Teaching Listening and Speaking - 1
Teaching Listening and Speaking - 1
Teaching Listening and Speaking - 1
Listening is the neglected communication skill. While all of us have had instruction in reading, writing,
and speaking, few have had any formal instruction in listening. Most of us spend seven of every 10
minutes of our waking time in some form of communication activity. Of these seven minutes (or 70% of
the time we are awake), 10% is spent writing, 15% reading, 30% talking, and 45% listening.
Think of it! We spend nearly half of our communication time listening, but few of us make any real effort
to be better listeners. For those who do, however, the effort pays great dividends—higher productivity,
faster learning, and better relationships.
Listening is more than merely hearing words. Listening is an active process by which students receive,
construct meaning from, and respond to spoken and or nonverbal messages (Emmert, 1994). As such, it
forms an integral part of the communication process and should not be separated from the other
language arts. Listening comprehension complements reading comprehension. Verbally clarifying the
spoken message before, during, and after a presentation enhances listening comprehension. Writing, in
turn, clarifies and documents the spoken message.
B. Kinds of Listening
Teachers can help students become effective listeners by making them aware of the different kinds of
listening, the different purposes for listening, and the qualities of good listeners. Wolvin and Coakley
(1992) identify four different kinds of listening:
Bottom—up Listening refers to a process by which sounds are used to build up units of information,
such as words, phrases, clauses and sentences before the aural input is understood.
Top-down processing refers to the application of background knowledge to facilitate comprehension.
It is generally believed now that both top-down and bottom-up processing occur at the same time in
what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck,1993). In some instances, one type of processing might
take precedence over the other, depending on the amount of practice an individual has had on a specific
task.
C. Some Ways of Improving the Teaching of Listening
It seems clear that the way of teaching listening needs to be modified and changed. In order to
engage the students in the subject and make them active in the learning process some of the traditional
problems of regarding models of teaching listening should be avoided. It is better to allow students to:
1. choose what they listen to
2. make their own listening text
3. control their equipment
4. give the instructions
5. design their own listening task
6. reflect on their problems in listening"(White,2006).
Tune In - Right as the lecture begins, determine the speaker's topic and recall what you may already
know about the topic.
Question - Early in the lecture, continue the listening process by asking questions support is he/she
using?", and "What do I need to specifically remember?" This process, if continued throughout the
entire lecture, helps lead to an understanding of main ideas, the speaker's organization of the material
being covered, and supporting details.
Listen - This part of the process includes determining the basic message and answering the questions
being raised during the total process. In order to accomplish this, you must anticipate what will be said,
and take in what is said.
Active alertness is ALWAYS REQUIRED.
Review - This is the process of checking on the anticipated message after the message is delivered. To
review, you must evaluate the message against your questions, fit ideas together, summarize ideas, and
evaluate the meaning and impact of the message based on your circumstances. This review process
should lead to further questions and keep you constantly tuned in to the lecture.
E. Factors that Influence Learners' Listening
Listening can be best understood as a combination of low and high inferences (Rost, 1990) Listeners
make low-level inferences when they use their knowledge of linguistic features to infer (decode) the
sounds in an utterance. To understand what a message means, they engage in higher level inferences by
using on their knowledge of both linguistic and pragmatic nature.
Another cognitive perspective on learner listening is the use of listening comprehension strategies.
These are mental mechanisms used to process and manage information.
Pre-listening
During the pre-listening phase, teachers need to recognize that all bring different backgrounds to the
listening experience. and biases of the listeners will affect the understanding addition to being aware of
these factors, teachers should show how their backgrounds affect the messages they receive.
Before listening, students need assistance to activate what they about the ideas they are going to hear.
Simply being told the topic is not Pre-listening activities are required to establish what is already known
the topic, to build necessary background, and to set purpose(s) for listening.
Students need to understand that the "...act of listening requires not hear, z but thinking, as well as a
good deal of interest and information which speaker and listener must have in common. Speaking and
listening three components: the speaker, the listener, and the meaning to be speaker, listener, and
meaning form a unique triangle (King, 1984)."
The teacher allows the learner to 'tune in' to the context or to the topic of a text. The students may
perhaps express their views about the text to be to; they may predict content from the title of a
selection, answer a set of questions, study and examine pictures, and sing a song or a chant. Each of
these helps to focus on a topic, activate their schemata or prior knowledge and allows them use the
words which they will shortly hear in the text.
