young children, beginner readers or second-language learners. Fantasy fiction books are extensively available in children's literature. Current topics include magic or the occult, paranormal events, science fiction, animal-based fantasy, and unfamiliar or parallel worlds, such as the world in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Perhaps the best-known children's fantasy books of the late 20th and early 21st centuries are the Harry Potter novels. For younger children, Dr Seuss fantasy fiction is a good example. Any novel based on unrealistic events is referred to as fantasy fiction. Realistic fiction stories are factual texts. They can be either for entertainment, featuring mysteries, explorations, sport or comedy, or for addressing sensitive issues such as life and death, and everyday problems, cultural diversity, and mental or physical disease. Realistic historical fiction uses real happenings from the past as background or context for the story. Traditional literature is the name given to spoken traditional and indigenous stories, which originated orally and were later transcribed. It consists of fairy tales, folk tales, myths, legends, epics and fables. Traditional literature can be found in books but are the type of story that a parent may tell to a child from memory. It is the foundation of many African stories. Using the familiar traditional stories and developing an interest



in heritage and culture should be one of the considerations when selecting a story to present to the learners. Please refer to the website below for some lovely African stories that can be adapted for the classroom.

https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/oral-tradition-and-indigenous-knowledge A teacher is also able to use and create stories from many sources to introduce or support the lesson being presented. This section was built on the connection between listening and speaking. The encouragement of individual expression of ideas through verbal interaction is facilitated through the practice of storytelling. Techniques that can be used to create meaningful listening and speaking opportunities and some criteria for selecting material for reading aloud were reflected in the written activity. Being able to assess the learners’ meaningful speech production is dealt with in the next section.

1. INTRODUCTION The teacher language input determines the learner language intake, as understood in the previous section. This section encourages introspection and assessment of the teacher’s language. Assessment of learners’ speech production is important as it guides the teacher’s planning to ensure optimal participation and opportunities for the learners to talk. This section will enhance your knowledge of formal and informal assessment of listening and speech production, for learning and of learning. It will highlight the CAPS English Home Language requirements for the assessment of speech. 2. ASSESSMENT OF TEACHER TALK The way in which teachers communicate and their example with regard to speech and the use of language, will influence the learners’ language use and way of talking. Especially in the Foundation Phase, the teachers’ example is actively followed (Joubert et al., 2019).

SECTION 4: ASSESSMENT OF SPEECH



14

120 minutes

Observe a speaking activity by your mentor teacher. Critically answer the following questions. You may only tick YES or NO block. YES NO Is the speech slow and clear enough for everyone to follow?

Is the speech indistinct and too fast?

Is the speech loud enough for everyone to hear?

Is the speech too soft?

Is the voice pitch low enough to create a peaceful atmosphere?

Is the tone of voice so high that it causes learners to feel nervous? Does the teacher listen attentively when learners communicate? Does the teacher carry on with her own work and not really listen to the learners? Does the teacher use careless language? Are words like ‘OK’ and ‘hey’ used? Is the language elegant and simple?

Are other gestures used to communicate?

Is the narration in a dull, uninteresting monotone voice without any body language?

Commentary: Ask the mentor teacher to share the planning for the lesson. Observe the entire lesson before completing the activity. Reflect on your own language use as teacher.

3. ASSESSMENT

Teaching and learning are related experiences. There is a need for assessment practices to ensure that quality teaching and learning take place. There are a number of forms of assessment and a reason behind the choice of each.



3.1 Assessment for learning and assessment of learning

There is a difference and a connection between assessment for learning and assessment of learning.

15

60 minutes

Read the following points to distinguish between assessment of learning and assessment for learning:

The teacher develops learning opportunities for learners to achieve the expectations that we have of them. Teachers assess learners to see if they achieved what we wanted them to achieve (Assessment of learning) CAPS (2011).

The teacher uses the results of the assessment to reflect on her method of teaching and to think about how she could have taught the material in a more effective way to better help the learner develop the skills and/or acquire the knowledge (Assessment for learning) (CAPS, 2011). Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge. Discuss your thoughts on this with a study buddy or a teacher already in the profession.

3.2 Different forms of assessment

There are many different forms of assessment.

Informal assessment is generally done during class time and involves observation of the learner practising the skill in a playful activity. There needs to be some flexibility when large numbers of learners are involved.

Formal assessment involves the teacher assessing the learners’ performance against a rubric or a checklist, so that each skill is formally shown to the teacher. Creating opportunities to assess learners’ speech formally, is important. Deciding on the activities needs careful planning to ensure that all learners are given a voice, but that the teacher is sensitive to their level of oral development and language proficiency.

When assessing learners’ speech production, the teacher will need to choose a method that will provide sufficient opportunities for the teacher to assess the learner’s oral abilities. Creating natural activities for the learners to speak individually can be informal assessment opportunities. After school, classroom helpers could be



encouraged to chat with the teacher. The learners meeting the teacher in the morning before school could be assessed informally during a chat. This is the flexibility referred to in the first paragraph. The communicative approach to language acquisition is in play during informal classroom chats. Communication is the focus, and language develops from there. Below are a few examples of assessment methods, specifically relating to the assessment of speaking (CAPS, 2011). 3.2.1 Observation - involves the teacher watching a child doing

something How is this done? Watch how each learner responds to a learning environment or task and then take notes on your observations.

Where is recording done? In an Observation book – make brief notes about each learner’s progress. In a class register/checklist with specific assessment criteria – tick the relevant block to indicate the level of ability or progress. 3.2.2 Oral - involves the child talking, doing something and/or

explaining something How is this done? By watching the learners present an oral, or show and tell, and then asking the learners questions. Where is recording done? On a mark sheet or rubric. 3.3.3 Practical demonstrations involves the demonstration of a skill to

complete a task How is this done? By watching how each learner demonstrates the skill. By marking the learner’s formal assessment tasks. Where is recording done? In an observation book – make brief notes about each learner’s progress. The teacher will use several formal and informal strategies to assess speaking. It is important to use checklists and a holistic rubric for Language assessment.



16 90 minutes

Discuss three differences between formal and informal assessment. Write a paragraph of no more than 80 words each on formal and informal assessment. Commentary: Consider when each type of assessment is used. Consider the purpose of each type of assessment.

The following are points to ponder when developing an assessment plan for Grade 1.

What will you assess? How will you measure whether learners have achieved the necessary

benchmarks? What are these benchmarks? (Will learners be ready for Grade 2?)

How will you record your assessment? How will you provide feedback to learners? How will you report to your Head of Department (HoD) and parents? How are you going to hand over to the Grade 2 teacher? What records of

literacy assessment will you give him/her?

To answer the above questions, you need to decide on what you will be assessing and the form of assessment you will be using. Remember that learners need a few attempts at mastering a skill. You need to capture the CAPS assessment requirements and decide on the activities you will be doing. The requirements are the benchmarks for the assessment. For example, the learner must be able to listen to stories and express feelings about the story.

The teacher needs to decide how to assess this activity. How many learners can be observed during one lesson? To record the assessment, the teacher needs to plan how many learners she will observe and engage at a level of assessment during the whole-class lesson. The teacher may allow learners a few attempts at being assessed. Understanding of contextual factors such as language comprehension needs to be taken into account. Feedback to learners needs to be simple and gentle, drawing attention to the activity and not the learners’ ability. In other words, feedback should be constructive and supportive. Written records of learners’ performance need to be kept and shared with the HoD and parents, in the form of a report. These records and a learner portfolio should be handed over to the Grade 2 teacher.



This section of the unit concludes the information on listening and speaking. Teachers’ input and learners’ output were discussed and activities were designed for introspection as well as research.

The purpose of Unit 1 was to extend the teacher’s knowledge about how sounds are processed and speech is produced. It encompassed listening and speaking, the transition between them, and how speech production could be assessed.

17

90 minutes

Before you go on, reflect on what you have learnt so far and complete the self-assessment activity. If your answer is UNSURE or NO to any of the criteria, go back to the relevant section to study it again.

Self-assessment activity: Unit 1

Now that I have worked through this unit, I can:

YES UNSURE NO

Recognise the different characteristics of language.

Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of literacy in society.

Identify the role of the Foundation Phase teacher in the learning of language.

List the differences between hearing and listening.

Explain why listening should/should not be taught.

Reflect on my own practice of promoting listening in the classroom.

Organise speaking opportunities according to the time allocated in the CAPS document.

Adapt questions to evoke learner participation.

Identify relevant stories, motivating my choice of a story to tell to my class.

Distinguish between informal assessment activities and formal assessment activities.



Create assessment activities to use in practice.

Think about designing an effective assessment plan for Grade 1.

This Unit provided an understanding of the concept of language and literacy in society. It focused on hearing and listening and the speaking skills which need to be developed in Grade 1. The role of the Foundation Phase teacher in language teaching and the practice of storytelling were addressed, and learners’ contribution to classroom discussions as part of the process of listening and speaking. Being able to hear sounds and identify their meaning and create sounds that have meaning, are the basic skills being taught in Grade 1 through the social practice of learning. This Unit encompassed listening and speaking, the transition between them and how speech production could be assessed. In the next unit, reading and phonics development will be addressed.

1. INTRODUCTION

In Unit 2 the student is equipped with a practical understanding of the emergent skills necessary for the learning of reading. It will focus on integrated phonetic and reading skills development. It will also assist the teacher to identify and remediate any reading challenges caused by perceptual development deficiencies. Unit 2 has 25,5 hours because the reading and phonics component of teaching is most important 15,5 hours have been put aside for reading and 10 hours for reading, writing and reflection activities.

UNIT 2: READING AND PHONICS



2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 2

Unit 2 consists of the following 4 sections and learning outcomes.

UNIT 2 READING AND PHONICS

SECTION 1 Reading readiness

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Apply knowledge of emergent

reading to assess reading readiness skills.

Research reading challenges. Provide/create activities to

remediate reading challenges.

SECTION 2 Components of reading

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: List the five important

components necessary for reading.

Analyse each component. Link the components to CAPS

requirements.

SECTION 3 How to teach reading

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Identify the different

characteristics of top-down and bottom-up reading approaches.

Compare these two different reading approaches.

SECTION 4 Use and assessment of reading

strategies

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Evaluate the learners’ reading

skills. List activities to enhance

learners’ reading development. Compare different reading

strategies in a Grade 1 class.



1. INTRODUCTION This section will provide you with an understanding of the importance of school readiness skills in emergent readers and how these skills can be used as remedial exercises in learners with reading challenges in Grade 1. Perceptual exercises for the remediation of reading problems need to be conceptualised and put into practice.

2. READING READINESS AND EMERGENT LITERACY Reading is defined as an interactive process involving a specific text, culture-specific items, organisation of ideas, prior knowledge of the topic area and the reader’s cognitive processes (Van der Walt, Evans & Kilfoil, 2009). These are intricate processes which are multi-faceted, and learners require time to develop the expertise needed to read.

Reading readiness refers to the perceptual abilities needed for the physical exercise of reading. Behaviourists view the process of preparing a learner for reading as the attainment of specific skills. They hold the view that learners should not be allowed to read before they have finished a reading-readiness programme. The psycholinguistic view suggests that children should be exposed to a variety of reading matter as early as possible and that a reading culture is fashioned by letting learners handle books.

Readiness for reading consists of developing visual and auditory perceptual skills, so that learners are able to identify, isolate and replicate pictures and sounds, verbally or graphically.

The term emergent literacy was introduced in 1966, by Marie Clay, a New Zealand researcher, to refer to a child’s understanding of reading and writing skills before they learn how to read and write in the conventional way. It is the practice of the understanding of phonological awareness and the letter-sound connection. This is a key area of Home Language literacy teaching and must be in place before the learner enters Grade 1. The emphasis in the present Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (DBE, 2011), is on the teacher adopting a balanced approach to developing literacy that should encourage the transition from emergent literacy to foundational literacy before entering Grade 1. According to Clay (1975), children build their emergent literacy by being engaged in a print-rich environment, participating in social activities that allow for the collective building of knowledge specific to reading and writing, and

SECTION 1: READING READINESS



being given the chance to handle the tools of the trade, namely books and writing materials.

The notion of emerging literacy skills describes how the child’s conceptual understanding of reading and writing is still emerging and how the child handles books, attempts to write and to build their knowledge of literacy activities. The development of actual conceptual understanding is dependent on the teachers’ knowledge to build on the existing knowledge that the learner brings to the classroom. Parental support, together with diverse additional opportunities for literacy development, ensures that learners move into Grade 1 with an introductory understanding of how the alphabet simplifies reading, and being able to express individual thoughts and moods in a verbal and written system.

18 90 minutes

Watch the video clip below which describes emergent literacy and reading readiness. Redraw and complete the table to compare the terms reading readiness and emergent literacy. https://prezi.com/aesxwyzxsgcn/emergent-literacy-vs-reading-readiness/ Reading readiness Emergent literacy

Commentary: Please consider the following when completing the table:

distinguish between the concepts that are similar; and those that are different in each of these practices.

3. INDICATORS OF READING READINESS

Competencies other than reading skills are important. The development of social skills is important as learning to read is a social activity. Learners need to take turns, cooperate, listen to each other and develop self-control when learning to read, as short class discussions and activities need these skills. A good strong body is necessary as learners need to have strong muscles to sit for extended periods of time to read in the classroom. Fine motor skills need to be developed for the turning of pages and to be able to write. Physical development is thus of importance. Emotional development is needed as self-confidence is key in the reading process. A well-developed sense of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation, and the generally expected social skills are all signs of emotional maturity and will contribute to the reading readiness of the learner.



Visual and auditory discrimination are the two most important cognitive skills that need to be developed when reading and writing. Learners need to be able to discriminate between sounds and letters.

There are distinct indicators of reading readiness in pre-school children gestures and actions that will indicate that the child is ready to learn to read. The following are examples. The learners will be able to recognise their own names and read them, amongst other names.

The learner will be able to retell a story and have an interest in books and reading as they understand that text has meaning and conveys information. The learner is able to play with language by making rhymes. Learners who do not speak English at home, may not have many rhyming words in their mother tongue. The teacher will need to encourage rhymes and songs with rhyme and rhythm and draw the learner’s attention to the sounds. Learners who can recite the alphabet, even in song, are making the connection between sounds and letters. By receiving praise from parents and caregivers, the importance of the alphabet is reinforced. The learner may be able to decode some letters and verbalise the correct sound they represent. Environmental print starts making sense and the learner asks what different words say. The learner is able to echo a text read by the teacher – this reinforces the concept that each word on a page represents a word that is read.

19 60 minutes

Read the portion of the article below and list activities to promote reading readiness in a pre-school child. https://thelettersofliteracy.com/14-things-you-should-know-about-reading-readiness/

1. Your child has an interest in reading. Not even the best reading programmes,

even those designed specifically for an individual child, can replace an interest in learning to read.

2. Your child likes to retell stories. Have you ever noticed your child “reading” a

familiar book by reciting memorised words? That is a good thing. So is making up stories during pretend play.

3. Your child can read her own name. Children are naturally drawn to their names, and once they get to the point where they can read their own name and recognise it among others in a group, you child is getting closer to learning how to read.



4. Your child can play with language by making rhymes. Rhyming is one of

the first indicators of reading readiness. This is because much of phonics instruction deals with manipulating language, which also relates strongly to writing.

5. Your child knows how to handle a book properly. This means that when offered a book, your child can find the cover and hold it right-side-up. It also means that they understand that books are read from left to right and that we turn only one page at a time.

6. Your child understands that text has meaning. After all, that is the purpose

of reading, to gain information. An example of this would be if a child sees his/her name written out and understands that the name refers to him/her, and not a friend, or a favourite snack.

7. Your child can recite the alphabet. Whether it’s singing the ABC song or just saying each letter from memory, knowing the alphabet is an important step towards reading readiness.

8. Your child can identify and name some or all the letters. This is important because individual letters make up words to be read and written.

