Contents
Introduction
3
Oral language development in the target language
4
Concerns about speech and language delay
5
Phonological awareness
7
Activities
8
Phoneme fans/using graphemes
9
Elkonian boxes
10
Letter boxes
11
Letter patterns
12
Letter recognition
13
Word recognition
14
Understanding and meaning
15
Spelling
17
Book list and useful resources
21
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
1
This handbook was written by Dr. Gabrielle Nig Uidhir, St. Mary’s University College, as part
of project led by Dr. James Connolly to redevelop InCAS for Irish-medium schools. This text
has been produced as a resource for teachers planning intervention strategies that respond to
data gained from InCAS and from ÁML, the Irish-medium Early Literacy Assessment Resource.
(Clay and Nig Uidhir, 2006)
The support and advice generously given by a range of professionals are acknowledged and in
particular by:
Eibhlín Mhic Aoidh, St. Mary’s University College
Áine Mhic Giolla Cheara, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste
Máire Mhic Sheáin, Bunscoil and tSléibhe Dhuibh
Jill Garland, St. Mary’s University College
Dr. Seán Mac Corraidh, Belfast Education and Library Board
A CCEA Publication © 2013
2
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
Introduction
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium
schools and early interventions: Responding to
information gained from INCAS and from ÁML
The international research into early literacy acquisition demonstrates that children approach
literacy along different paths. These trajectories may be taken as a dynamic spurt forward,
a gentle meander, or an oscillating micro pattern of to and fro within the overall advance.
Irish-medium pupils will bring with them their own learning styles and their own individual
responses to adult expectations for them and to the creative teaching strategies and immersion
pedagogies that they will encounter in the new language environment of nursery and primary
school. It is important that the teacher can identify where each child is, in terms of literacy
achievement, so that he or she can consolidate existing knowledge, plan experiences to
take forward partial understanding and introduce new concepts in a structured way. Teacher
observations and negotiations with the pupil can also provide direction about the pace of
learning that is most appropriately challenging. Time spent on a safe and familiar ‘plateau’
can be constructive when children may enjoy opportunities to rehearse and practise what
they know, to engage in overlearning acitivites and to calibrate their learning and build up
fluency. At other times, they need to be motivated and encouraged to take the next step
forward, connecting the unfamiliar with the known. Within the context of Reading Recovery, a
critical initial phase in that intervention programme is the ‘roaming around the known’, when
the teacher plans specifically for a period focused on securing concepts and skills already
somewhere within the child’s repertoire, before introducing new challenges. As children
progress, they will continue to need extensive access to the experience of reading for meaning,
on carefully selected texts.
Test scores can provide teachers with evidence of progress. They can also alert teachers to discrete
aspects of literacy development where a child demonstrates a difficulty. Intervention strategies
should still be planned with an eye on the broader canvas. During an early intervention session
with a P2 pupil, I had progressed through the initial elements in the structured programme with
the happy cooperation of my young pupil. As soon as I said, ‘Let’s do some writing together now’,
the little girl responded with, ‘My tummy’s sore’. In this case, the emotional and psychological
response to writing had triggered a writing paralysis. The little girl could not be persuaded to
have a go. Only after a floppy rag doll was introduced, who wanted to write her story, did my
young friend feel happy about helping out and writing the doll’s story for her. During main class
time, this little girl had become quite adept at avoiding writing. In her new role as scribe for the
doll, she learned to try out strategies to help her write coherently. Motivation to write was raised
with the use of the doll. The introduction of a ‘practice page’ made having a go safe and problem
solving activities became an acceptable part of the writing process. All intervention strategies
are aimed at advancing the pupil along the continuum towards independence, negotiating
manageable steps and pathways with the child.
The profile of literacy behaviours reflected in InCAS and ÁML outcomes can be interpreted in a
way that informs teaching. Evidence of low outcomes on discrete elements can be used to inform
a structured sequence of small steps where support is most needed, while at the same time
allowing ample opportunities for the child to avail of areas of strength, as a crucial scaffold to
problem solving. Activities that ‘bed down’ what the child already knows, are important, building
the confidence required to tackle those areas where the child is experiencing difficulty. This means
that the teacher should avoid the temptation to focus on a single method or approach. Intervention
activities discussed here should be considered as suggestions that may be incorporated into a
structured, balanced teaching programme that takes cognisance of what the individual child
has already achieved as well as confusions and gaps in knowledge. Most activities are suitable
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
3
for whole class and group or pair work and their effectiveness as interventions for the individual
pupil depends on the level of scaffolding provided by the teacher. The activities below have been
categorised to provide a clearer idea about how they can be used to support particular areas of
literacy development. Some of these activities integrate across the most practical areas of the
curriculum. For example, an effective ‘warm up exercise’ for reading that can reinforce the left
to right eye coordination is the bean bag game. Pupils stand with outstretched arms and throw a
bean bag from their left hand into their right hand, this can also be practised in P.E. class.