There are several strategies that students and their teachers can use to prepare for a listening
experience. They can:
1. Activate Existing Knowledge. Students should be encouraged to ask the question: What do I
already know about this topic? From this teacher’s students can determine what information they need
in order to get the most from the message. Students can brainstorm, discuss, read, view or photos, and
write and share journal entries.
2. Build Prior Knowledge. Teachers can provide the appropriate background information including
information about the speaker, topic of the presentation, purpose of the presentation, and the concepts
and vocabulary that are likely to be embedded in the presentation. Teachers may rely upon the oral
interpretation to convey the meanings of unfamiliar words, leaving the discussion of these words until
after the presentation. At this stage, teachers need to point out the role that oral punctuation, body
language' and tone play in an oral presentation.
3. Review Standards for Listening. Teachers should stress the importance of the audience's role in
a listening situation. There is an interactive relationship between audience and speaker, each affecting
the other.
4. Establish Purpose. Teachers should encourage students to ask: "Why am I listening?" "What is
my purpose?" Students should be encouraged to articulate their purpose.
Am I listening to understand? Students should approach the speech with an open mind. If they
have strong personal opinions, they should be encouraged to recognize their own biases.
Am I listening to remember? Students should look for the main ideas and how the speech is
organized. They can fill in the secondary details later.
Am I listening to evaluate? Students should ask themselves if the speaker is qualified and if the
message is legitimate. They should be alert to errors in the speaker's thinking processes,
particularly bias, sweeping generalizations, propaganda devices, and charged words that may
attempt to sway by prejudice or deceit rather than fact.
Am I listening to be entertained? Students should listen for those elements that make for an
enjoyable experience (e.g., emotive language, imagery, mood, humor, presentation skills).
Am I listening to support? Students should listen closely to determine how other individuals are
feeling and respond appropriately (e.g., clarify, paraphrase, sympathize, encourage). Before a
speaker's presentation, teachers also can have students formulate questions that they predict
will be answered during the presentation. If the questions are not answered, students may pose
the questions to the speaker. Students should as well be encouraged to jot down questions
during listening.
5. Use a Listening Guide. A guide may provide an overview of the presentation, its main ideas,
questions to be answered while listening, a summary of the presentation, or an outline. For example, a
guide such as the following could be used by students during a presentation in class.
While-Listening Stage
While-listening tasks are what students are asked to do during listening time. The listening tasks should
be enjoyable and meaningful to the students. It should be simple and easy to handle. It should provide
opportunities for students to succeed.
Teachers can also encourage guided imagery when students are listening to presentations that have
many visual images, details, or descriptive words. Students can form mental pictures to help them
remember while listening.
Although listeners need not capture on paper everything they hear, there are times that students need
to focus on the message and need to record certain words and phrases. Such note-making ("listening
with pen in hand) forces students to attend to the message. Devine (1982) suggests strategies such as
the following:
Give questions in advance and remind listeners to for possible answers.
Provide a rough outline, chart, or graph for students to complete as they follow the lecture.
Have students jot down "new-to-me" items (simple lists of facts or insights that the listener has
not heard before).
Use a formal note-taking system.
Transcribing or writing down live or recorded speech can sharpen students’ listening, spelling, and
punctuation skills.
Teacher selects an interesting piece of writing,
The teacher then dictates the passage slowly to the class. The students transcribe the
form and conventions (i.e., spelling, punctuation, and capitalization) as accurately as
possible.
Critical thinking plays a major role in effective listening, Listening in order to analyze and evaluate
requires students to evaluate a speaker’s arguments and the value of the ideas, appropriateness of the
evidence, and the persuasive techniques employed. Effective listeners apply the principles of sound
thinking and reasoning to the messages they hear at home, in school, in the workplace, or in the media.
Planning and structuring classroom activities to model and encourage students to listen critically is
important. Students should learn to:
Task
They are influenced by the types of question, the amount of time and whether or not the listener can
get the information repeated.
Interlocutor (speaker)
This includes accent, fluency, gender, and standard or non-standard usage.