9. Your child can relate some or all letters to their correct sounds. This is necessary for decoding, the act of sounding out words.

10. Your child can echo a simple text that is read to them. Doing so

demonstrates the child’s understanding of one-to-one correspondence in reading, that each word on a page corresponds to a word that is read.

Commentary: Please consider the following when reading the above: What activities would you create to develop the emergent reading skills? Be practical – think of the large classes and how activities can be adapted.

4. PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR

MANIFESTATIONS In many cases, learner reading and writing problems manifest because of a lack of perceptual development. A learner needs to develop visual and auditory discrimination skills to be able to decode words, using letters and sounds, and make meaning out of words put together in a sentence, paragraph or story. The morphology of the words



and the syntax of the sentence influences meaning. The words tale and tail sound the same but have different meanings. The context helps the learner make meaning.

Figure 3: The difference between the word tail and tale

Bryant (2019)

4.1 Visual perceptual problems are predominant in reading problems

The following are examples of visual perceptual features and problems that could emerge from developmental delays.

4.1.1 Visual memory

This is when the learner can recall how to copy the letter or picture he has seen on the board. Visual memory is the ability to remember what the eyes have seen. Young learners often have trouble in copying from the chalkboard as their eyes need time to refocus from the board to the sheet of paper in front of them and their short-term visual memory is not well established.

4.1.2 Visual sequencing

In Grades 1, 2 and 3, the learner will place letters in order in a word. Sequencing means positioning pictures or symbols in such a way that they form a story or pattern. In Grade R the learner will be expected to be able to select, classify, and correctly place pictures in a sequence.

4.1.3 Visual motor coordination

This allows the learner to carry out movements with the body or parts of the body – all actions with the body or with parts of the body are directed by vision. Difficulty in



following words and tracking letters on the board manifest as problems when the learner has not developed their visual motor coordination to the level of their age. 4.1.4 Visual figure ground perception The capacity to locate something in a busy background and recognise specific words among other words is problematic if visual figure ground perception is not developed. 4.1.5 Visual attention The ability to concentrate on important visual data and filter out unimportant background information is known as visual attention. The failure to follow words and sentences and sift out all the other information on a page could show a visual attention problem. 4.1.6 Visual closure This is the ability to identify a form or object when part of the picture is missing. It enables learners to read any type of text, particularly their own writing, which is sometimes challenging to translate. 4.1.7 Visual discrimination This is the skill to determine differences or similarities in items and letters and words based on size, colour, shape, etc. In many circumstances, a learner is able to identify a word based on its shape. 4.2 Auditory discrimination Auditory skills support the learner in making sense of the sound-letter connection and ensure that aural (auditory) and oral language are associated. What we say and what we hear, carry meaning. The teacher may notice the learner who turns their head in order to hear properly. Any mucus from the ears would also indicate an infection or injury. The learner who mispronounces words and confuses sounds and letters, should be referred for a hearing test as soon as any symptoms become noticeable.

4.3 Additional readiness Skills that are important for the development of reading skills: The school beginner must have sufficient control and co-ordination of the large muscles, which allow the hands to move effectively and develop, strengthen and stabilise the shoulders and arms. It is important that the small muscles of the body are able to manipulate small objects and handle writing materials. In the classroom the learner is expected to perform a number of accurate tasks with his fingers and hands. A small child needs plenty of practice to develop the small muscles of his/her hands



so that he/she will not find it difficult to use a pencil or write letters and numerals. This is called fine motor control. It is needed for writing and identifying letters and numbers.

4.4 Tearing and cutting paper

Developed visual motor perception increases the ability to control finger muscles and enhances the learner's awareness of shape and size. These are important skills that are necessary for reading and writing. The relationship of an object to the observer constitutes its position in space. Learners with spatial orientation problems do not understand the space around them. They cannot distinguish between left and right, top and bottom, in front of, up, down etc. These terminologies and concepts are important aspects of reading and writing.

20 90 minutes

Read the article below. https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/visual-perception/ Then match the visual perceptual skills in the left-hand column and symptoms of the problem emerging in the classroom in the right-hand column. Perceptual skill Problem manifestation

1. Visual Figure Ground: The ability to locate something in a busy background.

A Inability to filter out visual

distractions such as colourful bulletin boards or movement in the room in order to attend to the task at hand.

Inefficient sorting and organising of personal belongings (e.g. may appear disorganised or careless in work).

2. Visual Memory: The ability to recall visual traits of a form or object.

B Difficulty differentiating between

b, d, p, q Reversing numbers or letters

when writing. Difficulty in discriminating

between size of letters and objects.

Difficulty with dressing (i.e. matching shoes or socks).



3. Visual Attention: The ability to focus on important visual information and filter out unimportant background information.

C Losing place on a page when

reading or writing. Confusing left and right. Forgetting where to start reading. Difficulty in remembering sight

words. 4. Visual-Sequential Memory: The ability to recall a sequence of objects in the correct order

D Confusing spatial concepts such

as in, out, on, under, next to, up, down, in front of.

Difficulty coping with movement from one place to another (e.g. from board, from book, from one side of the paper to the other).

5. Visual-Spatial Relationships: Understanding the relationships of objects within the environment.

E Difficulty in sequencing letters or

numbers in words or math problems.

Difficulty in remembering the alphabet in sequence.

6. Visual Closure: The ability to recognise a form or object when part of the picture is missing.

F Problems with hidden picture

activities or finding a specific item in a cluttered desk.

7. Visual Discrimination: The ability to determine differences or similarities in objects based on size, colour, shape, etc.

G Difficulty completing partially

drawn pictures or stencils. Difficulty attending to a word on a

printed page due to his/her inability to block out other words around it.

Commentary: Read the article and make a list of the perceptual skills, match the possible problem indicators to the skill.

Answer to activity 20: 1-F, 2-C, 3-A, 4-E, 5-D, 6-G, 7-B This section gives the possible causes of reading and writing problems. Decoding and encoding are important skills that are used in the reading process. Being able to make sense of written letters which represent sounds, in sequence in order to convey meaning, is a complex cognitive process. Perceptual development is important for the skills to work together and the action of reading with meaning to occur. A lack of auditory and visual perceptual skills development can be connected to reading problems. This section highlights visual perceptual skills and their importance. The



next section introduces the five components of reading, emphasising the importance of each in the reading process.

1. INTRODUCTION This section will introduce the theoretical knowledge of the five important components of reading needed for developing reading skills.

Phonological awareness is the individual’s ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken language. It is linked to phonemic awareness which is the awareness that words are made out of individual sounds.

Fluency with text and the relationship with phonetics is important for the

learner to read effortlessly and the automatic ability to read words in the connected text.

Vocabulary development and expansion of vocabulary is the ability to understand and use words to acquire and convey meaning.

Comprehension is the ability to comprehend the message or meaning of the text and to react meaningfully upon it.

Phonics/word recognition refers to the learner’s ability to identify sounds and words.

2. COMPONENTS OF READING It is important to be aware of all the components that need to be developed when teaching the skill of reading. All five components should be given equal attention by the teacher. How to incorporate phonological and phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, phonics and word recognition and vocabulary development in the reading and any other lesson that needs the skill of reading, is left to the teacher’s creativity. Drawing attention to the connections between oral and written language is important. The teacher needs to be specific in this and show the learners the letters and the words they form and the meaning of the words and the sentence.

SECTION 2: COMPONENTS OF READING



The direct connection: written language is a notation system for oral language.

The indirect connection is through syntax and morphology. The use of both connections to read or write the same passage is best

described as morphophonemic.

Understanding that words are a sequence of sounds that have a meaning and a spelling, and when teaching that they are all different, with different meanings and spellings, is the aim of the teacher. The teacher needs to teach learners strategies to interpret sounds, syntax and words they have never heard. This is part of the development of reading skills.

21

60 minutes

A practical example of a reading lesson: During a reading lesson, the teacher may use the first part to introduce a sound to the whole class. She may then give leaners a written activity to do. Initially the learners could be expected to fill in the missing word in a sentence, where the learner will copy sentences off the board and fill in the missing words, which could be represented by pictures. The teacher will be strategic in using sentences which frame the meaning of the word, within the context of the learner’s experience and pictures that are within the learner’s frame of reference. The teacher will point to each word and picture when explaining the activity, making sure to highlight the difficult words and the words and sounds that are related to the pictures. The teacher will then take a group on the mat and do group guided reading. The learners are divided into ability groups at the beginning of the year and a graded reading scheme is used. Books are given to ability groups based on the level of competence of the group. Vocabulary lists and sight words are transferred onto flashcards, which are used to introduce and consolidate the words in the reading book. These flashcards are shown to the learners to identify and say the words, together or individually, taking turns, before the learners read a few pages of the reading book. The teacher will let the learners read the sentences while pointing to the words. Each learner will be concentrating on their own book and the teacher will be guiding the learner whose turn it is to read. The same pages will be read for a few days, building on each day. This repetition is important, especially when the learners have differing ability in English. The teacher will stop frequently to ask questions to test comprehension. The teacher also corrects pronunciation and highlights words with phonics already learned. In this reading lesson, the teacher



consolidates spelling, develops phonemic awareness, increases vocabulary and improves fluency and comprehension. Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge.

Please read the above lesson against the background of the five components of reading. Vocabulary development happens at the beginning of the lesson, when words, sounds and pictures are matched. This can also be seen as phonemic awareness, as it is a phonics lesson, introducing or consolidating a sound. Phonological awareness can be observed when the teacher uses flashcards to consolidate word recognition and word formation. You may argue that this constitutes vocabulary development or the development of fluency. Comprehension needs to be tested frequently in a fun way. Asking different types of questions about the same word is key to improving comprehension. Highlighting familiar words builds learner confidence and oral reading fluency improves when sight words are recognised and not decoded during the reading process. All these components are being developed simultaneously during this lesson.

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Please watch the video clips below and then answer the questions that follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU461AMLAAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjVIgkNtRg 1. Create your own definitions for the five components of reading.

Fluency Comprehension Vocabulary Phonological/Phonemic awareness Phonics/Word recognition

Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection. Please discuss your thoughts with a study buddy or a teacher in the profession.



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Additional reading: Please read a recap of the five skills that learners need to be able to read proficiently. https://readcharlotte.org/research/the-big-five/ Commentary: This activity is for additional information.

One can see how important the development of the five components of reading are and how they are related

Figure 4: The Reading Competence Connection

The awareness of phonemes and the sound-letter relationship ensures that the letter and word recognition skills are well developed.

Without sufficient vocabulary, a learner is unable to read fluently, while ensuring comprehension of the text. Oral reading fluency and fluent silent reading should be a by-product of these three components and with enough reading practice, the learner should become more proficient in recognising words and letters.

VOCABULARY

COMPREHENSION

FLUENCYLETTER AND

WORD RECOGNITION

PHONOLOGICALAND PHONEMIC

AWARENESS



It is important to highlight the connections between words and phonemes, to emphasise the sound-letter relationship and encourage learners to decode unfamiliar words, using some of the knowledge already gained. For example, then becomes them, when one adds an m, and there, when an r is added.

3. A PHONICS LESSON

Phonics is the part of literacy teaching which connects sounds and letters. In English Home Language teaching, the CAPS (DBE, 2011) document recommends teaching phonics in Grade 1 in this sequence.

Term 1 (pg. 57) Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Daily 15-minute activities Begin phonemic awareness activities, teach 1-2 new letters every week and introduce word building, using sounds learnt.

Distinguishes aurally between different sounds, especially at the beginning of words

Participates in whole class phonemic awareness oral activities: blending sounds [c-a-t into cat]; segmenting words [cat into c-a-t]; consonant and vowel substitution word play [replace the h in hat with b to make bat]

Identifies letter-sound relationships of some single letters. For example, l, o, h, m, a, b, t, c. There should be 2 vowels and at least 6 consonants

Recognises and names some letters of the alphabet: 2 vowels and at least 6 consonants

Begins to build up short words, using sounds learnt such as c-a-t - cat Begins to use blending to make words. For example, at c-at, m-at, identifying

the rhymes Term 2 (pg. 64) Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Daily 15-minute activities Teach the remainder of the single letters (3 vowels and 13 consonants) by the end of the term. Continue with phonemic awareness and word-building activities

Distinguishes aurally between different beginning and end sounds of words Identifies the letter-sound relationships of most single letters

Participates in whole class phonemic awareness activities: blending sounds [h-op into hop]; segmenting words [hop into h-o-p]; consonant and vowel substitution word play [replace the h in hop with m to make mop]



Builds words using sounds learnt ( -at, -et, -it, -ot, -ut, -ag, -eg, -ig, -og, -ug, -an, -en, -in, -un -am - at least two word families per week)

Builds up and breaks down simple words beginning with a single consonant into onset (the initial sound) and rhyme (the last part of the syllable), e.g. h-en, p-en; t-in, p-in, identifying the rhymes

Groups common words into sound families, e.g. hot, hop, hob Reads phonic words in sentences and other texts

Term 3 (pg. 69) Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Daily 15-minute activities Revise the single letters and introduce common consonant blends and consonant digraphs. Continue word-building activities.

Identifies letter-sound relationships of all single letters Revises word families, using short vowel sounds learnt Builds 3-letter words, using all single letters Uses consonant blends to build up and break down words (e.g. r and l blends

bl-ack, fl-op, sl-ip etc.) Recognises common consonant digraphs (sh, ch and th) at the beginning of

a word (e.g. sh-ip, ch-ip, th-ink) Groups common words into sound families Reads phonic words in sentences and other texts

Term 4 (pg. 76) Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Daily 15-minute activities:

Revises common consonant digraphs (sh, ch and th) at the beginning of a word. For example, sh-ip, ch-ip, th-in

Recognises common consonant digraphs (sh, ch and th) at the end of a word. For example, fi-sh, mu-ch, wi-th

Uses consonant blends to build up and break down words. For example, sp-o-t, fr-o-g, dr-i-nk, st-i-ck

Builds words using sounds learnt Groups common words into sound families Recognises plurals ( s and es) Reads phonic words in sentences and other texts Learns to spell ten words a week taken from phonics lessons



3.1 Different language structures The language structure of English and isiXhosa are very different. isiXhosa has a fairly simple syllable structure based around a Consonant, Vowel pattern. In addition, there are limitations on complex syllable beginnings. For example, iDada English allows for more intricate structures than CV words, such as CCV, e.g. try and CCCV e.g. straw. ‘Therefore, while syllable awareness seems to be a more natural pre-literacy skill in African language speakers, research suggests there is a need for pedagogy to attempt to shift to a more phonemic-leaning approach (Pretorius, 2015). Pedagogical practices such as syllable charts, influence the learner’s understanding of the structure of their languages. This practice does not encourage deeper phonological awareness through the teaching of letter-sound relationships and word building. South African school children spend more time on syllable manipulation, which is an ineffective, incomplete method of early literacy letter-sound instruction in African home languages. It is this interpretation that led Pretorius (2015) to suggest that one of the primary reasons for poor results in African language-speaking schools lies in classroom practices and a lack of emphasis on literacy rather than the language of instruction. Her conclusion is supported by other work: a study by Combrinck, Van Staden and Roux (2014) found delayed introduction of reading skills and strategies in the Foundation Phase, including reading sentences, reading connected text, locating information within the text and identifying the main idea of a text. In a study by Spaull (2016), it was found that in a test given to 3 402 Grade 3 learners, the composite effect of home background and school quality was between 1,5 and 3,6 times larger than the effect of the language of the test. Linking phonics and reading is thus of great importance, ensuring that phonemic awareness is supported and emphasised. The case study below is of a phonics lesson – this is the part of the literacy teaching where sounds and letters are linked. Phonemes are the sounds that each letter makes and developing the learners’ phonemic awareness would need the teacher to have many different pictures and objects as well as clear, correctly-formed letters to connect and reinforce the relationship between the letter and the sound. Phonemic awareness is the skill the learner needs to be able to identify sounds and differentiate between different sounds.



