Helping children to read in a second language

The analysis of the data suggested bilingual readers might make a statistically significant greater number of graphophonic

miscues than monolingual readers. With the older readers and also the group of less able readers, the analysis of the data for substitutions, the retelling of the story and the comprehen­ sion tests indicated that in a semantic interpretation of the text, the monolingual children were more successful than the bilingual readers. This was not evident among the more able readers. However, teaching needs to be orientated towards all children achieving their full potential and a situation cannot be acceptable where certain members of one ethnic group appear to be underperforming. The priority must be to see all children, whatever their ethnicity, reach their full potential on transference to secondary school and to make sure that they can cope with the literacy demands that will be placed upon them. In this chapter, some indication has already been given as to how this might be achieved. Some direct reading intervention, that would help with the extension of syntactical and semantical concepts would be appropriate. The following might usefully be incorporated into classroom teaching.

Cloze procedure

This is an exercise where missing words in a text have to be provided by the children. This is most useful when accompanied by oral discussion either between small groups of monolingual and bilingual children or between staff and children. When setting the exercise a word can be regularly omitted, for example every tenth word. Alternatively, if syntactical needs are identified, then either prepositions, conjunctions or other parts of speech can be omitted. As an exercise on its own it is negative. It needs to be accompanied by oral discussion, by an

examination of the text that precedes and succeeds the missing word and by reflection on the most suitable substitute. Cloze procedure teaches the reader to scan backwards and forwards for information. This is a skill that is difficult to teach but cloze passages can make a valuable contribution and make the experience enjoyable.

Prior discussion of the text

Children can be placed in a threatening situation when, after the reading of a story, they are required to answer questions. Attention may have strayed during the reading of the story and they may have been given no guidelines on which to focus. If, before reading, children are given an introduction to the text, some indication of what the story might be about and one or more questions on which to focus, then this can help with identifying the relevant facts. It helps to alleviate the threatening situation and assists with the differentiation of more important and less important information. Some prior discussion can also take place of words or concepts that have not been previously encountered or that might have more than one meaning. Indicating the meaning of prefixes and suffixes and pointing out the root of a word can help pupils to extend concepts both in reading and oral language.

Use of cassette players

Cassette players have the value of being simple enough for the children to use and can be a useful addition to teaching reading. Older bilingual children and parents can be involved in translating stories that can be taped in two languages. If

these cassettes are also accompanied by the text in two languages, they can help with the extension of concepts and can also be highly motivating. As such material is scarce, both the stories and cassettes may have to be prepared with bilingual parents, teachers and children working co-operatively together. Cassettes have the advantage that they can be played repeatedly. Repetition of the language on the cassette and also repetition of language structures within a story can help children to memorise chunks of language so that they become part of the children’s prior knowledge. They become part of the children's language routine and help them towards increased fluency.

Assessment of reading

This study has offered tentative advice to teachers about ways of helping bilingual pupils. An analysis of reading miscues might be used to assess both language and reading. Goodman

(1978) suggests that by using miscues in reading, teachers can identify the stage their pupils are at in acquiring English. Syntactic errors made in reading might be replicated in their use of oral language. If concepts have not been grasped, this might be revealed in unacceptable semantic substitutions, when they are reading. Progression in second language learning might therefore be monitored through the miscues made when reading. In the same way, reading progression might also be monitored by the analysis of miscues made when reading. Taylor and Hegarty (1985) criticised the suitability of tests for ethnic minority pupils; "An Asian pupil may lack the fluency in standard English required by a test, so that the test score will be more likely to reflect lack of linguistic than intellectual ability

and may be hampered by lack of experience of the kind of cultural knowledge required to answer test questions." An informal assessment of reading miscues might be used with children perhaps once or twice a year. The material the children are required to read needs to be at the readability level of each child. The analysis, especially of the substi­ tutions , should give some indication of semantic needs. The substitution miscues can also show if concepts have been understood. A retelling of the story, especially if there is some intervention by the teacher with open-ended questions, should indicate whether the story has been processed. Such an informal assessment may indicate areas where concepts need to be explained and expanded, and where further teaching is appropriate.