Listener
Listener characteristics include: language proficiency, gender, memory, interest, purpose, prior
knowledge, attention, accuracy of pronunciation, topic familiarity, and established learning habits.
Process
This refers to type of processing that listeners use, whether top-down or bottom-up or both. The type of
listening strategy used by the listener is an important factor
Post-Listening Stage
This is usually at the end of a lesson. These are off-shoots or extension of the work done at the pre-and
while listening stage. At this stage the students have time to think, reflect, discuss and to write.
Students need to act upon what they have heard to clarify meaning and extend their thinking. Well-
planned post-listening activities are just as important as those before and during. Some examples
follow.
To begin with, students can ask questions of themselves and the speaker to clarify their
understanding and confirm their assumptions.
Hook and Evans (1982) suggest that the post-mortem is a very useful device. Students should
talk about what the speaker said, question statements of opinion, amplify certain remarks, and
identify parallel incidents from life and
Students can summarize a speaker's presentation orally, in writing, or as an outline. In addition
to the traditional outline format, students could use time lines, flow charts, ladders, circles,
diagrams, webs, or maps,
Students can review their notes and add information that they did not have an opportunity to
record during the speech.
Students can analyze and evaluate critically what they have heard.
Students can be given opportunities to engage in activities that build on and develop concepts
acquired during an oral presentation. These may include writing (e.g., response journal, learning
log, or composition), reading (e.g., further research on a topic or a contradictory viewpoint), art
or drama (e.g., designing a cover jacket after a book talk or developing a mock trial concerning
the topic through drama in role).
Steps:
TEACHING SPEAKING
Introduction
Speech is the most basic means of communication. "Speaking in a second language or foreign language
has often been viewed as the most demanding and challenging of the four skills." (Bailey and Savage,
1994) What specifically makes speaking in a second language or foreign language difficult. According to
Brown (1994) a number of features of spoken language includes reduced forms such as contractions,
vowel reduction, and elision; slang and idioms; stress, rhythm, and intonation. Students who are not
exposed to reduced speech will always retain their full forms and it will become a disadvantage as a
speaker of a second language. Speaking is an activity requiring the integration of many subsystems.
The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency. Learners should be able to make
themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion
in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and
cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.
To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, instructors can use a balanced activities
approach that combines language input, structured output, and communicative output.
1. Conversational discourse
The benchmark of successful language acquisition is almost always the demonstration of an ability to
accomplish pragmatic goals through interactive discourse with other speakers of the language. Although
historically, "conversation" classes have ranged from quasi-communicative drilling to free, open, and
sometimes agenda-less discussions among students; current pedagogical research on teaching
conversation has provided some parameters for developing objectives and techniques.
Though the goals and the techniques for teaching conversation are extremely diverse—depending on
the student, teacher, and overall context of the class— language teachers have nonetheless learned to
differentiate between transactional and interactional conversation. Instructors have discovered
techniques for teaching students conversation rules such as topic nomination, maintaining a
conversation, turn-taking, interruption, and termination. Teachers have also learned to teach
sociolinguistic appropriateness, styles of speech, nonverbal communication, and conversational
routines. Within all these foci, the phonological, lexical, and syntactic properties of language can be
attended to, either directly or indirectly.
2. Teaching pronunciation
There has been some controversy over the role of pronunciation work in a communicative, interactive
course of study. Because the overwhelming majority of adult learners will never acquire an accent-free
command Of a foreign language should a language program that emphasizes whole language,
meaningful contexts and automaticity of production focus on these tiny phonological details of
language? The answer is "yes," but in a different way from what was perceived to be essential; a couple
of decades ago.
An issue that pervades all of language performance centers on the distinction between accuracy and
fluency. In spoken language the question we face as teachers is: How shall we prioritize the two clearly
important speaker goals of accurate (clear, articulate, grammatically and phonologically correct)
language and fluent (flowing, natural) language?
It is clear that fluency and accuracy are both important goals to pursue in Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT). While fluency may in many communicative language courses be an initial goal in
language teaching, accuracy is achieved to some extent by allowing students to focus on the elements of
phonology, grammar, and discourse in their spoken output.
The fluency/accuracy issue often boils down to the extent to which our techniques should be message
oriented (or teaching language use) as opposed to language oriented (also known as teaching language
usage). Current approaches to language teaching lean strongly toward message orientation with
language usage offering a supporting role.