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We are going to look at how a teacher might teach phonics in a Grade 1 classroom, making use of some basic resources. A phonics lesson usually begins with a story or objects that can be linked to the sound being taught. For example, the teacher may bring a pineapple, a pen, some paint, a potato, a picture and a pie to school. She will begin by asking the learners to identify each item and the learners will volunteer information about the object. She will then name them again and ask the learners if they notice anything that links these objects. She will lead them to the initial sound – P. They will then be asked to name other objects starting with P, and the names of their classmates, etc. This is how she will link the lesson to the learner’s context. She may then follow with a rhyme or a song which emphasises the P. Perhaps she will then introduce the letter P and get the learners practising it in the air and on each other’s backs. These are all pre-writing activities that are linked to the phonics lesson. The teacher will give them an activity to do which is based on the P sound. Perhaps it will be a worksheet where they need to draw a picture next to each word starting with a P. It may be linking words to pictures or practising the written P. While the class is busy with the activity, the teacher may take a reading group to join her with group guided reading. Commentary: The teacher develops phonemic awareness by creating opportunities for the learners to name objects and pictures, from their own context, that begin with a P. She creates awareness of the phoneme p with the pictures and sounds she emphasises during the phonics lesson.

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Please watch the two phonics lessons below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMoT52yLlns&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T&index=2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Odm3Tm2_A&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T&index=3



Analyse one of the lessons, using the questions below, and fill in the lesson plan. You may use the template included in Annexure B for this activity.

INTRODUCTION How does the teacher introduce the lesson? Which prior knowledge does she check? LESSON PROGRESSION How does the lesson progress? What does the teacher do? What do the learners do? CONCLUSION How does the teacher conclude the lesson? Which activity does she use to conclude? Is there enough consolidation of the sound? ACTIVITIES Make a list of the activities the learners do throughout the lesson. RESOURCES List the resources used in the lesson. INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS: Is there anything interesting you observed? When considering your answers to the above questions, please note the following:

How could efficient classroom management affect the lesson? How could poor class discipline affect the phonics lesson? Are there any language challenges that could present themselves in the

lesson? Commentary: Watch both lessons and decide which one you will analyse. Answer the questions related to that lesson only.

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Please reflect on your reading of this section so far. Make rough notes to answer the questions below and check your knowledge. Phonics and word recognition

Why is it important to teach phonics and word recognition in Grade 1? What elements of phonics are taught in Grade 1? How are these elements taught? (methods) How is word recognition taught? What resources are needed?



How are phonics and word recognition assessed (e.g. spelling)? What are the benchmarks?

How does the teacher support learners who are not achieving the benchmarks?

Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection. Please discuss your answers with a study buddy or a teacher in the profession.

Table 2: Short definitions of key aspects of reading Below we have given you some short definitions of key aspects of reading that you need to understand. The crucial elements of phonics and word study are: phonological and phonemic awareness, print awareness, alphabetic knowledge, alphabetic principle, decoding, reading practice with decodable text, irregular or high-frequency words and reading fluency.

Phonemic awareness being conscious that sounds make up words. Phonological awareness being able to hear and manipulate sounds. Word recognition of sight words being able to see and say the word without decoding. Print awareness refers to a learner's understanding of the nature and uses of print. Alphabetic knowledge is the ability to name letters, see the difference between letter shapes, and identify letter sounds. Some instances of abilities are: pointing to words in a book, reciting the alphabet, play-acting reading, and connecting names of letters with their shapes. Alphabetic principle the understanding that letters symbolise sounds which form words; it is the knowledge of predictable interactions between written letters and spoken sounds. Decoding is the ability to connect letters and sounds to create words with meaning. Reading practice with decodable text the type of text often used in beginning reading instruction is decodable text. Decodable texts are carefully sequenced to



progressively incorporate words that are consistent with the letters and corresponding phonemes that have been taught to the new reader. Irregular words words that do not follow other regular language forms, for example walk – walked and bath bathed BUT see saw, go went. High frequency words the set of about 100 words that keeps being repeated on almost any page of text. Who, the, he, were, does, their, me, be, are a few examples. Reading fluency the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, learners must be able to read smoothly, whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read with expression and add tone appropriately.

3.2 Three types of phonics

The three types of phonics – analytic, embedded and synthetic.

Analytic phonics – starts with the whole word, identifies the first and last letters, draws attention to sound patterns within words, taught alongside rhyme. For example, lo-ck, blo-ck, clo-ck. (How are the words different?) It starts with the whole word and is systematic.

Embedded phonics is taught within the context of stories. When there is a difficult word, the first and last sounds are identified and the context of the word is used to identify it. It is incidental learning and not systematic at all.

Synthetic phonics teaches the sound-letter code. It teaches learners to notice every letter in the word from left to right and for them to blend the sounds to form words. Learners are taught to segment words and to spell them. It is a systematic decoding process in which learners learn some common spelling rules and reading and spelling are taught simultaneously. Watch the following video:

https://soundbytesreading.com/different-types-of-phonics-what-are-they.html

CAPS (2011) favours the synthetic approach to phonics when teaching English. Systematically enforcing the sound-letter relationship and teaching learners to decode words, step by step. Starting with the initial sounds, followed by medial sounds, followed by final sounds. Blends of two-letter sounds, pa-, pi-, pe-, po-, pu- and then three-letter words, e.g. p-i-g, are taught during the first few months of Grade 1. Plenty of consolidation exercises and pictures to support comprehension are needed. The double consonants, e.g. all, ball, wall and double vowels, ee – bee, see, tree, as well as diagraphs, e.g. sh- sheep, ch- cheek, wh, th, and diphthongs – a combination of vowels, e.g. late, play, follow on these.



Each lesson should have an element of word recognition in it. The teacher should draw the learners’ attention to familiar words. High frequency words, which are words that are used often in conversation and text, words that are used in environmental text, e.g. STOP, Omo, and Joko, and incidental reading that occurs in the classroom, e.g. learners’ names and classroom labels, are examples of word recognition. Activities that promote word recognition are matching picture and word activities, filling in the missing sounds in words, words in sentences, and decoding jumbled words with picture references.

The phonics lesson needs to have clear pictures or the concrete objects that depict the sound that the teacher is introducing. Words to match the pictures need to be large enough for all learners to see, on flashcards, which are used during the phonics lesson as well as during group guided reading. The use of flashcards stimulates visual memory and recall and develops word recognition skills. The choice of text is important as learners need to be interested in the topic and able to read the font. The level of spelling development would also influence the chosen text.

Assessment of phonics is done by observing learners’ activities during whole-class teaching as well as small-group teaching. Phonic lessons with small groups on the mat, are necessary – word building and word recognition during group guided reading supports phonological and phonemic awareness and the teacher is able to assess the learners’ development in a small group, in a variety of ways, through observation. The teacher assesses the learners formally through their written work and their formal assessment tasks.

Recognising barriers to learning phonics is important as they need to be addressed, the teacher needs to be aware of any visual or auditory-challenged learners, and any physical, mental or learning disability the learners may have. Any perceptual development challenges need to be identified and remediated so that the teaching of phonics and reading is supported.

Some additional information to assist with the teaching of phonics – being able to identify the stage of the learners spelling development will assist in the planning for, presentation of and assessment of the learners’ phonics abilities. In discovering the intricacies of printed English, children go through several stages of spelling development. Gentry (1982), building on Read's research, describes five stages: pre-communicative, semi-phonetic, phonetic, transitional, and correct. Pre-communicative stage The child uses symbols from the alphabet but displays no knowledge of letter-sound correspondence. The child may also lack awareness of the full alphabet, the



difference between upper and lower-case letters, and the left-to-right direction of English orthography. Semi-phonetic stage The child begins to recognise letter-sound correspondence that sounds are allocated to letters. At this stage, the child often employs simple logic, using single letters, for example, to represent words, sounds, and syllables (e.g., U for you). Phonetic stage The child uses a letter or group of letters to represent every single speech sound that they hear in a word. Even if some of their choices do not conform to conventional English spelling, they are systematic and easily understood. Examples are KOM for come and EN for in. Transitional stage The speller begins to integrate the conventional substitute for representing sounds, moving from a reliance on phonology (sound) for representing words, to a reliance on visual representation and an understanding of the structure of words. Some examples are EGUL for eagle and HIGHEKED for hiked. Correct stage The speller knows the English orthographic structure and its basic guidelines. The correct speller primarily understands how to deal with such things as prefixes and suffixes, silent consonants, alternative spellings, and irregular spellings. A large number of learned words are collected, and the speller identifies incorrect forms. The child's generalisations about spelling and knowledge of exceptions are frequently right. Gentry (1982) notes that the change from one spelling stage to the next is a gradual one and that examples from more than one stage may coexist in a particular sample of writing.

This section expanded your knowledge on the five important components of reading. There are many different skills to teaching and learning reading. Some facets are more complex than others. If the teacher is knowledgeable about reading instruction, the process will be easier, as Grade 1 learners are eager to learn. The importance of developing these five skills in the learners are highlighted in your research. Well-developed phonological and phonemic awareness in young learners are determining factors in their future reading ability. An introduction to spelling development and the elements of phonics teaching are good foundations for the teaching of sounds and words. The next section will introduce reading strategies that develop the five components of reading.



1. INTRODUCTION

This section will build on the five components necessary for the learning of reading. It will introduce you to two different reading approaches and will encourage you to research and compare the characteristics of both reading approaches. It aims to broaden your theoretical framework and be critical of reading approaches.

2. APPROACHES TO READING

There are many approaches to the teaching of reading. Most of them fall within the categories of top-down (whole to parts) or bottom-up (parts to whole).

The top-down approach to reading is also known as a meaning-giving theory, where meaning and sense lie at the foundation of reading. It concentrates mainly on the association that the learner has with books and authentic text and on reading for meaning. The premise of this approach is that comprehension is the first step, followed by the interpretation of words and letters and finally the recognition of words. It is a whole-to-parts approach. There is an integration of listening, reading and writing and emphasis is placed on learners comprehension and making meaning from authentic texts by bringing them into contact with real books and encouraging them to read by making the lesson enjoyable. The language-experience approach is when a learner’s own text is used to encourage reading. This reinforces the connection between the written symbol and the spoken word and consolidates the repetition of letters and sounds to form the same word consistently. It uses the learner’s own vocabulary and makes the experience and text more personal, which motivates them to want to read their own and each other’s work. The learners also read for meaning right from the beginning.

The bottom-up approach relies on the development of sub-skills which are individual skills which, when developed singly, lead to complex reading skills. This is also known as the skills-acquirement theory. This approach can be classified under the synthetic and analytical reading methods. The synthetic approach concentrates on the sound and alphabet method. It connects the auditive and visual. It focuses not only on the phonological structure of the spoken word, but also on the meaning and syntax of words.

The parts are connected to form the whole word in the phonic approach. The learner learns the sounds step by step, first the consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant, e.g. m-a-t. The learner is encouraged to sound out the phonemes and connect them

SECTION 3: HOW TO TEACH READING



to form a meaningful word. A picture is connected to the word to consolidate meaning. The next step is to change the initial sound in order to make other words, e.g. c-a-t. These words are then combined, e.g. A cat sat on a mat. There are many advantages and support structures for this strategy. Sound-letter relationships are consolidated by the use of pictures and flashcards, using the word in different contexts and by repetition. The analytical approach concentrates on the look-and-say method. The learner becomes familiar with the shape of the word, the beginning/initial sound and end/final sound.

Below is a table comparing the differences between a top-down and bottom-up approach to teaching reading.

Table 3: Comparison between a top-down and bottom-up approach to teaching readingTOP DOWN BOTTOM UP 1. Comprehension first 1. Recognise letters and words2. Interpret words and letters 2. Understand words 3. Recognise words 3. Understand sentences 4. Understand the whole

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Watch the video clip below to learn about the characteristics of top-down reading strategies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmIbfbYMfUE

Write down the 10 points about the top-down reading strategy. Commentary: Concentrate on the main points from your reading and the video clip.

The advantages and disadvantages of each approach will be discussed in the next paragraph, and which of them is commonly used in SA classrooms.

Bottom-up reading strategies begin with letter-sound correspondence (the bottom) to achieve comprehension (the top). Bottom-up processing starts with letters and sounds, building to morpheme and word recognition, and then increasingly moves to grammatical structure identification, sentences, and longer texts. A phonics approach to teaching reading supports the bottom-up method. Phonics is a way to facilitate students' access to text, to ultimately lead to understanding.



Bottom-up strategies incorporate the lower-level reading processes that teach learners to make meaning from the most basic units of language, including letters, letter clusters, and words. Students make sense of a text by building on the basis of investigating the smallest units of meaning.

According to followers of this approach, understanding resides in the reader. The reader uses contextual knowledge, beliefs, expectations and questions, and participates in pre-reading strategies, such as previewing the text, forecasting, and stimulating background knowledge.

Top-down strategies focus on activities that create meaning, rather than on understanding bottom-up skills. Learners generate meaning by using background knowledge, making guesses, and examining the text to check or reject the predictions that are made.

In the South African classroom language context, where English is the LoLT of the school, in many cases contextual clues reside in the language use. They remain hidden due to the language challenges of many learners. In most classrooms the interactive approach to reading, which combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down reading processes simultaneously, is used. For example, a reader may start reading a text using top-down strategies to understand the text, and then change to bottom-up strategies when he or she comes across an unfamiliar word. The reader then uses bottom-up strategies to make sense of the new word before moving on.

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What is the definition of a bottom-up reading approach? Redraw the triangle and simplify the definition so that it fits into the triangle.

Commentary: Please choose your words carefully so that you have a simple definition of the concept.



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Additional reading for personal development as a student to increase your own vocabulary by using contextual and language clues.

https://blog.talk.edu/grammar/word-context-clues/

In this section, two approaches to reading have been introduced and researched. The aim is to create an awareness of the two approaches and compare them in order to come up with a balanced approach to support the teaching of reading. The importance of encouraging the learners to practise reading is key. Frequency of practice is more important than the duration of the lesson. The teacher needs to ensure that time is spent individually with each learner. The importance and function of the different reading strategies are discussed in the next section.

1. INTRODUCTION

The emphasis of this section will be on different reading practices in the classroom. Teacher-guided reading forms the basis of two of these strategies. In this section, the value and place of each practice will be discussed. You will be encouraged to assess learner development and how each reading strategy supports reader development.

2. READING STRATEGIES

There are four different reading strategies prescribed by the CAPS (DBE, 2011) document. Shared reading: This is when the teacher reads a story aloud to the class. She uses a big book and points to the words as she reads. She encourages the learners to read along with her. The repetition of words and phrases reinforces the sound/word/meaning connection. Sight and high frequency words are also practised and emphasised during shared-reading time. This time should be enjoyable. Group guided reading: This is small-group reading instruction planned to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency. The small-group model allows students to be taught in a manner that is intended to be more concentrated on their specific needs, fast-tracking their progress. The teacher gives the whole class a written activity to do. This activity will be based on the sounds

SECTION 4: USE AND ASSESSMENT OF READING STRATEGIES



learned in the phonics lesson, and sight and high frequency words. It could be copying sentences and filling in missing words. Cutting up words to make sentences, sorting out jumbled words, a word search for high frequency words, and matching pictures and words are some examples. The teacher will then call a group of 10-12 learners (divided into reading-ability groups) to the mat. They would typically start by revising words, using flashcards, and introducing any new words. Each learner then reads a few sentences while the rest of the learners in the group follow in their own graded reading book. The teacher asks questions for clarity, and to test comprehension and support the learners with visual cues. The learners would typically take the reading book home to practise reading aloud at home daily, together with a word list of high frequency words and any words introduced in the reading book. Each group should spend about 15-20 minutes on the mat, at least twice a week. This process is intensely scaffolded because guided reading is based on the major theory that changes in children's development is a non-stop process. However, their development may not have the same qualitative modification, nor do changes happen at a specified rate or at the same time for each child (Vygotsky, 1986). Therefore, within a Grade 1 classroom, literacy concepts are developing continuously but surface at different times; a concept may take longer to develop in one child than in another. There are children within an ability group with varying abilities. Thus, children are "grouped by specific assessment for strengths in the reading process and appropriate level of text difficulty" and the grouping is "dynamic, lexible, and changeable on a regular basis" (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996, p. 101). It is important to understand that the grouping is done according to learner’s reading skills ability and the correct level of material chosen for them to read as a group – together and one at a time. Vygotsky's work provides very precise support to the framework for guided reading instruction: (1) learning occurs in social contexts and is a social activity; (2) learning is facilitated by language (Vygotsky, 1986); and (3) learning or the development of concepts happens within a student's zone of proximal development (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Gallimore & Tharp, 1990). Group Guided Reading is a social activity – it is done within a small group, where a learner can feel secure enough to risk pronunciation or decoding a word. Vocabulary development occurs in the small group as the teacher uses flashcards to consolidate sight words, introduce new words, and discuss their meaning and the context in which they can be used. The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is created during a group guided-reading session as the learner is demonstrating individual reading skills supported by the teacher to guide the process and assist with introduction and practise of unfamiliar words.



