SC-ENG2/ Teaching English in The Elementary Grades Through Literature

SC- ENG2/ Teaching English in the Elementary Grades through Literature
This core module explores foundational concepts and issues in the study of
English language and linguistics in preparation for the specialized subject
pathways of the students to next year level. In particular, the module focuses on
the areas of phonetic/phonology, morphology and lexical semantics. Topics
covered include how the sounds of a language pattern and how they can be
described, how words enter the language and how they relate to one another and
carry meaning.
Fundamentals of Language: Grammar and Discourse

This core module explores foundational concepts and issues in the study of
English language and linguistics in preparation for the specialized subject
pathways the students will follow in next year level. In particular, the module
focuses on the areas of syntax, semantics (broadly conceived) and
discourse/pragmatics. Topics covered include how words can be classified
according to their grammatical properties, how they are related to each other in
sentences, and how speakers understand utterances in specific contexts of
interaction and make sense of each other’s communicative intentions.
Investigating Language
This module is designed to develop students' understanding of key issues in
research into the English language, with emphasis on the methodologies and
objectives of language-studies research. It will begin to develop their skills in
conducting and writing up their own research projects. Students will undertake
small-scale research projects in which they will collect data and analyse it,
according to descriptive frameworks that they are studying in this and the
companion modules.
Prose
This module aims to provide an introductory exploration of prose as a medium of
art and thought. Through encounters with specimens of prose from across recent
history, students will be brought into contact with the ways in which prose writing
has been theorized and understood. They will learn different critical approaches
to prose and become practiced in conceiving and producing academic prose of
their own. The module’s ten weeks are divided into a number of sections, each of
which focusses on one of the core texts. Within the sections, each week focuses
on a different critical theme, inviting students to familiarize themselves with a
range of different ways of reading, and writing about, literature. By the end of the
course, students will be familiar with a spectrum of critical theory as well as the
specific works in question; they will have encountered prose through various
lenses such as history and biography, gender and sexuality, race and politics.
Poetry
The key aim of the module will be to develop skills in close reading, informed by a
sampled knowledge of the historical and geographical varieties of verse written in
English. Each week’s work will be structured around a key text, or group of texts,
which will form the basis of that week’s lectures; in seminars, these key texts will
be related to, or contrasted with, a variety of extension texts, some suggested by
the module convenor in the form of ‘flat pack’ teaching plans, and others by the
seminar leaders’ own interests and enthusiasms. The key texts will be grouped by
three themes, each of which will form the basis of three weeks’ work: Love, Loss
and Location, allowing the students to shape arguments about change and variety
in English verse around an idea of shared attention to related topics. Detailed
attention to and development of the skills in close reading, and the conversations
between poems that these enable, will be the chief outcome (and pleasure) of the
module; its key technical and historical vocabulary will provided by a critical
course book such as John Lennard, The Poetry Handbook, 2nd edition (Oxford,
2005), and its primary texts will be drawn from a commercial anthology.
Reading English
This module supports students’ transition to university, and helps them to
develop basic skills in ways of reading and approaching literature, using the
library, research, working with criticism, planning and writing assessments of
different kinds (including close reading, essays, posters, presentations), and
making the most of lectures and seminars. Students will be encouraged to
understand the practices and principles of studying English literature, key
disciplinary debates, and the purposes and pleasures of reading. Exercises in
seminars will be tied to a particular literary work chosen from a short list selected
by the Department.
English in the World

This module encourages students to understand the role of English as it might be
applied in the world. Students will be encouraged to understand the ways in
which literature teaches us to understand ourselves and others, and our past,
present and future, and to recognize how telling stories makes meaning in the
world. They will learn the importance of being able to evaluate and rethink these
stories, and how reading and rereading literature is important for understanding
and making a difference in the world. Lectures and seminars will focus on topics
such as ‘Literature and Human Rights’, ‘Literature, Science & the Environment’,
‘Telling Stories: Communities, Nations and the World’, ‘Literature, Medicine &
Health’, ‘Everything to Everybody: Literature and Inclusive Heritage’, and ‘Reading
Social Media’.