Sequencing activities can also be reinforced in numeracy, science, P.E., music etc, and will support
the development of this skill in phonics work, word identification, comprehension, spelling and
writing, for example,
•
•
•
Numeracy games in Maths;
Pictures of a life cycle to put in sequence in The World Around Us;
Physical Education activities which develop the concept of sequence in dance, for
example, arrange the pupils in 2 groups and play rhythmic music while the groups
perform series of actions which illustrate ‘housework’ or ‘shopping’ or ‘building a wall’.
Other general strategies that will support the pupils experiencing difficulties include:
• Keep the literacy tasks short. Break the lessons into short segments;
• Plan repetition and contexts in which the same skill is practised in different ways.
Provide opportunities for the re-reading of books in different contexts – reading
independently while listening to the story being told on a compact disc; re-reading in
pairs; partnership reading with parent;
• Use short texts which can be finished in one reading. In the case of thicker books, take
the story in series, reinforcing what is understood up to now before undertaking the
next part;
• A multi-sensory approach is recommended to help pupils – using visual and auditory
stimulants and movements to direct the pupils on the paths towards literacy most
suitable for them. Be aware also of the needs of those pupils that do not respond well
to too much sensory input.
Oral language development in the target language
On entering pre-school settings and foundation classes, most young children bring with them a
rich and diverse range of prior experiences that can provide solid foundations for the development
of literacy. These early experiences as communicators begin before the child says his or her first
word. Important prior experiences that will support children’s early literacy development include
oral language and comprehension, concepts about print, experiences of their world and some
experience of the world of print. The prior experience of Irish-medium pupils is often embedded
in an English language context. Immersion pedagogies place the language of the school at
the centre of communication. On entering the Irish-medium nursery, a dynamic 2 way process
commences where prior experience of communication, language and print transfers from L1 to
L2 and back to L1. In the case of multilingual children, an extended network of transfer channels
are in operation. In order to facilitate effective transfer of prior learning to the L2 context, oral
language and oral comprehension in the target language will have a pivotal role in the school’s
approach to early literacy development. The teacher will use oral negotiations with the pupils to
guide teaching and learning, for example, engaging in conversation about a text read in order to
check on comprehension. Marie Clay describes these negotiations of meaning as ‘conversation
formats for learning’ (1998, 22).
4
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
Children who achieve low age-equivalent scores in the four InCAS literacy tasks, word
recognition, spelling, comprehension and decoding, should be supported by intervention
strategies that are embedded in enhanced oral language activities:
a)
Word recognition in print is most meaningful in the second language context if the child
has already had the opportunity to hear the word in use, for example during play activities
or in a song or rhyme. Generally, it is not advisable to introduce the young learner to a
new word visually without that experience of hearing and using the word in a meaningful
oral context. In the case of high frequency words from children’s texts, these will mostly
correspond to high frequency words in the spoken language (an, ag, tá, ar), so again,
listening and talking is going to support reading and writing;
b)
Listening, understanding and talking activities will also provide opportunities for children
to become familiar with sound patterns and morphemic patterns that can assist with
spelling;
c)
Children’s knowledge of oral Irish vocabulary and language structures plays a crucial
role in their comprehension of printed text; and
d)
Decoding strategies cannot be effective in isolation as there are so many anomalies and
exceptions in language systems. Oral language proficiency provides a reliable platform
from which to selectively apply these strategies.
Immersion teachers ensure access to a rich curriculum by planning for language development
as an integral part of every classroom activity. All learning activities offer possibilities for
enhancing oral language. At a whole class level, the teacher models language structures,
grammatical features, language sequences and vocabulary. This may be done casually during
structured play activities, or more formally during shared reading. Language is articulated
clearly, demonstrating breaks between clauses and incorporating abundant repetitions, within
varied contexts, providing multiple opportunities for the child to extend his or her language
base. This approach is balanced by explicit teaching of oral language that is also embedded
within cross-curricular teaching, for example, eliciting synonyms to replace targeted words
in a poem, or selecting adjectives to describe different materials in a feely bag, or practising
comparative adjectives as pupils compare quantities in maths – níos mó, níos lú, níos faide,
níos gairide.