Paired reading is a strategy that teachers use to pair 2 learners with different reading abilities, or ages. The idea is that the stronger reader supports the weaker reader when reading the same text. Sometimes schools pair Grade 5 and Grade 2 learners to read. They read to each other out of their own reading book. The zone of proximal development is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help. According to Soviet psychologist and social constructivist, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), paired reading is the perfect activity, as one learner is a stronger reader than the other and the activity makes provision for the weaker reader to attempt to read, without assistance, until the help of the stronger reader is needed. The ZPD is created during this time and reading skills are developed. Individual reading is when a learner is able to read on his/her own with minimal assistance from the teacher. This is what the reading process end point is – from learning to read, to reading to learn. 3. STAGES OF READER DEVELOPMENT There are a number of stages of reader development in the child as they progress through Grade 1: This process follows a general pathway which Wolf (2008) outlines in a series of stages, from beginning reader to expert reader:

Emerging pre-reader: In this stage, which takes place largely in the home, children are first exposed to print in the environment and in books, develop print concepts, listen to books read by an adult, answer questions about stories, learn to tell stories, retell stories they have heard, and learn the alphabet and how to write their own names.

Novice reader: Children learn to connect sounds and letters and to read simple text with high frequency and phonemically regular words.

Decoding reader: Children achieve automaticity and no longer have to think about the sounds letters make. They read simple stories and passages with increasing fluency and consolidate their skills.

Fluent comprehending reader: Reading is used to gain new ideas, feelings and perspectives. Reading engages a wide range of texts, including books, textbooks, newspapers, articles and reference books which introduce new vocabulary and concepts.

Expert reader: Reading takes place widely across many disciplines (history, politics, sciences, etc.) from a variety of texts and engages multiple



perspectives. The development of reading never ends, and this stage continues for the duration of one’s life.

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Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Read Chapter 7, Paragraphs 7.1.2, ‘What are we aiming for when we teach reading?, to the end of paragraph 7.3.2, ‘Reading and focussed rereading’, to consolidate the definition of reading and the aim of teaching reading. Make bullet point notes on the key ideas you encounter in this text. Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge.

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Watch this video clip for some helpful reading hints. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxw1pfeB60M Please complete the table below by listing the learner’s action (how you think the learner will behave/what the learner will do) during the three reading strategies, in each of the developmental stages. Using the table below, compare the reading strategies with regard to reader development. What action would you expect from the learner?

Reader development

Shared reading Group guided reading

Paired reading

Emergent readers Pre-reading (cannot read at all)

E.g. The learner will not listen attentively or participate

The learner will not be able to handle a book properly

The learner will fidget and not pay attention

Beginner readers Novice reader (Can recognise a few words)



Early reader Decoding reader (recognises words and takes visual cues)

Fluent comprehending reader

Commentary: Observe each level of reading development in your classroom during your WIL period. Read the parts of Chapter 7 in the core reader, Van der Walt & Evans (2019) and apply the knowledge. This activity is for analysis and application of knowledge. Please discuss your thoughts with a study buddy or your mentor teacher.

4. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF

READING Preparing learners to learn to read takes many different strategies and depends on a number of factors. 1. Class size: If the class is very small, it is easier to provide daily personal reading

time for each learner. There is plenty of practice and word recognition and phonemic awareness skills are consolidated. In a very large class, the opposite is true. This is often the case in South African classrooms. There is limited time for every learner to read to the teacher every day. Most often the learner reads in a group only, reads one sentence or once a week. Practising sight words and learning new words takes longer due to the limited amount of exposure each of the learners gets. There is an additional challenge of poor discipline – lots of small children in a small space aggravates this. Many teachers avoid group guided reading for this reason. Group guided reading requires a motivated and organised teacher, able to dedicate time to this activity.

2. Comprehension of the LoLT (English): The level of understanding of English

will assist in the choice of reading material for the class. The shared reading process will assist in vocabulary building and consolidation. Comprehension is facilitated by exposure to texts and pictures to provide visual cues (clues for the learners to understand what the teacher is reading). Learners of this age do not get bored with a story. They can be exposed to the same one daily and still enjoy it and participate, the more they hear it. Have a collection of easy stories, with lots of repetition of sentences and phrases, lots of colourful illustrations and a sturdy cover.



3. Availability of sufficient reading material at the correct level: This is when there are not enough reading books for the whole class, or a whole group. Sometimes one needs to be innovative and create collections of books from the book storage room. In many schools there is a room filled with old books. Sort these books into categories and use them during group guided reading if there is no reading series in the school. A reading series is a set of graded readers published at different reading levels for the different grades. They cover an assortment of reading levels within the grade and aim to support the learner to apply and practise the skills and strategies learned while reading the class reader, when reading the supplementary reader independently. The texts develop from the simple to the more complex learning skills and vocabulary in the reading series. Make flashcards of the new words in each story or chapter and teach the learners their meanings.

If there are no books around, make enough of the same reading cards for each reading group, at the appropriate level and let the learners read these. Also get books from a local library, contact Biblionef for donations of books or make books, using websites such as Africanstories.com.

Reading aloud only happens in the Foundation Phase when the skill is being taught. It is mechanical in nature and creates awareness of pronunciation and the use of punctuation. The delivery is more important than the meaning and teachers need to ask relevant questions to ensure comprehension. No learner should be forced to read aloud without guidance and support.

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Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans, (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Read Chapter 7, Paragraph 7.8, ‘Reading aloud’ of the core reader and watch the video clip to answer the questions below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MS-5k-yj2w 1. How does the teacher prepare the learners for reading? 2. What process did the teacher use to teach the whole group to read? 3. Do you agree that learners should not be forced to read aloud? Quote some

other sources in your argument.

Commentary: When completing this activity, consider the following:



This is a mechanical skill. A skill to establish the connection between the written and spoken words. It takes time to develop.

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60 minutes

Reflect on your reading and experiences during WIL. Be guided by the following questions. Group Guided Reading

What is the purpose and value of Group Guided Reading (GGR)? How do we do GGR? o Set up ability groups o Plan weekly sessions o Get the level right, have the required resources o Work with the reading group: develop reading strategies and fluency o Plan activities for the other groups o Assess learners’ reading during GGR

Paired reading What is the purpose and value of Paid Reading (PR)? How do we do PR?

o Train learners o Plan for PR

Assess children’s oral reading fluency (ORF)

What is the purpose and value of acquiring ORF? What do you think helps a child to be fluent in their reading?

Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection. Please note your thoughts on these points and discuss them with your study buddy or mentor teacher.

This section emphasises the importance of the different reading strategies. It focuses on the developmental stages of reading of learners in Grade 1 and encourages research into how each strategy supports the developmental stage. It also gives an insight into whole-class reading and encourages students to evaluate the practice of reading aloud.

This unit progressed from the importance of reading readiness skills to the two different reading approaches, and ended with the CAPS (DBE, 2011) reading strategies and the levels of development in learners. It aimed to increase your



knowledge of reading theory and reinforce the connection between reading and writing, which is dealt with in the next unit.

Before you go on, reflect on what you have learnt so far and complete the self-assessment activity. If your answer is UNSURE or NO on any of the criteria, go back to the relevant section to study it again.

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YES UNSURE NO

Apply knowledge of emergent reading to assess reading-readiness skills.

Research reading challenges, using the information about reading-readiness skills and create activities to remediate these challenges.

List the five important components necessary for reading and analyse and define each.

Link the five components to CAPS requirements.

Identify the different characteristics of top-down and bottom-up reading approaches.

Compare different reading strategies in a Grade 1 class and record the findings.

Evaluate the learners’ reading skills.

Create activities to enhance learners’ reading development.

In Unit 2, your practical understanding of the emergent skills necessary for the learning of reading was consolidated. It focused on integrated phonetic and reading skills development. It aimed at assisting the teacher to identify and remediate any reading challenges caused by perceptual development deficiencies. The unit progressed from the importance of reading readiness skills to the two different reading approaches and ended with the CAPS (DBE, 2011) reading strategies and the



levels of development in learners. It aimed to increase your knowledge of reading theory and reinforce the connection between reading and writing, which will be dealt with in the next unit.

1. INTRODUCTION This unit aims to increase understanding of the connection between handwriting and writing for communication purposes. The importance of drawing and fine motor skills development is highlighted, and activities for Grade 1 learners are developed and assessed.

There are 13,5 hours allocated to this unit, 9,5 hours for reading, writing and reflective activities and 5 hours for reading and research. 2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 3


UNIT 3: WRITING AND WORDS

UNIT 3 WRITING AND WORDS

SECTION 1 Drawing and graphics

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Distinguish between the value

of drawing and colouring in activities.

Compare the perceptual skills needed to draw vs colour in.

List activities to promote fine motor development.

SECTION 2 Handwriting and creative

writing

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Discuss the difference

between handwriting and creative writing lessons.

Create a resource list of creative writing prompts.



1. INTRODUCTION Children generally begin their graphic journey by making marks on a surface. This is usually followed with scribbles, until the child is able to exert some control over the writing implement. The child will then attempt to draw pictures of themselves, their families, home and objects of interest. This is followed by learning to write their name. The teacher sometime thinks that there is more educational value in giving the learner a picture to colour in, rather than requesting the learner to draw a picture. There are so many different skills being used in both colouring in and drawing. The importance of drawing and fine motor-coordination skills development is researched in this section. You will be evaluating your own practice and the opportunities and media created for drawing.

SECTION 1: DRAWING AND GRAPHICS

SECTION 3 The writing process

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding

of the mechanical process of teaching handwriting.

Evaluate own classroom practice.

SECTION 4 Traditional methods to teach

handwriting

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Connect patterns to letters. Organise patterns and letters

in groups.



Figure 5: Young child writing

Funde Wande (2018)

2. COLOURING IN VERSUS DRAWING There is much educational value in colouring in. The learner will develop fine motor skills, visual motor co-ordination, visual discrimination, visual figure ground perception, visual attention and visual closure. Colouring in aids children develop good finger grip. It provides an opportunity to exercise holding a pencil the correct way and aids in developing those fine motor muscles in hands, fingers and wrists. It also advances concentration as children's concentration span develops and improves over time.

However, in the action of drawing, the learner needs to be able to visualise and plan their picture, as well as develop visual perceptual skills and these encourage creativity.

35 180 minutes

Please read the following articles for some opinions on the benefits of drawing time and colouring-in activities. Reflect on your own classroom practice (during WIL or your own teaching). Do you favour drawing or colouring in? https://kidscountryinc.com/2016/07/21/6-benefits-drawing-time-children/

http://www.aecyc.co.za/bestuur/engartikels/aecycarticle18.html



Make a summary of your findings (no more than 100 words). Commentary: Please watch each video and take notes on the pertinent points. In your answer, compare the similarities between drawing and colouring in before comparing the differences.

3. PERCEPTUAL SKILLS NEEDED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HANDWRITING

The skills that are used for drawing and colouring in are mainly visual and motor skills. In particular, fine motor skills are necessary. The underdevelopment of these skills could result in handwriting problems emerging at a later stage.

Strong fingers and hands need to be developed through daily exercises. These can be done at the beginning of the day, before the writing lesson, and after break. Spreading and stretching the fingers, flicking the hands and shaking the wrists are all exercises that can be done. The skills necessary for writing, activities to develop and strengthen the skills, and possible problems that could emerge are shared below.



(Jones, 2017)

There are many skills involved in handwriting, including vision, eye-hand coordination, muscle memory, posture, body control, as well as pencil grasp and letter formation.

Why is visual perception important? Good visual perceptual skills are important for many everyday skills such as reading, writing, completing puzzles, cutting, drawing, completing maths problems, dressing, finding a sock on the bedroom floor, as well as many other skills.

There are additional skills that are needed for the development of handwriting, including visual spatial skills, visual closure, increased visual discrimination skills and auditory discrimination. The learner must be able to use these skills collaboratively to produce legible handwriting. The action of writing requires these skills working together. Eye-hand coordination must work in conjunction with visual discrimination and visual memory when the learner is participating in a writing lesson. Auditory memory and discrimination are also important skills needed for the writing lesson, as well as a strong posture, the correct seating position and correct chair and table height.

36 120 minutes

Please read the article about the visual perceptual skills needed for handwriting. https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog/visual-perceptual-skills-required-for-handwriting



List all the perceptual skills you can, that are needed for handwriting development. Commentary: Please consider all the perceptual skills you have read about, not only in this article. Please note that this answer does not require the definition of these skills, only a list.

Watch the attached video clip for additional information on pre-writing skills and activities to develop these skills. https://www.growinghandsonkids.com/basics-pre-writing-activities-skills-kids

Figure 6: Chalk drawing on environmental surface.

(Photo: Siyawela, 2017) This section of the unit compares the actions of colouring in and drawing. It illuminates the important perceptual skills needed for the act of producing legible handwriting, particularly the visual perceptual skills and the exercises necessary to develop and improve these skills. There are some practical activities to improve the handwriting skills. The next section deals with the teaching of handwriting and creative writing.

1. INTRODUCTION In this section, you will be introduced to the teaching of handwriting and creative writing. You will complete a lesson that merges teaching learners’ letter formation and phonics. A list of memory sentences will be created, and the timing of handwriting in the daily routine will be noted.

SECTION 2: HANDWRITING AND CREATIVE WRITING



This is a good picture to illustrate a drawing activity, together with the learner’s name and date of birth as a reference point for further reading and writing.

Figure 7: Learner self-portraits in Grade 1

(Photo: D. Viljoen, 2020) 2. SHARED READING AND WRITING

It is important to create and reinforce the connection between reading and writing. The phonological connection between sounds and letters is a link between the surface structures of oral and written language and is recognised easily by most literate people. The action of transferring the aural and oral language into symbols which make sense and convey meaning, is the act of writing. The teacher needs to model the kind of written work they expect the learners to be able to interact with, in much the same way as reading is a shared process and the teacher reads slowly and carefully from the big book. Writing is also an activity that needs to be modelled. The formal writing lesson is one way of modelling the correct formation of patterns and letters. This is done for 15 minutes every day, and learners participate actively by practising and copying what the teacher shows them to do. It needs to be noted that the teacher demonstrates the formation of one letter at a time and encourages the



learners to copy the strokes used to form the letter. It is not good practice to write the whole lesson on the board beforehand and instruct the learners to copy it. Each letter needs to be carefully formed and learner attention needs to be focused. Please watch the video clip below for more information on the writing process and how to integrate phonics and handwriting in a Grade 1 class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzzyBmi8-6E

Shared writing becomes an important tool which starts creating the link between reading and writing in the learner’s mind. The teacher will introduce a topic to discuss and from the discussion, write a sentence or two, to note any points of interest. Generally, a picture will be used to reinforce the class’s understanding of the discussion and the writing that follows. The teacher will encourage the learners to read back the sentence/s. This practice works well with individual class news – the learners will retell the story of an event that happened at home, e.g. Avuyile’s mommy has a new baby. The teacher will write the words on a piece of paper and encourage the class to read them aloud. Avuyile will be tasked to draw a picture to represent the words. In this way, class and school news can be captured and noted and learners can be encouraged to read what they have created. Please watch the video clip below on shared reading and writing: http://teach.mindset.co.za/reading-and-phonics.html

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90 minutes

Please reflect on this shared writing lesson and note the reason for the activity. Lesson Plan Grade 1 Shared writing Reason for activity?