Culture and collections
What Is Oral Language?
Understanding Its Components and Impact on Reading Instruction
like mathematics or science, reading is the only academic area in which we expect
children to arrive as kindergarteners with a basic skill level. Research has shown
that oral language—the foundations of which are developed by age four—has a
profound impact on children’s preparedness for kindergarten and on their success
throughout their academic career.
Oral language is often associated with vocabulary as the main component.
However, oral language is comprised of much more. In the broadest definition,
oral language consists of six areas: phonology, grammar, morphology, vocabulary,
discourse, and pragmatics. The acquisition of these skills often begins at a young
age, before students begin focusing on print-based concepts such as sound-
symbol correspondence and decoding. Because these skills are often developed
early in life, children with limited oral language ability are typically at a distinct
disadvantage by the time they enter kindergarten (Fielding et al., 2007).
Furthermore, Title I and English Learner students are often among the most at-
risk.
Let's take a deeper look at these six areas of oral language:
Phonology
Phonology covers the organization or system of sounds within a language. Once
the phonological system has been acquired for basic listening and speaking,
children begin to develop phonological awareness—the awareness of words in
sentences or syllables in words. Other aspects of phonological awareness include
rhyme, alliteration, onset rime (word families), blending, segmenting, and
manipulating sounds. At the most complex level is phonemic awareness
(blending, segmenting, and manipulating words at the individual sound—or
phoneme—level).
Vocabulary (Semantics)
The development of vocabulary focuses both on expressive and receptive
vocabulary. Expressive vocabulary represents the words a student actively uses
when talking, writing, or otherwise communicating. Receptive vocabulary
represents the words that a student understands—based on context and
background experiences—but may not necessarily use when speaking or writing.
A common misconception is the idea that vocabulary can be measured simply by
the sheer number of words an individual can understand and use, although this
actually pertains only to the breadth of vocabulary knowledge. To measure the
depth of vocabulary knowledge, a broader definition also includes a focus on such
areas as: multiple meanings of words (homonyms), shades of meaning, figurative
language, and relationships between words (synonym, antonyms, analogies).
Morphology
Sometimes considered to be a subset of syntax and sometimes considered as part
of vocabulary (semantics), morphology is focused on the smallest units of
meaning within a word, as well as the rules about how those words are formed.
For example, if we were to examine the word “cats,” a basic analysis would show
there are four phonemes: /k/, /a/, /t/, and /s/. However, the word only has two
morphemes (meaningful word parts): “Cat” is a feline animal, and “s” tells us that
there is more than one cat. Morphology can also include the study of structural
analysis—how words are joined together and build vocabulary by analyzing the
morphological structure of the word (prefix, root, and suffix)—which then helps
build upon the child’s foundation in vocabulary.
Grammar (Syntax)
As children develop their oral language skills, they also develop an understanding
of grammar—the set of structural rules that govern the combination of words and
phrases into sentences, as well as how sentences are combined into paragraphs.
Knowledge of these rules helps children understand the relationship among
words and apply vocabulary and abstract thinking to their comprehension of oral
language.
Pragmatics
Considered by some reading experts as the “hidden curriculum” in a classroom,
pragmatics requires the understanding of the social use of language. This includes
social norms regarding conversational turn-taking, personal space, and
appropriate behavior with peers and authority figures in a variety of common
social situations. In some classroom settings, students lacking background
experience—which can be attributable to cultural differences in some instances—
don’t understand group dynamics and expectations regarding behavior.
Understanding a variety of situations prepares students for more successful
comprehension at later stages, including both listening and reading.
