Learning Vs. Acquisition Views

There is much debate about whether language is acquired or learned.  Teachers who hold the learning view believe that language should be taught directly.  The learning view mirrors more of a traditional classroom.  In reading, they identify words to get to the meaning of text.  Teachers will engage their students in oral drills and written exercise to teach students phonics, vocabulary, grammar, and high frequency words.  In the learning view, teachers will often correct students' errors to help them develop good habits from the start.  

In the acquisition view, teachers believe that language is acquired and the primary focus is on making meaning.  In the acquisition view students use background knowledge and cues from three cuing system (graphophonics, semantics, and syntax) to make sense of what they are reading.  Teachers who believe in this view will engage their students in extensive amounts of reading and writing and will teach them the strategies they need to construct meaning.



The students:
L-Look up words in the dictionary to write definitions
A-Make a Venn diagram to compare two stories
L-Practice sounding out words
L-Read in round-robin fashion
L-Correct peers when they make a mistake during reading
L/A-Identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound
L/A-Group cards with classmates' names by a criterion on such as first or last letter
A-Write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound
L-Ask the teacher how to spell any word they don't know
A-Read the language experience story they have created with the teacher
A-Work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences
L/A-Divide words into syllables
L-On a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound
L/A-Make alphabet books on different topics


The teacher:
 L-Preteaches vocabulary
A-Does a shared reading with a big book
L-Makes sure that students read only books that fit their level
L/A-Has students segment words into phonemes
L-Write words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words
L/A-Asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter
L-Uses decodable text
A-Sets aside time for SSR (sustained silent reading) each day
L-Teaches Latin and Greek roots
A-Has students meet in literature circles
L-Conducts phonics drills
L/A-Chooses predictable texts
A-Teaches students different comprehension strategies
A-Does a picture walk of a new book
L-Uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills

Children's Literature

Careful thought and consideration needs to be given when choosing literature for English Language Learners. ELL learners often face challenges decoding unfamiliar texts because of the setting, vocabulary, structure, or even cultural differences. If a child has limited background, it is likely to affect their comprehension of the story and can often lead to frustration.

The book, Cendrillon, is one book that I believe would cause frustration. This particular book is a Caribbean Cinderella story. This book would be difficult for an ELL student for several reasons. First of all, the book contains some difficult vocabulary (christening, hollow, gilded) all of which would need to be addressed before reading. Also the book takes place in the Carribean and contains not only English words, but traces of French as well, which could be difficult for students assuming their first language is not French. For example, blanchisseuse, agoutis, and granmaison. An average reader could possibly figure out the meaning of most of these words simply by using the context of the story; however, the use of context clues to infer meaning is not always successful with ELL students. I also have to wonder if the language structures of the story might be challenging. One part of the text reads, “Upon my soul, I promise this.” Beginning a sentence with upon is bound to cause trouble. An ELL student might bring some background knowledge of the Cinderella story; however, I believe this version contains too many cultural differences, of which most students will struggle with.

The second book I believe ELL students will have a difficult time with is Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. This book is difficult for several reasons. The first being that it is written in poetry form and therefore the structure alone might throw them off. In addition, it contains many metaphors. For example it reads, “The trees stood still as giant statues” and “The moon made his face into a silver mask.” These metaphors could be tricky for a second language student, especially if they do not have any background knowledge of how metaphors work.

Choosing the right book may be one of the most difficult, and most important parts of teaching ELL students. When evaluating books there are several things to consider:

• The length and complexity of the story.

• The amount of new or unfamiliar vocabulary.

• Whether or not the illustrations are supportive and can help the student make meaning of the text.

• The structure of the text.

• The student’s background knowledge they might bring to the text.

• Differences in culture, which may cause confusion or misconceptions.