Concerns about speech and language delay
Irish-medium teachers at naíscoil foundation stage create a rich, stimulating learning
environment that promotes language development in Irish. In order to avoid misinterpretation
of speech and language delay as the ‘silent phase’, when the young learner is focused on
developing receptive skills in Irish, teachers should avail of opportunities to observe the child
in other language situations. For example, during free play or during those occasions when
young pupils still choose English as the language to use with friends, teachers can observe the
child’s use of English in natural contexts. Consultation with parents will also give insights to the
child’s language behaviours at home. Systematic observations made during the administration
of ÁML assessment tasks may also alert the teacher to the possibility of a language delay
and to a possible need for early interventions. This could result from an intermittent hearing
difficulty, or from a phonological processing difficulty, or it could be related to a disorder.
Some children will require the support of a speech and language therapist. Other children
can overcome this delay themselves, without external specialist intervention. All children who
manifest a language delay will need more individual time with the teacher, on a daily basis,
being encouraged to engage in conversations. Activities and games can also form a valuable
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
5
part of a structured remediating programme, for example, in the three activities below, the
teacher might focus on improving intelligibility of consonant clusters:
1)
Picture board game
• A4 board with approximately 8-12 illustrations or
pictures representing a speech sound (e.g. pictures
of words beginning with ‘tr’, such as trá, trí, trom,
traein, trácht, trasna, triantán, troid) sequenced like
snakes and ladders.
• A low dice (1-3).
The child throws the dice and counts along that number of
pictures (1, 2 or 3). He or she articulates the word represented
by the picture (e.g. troid). The teacher may also say the word, articulating the ‘tr’ clearly, and
the child repeats this.
Another version of this activity could be played on the floor, using A4 pictures, laid out like
hopscotch.
2)
Kim’s game (i)
• 2 sets of small pictures or flashcards of 3 or 4
different objects representing a speech sound, e.g.
snámh, sneachta, snap.
• A screen to separate the teacher’s set of cards from
the pupil’s cards.
• Blue tack.
In this version of Kim’s game the teacher chooses one card and sticks it to one side of the
screen with a little blue tack, without the child seeing which card was selected. Teacher then
articulates the word represented by his or her card, e.g. ‘snámh’. The child selects a matching
picture and sticks it onto his or her side of the screen. The child repeats the word and turns the
screen around to check if the two pictures are the same.
3)
Snap
• Pairs of pictures or illustrations representing a consonant & consonant cluster
speech sound, e.g.
srón; rón
slán; lán
trí; rí
trua; rua.
• A screen to separate the teacher’s set of cards from the pupil’s cards.
• Blue tack.
This version of snap focuses on auditory discrimination. It is important that the child is not
looking at the teacher’s mouth during the activity. The teacher may wish to firstly remind the
child what is represented in each of the pictures. He or she will the give the child a cue to
listen, e.g. Are you ready to listen? Teacher sticks the appropriate card on his or her side of
the screen and then articulates the word, e.g. ‘trí’. The teacher may prompt by articulating the
2 contrasting sounds, “Did I say ‘rí’ or ‘trí’?” and repeats, ‘Trí’ The child selects the matching
card and turns the screen to check his or her answer. This game can be played showing 2
pictures at a time, or this may be increased to 4 or 6 pictures.
6
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
Phonological awareness
Phonological awareness is directly related to a child’s development of speech and language
and also literacy. Phonological awareness begins as a pre-reading skill, although it develops in
a reciprocal relationship with reading. As the child becomes a reader, phonological awareness
develops onto new levels. It contains other important sub-skills like phonemic awareness and
phonics. The broad term ‘phonological awareness’ refers to the child’s awareness of the sound
system of his or her language and to an understanding that language can be broken into small
units of sound. This awareness forms a foundation for literacy development and it begins at a very
early age.
Phonological awareness is considered a reliable predictor of success at learning to read (Goswami
and Bryant, 1990). Subsequently, early identification of a phonological awareness deficit and the
planning of appropriate early intervention strategies can prevent a gap widening between the
literacy achievement of child who is experiencing difficulties and that of his or her peers. Rose
analyses the advantages of “a vigorous, programme of phonic work to be securely embedded
within a broad and language-rich curriculum”. (2006, 16)
The development of phonological awareness presents a clear pattern of stages, although children
do not progress along these in a strictly sequential way. The awareness of words and syllables
progresses towards an awareness of beginning and ending sounds within words and syllables
and finally towards an awareness of the smallest individual sounds comprising a word. However,
children do not wait to complete one skill before commencing another. Three general sub-skills
are:
Awareness of words and syllables
Children segmenting words into syllables, clapping
out syllables in their names; joining in nursery
rhymes; suggesting new words to complete a line
in song or nursery rhyme. Later children will blend
syllables to make familiar words.