4. Affective factors
One of the major obstacles learners have to overcome in learning to speak is the anxiety generated over
the risks of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible. Because of the language ego
that informs people that "you are what you speak," learners are reluctant to be judged by hearers. Our
job as teachers is to provide the kind of warm, embracing climate that encourages students to speak,
however halting or broken their attempts may be.
The greatest difficulty that learners encounter in attempts to speak is not the multiplicity of sounds,
words, phrases, and discourse forms that characterize any language, but rather the interactive nature of
most communication. Conversations are collaborative as participants engage in a process of negotiation
of meaning. So, for the learner, the matter of what you say is often eclipsed by conventions of how to
say things, when to speak, and other discourse constraints.
David Nunan (1991) notes a further complication in interactive discourse: what he calls the interlocutor
effect, or the difficulty of a speaking task as gauged by the skills of one's interlocutor. In other words,
one learner's performance is always colored by that of the person (interlocutor) he or she is talking with.
The six factors below suggest that any learner who really wants to can learn to pronounce English clearly
and comprehensibly. As the teacher, you can assist in the process by gearing your planned and
unplanned instruction toward these six factors.
1. Native Language
The native language is clearly the most influential factor affecting a learner's pronunciation. If the
teacher is familiar with the sound system of a learner's native language, (s)he will be better able to
diagnose student difficulties. Many LI to L2 carryovers can be overcome through a focused awareness
and effort on the learner's part.
2. Age
Children under the age of puberty generally stand an excellent chance of "sounding like a native" if they
have continued exposure in authentic contexts. Beyond the age of puberty, while adults will almost
surely maintain a "foreign accent," there is no particular advantage attributed to age. A fifty-year-old can
be as successful as an eighteen-year-old if all other factors are equal. The belief that "the younger, the
better" in learning a language is a myth.
3. Exposure
It is difficult to define exposure. One can actually live in a foreign country for some time but not take
advantage of being "with the people." Research seems to support the notion that the quality and
intensity of exposure are more important than mere length of time. If class time spent focusing on
pronunciation demands the full attention and interest of students, then they stand a good chance of
reaching their goals.
Often referred to as having an "ear" for language, some people manifests a phonetic coding ability that
others do not. In many cases, if a person has had exposure to a foreign language as a child, this "knack"
is present whether the early language is remembered or not. Others are simply more attuned to
phonetic discriminations. Some people would have you believe that you either have such a knack, or you
don't. Strategies-based instruction, however, has proven that some elements of learning are a matter of
an awareness of your own limitations combined with a conscious focus on doing something to
compensate for those limitations. Therefore' if pronunciation seems to be naturally difficult for some
students, they should not despair;' with some effort and concentration, they can improve their
competence.
Another influence is one's attitude toward speakers of the target language and the extent to which the
language ego identifies with those speakers. Learners need to be reminded of the importance
Some learners are not particularly concerned about their pronunciation, while others are. The extent to
which learners' intrinsic motivation propels them toward improvement will be perhaps the strongest
influence of all six of the factors in this list. If that motivation and concern are high, then the necessary
effort will be expended in pursuit of goals. As the teacher, you can help learners to perceive or develop
that motivation by showing, among other things, how clarity of speech is significant in shaping their self-
image and, ultimately, in reaching some of their higher goals.
Douglas Brown (2000) identified eight factors that can make speaking difficult.
1. Clustering
Fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word. Learners can organize their output both cognitively and
physically (in breath groups) through such clustering.
2. Redundancy
The speaker has an opportunity to make meaning clearer through the redundancy of language. Learners
can capitalize on this feature of spoken language.
3. Reduced forms
Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc., all form special problems in teaching spoken English.
Students who don't learn colloquial contractions can sometimes develop a stilted, bookish quality of
speaking that in turn stigmatize them.
4. Performance variables
One of the advantages of spoken language is that the process of thinking you speak allows you to
manifest a certain number of performance hesitations, pauses, backtracking, and corrections. Learners
can actually be taught how to pause and hesitate. For example, in English our 'thinking time" is not
silent; we insert certain "fillers" such as uh, urn, well, you know, I mean, like, etc. One of the most
salient differences between and nonnative speakers of a language is in their hesitation phenomena,
5. Colloquial language
Make sure your students are reasonably well acquainted with the words, idioms, and phrases of
colloquial language and those they get practice in producing these forms.