Discourse
Oral and written communication, also known as discourse, is a critical skill. For
example, narrative storytelling follows a very specific format: Stories typically
have a beginning, middle, and end. They describe the main characters and the
setting in which they live, the conflict, and the resolution. An understanding of
story structure is essential in order to read, understand, and write narrative. In
contrast, consider the structure of expository, or informational text. These forms
of writing also follow certain structures, such as: persuasive, cause and effect,
compare and contrast, and procedural. It is critically important that students
understand these structures through listening comprehension before they even
begin to focus on reading comprehension. Before they can begin to write these
kinds of stories, they first need to be able to understand and tell stories in those
formats.
Children with a history of oral language impairment are more likely to present
with reading difficulties than their peers (general population). Some research
identified this increased likelihood to be as great as four to five times. The key to
instruction in oral language is assessing these skills (mentioned above) early on
and focusing instruction on building a foundation of these skills through listening
comprehension and oral expression. Building the foundation of oral language
skills can begin as soon as a child enters school.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What is your school or district doing to help students develop their critical oral
language skills? Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and let us
know your thoughts and experiences on this topic.
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Early/emergent literacy skills are vital precursors to literacy in later grades.
Children who have weaker emergent literacy skills in preschool and kindergarten
tend to continue to perform sub optimally relative to their peers in both reading
and writing in later grades (Duncan et al., 2007).
Background Knowledge
Background Knowledge is very important for reading comprehension.
Understanding text can often be very difficult without basic Background
Knowledge in the subject/topic because reading often requires students to make
inferences from the text. Without the appropriate foundational Background
Knowledge, this may be impossible in some circumstances (Neuman, Kaefer, &
Pinkham, 2014). Also, many words have multiple meanings and can be ambiguous
if the reader does not have the sufficient Background Knowledge to choose the
correct meaning (e.g. the word bank could refer to a financial institution or to the
edge of a river) (Neuman et al., 2014).
Moreover, Background Knowledge allows readers to understand figurative
language like metaphors and idioms. Figurative language is very common in texts,
and children who lack Background Knowledge have a more difficult time
understanding many texts. The reliance on Background Knowledge grows as
students progress through school, and they are required to build upon prior
knowledge to acquire new knowledge. Also, the comprehension of informational
texts requires students to have more Background Knowledge relative to
storybook texts, as informational texts typically use more complex Vocabulary
and require students to apply information from prior lessons (Price, Bradley, &
Smith, 2012).
See the section on Verbal Reasoning for information about appropriately using
Background Knowledge to make inferences about text.
Learner Factor Connections
Long-term Memory: The ability to hold information for a long period of time, and
possibly indefinitely
Long-term Memory is key for the storage and retrieval of Background Knowledge
when reading.
Motivation: The desire that guides behavior. Intrinsic Motivation is the inherent
desire to learn and accomplish goals, while extrinsic Motivation is the desire to
accomplish goals because of external rewards/recognition. Extrinsic Motivation
can vary in terms of relative autonomy, and Identified Regulation is the most
autonomous form with an internal perceived locus of causality. It involves
consciously valuing a goal or regulation and considering the behavior/action to be
personally important.
Research suggests that students who are internally Motivated (intrinsic or
identified Motivation) are better able to connect Background Knowledge with
text, which improves the understanding of the text. Also, the act of connecting
reading material with Background Knowledge increases Motivation.
Primary Language: The child’s language that they have been exposed to from
birth
When a child is reading a text at their reading skill level but not in their Primary
Language, possessing the appropriate Background Knowledge can enhance
reading comprehension.
Socioeconomic Status (SES): A combination of factors including education and
income of a family compared to other families.
Children with low-income backgrounds often have less Background Knowledge
than children raised in middle- and high-income households. This may be because
students gain Background Knowledge from books and educational materials, and
children from low-income backgrounds often have less access to these in their
homes and schools compared to children from middle- and high-income
backgrounds.
Verbal Reasoning: Required to fully understand a text’s meaning, making
inferences involves connecting and integrating information read within a text, and
global inferencing requires integrating Background Knowledge
Background Knowledge is required for forming global inferences.