Awareness of onsets and rime within
syllables and words
Children able to identify sounds that make up the
start of a syllable or word and the remaining unit
of sound in that syllable or word. For example, in
the word hata ‘h’ is the onset and ‘ata’ is the rime.
Children can then develop towards recognising
analogies with the rime, as in the word ‘bata’. Later,
this will be an important skill to support spelling.
Awareness of phonemes
The final stage in the phonological awareness
continuum is phonemic awareness, when children
recognise that words are composed of individual
units of sound or phonemes. These sounds can be
blended to make a familiar word, e.g. the sounds /c/
/a/ /t/ blended to produce ‘cat’. Later the children
will segment phonemes in familiar words. A more
advanced stage in the development of phonemic
awareness is the manipulation of phonemes, e.g.
substituting a phoneme to create a new word ( Say
the word ‘tóg’. Now say tóg with /p/ instead of /t/ ).
In today’s visual world, teachers are often challenged to support pupils to engage in active listening
for increasing periods of time. The Irish-medium pupils are in a second language context where
the sounds in the environment are new and activities are planned to focus the children’s attention
on these sounds in a discriminating way. When intervention strategies are required to support
individual pupils, they can build on whole class and group activities which form an integral part of
the early programme.
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
7
“Children must learn to discriminate and attend to a widening range of auditory information, through
plenty of musical activities, ‘listening walks’ and games. The ability to listen discriminately is vital
if children are to achieve the fine discrimination between sounds needed for clear articulation and
phonological awareness.” (Palmer & Bayley, 2004,12)
Activities
Some auditory activities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kim’s game with sounds, using 2 sets of musical instruments. The child is asked
to ‘echo’ the sound made by the teacher.
Where is the sound? Hide ‘a sound’ (eg. a noisy clock) in the room. Ask the pupil to
locate the source of the sound.
Sound lotto.
Sounds in sequence – 2 sets of instruments are required. Ask the pupils to imitate
a sequence of sounds made by the teacher or another pupil.
Feely bag – inside are objects that begin with a particular sound, for example ‘b’
(bábóg, bata, bróg, banana) and ask the pupil to put his hand into the bag and to
identify objects that begin with ‘b’.
A box of rhyme or sound ( box of objects that rhyme – rón / lón / fón). The pupils can
match objects that rhyme.
To say rhymes / music / poems each day.
A phoneme walk in the school (identifying sounds that begin / end with a particular
sound).
The teacher segmenting sounds or syllables in a word – the pupils are asked to
identify the word. If necessary, use pictures which contain the answer. This activity
is undertaken initially without regard to print.
Phonics:
The teaching practice which stresses the systematic links between spelling and speech sounds
is known as phonics.
Sample activities
Word wheel (with the whole class as an initial activity or with groups or individual pupils.
They respond orally or write the answers on a small white board.)
8
a)
Make words that start with each letter on the
wheel.
b)
Make one word with the letters on the wheel.
c)
How many words can you make with the letters
on the wheel?
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
d)
Set down a deadline for these activities.
i
s
m.sh. sean, gan, seo, sin, gean, ag …
n
o
e
g a
What new words would be made if the pupils could put an accent on the vowels?
m.sh. sín, gá, gé, nó, sí, sé …
m
i
r
s
c
m
g
t
u
a
o
m.sh.
orm
gorm
ort
go
mo
ór
mór
óg
mac
muc
mic
ró
am
cam
má
cá
cú
im
Phoneme fans / using graphemes
l
s
m
t
Show me the sound you hear (the letter)
at the end of this word: B U S
u
0i
a
e
What are the vowels in the middle of the word,
S U A S, S E A S
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
9
Show me the word,
L Ó N, L Á N,
R Ó N, L Á R
r
l
ó
á
n
How many words can you make with the fan?
Show me the word ‘urlár’.
Change ‘ocht’ to ‘bocht’.
Phonics games
•
Regular activities, for example, at the beginning of each day 2 teams in the class
play a game with a 2 minute glass. ‘How many words which I can see in the room
end with ‘a’? How many words which I can see in the room have 2 syllables? How
many words can I say that begin with ‘b’?
•
Phonological games are very suitable as an individual activity, for those first 5
minutes at the start of the day when pupils come into the room, for example, a
box with sound cards. Put the cards face down on a table and as the pupil turns
each card, he articulates it for the teacher, e.g. a box of diphthongs, u a, í o, i a, and
words in which they occur.