6. Rate of delivery
Another salient characteristic of fluency is rate of delivery. One of the language teacher's tasks in
teaching spoken English is to help learners achieve an acceptable speed along with other attributes of
fluency.
This is the most important characteristic of English pronunciation. The stress-timed rhythm of spoken
English and its intonation patterns convey important messages.
8. Interaction
Learning to produce waves of language in a vacuum—without interlocutors— would rob speaking skill of
its richest component: the creativity of conversational negotiation.
What is the role of the language teacher in the classroom? In the first place, like any other teacher, the
task of the language teacher is to create the best conditions for learning. In a sense, the teacher is a
means to an end: an instrument to see that learning takes place. But in addition to this general function,
a teacher plays specific roles in different stages of the learning process.
This is also known as the pre-activity phase of the lesson where the teacher introduces something new
to be learned. At this stage of a speaking lesson, the teacher's main task is to serve as a kind of
informant. As the teacher, you know the language; you select the new material to be learned and you
present this in such a way that the meaning of the new language is as clear and as memorable as
possible. The students listen and try to understand. Although they are probably saying very little at this
stage, except when invited to join in, they are by no means passive. Always be on guard against the
danger of spending too much time presenting so much so that the students do not get enough time to
practice the language themselves.
At the practice stage it is the students' turn to do most of the talking, while your main task is to devise
and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must at the same time be meaningful, authentic,
and memorable. This stage is also called the While (or Main) Activity or the Speaking Activity stage. Your
role then as teacher is radically different from that at the presentation. You do the minimum amount of
talking yourself. You are like the skillful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a
chance to participate and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory.
The Production Stage
It is a pity that language learning often stops short at the practice stage or does not go regularly beyond
it. Many teachers feel that they have done their job if they have presented the new material well and
have given their students adequate— though usually controlled—practice in it. No real learning should
be assumed to have taken place until the students are able to use the language for themselves;
provision to use language must be made part of the lesson. At any level of attainment, the students
need to be given regular and frequent opportunities to use language freely, even if they sometimes
make mistakes as a result. This is not to say that mistakes are unimportant, but rather that free
expression is more important, and it is a great mistake to deprive students of this opportunity.
It is through these opportunities to use language as they wish that the students become aware that they
have learned something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning. Thus in
providing the students with activities for free expression and in discreetly watching over them as they
carry them out, you, as teacher, take on the role of manager, guide, or adviser.
The framework of the picture word inductive model allows us to teach several aspects of literacy
simultaneously and to use multiple teaching and learning strategies. In this chapter, we look into the
conceptual and operational of the PWIM (which will be discussed below) and how it can be used to
organize language arts instruction, address the movement between inductive activities and explicit
instruction, and explain the emphasis on reading and writing informative prose.
Lessons taught using the picture word inductive model are dependent on and naturally blend
the nature of instruction, content, and the roles of the students and teachers. The PWIM uses an
integrated language arts approach to literacy: The teacher arranges instruction using the steps of the
model, which is set up so that students work on developing skills and abilities in reading, writing,
listening and comprehension as tools for thinking, learning, and sharing ideas. Learning how the written
language works and using this information to read and write are the curricular and instructional
emphases. In many ways, PWIM is a structured, approach to group language experiences, with
metacognitive activities on language works built into its sequence.
Using an integrated language arts approach to teaching and learning is not simply ideological,
but is an instructional tool that saves time and builds learning skills that will last a lifetime for students.
We need all modes of language and communication—listening, speaking, reading, writing, and all the
connections among them—at work to help students come into literacy rapidly and infinitely.
Multimodal activities, such as those within the PWIM, make instruction as productive as possible
while saving time. For example, teachers and students save time because the language arts concepts
addressed as Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening overlap in many curriculum documents. In
particular, consider the concept of the main idea, which may be listed under each heading:
Reading: Reads to determine main idea.
Writing: Writes with a clear subject and main idea.
Speaking: Addresses the major point clearly.
Listening: Listens to determine the main idea.