Vocabulary: Includes both the lexical representations of stored sounds (word
forms) and the semantic meaning associated with each of those stored sounds
A large Vocabulary supports Background Knowledge because it allows readers to
form associations between words with similar meanings.
Morphemes can also be classified as:
 Free morpheme: A morpheme that can stand alone (e.g., “play”).
 Bound morphemes: A morpheme that must be attached to a free
morpheme, including two categories:
 Derivational morpheme: A prefix or suffix added to a word that changes the
grammatical category (e.g., adding “-er” to the verb “teach” forms the noun
“teacher“)
 Inflectional morpheme: A suffix added to a word to change the number,
tense, or possession (e.g., adding plural “-s” to form “dogs” or adding the
past tense “-ed” to form “walked“)
Morphology is important to a variety of literacy skills including reading
comprehension (Nagy et al., 2003), reading fluency, spelling, and word
identification (Green, 2009).
Morphological Awareness likely contributes to literacy in several ways, including
enabling readers/spellers to decode and produce longer words more accurately
(by recognizing the multiple components in a word: roots/prefixes/suffixes),
providing understanding of the writing system, helping children process language
analytically, and facilitating Vocabulary development (Nagy et al., 2003).
Test of Language Development – Intermediate (TOLD-I): Includes a Morphological
Comprehension subtest where the student is asked to distinguish between
grammatically correct and incorrect sentences. The TOLD-I can be administered to
8- to 17-year-olds.
Decoding: The ability to apply knowledge of relationships between letters and
speech sounds to properly recognize and pronounce words
Morphological Awareness contributes to Decoding skills by helping students
successfully decode morphologically complex words.
Hearing: The ability to hear sounds in the typical human range of approximately
20 – 20,000 Hz
Even mild-to-moderate hearing loss can impact the quality of speech signal a child
hears, which can impact Morphological Awareness. For example, children who
cannot hear the /s/ (a high frequency sound) in speech will have less exposure to
the morpheme “-s” which can change a word to plural (“dogs“) or possessive
(“dog’s”).
Home Literacy Environment (HLE): The environment the family provides to help a
child gain precursors of reading/spelling skills including access to reading
materials and exposure to reading/literacy concepts
The amount of time parents spend reading to their children is one important
predictor of Morphological Awareness. This is likely because language in books
often includes more complex morphemes and grammar than language used in
spoken conversations.
Phonological Awareness: The knowledge of and ability to manipulate and detect
sounds in words
Morphological Awareness includes an understanding of stress and phonological
changes that can occur, such as the difference in pronunciation between the root
word “sign” and “signature.”
Primary Language: The child’s language they have been exposed to from birth
Primary Language may impact Morphological Awareness because the types of
morphemes can vary between languages. Therefore, if a child is learning a new
language in school that uses different types of morphemes than their Primary
Language, they may have less Morphological Awareness in their new language.
Also, if similar morphemes are used in a child’s Primary and secondary Language,
Morphological Awareness skills can transfer from a child’s Primary to secondary
Language.
Syntax: Understanding the rules and principles that govern the structure and
word order of sentences
Morphological Awareness is very closely related to Syntax because many
morphemes carry Syntactic meaning. For example, it is necessary to add the
morpheme “-ed” to a verb in a sentence using past tense (e.g., “The man walked
to the store yesterday.”).
Morphological Awareness is essential for Vocabulary because it allows students to
infer meanings of new words (e.g., knowledge of the morpheme “un-” would
allow a student to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words such as “unbelievable”
or “unhappy”).
Narrative Skills
Telling stories requires children to properly form sentences (use Syntax), use
Vocabulary, and organize sentences in a meaningful way (Vandewalle et al.,
2012). Thus, Narrative Skills are complex and depend upon the development of
oral language skills such as grammar and Vocabulary. Narrative Skills rely both on
elements of macrostructure (e.g., story organization) and microstructure (e.g.,
syntactic and semantic elements). Macrostructure can be analyzed by examining
whether the narrative included important story grammar units such as a setting,
main character(s), an initiating event, internal response, internal plan, attempts,
outcome, and reaction of the character(s). By the age of 5 or 6, typically
developing children are able to organize a narrative in a cohesive manner with
goals and plans (Nelson, 1996).