Elkonian boxes
These activities are practised initially without any text. The teacher says the word that is to be
displayed, e.g. CAT. The pupil has to move a counter into each box while he is saying it.
When the pupil has mastered this activity which shows an understanding of matching sound
with movement, it is time to start moving letters into the boxes while articulating the word.
s r ó n
10
f u a r
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
b a n
If a one phoneme pattern is practised with two vowels, strips which show the number of
phonemes instead of the number of letters can be useful:
s
ea
s
eo
n
Letter boxes
There are many activities which can be carried out with various letter boxes.
-
Consonants which the pupil articulates as he turns them over;
-
Long and short vowels, they are turned two at a time searching for pairs – a & á; i & í;
u & ú etc. The pupil articulates the vowel which he turns over and he searches for the
corresponding vowel;
-
Clusters of consonants which are articulated and put into words br; sr; sn; tr; cr ………..
ó
g
á
m
o
m
a
n
ó
n
h
n
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
11
Segmenting and blending syllables
-
Children in a circle. Tambourine being passed around and the pupils beating out the
number of syllables in their name.
Children writing their name in the circles on the syllable pyramid on the interactive
board.
Children moving pictures / words on to the syllable pyramid, according to the number
of syllables, articulating the syllables.
INTERACTIVE BOARD
(kinetic movement, visual and sound patterns)
1
22
banana oráiste piorra
úll arán im ispíní subh
Letter patterns
The rules of letter patterns and spelling must be clearly taught to the children. The teacher
should explain and discuss the letter patterns. When you work with a sequence of patterns, for
example,
méar
géar
féar
béar
don’t take for granted that the attention of the child is on the pattern that you see, i.e. ‘éa’. The
child could be looking at ‘mé’or at the ending, ‘ar’, or on some other part of the word. Attention
must be focused on the pattern.
The learner has to learn road signs and spelling conventions, especially if he does not derive
benefit from visual or auditory prompts. Keep them simple and provide opportunities for relearning on a regular basis, for example,
12
-
Rules governing double letters – of which there are only 3 (ll, nn, rr);
-
Ways ‘h’ changes the sound of a consonant;
-
Effect of accent on pronunciation and the meaning of the word (seo/seó; ba/bá;
cead/céad; ar/ár);
-
Focus attention on final sounds – anna, aí, í, igh using various colours to identify and
highlight the sound patterns in words. Extend these lists when the pupil recognises an
additional word that follows a pattern -
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
cailíní
liathróidí
mamaí
cótaí
leoraí
cheannaigh
tosaigh
gheimhridh
bolú
mothú
súgradh
madadh
geimhreadh
samhradh
déanamh
snámh
This pattern can be extended showing these sounds in the middle of words,
oighear
dóighiúil
Letter recognition
Examples of short activities with magnetic letters:
Children must learn quickly how to recognise the shapes and features of all letters. Visual
perception of letters has to be reliable and rapid. These
activities should be kept short. A child who has difficulty
recognising letters will benefit from the great variety of
tactile activities that can be performed with magnetic
letters. These also help eye-hand coordination, learning
the alphabet and phonics.Teaching points will be guided
by reference to the child’s performance on the ÁML letter
identification task, building on prior knowledge. What
letters does the child recognise already, evident in the task
Letter Identification? What details in print is the child already attending to, evident in Concepts
About Print? (Clay, 2006, 23) In fact, the letters must be overlearned in order to allow fast,
accurate visual responses.
Interventions to support letter recognition and word recognition include varied activities to
extend the child’s recognition of letters. One of these activities may involve the use of magnetic
letters. Here are some of the activities which may be done with magnetic letters.
Focus attention on similarities
•
Begin with letters which the child recognises.
•
Match letters that are similar in pairs or in groups (letters of the same colour;
letters that are tall; letters in lower case).
•
Ask the child to recognise the single different letter in a group.
•
Select vowels from a group of letters.
•
Put 4 samples of the same letter (e) and 3 other letters on the board. Ask the child
to group the “e’s” together.
Focus attention on differences
•
Begin with letters which the child recognises.
•
Sort the letters which are different initially
(b, h, f, l, k ………………………….. a, c, e, n, m).
•
Match letters in upper case with letters in lower case.
Sequence
•
•
The child puts 5 letters in alphabetical order.
Remove a letter from a group in alphabetical order. Which one? The child puts it
back.
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
13
•
Make a familiar word with letters. Mix them up. The child puts them together (a
number of times).
