Early reading success: The language factor Barbara Trudell, Ph.D. [email protected] SIL...
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Transcript of Early reading success: The language factor Barbara Trudell, Ph.D. [email protected] SIL...
Early reading success: The language factor
Barbara Trudell, [email protected]
SIL International, Africa Area
All Children Reading by 2015: From Assessment to Action
Washington, DCApril 12-14, 2010
Planning for language of instruction: what you need to know
• Mental development and language acquisition in the young child
• The role of the mother tongue in early school experience
• Learning a second language• Implications for planning mother-tongue
based BE or MLE
First language acquisition: A summary of research
• From around six months of age, babies make language-like sounds.
• The word ‘mama’ for ‘mother’ is found all over the world.• At about 18 months, babies discover that things have names.• Children then start to notice patterns in language.• By three and a half years of age, children talk freely.• Basic communication skills are learned first; after that,
language proficiency is built for conceptual information and abstract learning
When the child enters school…
Schooling is supposed to build on what the child has already begun to learn:– Vocabulary they
know– Their general ability
to communicate– Experiences they
have had
The first-year school child is not yet fully proficient in any language!
• The child is not a mature speaker of his/her mother tongue until around age 10.
• Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills vs. Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency
• Play-yard conversation does not require the same language ability that conceptual learning does.
A HUGE pedagogical mistake:Beginning school instruction in a second language
when the child does not yet have strong proficiency in his/her first language
“Cognitive hijacking”
The interruption in the process of a child’s cognitive development that happens when a language of instruction is used that the child does not speak.– Teacher’s oral input is not comprehensible
(directions, explanations, questions)– Their communication skills don’t work in class– The learning processes they know are now useless
Ensuring that the child understands what is taught
The teacher can do this by:– Giving instructions that relate to the students’ experience– Providing background knowledge– Using context or visual cues– Allowing students to express their own ideas on the topic
What language has to be used to ensure understanding?
A language that the child speaks.
Research on reading levels in English: Northwest Cameroon
0102030405060708090
100
Nonreading
Prereading
EarlyReading
FluentReading
Level of Proficiency
Grade 1Grade 2Grade 3
But using the MT is not enough!
Eritrea National Reading Survey (2005):
“How can mother tongue-based primary education reach its full potential?”
“Phonemic awareness” of L1 needs to be taught
– sounds and letters– blending sounds to
make meaningful words
– Identifying individual sounds and parts of words
Three goals of mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education
• Language development, in L1 and L2 (and L3)
• Academic development
• Sociocultural development
Language development of the child
L1 fluency– listening, speaking, reading and writing– Gains here will make L2 learning easier
L2 fluency– teach oral L2 first– use oral fluency to bridge to L2 reading and writing
L3 fluency- as for L2
Academic development
Academic skills that are learned well in L1 will transfer to L2 also: maths, reading skills, science
Sociocultural development
• The MT is based in the culture of the child.
• The child’s identity is based in the community which speaks the MT.
• MT-based education draws the community into the school experience.
Section 3. Learning a second language
• It takes 2-3 years to learn a new language well enough to use for everyday communication.
• It takes 5-7 years to learn a new language well enough to use it to learn abstract concepts.
Teach oral L2 before written L2
Research shows that oral proficiency in a language is crucial for developing reading proficiency in that language.
Develop children’s oral and written L1 Use L1 for teaching
Introduce oral L2Continue oral and written L1Use L1 for teaching
Bridge to written L2Continue oral and written L1 and oral L2Use both languages for teaching
Continue oral and written L1 and oral and written L2Use both languages for teaching
Some reading skills that transfer from L1 to L2
• Knowing that print carries meaning• Knowing that print is broken into words• Knowing that direction of print is important• Using context to guess unknown words• Knowing that letters represent sounds• Knowing that sounds can be blended together to
form words
Reading skills that have to be taught for each language
• The set of sounds used in the language• The sound-letter correspondences for the
language• The grammar and vocabulary of the language
Section 4. Implications for planning mother-tongue based BE/MLE
(ADEA 2010)
• The target languages• Policy setting and implementation• Teacher training• Curriculum development and materials
production• Evaluation
Target languages
• Which local language(s)?• Bilingual or multilingual education?• Development of the target languages so that
they can be used in school– Writing system– Literacy – Written materials
It doesn’t cost as much as you may think…
• Adds 1% – 5% to the education budget
• cost is recuperated over time
. . . and it is much less than the cost of school failure!
Teacher training and recruitment
• Initial and in-service training must be provided for BE/MLE teachers
• Recruitment must take into account BE/MLE competencies needed (including language fluency)
• All teacher training must address the issues of the multilingual classroom
Developing curriculum and materials (1)
A multilingual curriculum is not just the current curriculum, carried out in several languages!– The timetable prescribes
the use of the different languages
– Curriculum reflects the learner’s growing language proficiencies
– Content-area teaching takes language proficiency into account
Developing curriculum and materials (2)
Mother-tongue materials (including teachers’ guides) should be made for every subject to be taught in the mother tongue.
Summary• Learning the mother tongue and cognitive
development are linked in young children.• Using a language of instruction which the child
does not speak severely impedes learning.• Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual
education means better learning in the early grades, and greater success in second language learning as well.
• Mother-tongue based BE or MLE programs can be done!
Some resources• Teacher Training Manual for Multilingual Education (MLE
Network, 2009)• PRAESA materials (Project for Alternative Education in
South Africa) www.praesa.org• Child-Friendly Teaching Steps Toward Learning (Save the
Children UK, 2009) www.ineesite.org/uploads/documents/store/Steps_Towards_Learning_LR.pdf
• Breakthrough to Literacy program (Molteno Institute) www.molteno.co.za
• Policy Guidelines for the Integration of African Languages and Cultures into Education (ADEA 2010)
• Optimizing Learning and Education in Africa: The Language Factor (ADEA, UIL, GTZ, 2006)
Questions for working session on language of instruction
• If your country’s language policy does not permit the use of local languages in school, how could this be changed? If your country’s language policy is positive towards the use of local languages in school, what practical steps could be taken to ensure that MT-friendly language policy is actually implemented in the classrooms?
• Would bilingual or multilingual education be the best model, given the linguistic realities of your country?
Questions for working session on language of instruction
• How can you ensure that MT-based bilingual or multilingual education is given the attention and resources it needs?
• What are the implications of MT-based education for teacher recruitment and training in your country? What policies or processes will need to be changed or added? What are teachers’ attitudes towards using the MT in school?
• In which language communities would you plan to start BE or MLE, and why? Would you plan to cover all of the language communities in your country? If so, by when would they have BE or MLE programs?