(Why is it part of the lesson?)

Aim The learner will be able to use a simple writing frame for a variety of reasons

Introduction Show the class a poster of various food items. Match words to items. For example, Grapes, Apples, Bananas, Plums, watermelon



Body of lesson Class discussion, talking about their likes and dislikes of the fruit. Introduction of the sentence: I like… Get the learners to complete the sentence, using the names of the fruit to communicate individual preferences

Activities The learners write their own sentences in their books, using the frame: I like… They copy the name of the fruit and can draw the picture next to the sentence

Conclusion The teacher asks questions about the activity. The learners can add other items to their list of likes

Language challenges

Recognising and identifying different types of fruit, in English

Resources Real fruit, or pictures of fruit, and words to name them

3. HANDWRITING AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS By the time the learners have completed their first year at school, it is assumed that they have mastered the mechanical skills of writing. It is also assumed that they have developed the skill of creating a legible word in a particular language. Teaching handwriting linking letter recognition and formation is important for the creative process. It is a vehicle for written creative processes to emerge. It is the foundation for being able to express ideas in writing. Creative writing is not only what students choose to write; rather, when they write, they are involved in a continuous thinking process and become thinkers. De Bono (cited in Curtis, 1998) affirms this view. Learners can be brilliant thinkers. Children enjoy thinking. They enjoy the use of their minds just as they enjoy the use of their bodies as they slide down helter-skelter or bounce on a trampoline … If learners can think so well at this stage, then surely the long years of education must develop this ability to a high level? Not so. At the end of their education, there has been no improvement in the thinking ability of children; in fact, there has actually been deterioration (p. 65).



The Grade 1 teacher is privileged to be at the beginning of this creative process. It is important to plan activities that support and develop the level of letter and word recognition skills in a way that make provision for sufficient repetitions for practice. These activities should also be creative enough to provide enjoyment and stimulate risk-taking when playing with words and sounds. Showing learners how words morph into others with or without meaning, and giving them a visual example to refer to, is good practice. Words that end with ‘’–at’” can be made into a poster, with pictures to provide visual clues for the second language learner. A word wall of sight and high-frequency words should be built throughout the year. The word wall provides a reference point for the Grade 1 learner who may be unsure of the spelling of a familiar word. This leads learners from the concrete to the semi-concrete and then to the abstract in Grade 3. Ensuring many opportunities to see and say the word will lead to easier recognising and writing of the word. The learner will not be hesitant to use it, as self-confidence and success in literacy will be developed. Activities should be designed from easy to more difficult. The teacher will start off by labelling a picture, using new and familiar words, or filling in a missing word, represented by a picture, in a text which has meaning. This will progress to learners writing simple sentences (subject-verb-object) to label pictures in a sequence. For example, “The man is big. He can run. He can run far. He can run fast”. Note the repetition of high frequency words (the, is, can), also the three-letter word blends (man, big, run). The two new words are far and fast, are close in pronunciation and spelling. The teacher will draw the learners’ attention to the spelling of these words. Practising these written activities and becoming familiar with the written word formation, is the next step. Towards the end of the year, more complex sentences can be dictated for the learners to write, using all the sounds and words already learned. The learners must then be guided in their own writing. A daily journal with a single sentence. “I feel………” could be a good way to start. Learners first draw the picture, guided by a few pictures displaying different emotions. They gradually replace the picture with the word that represents the picture, and so increase their writing vocabulary. Writing about experiences and describing pictures and objects with words is also good practice to consolidate vocabulary and understanding. Stimulating the creative writing process and creating enthusiasm in the learner, is key. Remember, Grade 1 is the very beginning of the school journey. Whatever the learners experience in their first encounter with school will determine their future attitude towards learning and academia. Make the first year enjoyable and fun but stretch their minds and create associations in their thinking. They are still innocent in their views of life and will describe people and things the way they perceive them, very literally and often without a filter.



Writing is not an isolated activity but is intimately linked to and dependent on the development of other literacy skills. 4. IDEAS FOR PROMPTING CREATIVE WRITING It is important to create an atmosphere conducive to the development of the creative process. The teacher needs to ensure that the context and interest of the learners are taken into account when formulating stimulating topics for the learners to write about. As Van der Walt & Evans (2019) state in the Core Reader, “When we look at writing in terms of a communicative act involving a sender (writer), a message (the written piece) and a receiver (reader), it is clear that the prime function of this communicative act is to communicate clearly about a particular topic. We use language to greet, complain, refuse, invite, apologise and compliment.” (Chapter 9, paragraph 9.3)

Figure 8: The Communicative Act illustrated

https://slideplayer.com/slide/9251154/ The teacher will make the learners aware of the audience they are writing for and the purpose of the communication. This is called audience analysis and will determine the appropriate manner of writing. There is a difference between writing a letter to your friend and writing a description of a picture. You use different types of words and emotions to communicate the message.



Learners should have been introduced to the vocabulary around the communication or topic the learners will write about. This can be done in English and the words can be repeated in the home language, if they are different. Sufficient sight words should be introduced and visual clues in the classroom. A word wall with high frequency and other well-used words can be on display for the learners to have a point of reference.

Figure 9: An example of a word wall

(Photo: Zenex, 2018) Any new words need to be written on the chalkboard and there needs to be a class discussion about the pronunciation and spelling of the word, as well as the meaning and how to use it in a sentence.



Be sensitive to the socio-economic, religious and family conditions of the learners – asking learners in an informal settlement to write about their holiday, is insensitive. Asking a class of mixed religions and cultures to write a letter to Father Christmas, detailing what they would like for Christmas, is also not a good idea. Think carefully about the communication you want to facilitate and the level of development of the skills you want the learners to practise.

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60 minutes

Add to these topics to complete a list of 10 topics or communication ideas for the Grade 1 class creative writing lessons: 1. My favourite person is… 2. I like to… 3. My best shirt is… Commentary:

Consider what topics would be relevant to a Grade 1 learner. Consider topics that are culturally appropriate. Consider topics that will provide the learners with plenty of stimulation that

will fuel their writing.

Memory sentences are able to provide the learner with a number of words and sentence frames that have been automated. The learner is able to remember how to write them and some meaning will be associated with them. When teaching a new letter during the phonics lesson, the teacher reinforces it during the handwriting lesson and adds a sentence to support the learners’ language and vocabulary development. Memory is a constructive process, and learners who have been exposed to and allowed to interact and play with words, will have an advantage over those who have a limited sense and nonsense vocabulary, without rhyming words and songs.



39 90 minutes

Add to the memory sentences below, keeping the initial sound in mind and building a sentence with familiar or high-frequency words. Andile also asks about aliens. Betty bakes biscuits. Carlo cooks carrots. Dali dances daily. Eli and Ester eat everyone’s eggs. Faranah runs fast. Gert goes to the garage. Now follow the pattern for the rest of the alphabet letters (H to Z): H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U



V W X Y Z Commentary: You will note that it is not possible to use the initial sound for every word in the sentence. Try to use high frequency words so that learners are able to practise reading and writing them. Keep it short and simple until the learners are able to keep up with the words and the writing process. It becomes tiring to copy too much!

This section introduced the connection between phonics and handwriting. It aimed at reinforcing the initial sounds and creating memory sentences, using these sounds. The importance of remembering sight words and other high frequency words was emphasised by introducing memory sentences each week. The following section assesses the process of handwriting development. This must be taught alongside the phonetic approach to reading and phonics and used to re-emphasise and consolidate the sounds in the learner’s frame of reference.

1. INTRODUCTION This section will assess the whole process of handwriting development, from pre-writing to letter formation. The perceptual development of Grade 1 learners and the skills that are linked to CAPS expectations of handwriting skills will be discussed. 2. THE MECHANICAL PROCESS OF TEACHING

HANDWRITING The mechanical process of teaching handwriting begins with pre-writing activities. The learner need to be aware of the necessity of being able to write and they must be taught to write words that will be needed for life, for example, their names. Activities

SECTION 3: THE WRITING PROCESS



to encourage practising this skill include writing their names on an attendance list, labelling their art-work, writing their names in different colours. (Stick a copy of the learner’s name on the table, books, any lists in class, etc., to give the learner a point of reference. Some learners have very long names. Be sensitive to these learners.)

The teacher will ensure that fine motor movements are practised daily to strengthen the little muscles in the fingers and hands. Fingers need to be exercised to become strong for learners to be able to grip a writing utensil properly. Decorating strips of paper with patterns is a good introduction to mathematical patterns and different crayon strokes, which form the basis for letter and number formation.

A good posture, including a strong shoulder girdle and core muscle strength needs to be built in order for the learner to sit upright for long periods of time and concentrate on the writing process. A physically tired learner will be unable to write for the required period of time.

There should be enough supplies for all learners to use them at the same time. It causes chaos and becomes disturbing for the whole class when there are not enough supplies.

The sheet of paper or medium that the learner is working on, needs to be large enough for the learner to write on properly. Small children need large pieces of paper to express themselves properly.

It is important for the teacher to be explicit when giving an instruction when teaching writing. Sometimes instructions can be ambiguous and can complicate the learner’s reaction to the teacher.

Ultimately, the teacher is guiding the learner to write between the lines, starting with writing on the line first, and encouraging the learners to practise this a number of times before proceeding to writing between smaller lines. The teacher leads the learners from writing on the line with pencil strokes to writing patterns and letters on a line, and then to being able to copy the same etchings between lines. 3. HANDWRITING SKILLS THAT NEED TO BE

DEVELOPED IN GRADE 1

We refer to the CAPS (2011) document and a list of the handwriting skills that need to be developed by the learner in Grade 1:



Table 4: List of handwriting skills for Grade 1 Handwriting Skill Activity to allow development of skill

Practises manipulating crayons and other writing materials

Draw a picture of yourself/your family. Write your name. Colour it in.

Develops directionality: left to right, and top to bottom

Sing songs and rhymes, using left and right/top and bottom actions.

Develops hand-eye coordination by drawing patters and tracing

Make pattern strips. Trace letters.

Copies and writes own name Copy and decorate a name tag. Begins to write, using drawings, and copies letters, numbers, words and simple sentences

Draw your News. Guide a writing lesson by the teacher, modelling the correct formation of the letters.

Forms lower and uppercase letters correctly and fluently

Create many opportunities to practise guided writing. Use the body to do the action to form the letters. Use visual examples as points of reference e.g. handwriting charts.

Forms numerals

Many teacher-modelled activities. Reinforce and remind learners of formation during the Maths lesson.

Copies and writes short sentences correctly with correct spacing.

Teacher-modelled activities. Many opportunities to practise this skill.

Holds pencil and crayon correctly Pencil grips or other activities that support the correct pencil grip. Many songs and rhymes with finger movements to strengthen the muscles.



Figure 10: Hands used for creative activities

(Photo: Siyawela, 2017)

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What assessment strategies would you use to assess the above skills: Observation? Demonstration? Describe your choice of assessment and the reason for your choice. Commentary: When addressing the above task, take the following into consideration: A strategy to observe a large class of learners. Assessment activities that enable the teacher to assess the skill effectively, for example, cutting on a line can be assessed by the learner cutting along a line to create a spiral. Activities to develop the skill. This activity is for self-reflection. Please note your thoughts and discuss them with your study buddy or a teacher in the profession.

The above section discussed the writing activities that take place in Grade 1, from pre-writing activities to writing letters and numbers. The following section focuses on traditional methods to teach handwriting and gives guidelines for the teacher.



1. INTRODUCTION In this section we will look at the value of handwriting as a means of communication, as a group of symbols that represent phonemes, and when put together, form words that have meaning. Teaching handwriting in Grade 1 follows a process, writing on the line before writing between lines, patterns before letters, first lowercase and then uppercase letters. Connecting patterns to letters is important for learners. Practice is imperative. Students do practical activities which can be taken back to their classroom. For simplicity, the letters of the alphabet can be sorted into four main movement groups. Some letters have different forms – b, k, y, v, and so these fall into two groups. Some letters, e.g. f, s, have some affinity with a group but could be taught separately. The advantage of aligning letters with a key letter is to help learners to remember the starting point and subsequent movement of the letter. This is particularly effective in distinguishing b from d. Resources needed to teach handwriting include a chalkboard and different coloured chalk, unlined A4 books for the learners, thick wax crayons for the initial writing, thin wax crayons as a follow-up and for the hands to get used to a thinner writing instrument. This should be followed by gem-crayons (Mon-Ami, turn-ups) or pencil crayons. Writing in lined books with a pencil, follows on this. Left-handed learners need additional support. They need to be seated on the left-hand side of the desk and their books need to be angled to the left for easier writing. The teacher must demonstrate the formation of the patterns and letters slowly and draw the learners’ attention to direction or stokes used. The lesson should be one of teacher demonstration followed by learner action, for example, making a pattern. Once the learners have finished the pattern, the teacher will demonstrate the letter being taught, and the learners will then write the letter. This watching and doing activity works well for the teaching of handwriting. Practice is key. The teacher is able to

SECTION 4: TRADITIONAL METHODS TO TEACH HANDWRITING



assess the learners’ handwriting ability by observing the learner during the writing lesson and by marking the learners’ work. Learners with handwriting challenges generally need fine motor coordination development and visual perceptual skills practice.

It also looks at the importance of creative writing, the need to communicate being of importance, and what creative writing skills the CAPS (2011) document recommends for the learner, and the importance of developing the link between reading and writing.

Figure 11: Child making patterns to develop writing skills.

Source: CAPS (DBE, 2011), Handwriting guide ECDoE



2. HANDWRITING SKILLS In order for learners to eventually acquire a legible, fluent and fast handwriting style, they need to develop skills including:

good gross and fine motor control recognition of pattern the language to talk about shapes and movements the main handwriting movements involved in the three basic letter shapes

as exemplified by: l, c, and r. When you introduce patterns for writing to learners, it is useful to focus on features which keep recurring in letter formation, for example:

focus on patterns which build on the three basic letter shapes: l, for example

the long ladder: o c, for example the curly caterpillar; and o r, for example the one-armed robot

include patterns that move across the body, from left to right; and use pattern-making for different purposes.

Sometimes, allow learners to produce the pattern across the entire line. This encourages fluency of movement and helps to emphasise the right to left direction of our writing system.

At other times, it may be useful to restrict the number of repetitions to four or five so that the learner learns a little about the need to leave spaces between words:

Keep talking about the movements you make in the patterns. Let the learners invent sounds to make as they draw their patterns, for

example a buzzing sound as you draw anticlockwise spirals, a sh-sh sound as you make wave patterns, etc.

Some learners find drawing patterns in time to music helpful. Arches can be formed to slow, relaxed music and the tempo can be changed to a marching rhythm and learners encouraged to produce angled movements.



Figure 12: Child tracing handwriting patterns.

Source: CAPS (DBE, 2011), Handwriting guidelines ECDoE

3. PATTERNS AND LETTERS

Patterns and letters are divided into four groups by their directionality. The four groups are:

down and off in another direction, exemplified by the letter l (long ladder): letters i, j, l, t, u (v, w with rounded bases);

down and retrace upwards, exemplified by the letter r (one-armed robot): letters b, h, k, m, n, p, r; (numbers 2, 3, 5 follow a clockwise direction);

anti-clockwise round, exemplified by the letter c (curly caterpillar) letters: c, a, d, e, g, o, q, f, s; numbers: 0, 6, 8, 9; and

zigzag letters: letters: v, w, x, z; numbers: 1, 4, 7.