Making and segmenting words
•
Start - Give the letters from a familiar word to the child. Ask him to do it. (e.g.
mé, sa, cat, tá). Provide him with opportunities to become accustomed to tracing
letters with his finger, to remove and return them, individually as a cluster. A lower
case ‘l’ can be used as an accent.
•
Make 2 words with a pattern, giving him the letters (tá, lá). Give the letters for the
third word ‘bá’ to the child. Ask him to do it and to read the 3 words.
•
More difficult: make the word ‘mé’. Give him the letter ‘s’ and ask him to change
the word to ‘sé’.
Word recognition
14
•
There is a small group of words which are very common in reading books for P1P3 pupils. Flash recognition of these words is required in order to avoid too much
hard work and problem solving. These familiar words support reading fluency and
writing. It is often these small words which create problems. Some of them are
very similar to other small words and it would be easy to mix them up (an, na, ar,
nó, ón, as, sa). A range of activities is required, therefore, to help pupils build up
their vocabulary of familiar words.
•
Word games often and at speed (bingo,
snap, word creation with magnetic
letters, pupils) matching words with
pictures.
•
Practice Word Walls based on the words
which the pupils in the class need to
know. Make a wall of the high frequency
words which are commonly required at
present. Gradually add to the list, just a
couple of words at the most at any one
time. Select other types of words for
another chart, display words which are
relevant to class work at present.
•
Explain the system to the pupils – words in alphabetical order, or words with picture
or symbol, groups of words in colours. Refer to the word wall often during the day.
•
With regard to individual pupils who have difficulty adding to the words they visually
recognise, it would be a great help to them if they could practise, each morning,
reading words on an individual word wall and putting a star on the highest point
they reach on the wall any particular morning. This activity can also be useful as an
informal assessment.
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
•
Mental Arithmetic games with high frequency words (See ÁML, 2006, pg 191).
•
The teacher, or a pupil, calls operations out, hoping to get a word as an answer.
Examples:
1 = an
2 = ag
3 = tá
4 = ar
5 = agus
6 = arsa
7=a
8 = sé
9 = bhí
10 = sa
2 + 7 = bhí
5 × 2 = sa
10 – 6 = ar
ag + tá =
Understanding and meaning
Reading ‘for meaning’ is one of the greatest challenges which pupils who are struggling
with progress in literacy have. ‘Reading for meaning’ is the last strategy pupils use to solve a
problem in a difficult text. The level of the book selected and the strategies that are required for
problem solving are very important, therefore, before pupils lose interest or confidence. When
an effective reader comes across a problem in a text, he draws on all his prior knowledge of
the language, of the world, and of the ways print operates. He searches for all the prompts that
will assist him to derive meaning from the words. Word-decoding, reading at speed, reading
fluently, are not sufficient to recognise words and to retain data in the mind. Simultaneous
processes must be put in motion to extract meaning from a text. That will not be possible if too
much attention is focused on word-decoding.
Certain high quality skills are required to support the reader to achieve meaning, for example,
summarising and synthesizing, questioning, clarification, prediction, and the teacher helps the
pupils to develop and apply these skills.
Summarising and synthesizing: This is a continuous strategy which readers use often and
regularly while reading. As we read a text, we are constantly stopping and summarising, in
our own mind, important facts that we have read up to that point. This strategy will be very
important for the pupil when he begins to study. Sometimes short notes are scribbled down on
the edge of the page, or a summary frame is filled in, summarising the main points (Frey, N. et
al 2009, 30).
Asking questions: During reading and when seeking understanding, readers will ask themselves
questions and will then seek out the answers. The composition of questions is part of the
learning process. When ‘hot-seating’ is played in the classroom, pupils asking a character
questions about his conduct or some other aspect of the story, discussion and questioning will
be stimulated and these in turn will foster understanding and support the search for meaning.
It will also help this learning process if the author is put in the ‘hot seat’. Let’s pretend that the
author is here with us, what questions will we ask him?
Clarification: It is very easy to lose attention and to let the mind wander while reading. On
these occasions clarification of the problem is a necessity – why is this not clear to me? The
next step is to search for the solution of the problem and to select an appropriate strategy.
Asking questions may be the most effective strategy, or discussing the problem with someone
else, or searching the meaning of words from another source. Sometimes it can be a help to
re-read a line or a passage. Cross-checking information is another strategy which can help
solve problems. At a very basic level, what if the pupil didn’t recognise the word ‘amach’ in
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
15
the sentence, ‘Amach liom sa ghairdín.’ When he uses visual prompts to help him, he reads,
‘Amharc liom sa ghairdín.’ Self-monitoring stimulates cross-checking when he recognises that
this is meaningless and that you don’t say ‘amharc liom’ in Irish. Another strategy is therefore
selected to help him, for example, asking what can be said here that would make sense. Or he
breaks the word down into two smaller words which he recognises, am / ach, and articulates
them.