Working on these concepts simultaneously gives students more opportunities to master them at
higher levels of performance. For example, if the instruction in comprehending the main idea of an
informative piece and gaining conceptual control of how to figure out the main idea is followed by
instruction in writing an informative paragraph that clearly announces the main idea and topic to the
readers, the reading and writing connection eventually becomes visible to the students. Also, teachers
gain better control over the language arts curriculum and have less stress about trying to cover the
whole curriculum with independent lessons if they are able to present concepts simultaneously. And, if
students can come to see the conceptual connections across the modes and mechanics of language,
they can communicate far more skillfully and intentionally than most of us do—as readers, writers,
speakers, and listeners. Think, again, about the main idea example:
Students as Readers. If a student learns early and becomes increasingly skillful at gathering
information and determining the main idea from prose (author-based meaning), that student is
not only a good reader, but gains an advantage that is maintained throughout school and in
most jobs and professions. Furthermore, if the student comes to see the craft in the prose being
read— identifies the structure and content of the prose as the organization plus the ideas of
another person who is trying to clearly communicate a main idea or message—then sentences,
paragraphs, chapters, and books become exemplars or nonexemplars of writing with a clear
subject or main idea.
Students as Writers. If a student learns early and becomes increasingly skillful at gathering
information from current knowledge, observations, and external resources, organizing this
information, determining the main ideas to present to the readers in prose (author-based
meaning and intent), that student is not only a good writer of informative prose, but gains an
advantage that is maintained throughout school and in many jobs and professions.
Students as Speakers (participants in oral discourse). If a StUdent learns early and becomes
increasingly skillful at gathering information from current knowledge and from additional
resources, organizing this information, determining the main ideas to present to listeners
(speaker-based meaning and intent), that student is not only a good speaker, discussant,
conversationalist, but gains an advantage that is maintained throughout school and in most jobs
and professions.
Students as Listeners. If a student learns early and becomes increasingly skillful at gathering
formation and determining the main idea from oral presentations, lectures, discussions, and
conversations (speaker-based meaning), that student is not only a good listener, but gains an
advantage that is maintained throughout school and in most jobs and professions.
The Picture Word Inductive Model PWIM is an inquiry-oriented language arts strategy that uses
pictures containing familiar objects and actions to elicit words from children's listening and speaking
vocabularies. Teachers use the PWIM with classes, small groups, and individuals to lead them into
inquiring about words, adding words to their sight-reading and writing vocabularies, discovering
phonetic and structural principles, and using observation and analysis in their study of reading, writing,
comprehending, and composing.
The picture word inductive model can be used to teach phonics and spelling both inductively
and explicitly. However, the model is designed to capitalize on children's ability to think inductively. The
P WIM enables them to build generalizations that form the basis of structural and phonetic analysis. And
it respects their ability to think. Thus, a major principle of the model is that students have the capability
to make generalizations that can help them to master the conventions of language.
The instructional sequence of the model cycles and recycles through the following activities: The
students study a picture selected by the teacher; identify what they see in the picture for the teacher to
label; read and review the words generated; use the picture word chart to read their own sets of words;
classify words according to properties they can identify; and develop titles, sentences, d paragraphs
about their picture.
The basic steps of the PWIM stress these components of phonics, grammar, mechanics, and usage:
Students hear the words pronounced correctly many times and the picture word chart is an
immediate reference as they add these words to their sight vocabulary. The teacher can choose
to emphasize almost any sound and symbol relationship (introduced or taken to mastery).
Students hear and see letters identified and written correctly many times.
Students hear the words spelled correctly many times and participate in spelling them correctly.
In writing the sentences, the teacher uses standard English (transforming student sentences if
necessary) and uses correct punctuation and mechanics (e.g., commas, capital letters). As different
mechanical and grammatical devices are used, the teacher describes why the device is used. After
several lessons and experience with the teacher modelling the devices, the students learn how to use
them, too.
The knowledge and skills base required for teaching reading well is extensive. This outline of a proposed
curriculum for teacher education programs in reading covers knowledge of reading development,
language structure, and strategies for instruction and assessment.
The following is the proposed core curriculum for teacher candidates presented in Teaching Reading is
Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do, published by the
American Federation of Teachers. This curriculum can also serve as a roadmap for practicing teachers'
professional development experiences.