Figure 13: Patterns and letters

Adapted from: Handwriting Guideline Gr R-3. CAPS (DBE, 2011)

4. OTHER INFLUENCING FACTORS

Developing a good posture is as important as developing a good pencil grip. Over the years, learners spend a great deal of time writing, and sitting in an awkward position can cause headaches, fatigue and pain in the shoulder, arm or hand. It can also slow down a learner’s writing. Learners will be able to sustain writing for longer if they become used to sitting comfortably.

Ensure that they have a good pencil grip – use commercial pencil grips only if other methods have failed.



Check that tables are large enough for the learners not to be jostling each other’s arms.

Check that the height of tables and chairs allows learners to sit comfortably, with their feet flat on the floor. Their legs should be free and not come into contact with the underside of the desktop. They should be able to sit up at the table without having to lean over it or stretch to reach it.

The lighting should be good, so that the learner can see what they have written. Learners should use their non-writing hand to steady the paper and bear some of

their body-weight. The paper should be tilted slightly. Provide a slanting board for those who need it (a partially filled A4 file is a useful

shape). 5. CREATIVE WRITING

Creating an awareness in the learner that what is written has meaning and can be read, is the first step in the creative writing process. Linking creative writing to the type of stories being read in the classroom is a good start. Helping the learners to understand the purpose of writing, i.e. retelling a story, an invitation, a message, a note etc. Texts used in Grade 1 should start with visual texts, pictures with captions or instructions. The simple narrative, using more familiar than unfamiliar words, is a good text for Grade 1 learners to write. Recounting of stories, simple instructions and single sentence books, are other good ideas for texts. Shared writing is a good strategy for the teacher to use the learners’ utterances and formulate simple text to write down. Encourage the learners to add a picture as a visual representation and to read the text back. Draw attention to the familiar words, and point out differences in letters and sounds. Using a sentence as a frame is always a good support for beginner writers. Basic punctuation, capital letters and full stops, commas, question marks and exclamation marks are emphasised during the latter part of Grade 1.

41 120 minutes

1. Handwriting

Answer the following questions based on your WIL experience of assessing learners’ writing and giving learner feedback.

1. How does one teach handwriting in Grade 1? 2. How does the teacher accommodate left-handed learners?



3. What resources are needed? 4. How does the teacher assess handwriting? 5. How does the teacher provide feedback? 6. How does the teacher support learners with difficulties?

2. Creative writing Answer the following questions based on your WIL experience of the teaching of creative writing.

1. Why is it important to teach creative writing in Grade 1? 2. How do you link writing to reading? 3. What activities can be done in Grade 1? This is about writing for a purpose

and audience (e.g. the purpose of recounting is to tell what happened). 4. How should we use visual text where appropriate? For example, using how

to pictures with instructions. Please add additional activities. 5. How do we scaffold writing? (Writing frames, Shared writing)

Commentary: It is important to know the difference between teaching handwriting and creative writing. However, the two can be integrated and support the development of each. Answer the questions, bearing the link between the two in mind. This activity is for self-reflection and the application of knowledge. Discuss your thoughts with your mentor teacher during WIL.

On the next page we provide examples of possible handwriting skills development ideas:

(Siyawela, 2017)



(Jones, 2017)

This section consolidated the importance of letter formation and the patterns that each letter is based on. It reinforced the routine of practising handwriting and the role of the teacher. It gave clear examples of the fine motor and perceptual skills that are needed for handwriting. It also introduced the types of handwriting challenges learners may present.

The unit encouraged the student’s research into handwriting practices in the work-integrated learning spaces. It enforced the connection between handwriting and creative writing and the student created activities that supported both processes. The connection between reading and writing was also consolidated and writing activities were designed to support the reading process by reinforcing sight and high frequency words during the handwriting and creative-writing activities.



42

90 minutes

Before you go on, reflect on what you have learnt so far and complete the self-assessment activity. If your answer is UNSURE or NO to any of the criteria, go back to the relevant section to study it again.



YES UNSURE NO

Distinguish between the value of drawing and colouring-in activities.

Compare perceptual skills needed to draw vs colour in.

List activities to promote fine motor development.

Discuss the difference between a handwriting and creative-writing lesson.

Create a resource list of creative-writing prompts.

Demonstrate an understanding of the mechanical process of teaching handwriting and evaluate your own classroom practice.

Effectively teach Grade 1 learners how to connect patterns to letters.

Organise patterns and letters into related groups.

The focus of Unit 3 was to increase understanding of the connection between handwriting and writing for communication purposes. The importance of drawing and fine motor skills development was highlighted and activities for Grade 1 learners were developed and assessed.

The unit encouraged the student’s research into handwriting practices in the Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL) spaces. It reinforced the connection between handwriting and creative writing and the student-created activities that support both processes. The connection between reading and writing was also consolidated and writing activities were designed to support the reading process by reinforcing sight and high-frequency words during the handwriting and creative-writing activities.



In the final unit of this module we will create awareness of the unique South African classroom language situation. Multilingual classes are the norm and many learnersare learning through the medium of English, which is not their home language. The Unit aims at providing an understanding of second language acquisition and support that can facilitate language development in English.

1. INTRODUCTION

In this unit of the module, the theory of language acquisition is introduced. The emphasis is on the acquisition of English. The introductory aspects of teaching English as an additional language within the South African context, are explored in particular. The general classroom population, from Grade 4, is learning in a language that is not their mother tongue and not spoken at home. In the Foundation Phase there are some learners who speak another language at home but learn through the medium of English. It is these learners that we need to support and encourage to share their thoughts and ideas in English. The other group of learners who are learning English, learn it alongside their mother tongue during the first 3 years of their formal schooling. Often, not enough English is used around them and they end up entering grade 4 with very little comprehension of or fluency in the language. These learners also need to be supported. Learning in a second language is a complex task. Young learners are very pliable and learn to understand the instructions in the language very quickly. The teacher needs to be aware of the learners who struggle to comprehend in English and give them extra support. This can be done by using gestures and pictures or requesting a learner with more competence in the language to explain to the learner who does not yet understand. Take heart! Our learners absorb language very quickly. Immerse the learners in the language and provide correction and support and observe how their language ability improves. The time allocated to this unit is 13,5 hours, 8,5 hours of reading, researching and reflection activities and 5 hours of reading the unit.

UNIT 4: LEARNING IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE



2. STRUCTURE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES OF UNIT 4


UNIT 4 LEARNING IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND

LANGUAGE

SECTION 1 Introduction to EFAL

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Research Cummin’s second-

language acquisition. Interpret BICS and CALP. Distinguish between different

EFAL learners.

SECTION 2 Code-switching within classroom

practice

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Identify code-switching in your

own classroom practice. Evaluate classroom practice. Appraise time allocation in the

EFAL component of CAPS.

SECTION 3 Assessment of EFAL as LOLT

Learning outcomes: At the end of this section, you should be able to: Evaluate assessment strategies. Link lesson aims to assessment. Adapt assessment for non-English learners.



1. INTRODUCTION This section of Unit 4 creates an awareness of three different theories of language acquisition. It introduces Jim Cummin’s theory of second-language acquisition to provide you with a basic understanding and comparison of learning English as a home language and learning in English, as your second language. Different types of language have been identified and the section aims at alerting the teacher to these. The section also aims at creating an understanding of the different types of EFAL learners and the language abilities of the learners.

2. LITERACY ACQUISITION

The first type of literacy acquisition theory to be introduced is called the Central Cognitive Processing Hypothesis. It suggests that all the common metalinguistic (ability to reflect on oral and written language and how it is used) and cognitive processes, e.g. phonological and phonemic awareness, lexical ability, working memory and automaticity, are the factors that literacy acquisition depends on. If these skills are well developed in the mother tongue, they will translate to the additional languages learnt and thus an interdependence between literacy skills across languages. This theory supports early grade mother-tongue literacy instruction and the introduction of English from Grade 4. English speakers take more than a year longer to acquire literacy than Spanish speakers – this is because there is not a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds in English. For example, the same letter ‘a’ in the three words man, bake and car sounds completely different in each word. Thus, as with Spanish, the more consistently letters represent sounds in the language, the shorter will be the duration of time necessary to learn that language. This is called the script-dependent hypothesis. The final theory is the psycholinguistic grain-size theory (Goswami, 2005). It looks at how literacy in one language can affect literacy in another. It could be seen as an extension of the script-dependent hypothesis, but it takes other factors into account:

Availability – whether or not a sound exists in both the home and target language.

Consistency – how often each letter makes one sound in the language.

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO EFAL



Granularity – how much each symbol represents, e.g. Chinese characters represent multiple sounds. According to the theory, the larger the grain the longer it takes to learn that language.

3. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Jim Cummins’s theory of second-language acquisition deals with a transition from one type of communication, which requires low cognitive demand to another, which requires a high level of cognitive demand. BICS means basic interpersonal communication skills, which refers to basic communication skills in a second language. This happens within about two years of exposure to the language. For a learner to learn in a second language, the learner needs to acquire enough academic language to perform academic tasks. This takes up to seven years. This is called CALP, cognitive academic language proficiency. The learner progresses from comprehension to communication, from understanding a concept to being able to discuss it. According to Cummins (1981, p. 24), the children requires between five and seven years to acquire sufficient Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) to perform well in academic tasks. The acquisition of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) takes about two years. Children enter school after having spent about five or six years in the process of acquiring their mother tongues. The BICS/CALP distinction should never be lost sight of, or the progression from the one to the other. These two concepts refer to what Cummins (1984, 1992) called “basic interpersonal communication skills” (BICS) and “cognitive academic language proficiency” (CALP), with the latter requiring a substantive cognitive leap from learners.

43 120 minutes

Redraw and complete the table by listing 4 differences between BICS and CALP: BICS CALP



Commentary: First look at the similarities between the two and then at what is different to guide your thinking.

4. WHO IS THE EFAL LEARNER?

An English First Additional Language learner is one who is not learning in their home language.

There are many immigrants in South Africa and many classes have FAL learners. These learners could be from other African countries or from other continents.

There is a difference between teaching a language for the benefit of being able to converse in a second language and teaching a language so that learners are able to learn in the language.

In South Africa, learners in traditionally township schools, learn in their mother tongue for the first 4 years of their schooling, with English as an additional language. They switch over to learning in English from Grade 4 onwards.

In other cases, there are classes of learners who do all their learning in English, which is their second language. This is often the case at former model-C schools. Teachers adjust their methodology accordingly and provide support and scaffolding of language structures for the learners.

Former model-C schools is the term used to describe former Whites-only government schools.

In all these cases, the importance of repetition, resources and reassurance is key.

44

60 minutes

Read the following in your core reading: Van der Walt & Evans, (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live Please read Chapter 3, Paragraph 3.2.5 to expand your knowledge of the learners and which of them are second language learners with language support at home. Commentary: This activity is for background knowledge.



Section 1 identifies the EFAL learners and provides ideas and activities to support their development in English. Section 2 adds a language support and scaffolding strategy to this initial knowledge of EFAL.

1. INTRODUCTION

When teaching learners who speak another language at home, there are some additional strategies that can be employed. Good classroom management and thorough preparation are of paramount importance to ensure efficient curriculum delivery and learner uptake. Please read Chapter 3 of your core reader, Van der Walt & Evans (2019) for effective lesson planning, presentation and assessment. (The end of Paragraph 3.10 has a ‘Take note’ checklist of successful lesson planning principles for you to compare your lessons to.) Another strategy that assists learners in understanding classroom language, particularly if the majority of the class have different home languages and are learning through the medium of English, is code-switching. 2. WHAT IS CODE-SWITCHING?

It is important to make sure that the learners comprehend classroom talk in the language being used in the classroom. This is very difficult to ensure when the LoLT is not the home language of many of the learners. The teacher needs to make sure that daily instructions are understood, and that the learner is afforded many opportunities to practise essential daily language. The learners need to be able to greet each other and to ask to use the bathroom and for supplies. They also need to be able to express their feelings and emotions. The teacher will use the mother tongue to explain the concept and translate what they will be learning about. This practice is known as code-switching. Code-switching is the use of two or more languages in everyday conversation to ensure that the learners are able to comprehend the content of the discussion in their home language as well as in English. Code-switching scaffolds language acquisition in the classroom. In general, a person who code-switches, demonstrates linguistic creativity and sophistication. In order to get the learners talking, the teacher should create a situation in which the learner can practise English, e.g. greeting times, prayers, toilet routines, rhymes and

SECTION 2: CODE-SWITCHING WITHIN CLASSROOM PRACTICE



songs, and shared reading, encouraging learners to join in with the choruses. The dramatisation of stories with props is also a good way to encourage individual participation within the group. In this activity the teacher will teach the learners the framework of the language and the learners learn it through repetition. Stahl (2005) cautions against mere word repetition or word drill and maintains that vocabulary instruction should provide learners with opportunities to come across words regularly and in a range of contexts. It is important to balance the use of code-switching and the repetition of phrases, as the teacher needs to create opportunities for the learners to use the language meaningfully for communication purposes. It is advisable not to force the teacher’s language and culture on the learners. The learners’ home language needs to be respected and the teacher needs to scaffold the acquisition of English and provide enough examples and opportunities to practise the language.

For learners’ vocabulary development to be successful, code switching and the scaffolding of phrases and sentences, together with enough opportunities for practice, need to be ensured. Learners need to understand how to decode the meaning of words from their context and be trained to take responsibility for their own learning.

45 120 minutes

Read and research the following three points. Discuss these in a group/study group.

Is regressive code-switching a negative aspect of code-switching? Motivate your answer.

Should teachers’ code-switch in classrooms where their learners have not fully grasped their primary language, or should they keep the primary language and the second language (i.e. English) entirely separate? Explain why you say so.

To a considerable extent, African languages speakers experience reality as it has been conceptualised in English. Do you agree with the statement? Explain why or why not.

Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection and discussion with a study buddy, mentor teacher or a teacher in the profession.



3. CONTEXTUAL FACTORS

There are many different contextual factors which influence the learning of a second language.

Intrinsic factors are the ones that pertain to the individual person, e.g.

Age (adults learn faster, children learn more naturally); Aptitude (associative memory and grammatical sensitivity), talent for

languages; Motivation and attitude (self-esteem, extroversion, risk-taking, inhibition) Cognitive style (analytic, active, passive, holistic); and Hemisphere specialisation (most right-handed people use the left

hemisphere. Left-handed people use both hemispheres). Learning strategies are individual approaches to learning and the teacher needs to expose the learners to multiple strategies to allow them to internalise meaning, e.g.

Repetition (of a variety of words and phrases); Organising new language (teaching language frames and phrases, pointing

out similarities to their home language); Guessing meaning from context (talking about the story and pointing out clues,

asking questions that allow for predictions); Summarising meaning (explaining the statement, concept or word in short);

and Using imagery for memorisation (this is using two words to help the learners to

remember both, e.g. yellow sun, green grass, blue water, white clouds). Extrinsic contextual factors are those factors that are controlled from the outside, in learning and teaching contexts, e.g.

Class sizes – are controlled by the government and the SGB. The bigger the

class, the more challenging it is to expose everyone to the same amount of language.

Teacher’s language proficiency – if the teacher is not fully proficient in English, s/he will avoid using it or use it incorrectly.

Resources – there need to be sufficient resources that support learning in the second language. Posters and books in both languages are very important. A print-rich environment will facilitate language development.

Time spent on learning the language: the CAPS document recommends a minimum amount of time spent on English First Additional Language learning.



Section 2 introduced code-switching as a practice for scaffolding the learning of and learning in English. Section 3 provides knowledge of assessment strategies,knowledge of bilingualism and knowledge of EFAL assessment.