Prediction: Prediction is often carried out before a text is read in the class. But it is a continuous
strategy which the successful reader uses throughout the reading, as the story develops. When
a prediction is contradicted, it is appropriate to compose a new one, based on the evidence and
the clues which the author has given to us. It is not a random action. When a reader changes
his prediction, he should understand why he changed his opinion about some result or other.
Curiosity about the text will stimulate relevant predictions.
Here are some teaching strategies which support pupils who experience difficulty with
understanding and meaning:
Before reading:
•
Plan an introduction for the new book. Do a short overview of the story, leaving
to the young reader much which is to be investigated and discovered. The pupils
make predictions about certain aspects of the story.
•
Practise the main grammatical structures and the challenging vocabulary in the
book, during other activities and as part of natural conversation, before starting
the new book.
•
Remind the pupil of his skills which are to be applied during the reading of the
story. Only mention one or two points.
During reading:
•
Use prompts where necessary to solve a problem. (See Prompts)
•
Help the pupils to apply the knowledge and the skills which he already has.
•
Encourage him to recognise the main ideas in the story, inferring, looking
forward and back to clarify points.
After reading:
•
Go back over a few things that were effective. “I like the way you read that
question; I like the way you corrected the mistake on this page. How did you
work that out?”
•
Select one teaching point and focus on that.
•
Segment sentences in the passage that was read, and ask the pupil to put them
in sequence, or segment words from any sentence and ask the pupil to replace
them in an appropriate order.
•
Encourage summary and further reflection on the story.
Other strategies to support reading and to extract meaning from stories:
•
Simplify the story which is to be read – carefully select passages from the book
that will be at an appropriate level for the pupil. This is even more important as a
range of banded graded books is not available in Irish.
•
Create a map of the story. Show the place the pupil has reached in the story
before each reading session.
•
Use pictures of events in the story to practise a sequence.
•
Use a die which has pictures of the events on each side. The pupils throw the die
in turn and explain 3 things about the picture facing up.
•
Encourage the pupils to summarise the main features of the story up to now.
•
Provide opportunities for the pupil to question himself (or a friend) about the
story - Who? What? Where? When?
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Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
•
Create a map showing the relationship between characters, the similarities and
the differences between 2 characters on a Venn diagram:
The Wolf
Little Red Riding Hood
greedy
kind
hungry
brave
naive
bold
agile
loving
clever
clever
happy
dishonest
honest
Spelling
Spelling is only one aspect of writing. Teachers emphasise the written material, encouraging
the pupils to express their thoughts in appropriate words, to enjoy this process and to be
confident enough to put them on paper. Attention is focused on the message.
“I choose to define reading as a message-getting problem-solving activity, and writing as a message
sending problem-solving activity” (Clay, 2006, iii).
A challenging target is finding a balance between encouraging fluency and the flow of ideas
in the composition, and the provision of appropriate intervention with regard to spelling. One
stage in the writing process is proof-reading and the correction of spelling. It is important
that the pupils feel positive about tackling the task. A useful practice which is common in the
Reading Recovery programme, is to encourage pupils to use a practice page to try challenging
words, checking ‘does it look right’, and applying the strategies to solve the problem. After a
while, the teacher will not have to remind the pupils to use the practice page.
By the end of Key Stage 1, if pupils don’t feel at their ease with spelling, they often select the
simplest words which they are able to spell correctly and the composition is restricted as a
result. The teacher can exemplify a positive, sensible attitude to the pupils, while writing in
partnership, so that pupils’ uncertainty about spelling does not impede efforts to write. As well
as this, direction is required to help the pupils recognise when it is appropriate for them to pay
special care to spelling, and to apply the most effective strategies.
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
17
Awareness of patterns and rules is necessary to achieve some independence and accuracy in
spelling and in the basic skills concerning:
1.
2.
3.
audio discrimination
visual discrimination
short memory / long memory
A comprehensive multisensory approach
Parents can be encouraged to support the development of these skills to help with spelling,
for example,
1.
2.
3.
4.
Development of awareness of sounds (from the cradle) and great emphasis
on it throughout the early years;
Emphasis on shapes; letters; patterns; matching, etc.
Games and activities that develop short and long memory, which are
important for the learning of high frequency words;
Development of Phonics (rhymes, verses, games).
