They the hand him …

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They the hand him …

Learning to read in a second language

Angela Hobsbaum

Early Childhood & Primary Education Institute of Education

[email protected]

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RR National Conference 260408 2

Aims of this workshop

• To examine the particular problems of EAL learners, becoming literate in English;

• To show how our research and our theoretical models account for this;

• To show how we can use our research understandings to improve our practice.

Nothing I say should be taken as justifying current policy for EAL learners.

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Child A

Suddenly the giant couldn’t and couldn’t and couldn’t _________________________________________

Text:

Suddenly the giant coughed and coughed and coughed

• How would you respond?

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Teacher: Can we say it like that?

[underspecified]

Child A: Cried.

Teacher: What do you do if you’re poorly?

Child A: Sneeze and sniff.

Teacher: Yes, and what else?

Child A: Cough.

Teacher: Now have another look at that sentence.

Child A: [reads correctly]

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Child B

They the hand him squeeze a giant squeeze ___________________________________

Text:

Then they heard him sneeze a giant sneeze

How would you respond?

Which of these pupils is likely to be an EAL

learner? Why do you think that?

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Do EAL learners have particular problems?

Or do they have the same problems

as other readers, but to a different

degree?

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There are common factors affecting reading proficiency in all readers:

•Language knowledge

(oral skills)

•Word recognition and decoding skills

(including phonological / phonemic awareness)

•Text reading strategies

(text features e.g.

directionality. Also comprehension monitoring)

•Prior knowledge of text-type, organisation and structure

•Experience of purpose of reading

So how are EAL learners different?

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Language knowledge

•We assume they are competent language users in L1 (

and it may be hard to check this

)

•Their L1 may have different phonology and syntax, and they are likely to have a much larger vocabulary in L1. Will this interfere?

•We often assume that conversational

competence indicates adequate knowledge of English. It doesn’t! (

Cummins: BICS 2 years;

CALP up to 7 years to achieve fluency.

)

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Can you read these aloud? (Are you allowed?)

frant stimp

findulance blash

flupping presk tringer dreet stippen drave

subar mongue facht

brower heringue trour

flough spought cleady spown

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The handicap of limited familiarity with English words

• If you see these letters at the start of a word, what is likely to follow?

k m r v y l q h j s b p th wh sh ng

• If you see

W

could you have

wa we wi wo wu ?

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The handicap of limited vocabulary

• Word associations

The doctor spoke to the n She said: Open your

• Compound words

flowerbed bedrock sea bed outside outdoor without outwith

• Morphological knowledge

Care careful carefully careless Fear fearful fearfully fearless

Awe awful awfully

Wonder wonderful wonderfully

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Text reading strategies

Q: How can you read something you don’t understand?

A: With difficulty; focussing on the

words; memorising the text; probably without pleasure.

Comprehension problems are much larger

than we may think.

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The Glombots

By 1740, Glombots were bardoodling fludgerlistically

throughout the scallerbars. Though some were oddlebug, the glotterest couldn’t read or write. Muchupper, being

peterguistic murds, they seemed unable plesterly to dunk the likely modalbags of their mastions. On the other hand,

despite their quite understit astulance for motropping violence, the glotterest wished to estocate only peaceful changes

through moldergustic tropartition and breadalbation. In 1742 the murds squinched the strink on one of the most flugelbar and antimoldergustic dinkums that history has ever seen.

1. What were the Glombots doing in 1740 and where were they concentrating their attentions?

2. How well were they succeeding? Were people right to give them an astulance for motropping violence?

3. Mention one thing all Glombots had in common and two ways in which some Glombots were different from others.

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Cultural unfamiliarity - Mind the gap!

• Jimmy …….. tea, because he was our guest.

1. washed the dishes after 2. was late for

3. got the best cake at 4. could not eat his

• The …. that led to the mountain was too steep to follow easily.

1. ladder

2. pavement 3. signpost 4. path

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Reading as a socio-cultural act

Ethnographic investigators have shown that different cultures have different views of the purpose and function of literacy.

Gregory (1993, 1996) has vivid descriptions of children from different backgrounds where the expectation is that the text must first be memorized, or that the proper way to learn to write is to make an accurate copy.

These views are very different from ours and we need to find ways to acknowledge and

address them, to prevent misunderstandings.

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How can we improve EAL learners’

knowledge of English?

• Focus on oral language, to build up a rich network of word meaning and associations

– Word games – Investigations – Word families – Word definitions

– Homonyms: homophones and homographs – Encourage them to make links with their L1

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What about writing?

At KS2, there are some differences between EAL pupils and EMT pupils:

1. EAL pupils made more errors in formulaic phrases

2. EAL pupils omitted significantly more prepositions, esp. those at levels 3 and 4

3. EAL pupils were less competent at using different genres

4. EAL pupils had less advanced subordination (while, until, after) 5. EAL pupils at Levels 3 and 4 wrote shorter clauses, with

less information about time, place, manner, purpose

6. No differences in spelling and punctuation between EAL and EMT.

Cameron & Besser, DfES 2004

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Implications?

• By the end of KS2, there are some features which are characteristic of EAL writers

• Writing is heavily influenced by reading – so wider reading will be beneficial

• Cameron & Besser suggest that EAL pupils need to have certain grammatical features pointed out; they don’t pick them up

• At all Key Stages, pupils with EAL have a

pattern of low achievement

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How can we enhance EAL children’s English oral language?

1. Conversations between children – relaxed.

2. Teacher’s input – be aware of it; plan it; control it.

3. Specialist vocabulary (e.g. science, history, etc) has to be deliberately taught.

4. Focus on words, morphemes, phrases, idioms, collocations, figurative language, homonyms, etc.

5. Make language study explicit – encourage links between L1 and English.

6. Read McWilliam, N (1998): What’s in a word?

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