A. Phonetics
1. Classes of consonant and vowel speech sounds (phonemes) and the inventory of the phonemes
in English
2. Similarities and differences among groups of phonemes, by place and manner of articulation
3. Differences between the inventory of speech sounds (40-44) and the inventory of letters (26);
how letters are used to represent speech sounds
4. The basis for speech sound confusions that affect reading and spelling
B. Phonology
1. Components of phonological processing (articulation, pronunciation, phoneme awareness, word
memory, and word retrieval)
2. Phoneme awareness
a. Why it is difficult
b. How it supports learning an alphabetic writing system
c. How it develops
3. Dialect and other language differences
C. Morphology
1. Definition and identification of morphemes (the smallest units of meaning)
2. Grammatical endings (inflections) and prefixes, suffixes, and roots (derivational morphemes)
3. How English spelling represents morphemes
4. The network of word relationships
D. Orthography
1. Predictability and pattern in English spelling
2. Historical roots and layers of orthographic representation
3. Major spellings for each of the consonant and vowel phonemes of English
4. Spelling conventions for syllable types
5. Sequence of orthographic knowledge development
E. Semantics
1. Depth, breadth, and specificity in knowledge of meaning
2. Definition, connotation, denotation, semantic overlap
3. Idiomatic and figurative language
4. How new words are created
5. Ways of knowing a word: antonyms, synonyms, analogies, associative linkages, classes,
properties, and examples of concepts
D. Spelling
1. Match spelling instruction to students' developmental levels of word knowledge
2. Follow a scope and sequence based on language organization and how students learn it
3. Use multisensory techniques for sight word learning
4. Teach active discovery of generalizations, rules, and patterns
5. Practice spelling in writing and proofreading
E. Fluency
1. Use repeated readings, alternate and choral reading, and self-timing strategies to provide
practice
2. Identify reading materials for students' independent reading levels
3. Promote daily reading of varied text, in school and outside of school
F. Vocabulary development
1. Teach words together that are related in structure and/or meaning
2. Select and/or design word study for intermediate and high school students organized around
common morphological roots and derived word forms
3. Teach word meanings before, during, and after reading
4. Use context clues, semantic mapping and comparison, analogies, synonyms, antonyms, visual
imagery, and other associations to teach meaning
G. Reading comprehension
1. Model "think aloud" strategies during reading
2. Vary questions and ask open-ended questions that promote discussion
3. Emphasize key strategies including questioning, predicting, summarizing, clarifying, and
associating the unknown with what is known
4. Use graphic or three-dimensional modelling of text structure
5. Model and encourage flexible use of strategies, including self-monitoring
H. Composition
1. Create a community of authors in the classroom
2. Create frequent opportunities for writing meaningful assignments beyond journal writing
3. Directly teach handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar in systematic increments to
promote automatic transcription skills
4. Directly teach composition strategies through modeling and shared authorship
5. Guide children through the stages of the writing process; publish and display children's
completed work
Teaching how to write effectively is one of the most important life-long skills educators impart
to their students. When teaching writing, educators must be sure to select resources and support
materials that not only aid them in teaching how to write, but that will also be the most effective in
helping their students learn to write.
We often asked "What makes good writing?" or "What makes someone a good writer?"
Instructors wonder whether anyone can really be taught to write and why their students don't know
how to write by now. To begin to understand what makes writing, and writers, "good," we need to ask
the larger question "What is writing?"
It's easy to agree on the definition of writing if we limit it to something like "putting pen to
paper" or "typing ideas into a computer." But if we look more closely at the elements of the act of
writing, the definition comes to life. The following paragraphs might' prompt your thinking about how
writing happens for your students and for' you.
WRITING IS A RESPONSE.
We write because we are reacting to someone or something. While writing can feel like an
isolating, individual act—just you and the computer or pad of paper—it is really a social act, a way in
which we respond to the people and world around us. Writing happens in specific, often prescribed
contexts. We are not just writing—we are always writing to an audience(s) for some particular purpose.
When we write, we do so because we want, need, or have been required to create a fixed space for
someone to receive and react to our ideas. Understanding this social or rhetorical context—who our
readers may be, why they want to read our ideas, when and where they will be reading, how they might
view us as writers—governs some of the choices we make. The writing context requires writers to have
a sense of the reader's expectations and an awareness of conventions for a particular piece of writing.