1. INTRODUCTION

The Departmental documents make reference to a balanced approach to Foundation Phase practices (“all methods that work”), with emergent literacy, phonics, sentence construction, language experience, and in principle, also the text-based, communicative, critical, social, academic and inclusive elements, presented in a systematic and informed way. This would also apply to assessment practices.

The LiEP (1997) document states that it is the pursuit of a “language policy most supportive of general conceptual growth amongst learners, and hence [the establishment of… additive multilingualism as an approach to language in education” (DoE, 1997). Bilingualism is key in the teaching of English to second language learners. For the teacher to be able to speak two languages with fluency and comprehension, is known as being bilingual. Many teachers speak even more than two languages and are trilingual and multilingual. Mackey (2000) notes that bilingualism is not a phenomenon of language; it is a characteristic of its use. Baker (2011) attributes the terms additive and subtractive bilingualism to Lambert (Baker, 2011, p. 72) who explains the difference. Additive bilingualism is where children learn and use “a second language at no cost to their first language”. Subtractive bilingualism is where children’s opportunities to use their first language are restricted, posing the risk of its “being replaced by the second language”. Additive bilingualism is seen to offer “learners the best chance to develop cognitively and to succeed academically” (De Klerk, 2002, p. 2). The key to encouraging non-English learners to practise speaking in English is to create opportunities to use English for communication. Supporting the learners’ transition from BICS to CALP needs to be a natural part of the lesson. Learners’ comprehension needs to be assessed and code-switching (by the teacher or another learner who is proficient in English as well as the Home Language) needs to be practised. This is to make sure that the transition to academic language is natural and well supported by the activities and the teacher’s language use. The practice of supporting learners is using classroom talk as a concurrent means of developing their

SECTION 3: ASSESSMENT OF EFAL AS LOLT



academic language skills and their conceptual understanding at the same time. Learners learn to do things with language when they join in meaningful activities that occupy and challenge them. Thus, classroom talk can never be treated as unstructured language use. Instructions should be correct and simple. It is essential that classroom language is structured to prompt rich spoken academic language from the learners. It takes time to translate everything and, in many cases, teachers do not have the time to allow a learner to practise speaking in English. Classroom language such as instructions and requests, e.g. Please may I… could be used to scaffold the understanding of English as the teacher would make a point of repeating the same instruction to the learners on a daily basis. This is generally social knowledge such as the days of the week or the months of the year. It should include familiarising the learners with asking to use the toilet, reporting anyone hurting them, not understanding, or not having the correct supplies to complete the task. Time allocation for EFAL as opposed to English Home Language, highlights the difficulties a teacher may experience in teaching at a non-English-medium school, where the medium of instruction, becomes English in Grade 4. It is the responsibility of the Foundation Phase teacher to ensure that the learners’ English comprehension and speech is at the level of competency that the curriculum demands. Effective additive bilingualism practice needs to take place at every available opportunity so that scaffolding of language development occurs. Table 5: Weekly allocation of instructional time for language in FP Grade R Grades 1-2 Grade 3 Home language 10 7-8 7-8 First Additional Language - 2-3 3-4

(Adapted from: DBE, 2011, p. 6) Minimum and maximum time allocations per literacy component per grade, in the additional language are compared in the next tables.



Table 6: Minimum time allocations per literacy component per grade

Table 7: Maximum time allocations per literacy component per grade

The next paragraph will focus on the formal assessment of learning in English in the following areas:

Assessment strategies; CAPS Assessment requirements; How to link lesson aims to assessment; and Practical activities.

2. ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Assessment is a continuous planned process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about the performance of learners, using various forms of assessment (CAPS, 2011). It involves four steps:



Generating and collecting evidence of achievement through formal assessment tasks, which are carefully created by the teacher to evaluate how much the learner knows or how proficient the learner is at practicing the skill. Informal assessment which takes place daily, is another source of evidence. The teacher will have a book in which the progress of the learners as they are observed in the classroom is noted. Evaluating this evidence is important. There should be a rubric or a set of standards against which the teacher evaluates the evidence. In Grade 1 it is as simple as evaluating the number of words the learner spells or writes correctly, or the number of pictures that can be correctly sequenced. Recording the findings is crucial. The teacher needs to work out a system of recording the findings of assessment. Some schools have their own assessment sheets, and the CAPS document has assessment sheets which can be used. Keeping a record of assessment tasks and learner performance in order to show the progress of the learner, and using it to inform the way forward, is good practice. The goal of assessment is to assess and use this information to understand and to assist the learner’s development in order to improve the process of learning and teaching. Assessment should be both informal (Assessment for Learning) and formal (Assessment of Learning). In both cases regular feedback should be provided to learners to enhance the learning experience. In the Foundation Phase, the main technique of formal and informal assessment is observation by the teacher by means of:

oral discussions; practical demonstrations; and written records.

Assessment strategies have to cover all components of language. Informal and formal assessment tasks should be scheduled and planned for efficiency. The complexity of a large class must be worked into the schedule and sufficient time for observation and informal assessment, such as demonstrations, be factored into the class assessment timetable. Formal assessment tasks ought to be moderated by HoDs beforehand and learners’ development needs to be tracked throughout the grade. Learners need to be assessed in a number of ways:

Practical demonstration and oral explanation task, e.g. Show and tell. Written task, e.g. Fill in the missing word. Match word to picture.



Construction task, e.g. Create a picture, using different shapes The results must be marked according to a set rubric/marking tool. Close tracking of learners’ responses in learning and teaching situations enables the teacher to:

Do continuous assessment; Monitor learners’ progress; and Plan support for learners experiencing barriers to learning.

Why do we need informal or daily assessment? Assessment for learning is the process of continuously collecting information on a learner’s achievement. This is also called informal assessment. It is the daily monitoring of a learner’s progress. This is done through marking the learners’ written work, observation, discussions, practical demonstrations, informal classroom interaction, etc. It should not be seen as separate from learning activities taking place in the classroom. Informal assessment enables the teacher to monitor learners’ progress and to make daily instructional decisions. Informal assessment is used to:

Provide feedback to the learners Inform planning for teaching

Why do we need formal assessment? All assessment tasks that make up a formal programme of assessment for the year are regarded as Formal Assessment. The assessment criteria are found on the term planner in the CAPS (DBE, 2011) document as a guide and it also indicates the week in which the task should be written. Formal assessment tasks are marked and formally recorded by the teacher for progression purposes.



3. LINKING LESSON AIMS TO ASSESSMENT CAPS (2011) assessment for listening and speaking, reading and writing have been unpacked in previous units. This section aims to develop supporting assessment activities for EFAL learners in English classrooms and to look at assessment strategies that can be used to assess a learner’s development in English, compared to English FAL. The number of opportunities for and the complexity of the formal assessment activities are also explored. When planning a lesson, it is important to link the lesson objectives to assessment expectations. For example, a creative writing lesson with a topic The firemen visited school, would have the following objectives. The learners should be able to use appropriate words to describe the experience. The learners should be able to start a sentence with a capital letter and end with a full stop. The children should be able to draw an appropriate picture to depict the experience. The lesson before the visit from the firemen will focus on the spoken and written vocabulary needed. All language lessons will focus on punctuation. The teacher will remind the learners during the creative writing lesson that they must use punctuation to complete their sentences correctly. The teacher will then be able to assess whether their lesson has been successful by comparing the objectives of the lesson to what is expected of the learners during the assessment period. Here are some ideas for assessment:

Vocabulary and language development – discussing a picture and any new vocabulary that emerges. This supports vocabulary development.

Guided interaction (structure a lesson so that learners work together to

understand). Ensure that learners are exposed to the total physical response strategy. This can be used for informal assessment.

Metacognition and authentic assessment (teach learners what to look for – use a variety of assessment techniques). Teach the learners to read the instruction for any task. Teach them the words and what they mean. For example, colour in, fill in the missing words, match, circle, fill in the missing sound, answer the questions.

Explicit instruction (direct teaching of concepts). Teach the learners exactly what you want them to know. Expose them to various models of this



information, using many different sources and media to share them. This will support the assessment of the knowledge or skill.

Meaning-based context (taking something meaningful from the child’s life and using it as an introduction). This is important as learners learn from what they know.

Model, provide visual clues (show learners exactly what you want them to do). When talking, use your hands and voice. Refer to pictures and objects. Ensure that your speech is slow and clear and that you provide visual representations (flash cards) of new vocabulary.

The following is from the CAPS (DBE, 2011) document and lists the expectations, and thus the assessment standards for Grade 1 in English Home Language and English First Additional Language. Below is a table that compares the activities and assessment criteria between English Home Language (Eng HL) and English First Additional Language (EFAL). Please use this for the following activity and formulate activities, taking the expectations into account. This is especially important when learners are learning in English as an additional language, which has now become the language of learning and teaching. Table 8: Comparative analysis between activities and assessment criteria between English HL and EFAL COMPONENT ENGLISH HOME

LANGUAGE ENGLISH FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

Listening: The learner can:

Listen to stories and express feelings about the story.

Listen to instructions and announcements and respond appropriately.

Listen without interrupting, taking turns to speak and ask questions for clarification.

Listen, enjoy and respond to picture and

Respond physically to two simple oral instructions (e.g. Put the blue balls in the bag. Now put the red balls in the bag.).

Respond to greetings and farewells, and make simple requests, using formulaic phrases (e.g. May I go to the toilet?).



word puzzles, riddles and jokes.

Understand some imperatives (e.g. Don’t run).

Understand some question forms (e.g. What…? Who …? How many/much/old …?).

Understand 5001,000 words in context by the end of Grade 1.

Speaking: The learner can:

Talk about personal experiences and feelings.

Tell a familiar story that has a beginning, middle and end.

Answer closed and open-ended questions.

Role-play different situations.

Use terms such as sentence, capital letters, full stops.

Memorise and perform action rhymes, simple poems and songs.

Play simple language games.

Understand short, simple stories told and read; talk about the pictures.

Act out simple stories, using some of the dialogue.

Respond to simple, literal questions about a story with short answers.

Identify a person, animal or object from a simple, oral description (e.g. matching a description to a picture).

Understand and respond to simple questions such as What …? How many …? (e.g. What is your name?).



Express self in simple ways by using short phrases (e.g. ‘My name is ___.’).

Continue to build an oral vocabulary, using topics chosen by the teacher (e.g. Things I can do, The Weather).

Build some conceptual vocabulary (e.g. shapes, size, direction).

Begin to develop understanding and the ability to use language structures in the context of meaningful spoken language.

Understand and begin to use some sentences in the simple present tense (e.g. She likes school.) and present progressive tense (e.g. He is reading).

Understand and begin to use personal pronouns (e.g. I, you, we, they).

Understand and begin to use the modals can and may (e.g. I can skip.)

Understand and begin to use some sentences in the negative form (e.g.



She is not reading. I cannot skip).

Recognise and begin to use some plural forms of countable nouns (e.g. book/books).

Understand and begin to use some possessive pronouns (e.g. my, his, her).

Understand and begin to use a few prepositions (e.g. on, in).

Understand and begin to use a few adjectives (e.g. happy, sad) and adverbs (e.g. slowly, quickly).

Reading: The learner can:

Emergent reading Handle books

correctly. Interpret pictures to

make up own story Read logos, labels

and other environmental print.

Recognise own name and names of peers.

Read labels and captions in the classroom.

Shared Reading as a class with the teacher

Participate in shared reading with the teacher and use pictures and the cover to make predictions.

Begin to read some simple labels in the FAL (and HL) of objects in the classroom and wider environment (e.g. way in/out, open). Emergent reading

transfer some of the knowledge and skills acquired in the HL to reading in the FAL such as book-handling skills, basic concepts of print (e.g. concept of words and letters, we read from left to right and top to bottom of a page).

Recognise a few high-frequency sight words (e.g. the, and, you,



Discuss the story, identify the main idea and characters.

Sequence the events in a story.

Recognise cause and effect in a story.

Give an opinion on what was read.

Answer open-ended questions based on the passage read.

Interpret information from a poster, book or calendar.

Group guided reading Read aloud from own

book in a guided reading group with the teacher (the whole group reads the same book at the same time).

Use phonics clues, language structural analysis and sight words while reading.

Read with increasing fluency and expression.

Monitor self when reading – in the area of word recognition and comprehension.

Individual reading Show understanding

of punctuation when reading aloud.

Read own writing.

he, she, we, they, can).

Shared Reading as a class with the teacher

Listen to a very simple story or non-fiction text read by the teacher from an enlarged text such as a Big Book or illustrated poster.

Talk about illustrations in the Big Book or poster, using HL where necessary.

Learn some oral vocabulary in the FAL from the pictures.

Answer some simple oral questions about the story.

After repeated readings join in where appropriate.

Through exposure to print, start to develop a sight vocabulary of a few high-frequency words (e.g. the, and, you, he, she, we, they, can).

Act the story. Draw pictures,

capturing the main idea of story or non-fiction text.

Writing: The learner can:

Draw pictures to convey a message.

Use handwriting skills already taught in HL.

Draw and label pictures with the help of the



Contribute ideas for and help to revise a class story.

Copy one sentence of news from the board correctly.

Write a message on a card.

Write and illustrate a short sentence on a topic.

Write at least 3 sentences of own news or creative writing, using capital letters and full stops.

Write sentences, using words containing phonics sounds and common sight words already taught.

With help, use pronouns correctly in writing.

Begin to use present and past tense correctly in writing.

Form the plurals of familiar words.

Spell common words correctly.

Use prepositions correctly.

Organise information into a simple graphic form.

Build own word bank and personal dictionary.

teacher. Read back what is written.

Write simple lists (e.g. shopping lists).

Adapted from: CAPS (DBE, 2011)



The above table allows for comparison of the expected skills needed to be mastered by English Home Language learners and English First Additional Language learners, so that the teacher is aware of the similarities and differences.

46 120 minutes

Refer to the above table as well as the CAPS (DBE, 2011) document for English Home Language and English First Additional Language. Choose a component of language teaching in Grade 1 and list 5 similarities between the two. Commentary: When addressing this task, consider the following: You are looking for connections between skills necessary for EHL and EFAL that are applicable at Grade 1 level and are transferable.

At some stage, you may need to evaluate the level of English development of your class and rework the assessment requirements to bridge the gap between English Home Language and the language of the learners, while scaffolding and supporting learners’ English development.

47

45 minutes

Additional reading: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S2223-76822019000100007&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en Early reading skills related to Grade 1 English Second Language literacy in rural South African schools. Briefly summarise this article, listing the key ideas that it presents. Commentary: This activity is for self-reflection and the application of knowledge. Please discuss your thoughts with a study buddy or your mentor teacher.



48

60 minutes

Please reflect on this additional information: The bilingual education system in South Africa has expected the majority of learners to become not only bilingual but also biliterate (i.e. not only do they need to speak and understand more than one language, they also need to be able to read and write in those languages). They need to develop strong literacy skills in both their Home Language (HL) and in their First additional language (FAL) from the very beginning of their schooling. For many learners the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) is English FAL from Grade 4 onwards. This means that they need to develop strong reading skills in English as FAL, which in turn depend on strong HL reading proficiency. We need teachers who are knowledgeable about reading in both HL and FAL to get learners to the requisite reading levels that will support their academic learning, according to a RESEP and Zenex foundation study – referenced below: http://resep.sun.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RESEPp_Zenex-Teaching-ReadingWriting_Email.pdf In many cases subtractive bilingualism occurs – this means that the first additional language, English, replaces the home language as it is used more frequently. We need to ensure that our learners do not lose touch with their cultures or mother tongues by showing respect for all languages and providing space to interact in all languages. Task: After reading the above information and watching the video, make your own notes about what you have the learnt from the additional information.

This section gives a better understanding of the assessment strategies needed to evaluate the progress of the learners. It compares the complexities of language learning in English as an additional language and English as a home language. The teacher needs to be able to use the learners’ home language to support learning in English. Assessment should also be adapted to assist the English-language- deficient learner in a Grade 1 class. The emphasis of this unit was on additional language acquisition so that the student has a sense of the process and support needed in the classroom. The role of the teacher is to plan, present and assess the learners’ competencies and skills in the various areas of learning. The teacher who is teaching a class of second language



learners in English, needs to be aware of the assessment requirements as well as the learners’ level of development. There needs to be a certain amount of adaptation to the language comprehension levels of some of the learners and this unit consolidates this approach.