When pupils display a difficulty with spelling, they require comprehensive support to help them.
There must be more than one pathway towards success. I observed this imaginative approach
being used in a classroom where pupils were overcoming the complexities of dyslexia. The
pupils carried out self-assessment on the computer, using a spelling programme. The pupil
was immediately supplied with feedback on his efforts. He went independently to a sand tray,
where he wrote out all the words he got incorrect on the computer. He practised them with
magnetic letters. After that he wrote all the words in his copybook. He was also provided with
opportunities to practise these words in context, by dictation, or by using them in a short story.
At another time during the day, attention was focused on the basic rules regarding spelling
patterns, since this understanding also provides support, especially if there is difficulty with
the recognition of patterns and sounds.
An approach which supports spelling:
•
High frequency words: These must be written from memory these are the
10 words which are most frequent in the reading books for pupils P1-P3, for
direction:
an, ag, tá, ar, agus, arsa, a, sé, bhí, sa.
•
Other relevant words: Words associated with topics and with current themes are
also required, on a word wall or on display. Focus often on a couple of words on
the list – reinforcing strategies to remember them.
•
Words with rhyme or assonance: (to be learned by heart)
Listen to a word when it is called out;
Search for the word in the list of words;
Select the correct word;
Write the word down carefully.
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Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
Focus attention on any teaching point associated with spelling pattern – for example, word
endings, ‘h’, slender and broad consonants, and help pupils to understand the pattern.
•
Opportunities for pupils to reinforce in context the words which they have
learned recently.
Examples of other activities:
1.
2.
Matching words with pictures.
Write the correct word.
recognising visual
patterns / visual
discrimation
visual chunks
Word search in a string of words or in a
word square, e.g.
Circle the word ag
catagtámamaíagnílag
Colour the word ag red
and colour the word ar green
artámadadhdaidía
deargbainneagmar
láfuarmórfeartáag
chuaighséagnílsían
Which vowels have an accent?
3.
Write these words in the correct place:
béal
éan
méar
4.
Circle small words inside the big word:
cheannaigh
5.
Fill gaps in words / sentence, e.g. ó
-g
p-g
t-g
a)
b)
c)
é
phonics
and sense of sound
/letter link
Dúirt mamaí, ‘ --- an cóta den urlár’.
Tá an leanbh --.
Thug mé --- do mhamaí.
6.
Put a sentence in order: fear rith Tá ag
7.
Underline the letters in alphabetical order:
Sequence
Uairamháinbhícatdalbaeileaganfhearagus……
Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
19
8.
Dictation
Reinforcing
in context
9.
Put these words into a sentence:
Déarfaidh;
Déanfaidh ;
Nowadays, there are many resources available to support people who find spelling challenging
– for example, electronic spell-checker. Some pupils are allowed to use these in examinations.
It is important that pupils recognise that there is sufficient support available, and that there
are times in the writing process when it is better not to focus attention on the finer details of
spelling and that they should feel more positive about writing. Let me remind you of the lesson
which my young friend taught me, and which is referred to in the introduction. Encouragement
and a positive attitude are important to empower pupils to communicate in print.
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Early literacy achievement in Irish-medium schools and early interventions
Book list and useful resources
Booth, T. and Ainscow, M. (1998) (eds) From Them To Us: An International Study of Inclusion
in Education. London: Routledge
Clay, M. (1998) Different Paths to Common Outcomes. Maine: Stenhouse Publishers
Clay, M. agus Nig Uidhir, G. (2006) Áis Mheasúnaithe sa Luathlitearthacht: Treoir do Theagasc
na Litearthachta. B.Á.C.: Carroll Education
Clay, M. (2006) Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Part One. Auckland: Heinemann
Frey, N., Fisher, D. and Berkin, A. (2008) Good Habits, Great Readers. London: Pearson
Glynn, T., Wearmouth, J., Berryman, M. (2006) Supporting Students with Literacy Difficulties.
A Responsive Approach. Berkshire: Open University Press
Goswami, U. and Bryant, P. (1990) Phonological Skills and Learning to Read. Hove: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates
Grove, N. (2005) Ways Into Literature. London: David Fulton
Karten, T. (2005) Inclusion Strategies That Work! London: Sage
Palmer, S. Agus Bayley, R. (2004) Foundations of Literacy. Stafford: Network Educational
Press
Other useful resources
Fónaic na Gaeilge, BLO
Resources for speech and Language. Black Sheep Press
Séideán Sí, Leabhar Cúnta an Oide, C. Ag Obair Liom, Rang 1. BÁC : An Gúm
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