The context of the piece further determines the appropriate tone, level of vocabulary, kind and
placement of evidence, genre, and sometimes even punctuation.
WRITING IS LINEAR.
In order to communicate effectively, we need to order our words and ideas on the page in ways
that make sense to a reader. We name this requirement in various ways: "grammar, logic," or "flow."
While we would all agree that organization is important, the process of lining up ideas is far from simple
and is not always recognized as "writing." We assume that if a person has ideas, putting them on the
page is a simple matter of recording them, when in fact the process is usually more complicated. As
we've all experienced, our ideas do not necessarily arise in a linear form. We may have a scattering of
related ideas, a hunch that something feels true, or some other sense that an idea is "right" before we
have worked out the details. It is often through the act of writing that we begin to create the logical
relationships that develop the idea into something that someone else may receive and perhaps find
interesting. The process of putting ideas into words and arranging them for a reader helps us to see,
create, and explore new connections. So not only does a writer need to "have" ideas, but the writer also
has to put them in linear form, to "write" them for a reader, in order for those ideas to be meaningful.
As a result, when we are writing, we often try to immediately fit our choices into linear structures (which
may or may not suit our habits of mind).
Writing is Recursive.
We value writing because it reveals the personal choices a writer has made and thereby reveals
something of her habits of mind, her ability to connect and shape ideas, and her ability to transform or
change us as readers. We take writing as evidence of a subject or subjective position. Especially in an
academic environment, we read written language as individual expression (whether or not multiple
voices have informed the one voice we privilege on the page), as a volley from one individual mind to
another That said, writing also serves as an object for us, a "piece" or a "paper" whose shape, size, and
function are determined by genre and conventions. While we don't think of writing as technology, it is
also that; it allows us to remove a person's ideas from the confines of her head and fix those ideas in
another place, a place where they will be evaluated according to standards, objectively. Here is where
our sense of what counts as "good" writing develops. We have created objective (although highly
contextualized) ideals for writing that include measures of appropriate voice, vocabulary, evidence, and
arrangement. so while writing is very personal or subjective, it creates an objective space, a place apart
from the individual, and we measure it against objective standards derived from the context. It creates
space both for the individual (the subject) and the idea (the object) to coexist so that we can both judge
the merits of the individual voicing the idea and contend with the idea on the page.
It may seem obvious, but in order to get something on the page, a writer chooses the words, the
order of the words in the sentence, the grouping of sentences into paragraphs, and the order of the
paragraphs within a piece. While there is an ordinariness about this—we make choices or decisions
almost unconsciously about many things all day long—with writing, as we have all experienced, such
decision-making can be a complex process, full of discovery, despair, determination, and deadlines.
Making decisions about words and ideas can be a messy, fascinating, perplexing experience that often
results in something mysterious, something the writer may not be sure "works" until she has auditioned
it for a real reader.
Writing is a Process.
Contending with the decision-making, linearity, social context, subjectivity, and objectivity that
constitute writing is a process that takes place over time and through language. When producing a piece
of writing for an audience, experienced writers use systems they have developed. Each writer has an
idiosyncratic combination of thinking, planning, drafting, and revising that, for him, means "writing"
something. No matter how an individual describes his process (e.g., "First I think about my idea then
dump thoughts onto the computer," or "l make an outline then work out topic sentences"), each person
(usually unconsciously) negotiates the series of choices required in his individual context and produces a
draft that begins to capture a representation of his ideas. For most people, this negotiation includes trial
and error (this word or that?), false starts (beginning with an example that later proves misleading),
contradictions (l can't say X because it may throw Y into question), sorting (how much do I need to say
about this?), doubt about how the idea will be received, and satisfaction when they think they have
cleared these hurdles successfully. For most people, this process happens through language. In other
words, we use words to discover what, how, and why we believe. Research supports the adage "I don't
know what I think until I read what I've said."
Altogether these elements make writing both an interesting and challenging act—one that is
rich, complex, and valuable. What else is writing for you? Think about what the definitions discussed
here miss and how you might complete the sentence "Writing is like..." From your experience as a
writer, what else about writing seems essential? How is that connected to what you value about the
process of and the final pieces that you produce?