49

90 minutes

You have now completed this module. Reflect on what you have learnt and complete the self-assessment activity. If your answer is UNSURE or NO to any of the criteria, go back to the relevant section to study it again.



YES UNSURE NO

Explain Cummins’s second language acquisition.

Interpret the difference between BICS and CALP.

Distinguish between the different EFAL learners.

Identify and evaluate code-switching in my own classroom practice.

Appraise time allocations in the EFAL component of CAPS.

Evaluate assessment strategies.

Link lesson aims to assessment.

Competently assess, adapt and support non-English learners.

The emphasis of Unit 4 was on additional language acquisition so that the student has a sense of the process and support needed in the classroom. Learning in a second language is a complex task but young learners are very pliable and learn to understand the instructions in the language very quickly. The teacher needs to be aware of the learners who struggle to comprehend in English and give extra support by using gestures and pictures or requesting a learner with more competence in the language, to explain to the learner who does not understand yet. The role of the teacher is to plan, present and assess the learners’ competencies and skills in the various areas of



learning. The teacher who is teaching a class of second language learners, in English, needs to be aware of the assessment requirements as well as the learners’ level of development. There needs to be a certain amount of adaptation to the language comprehension levels of some of the learners and this unit consolidated this approach. This module encouraged the development of listening and speaking in the first Unit. It moved to the different approaches to reading and reading strategies prescribed by CAPS in Unit 2. In Unit 3 the teaching of handwriting and creative writing was unpacked in order to show the connection between writing and words. In Unit 4, support for the English First Additional language learner learning in English was unpacked. Throughout the module, the progression of language development and the assessment of language skills was highlighted.

We hope that the first two modules in this series inspired you to be the best English Home and First Additional Language and Literacy teacher you can be. In the next module which will focus on the pedagogy (teaching and learning) in Grade 2 and you will learn more about teaching and learning of English Home and First Additional Language in the Foundation Phase.



REFERENCES Alcock, K.J., Ngorosho, D., Deus, C. & Jukes, M.C.H. (2010). We don't have language at our house: Disentangling the relationship between phonological awareness, schooling, and literacy. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1(80), pp. 55-76. America reads at Bank Street College of Education. Anon. Hints on how to read aloud to a group. Reading Rockets. n.d. Available online at: https://www.readingrockets.org/article/hints-how-read-aloud-group [accessed 12 January 2020]. Anon. (2018). 11 ways to improve your students’ oral language. The Inclusion Lab. 23 January 2018. Available online at: https://blog.brookespublishing.com/11-ways-to-improve-your-students-oral-language-skills/ [accessed 12 January 2020]. Anon. 14 things you should know about reading readiness. The Letters of Literacy. n.d. Available online at: https://thelettersofliteracy.com/14-things-you-should-know-about-reading-readiness/ [accessed 14 January 2020]. Antonacci, P.A. (2000). Reading in the Zone of Proximal Development: Mediating Literacy Development in Beginner Readers through Guided Reading. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 1(4). Barber, C.L. (1972). The story of language. 5th ed. London: Pan Books. Brand, S.T. & Donato, J.M. (2001). Storytelling in emergent literacy. New York: Delmar-Thomson Learning. Bryant, P. (2019). 2019 Literacy Workshop. South Africa. Clay, M.M. (1975). What did I write? Auckland: Heinemann. Combrinck, C., Van Staden, S. & Roux, K. (2014). Developing early readers: Patterns in introducing critical reading skills and strategies to South African children. Reading & Writing, 5(1), pp. 1-9. Crompton, B. (2018). Technology and literacy in the 21st century. Literate Schools. 26 September 2018. Available online at: https://medium.com/literate-schools/technology-and-literacy-in-the-21st-century-1c0ee74a20b4 [accessed 12 January 2020].



Crystal, D. (2010). The Cambridge encyclopaedia of language. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cummins, J. (1981). Bilingualism and minority-language children. Ontario: OISE Press. Curtis, A. (1998). A curriculum for the pre-school child: Learning to learn. London: Routledge. De Neen,J. (2012). 30 storytelling tips for educators: how to capture your student’s attention. informED. 21 November 2012. Available online at: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-storytelling-tips-for-educators/ [accessed 14 January 2020]. Department of Basic Education. (2011). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). English Home Language: Grades 1-3. Pretoria: Government Printing. Eller, R.G., Pappas, C.C. & Brown, E. (1988). The lexical development of kindergartners: Learning from written context. Journal of Reading Behaviour, 20(1), pp. 5-24. Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G.S. (1996). Guided reading: good first teaching for all children. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Gallimore, R., & Tharp, R. (1990). Teaching mind in society: Teaching, schooling, and literate discourse. Cambridge: University Press. Gentry, J.R. (1982). An Analysis of Developmental Spelling in GNYS AT WRK. THE READING TEACHER 36: pp. 192-200. Goswami, U. (1993). Toward an interactive analogy model of reading development: Decoding vowel graphemes in beginning reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 56, pp. 443-475. Great schools staff. (2014). Early signs of a reading difficulty. Great Schools. 22 September 2014. Available online at: http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/739-early-signs-of-reading-difficulty.gs [accessed 20 January 2020]. Gunn, J. (2018). Lifelong impact of literacy. Share Blog 18 September 2018. Available online at: https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/illiteracy-impacts/



https://wordnet.princeton.edu/ Hyte, H. (2016). Bottom up and top down strategies for processing. ESL Trail, 13 June 2016. Available online at: http://www.esltrail.com/2016/06/bottom-up-and-top-down-strategies-or.html [accessed 25 January 2020.]. Jones, A.P. (2017). Siyawela Powerpoint. Joubert, I. (ED.)., Bester. M., Meyer. E., Evans, R. & Phatudi. N. (2019). Literacy in the Foundation Phase. 2nd ed. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers. Kidsense. Anon. Visual Perception. Child Development. (n.d.). Available online at: https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/visual-perception/ [accessed 20 January 2020]. Krashen, S.D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon. MacNaughton, G. & Williams, G. (2004). Teaching young children: choices in theory and practice. England: Open University Press. McLeod, S.A. (2018). Lev Vygotsky. Simply psychology: 05 August 2018. Available online at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html [accessed 10 February 2020]. National Association for the education of young children NAEYC. (2017). Learning to read and write: What research reveals. Reading Rockets. n.d. Available online at: https://www.readingrockets.org/article/learning-read-and-write-what-research-reveals [accessed 21 January 2020]. Owens, R.E. (2012). Language development: an introduction, 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Pitcher, K. (2011). Emergent Literacy vs. Reading Readiness. Prezi 15 December 2011. Available online at: https://prezi.com/aesxwyzxsgcn/emergent-literacy-vs-reading-readiness/ [accessed 21 January 2020]. Pretorius, E., Jackson, M.J., McKay, V., Murray, S. & Spaull, N. (2016). Teaching Reading (and writing) in the Foundation Phase: A concept note. Available online at: http://resep.sun.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/RESEPp_Zenex-Teaching-ReadingWriting_Email.pdf [accessed 22 January 2020].



Pretorius, E.J. & Machet, M.P. (2004). The socio-educational context of literacy accomplishment in disadvantaged schools: Lessons for reading in the early primary school years. Journal for Language Teaching, 38(1), pp. 45-62. Pretorius, E.J. (2015). Failure to launch: Matching language policy with literacy accomplishment in South African schools. International Journal for the Sociology of Language, 234, pp. 47-76. Pretorius, E. & Murray, S. (2019). ‘Editorial’, South African Journal of Childhood Education 9(1), a752. Naeem, M. (2010). Characteristics and features of language. NEO English. 16 December 2010 Available online at: https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/characteristics-and-features-of-language/ [accessed 12 January 2020]. Read Charlotte Organization, The big five: reading skills. Read Charlotte. s.n. Available online at: https://readcharlotte.org/research/the-big-five/ [accessed 21 January 2020]. Rogers, C.R. & Farson, E.F. (1986). Active listening. In W. Haney (Ed.). Communication and interpersonal relations. Homewood, IL: Irwin. Savignon, S.J. & Berns, M.S.(Ed.). (1983). Communicative Language Teaching: Where Are We Going? Urbana: Language Learning Laboratory, University of Illinois. Schaefer, M. & Kotzé, J. (2019). Early reading skills related to Grade 1 English Second Language literacy in rural South African schools. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 9(1), pp. 1-13. Siyawela, Barriers to learning Powerpoint. (2017). South African History Online. (2019). Oral tradition and indigenous knowledge. South African History Online. 27 August 2019. Available online at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/oral-tradition-and-indigenous-knowledge [accessed 27 January 2020]. Spaull, N., Van der Berg, S. & Wills, G., Gustafsson, M.A. & Kotzé, J. Laying Firm Foundations: Getting Reading Right (May 24, 2016). Report to the PSPPD. University of Stellenbosch, 2016. Stoffelsma, L. (2019). ‘From “sheep” to “amphibian”: English vocabulary teaching strategies in South African township schools’, South African Journal of Childhood Education 9(1), a650.



Tharp, R.G. & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Van der Walt, C., Evans, R. & Kilfoil, W.R. (2009). Learn to teach: English language teaching in a multilingual context, 4th ed. Pretoria: Van Schaik.

Van der Walt, C. & Evans, R. (2019). Learn 2 Teach 5: English Language Teaching in a Multilingual Context. Pretoria, South Africa: Van Schaik Publishers. Permalink: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2616813&site=ehost-live [accessed 8 June 2021]

Vygotsky, L.S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Walker, R. & Salvadore, M. (2016) Reading Rockets. Reading Rockets.org Wikipedia contributors, (2019). Emergent literacies, Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 8 December 2019. Available online at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emergent_literacies&oldid=929782153 [accessed 10 February 2020].

Wolf, M. & Katzir-Cohen, T. (2001). Reading fluency and its intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), pp. 211-239.

Yule, G. (2006). The study of language, 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Zenex. (2018).

VIDEO CLIPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU461AMLAAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NjVIgkNtRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMoT52yLlns&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T&index=2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Odm3Tm2_A&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T&index=3 https://soundbytesreading.com/different-types-of-phonics-what-are-they.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmIbfbYMfUE https://blog.talk.edu/grammar/word-context-clues/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxw1pfeB60M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MS-5k-yj2w



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNxGthphKc&list=PLHR0d5XLzYW4IYHRm1mzjpwAvqsqBDF1T https://kidscountryinc.com/2016/07/21/6-benefits-drawing-time-children/ http://www.aecyc.co.za/bestuur/engartikels/aecycarticle18.html https://www.yourkidsot.com/blog/visual-perceptual-skills-required-for-handwriting https://www.growinghandsonkids.com/basics-pre-writing-activities-skills-kids https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzzyBmi8-6E



ADDENDUM A: SANTS LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

NAME:

STUDENT NO.

1. SUBJECT e.g. English HL

1.2 DATE

y y y y m m d d 2 0 - -

1.3 GRADE (Mark the grade you will be teaching with an X)

R 1 2 3

2. KNOWLEDGE/CONTENT AREA e.g. Phonics

3. THEME e.g. Healthy living, My body etc.

4. TYPE of LESSON / LESSON FOCUS e.g. Outdoor lesson, group work, class work etc.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE IS AVAILABLE IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT ON MySANTS

5. NCS AIMS/General aims (tick boxes) Learners are able to:

Identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking. Work effectively with others as members of a team, group, organisation and community. Organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively. Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information. Communicate effectively using visual, symbolic and/or language skills in various modes. Use science and technology effectively and critically showing responsibility towards the

environment and the health of others. Demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that

problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation.

6. SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT TO COVER IN THIS LESSON (Briefly summarise the content that you will be presenting in this lesson.)

7. LESSON OBJECTIVE(S): 7.1 PRE-KNOWLEDGE (Write down learners’ existing knowledge, skills and values.) At the start of this lesson the learners should already know… and can do…

SANTS Private Higher Education Institution GRADES R, 1, 2 and 3 LESSON PLANNING FORM



7.2 CONCEPTS and NEW KNOWLEDGE (Write down the new knowledge, skills and values that you are going to teach taking INTEGRATION into consideration.)

Language: English (HL/FAL)

Mathematics Life Skills

7.3 LESSON OBJECTIVES (In your own words, write the lesson objectives based on the general and specific aims from CAPS.) By the end of the lesson the learners should be able to… 7.4 FUTURE LEARNING (Briefly describe what the learners will learn in the lesson that follows this one) 7.5 DIFFERENTIATION (Briefly describe how you will present this lesson taking the following aspects into consideration)

Learner support (Indicate what measures are in place for learners who grasped concepts quickly. How will you challenge them and keep them from getting bored?)

Enrichment activities (Indicate what measures are in place for learners who struggle to grasp the concepts. How will you support them and keep them from getting negative and frustrated?)

Concerns (e.g. Loadshedding – won’t be able to listen to audio book. Will have to read story instead, using instruments for sound effects.)



8. LESSON PHASES: 8.1 INTRODUCTION OF THE LESSON (Give a detailed description of how you plan to begin your lesson by explaining: you will greet the learners, set the atmosphere for the lesson, awaken the learners’ prior knowledge, and create a link between what they already know to the new knowledge that you will be presenting. Also explain how the THEME you selected in 3 above will help you do this.):

8.2 DEVELOPMENT – PRESENTING THE NEW KNOWLEDGE (Give a detailed description of WHAT content you will be presenting (selected in 7.2), HOW you will present it, and WHAT ACTIVITIES THE LEARNERS WILL BE DOING.): 8.3 CONSOLIDATION (Give a detailed description of how you plan to end the lesson by explaining how you will consolidate the new knowledge, incorporate assessment of the objectives and wrap up. If applicable, mention here any HOMEWORK/FUNWORK that you will give the learners.):

8.1.1 Time allocated: 8.1.2 LTSM: (Describe the resources and media you will be using in the introduction phase of the lesson) 8.2.1 Time allocated: 8.2.2 LTSM: (Describe the resources and media you will be using in the development phase of the lesson) 8.3.1 Time allocated: 8.3.2 LTSM: (Describe the resources and media you will be using in the consolidation phase of the lesson)



9. ASSESSMENT At the end of the lesson, I will assess whether the learners have achieved the objectives in the following ways (tick the appropriate blocks): 9.1 FORMS OF ASSESSMENT:

Written work (drawings, painting etc.) Demonstrations (performing actions, experiments etc.) Performances (answers questions, making a speech, presenting a poem, reading aloud, role play,

dialogue) Models (artwork, constructions, collages etc.)

Assessment strategy Assessor Assessment instrument

Observation Listening Reading Interpreting Reviewing Questioning Writing

Teacher Self Peer

Checklist Assessment scale Analytical rubric Holistic rubric

10. REFLECTION Briefly reflect on your lesson by discussing its strengths (what went well), its weaknesses (what did not work), what did you find challenging, if the lesson objectives were met and what would you improve if you had to teach this lesson again. Use the following questions to guide your reflection:

Describe aspects of your lesson that worked really well. Which areas of your lesson did not go according to plan? Explain why you think this may have happened. Look again at your lesson objectives. Did you meet them? Why/why not? What did you learn about the learners in your class today? What was your most challenging moment in this lesson and why? How will you respond next time? To what extent were the learners productively engaged in the learning process? Discuss. If you had the opportunity to teach this lesson again to this same group of learners, what would you do differently? Why?

What evidence/ feedback do you have that the learners achieved an understanding of the lesson objective(s)? 11. REFERENCE LIST (List all the text books, workbooks, documents such as the CAPS document, websites etc. that you used to prepare this lesson.)

bachelor of education in foundation phase language …

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