Decoding Unfamiliar Text

This assignment was interesting to say the least. I found two short stories online written in Spanish at two different difficultly levels (I included the link below). I would like to say that neither one of them were difficult, but I would be lying. The truth is, the easy beginner text was just as much of a challenge to understand as the more advanced text. As I was trying to decipher them, I found myself becoming overwhelmed and frustrated. Even with my year of high school Spanish, I could only pick out a few words here and there. The texts did include a few pictures, which helped some, but I was unable to figure out how they fit within the context of the story, as they were non-fiction texts.

To help me gain some understanding, I did turn to an online translator. To me that was just as frustrating, because I honestly did not have the time to sit there and look up every single word. And then there were times when the translation would come back and not make any sense at all. It was at this moment, that I gave up, went to my sister-in-law, who is fluent in Spanish, and had her do the work for me. What took me hours, only took her a few minutes.

This activity was very enlightening. I was not a kid who ever struggled with reading and for the first time I was completely lost, overwhelmed, and frustrated. It’s easy to take that for granted and lose sight of how struggling students must feel when reading. 

Spanish Texts 

Relationship Between Oral Language and the Reading Process

Oral language plays an important factor in a child's ability to read.  Children begin to develop language from the day they are born.  They learn how to recognize and develop sounds, they learn how words are formed and how they are related to each other, and they learn how language conveys meaning.  These aspects of language development are what lay the foundation for learning to read.  When you really think about it, oral language is the first thing a child brings to the reading process.  It is their oral language that helps them construct meaning, which in turn helps the child in both decoding and comprehension.  If a student has a weak oral language, it can interfere with a child's ability to learn to read.  Therefore, it is essential that parents, caretakers, and teachers do everything they can to support language development from the very beginning.

Writing Instruction Reflection

As I reflect on the writing instruction I received when I was younger, I would definitely say it was geared more towards the Traditional Writing format.  I remember my elementary years were spent in a source book working on how to write sentences with a subject and predicate, the parts of speech, and how to properly punctuate sentences.  We also spent a significant amount of time on handwriting and spelling.  I remember my teachers would always give us a topic to write about and we would work on that piece of writing for a day or two, turn it in, and then a few days later our teacher would return it to us with corrections and we would spend time copying it over into a final copy.  I was never really exposed to creative writing or given the opportunity to craft a story of my own choice.  I feel that because of this, I am intimidated to write creatively.  I am much more comfortable writing when given a topic and a clear structure or format for how it should look and sound.

Now that I am a teacher myself, I find that I lean more towards Process Writing.  I believe that writing should be authentic and engaging for kids.  I believe that this is best done when students have choice and when writing is taught through mentor texts, modeling, and discussions with others about the craft of writing.  I believe this approach goes beyond just teaching and instead inspires students to be writers.

Teacher Interview-Philosophy of Teaching Literacy

I am lucky enough to get to work right alongside an amazing literacy specialist whose passion and philosophy has inspired me in my journey as a reading teacher.  Her philosophy has developed and grown over the years from the experience she has working with children and through current educators and researchers such as Katie Wood Ray, Ralph Fletcher, Lucy Calkins, Richard Allington, and Linda Dorn (just to name a few).  She strongly believes in the reciprocity between reading and writing and that literacy lays the foundation for a child's future.  She believes that children need to be actively involved in literacy activities.  If you walked into her classroom you would see children engaged in mentor texts, literacy centers, literature discussion groups, guided reading groups, independent reading, and authentic and engaging literacy activities with the teacher serving as a model.  She strongly believes that kids need to be immersed in literature and deep conversations in order to develop the life-long skills they need to be readers and writers.  One of her favorite quotes is that effective literacy instruction needs to be "insistent, consistent, and persistent."  I couldn't agree with her more!

As mentioned above, Linda Dorn's Comprehensive Literacy Model has had a great influence on literacy instruction at our school.  Here is a link to ULAR's Center for Literacy website if you are interested in more information.  Specifically, be sure to check out the teacher resource section!

Comprehensive Literacy Model