Assessments
Let’s Tell Stories PreLAS (Duncan & DeAvila, 1998): Assesses oral Narrative Skills in
preschoolers by the interviewer telling children a story using a picture book and
asking the children to retell the stories using the pictures as prompts. The quality
of the story the child retells is rated on grammar, level of detail, whether the
thoughts/sentences were well connected), and coherence/fluency of sentences.
This allows investigators to score the macrostructure and microstructure of the
children’s stories.
Story Generation Tasks: Children use wordless picture books or sequencing cards
to tell the examiner a story (e.g., Frog Where Are You?, Mayer, 1969).
Macrostructure and microstructure of narrative elements can then be assessed.
A strong HLE enhances the development of strong Narrative Skills. Using dialogic
reading techniques, where the adult reads to the child and engages them by
asking open-ended questions throughout the story improves Narrative Skills.
Socioeconomic Status (SES):A combination of factors including education and
income of a family compared to other families
Children with low-income backgrounds often have weaker Narrative Skills than
their peers from middle- and high-income backgrounds. Although, this can be
changed by enhancing the HLE (see above).
Syntax: Understanding the rules and principles that govern the structure and
word order of sentences
The development of Narrative Skills rely on knowledge of Syntax.
A strong Vocabulary is essential for the development of good Narrative Skills.
Narrative Skills at the age of 5 are a significant predictor of reading
comprehension ability at the age of 8 (Griffin et al., 2004).
Gardner-Neblett and Iruka (2015) examined language skills at age 2 to determine
how they were related to oral Narrative Skills at age 4 and emergent literacy skills
at age 5. They found that oral language skills (e.g., Vocabulary, Syntax, word
combinations, morphology, and communication complexity) at age 2 were a
significant predictor of oral narrative skills at age 4 and that oral narrative skills at
age 4 were a significant predictor of emergent literacy skills [e.g., Alphabet
Knowledge, word recognition (part of Sight Recognition), print conventions (part
of Print Awareness), Phonological Awareness] at age 5.
Children with specific language impairment (SLI) also have weaker oral Narrative
Skills than their peers without language impairment. Often their stories include
fewer cohesive ties (Paul et al., 1996), less complex sentence structures (part of
Syntax) (Manhardt & Rescorla, 2002), less complex Vocabulary (Kit-Sum To et al.,
2002), and more morphological errors (Norbury & Bishop, 2003).
Soodla and Kikas (2010) examined Narrative Skills in a group of 6- to 8-year-olds
with and without SLI. While there was no difference between groups in structural
story components (e.g., setting, initiating event, internal response), the group of
children with SLI included significantly less story information units, which is the
amount of relevant information included in their narratives.
Vandewalle and colleagues (2012) researched three groups of children: (1)
children with SLI and literacy delay, (2) children with SLI and no delay in literacy,
and (3) a control group. They followed the children from kindergarten to the
beginning of 3rd grade. All children with SLI received language therapy beginning
in kindergarten. Overall, the children with SLI and unimpaired literacy skills
experienced difficulty relative to the control group on story retelling tasks, though
they produced more coherent and complex personal narratives. Children with SLI
and a literacy delay performed consistently worse on measures of oral language
and Narrative Skills, and they were the only group to develop impairments in
reading comprehension by the 3rd grade. Children with SLI and no literacy delay
did not have difficulties with reading comprehension in 3rd grade, even though
they did have oral language deficits at this age relative to the control group.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological Awareness is the knowledge of and ability to manipulate and detect
sounds in words. This includes understanding whether two words begin with the
same or different sounds, understanding whether words rhyme or not, and
understanding how sounds can be manipulated to create new words. Phonemic
awareness is part of Phonological Awareness. Specifically, phonemic awareness is
the ability to manipulate phonemes (e.g., speech sounds like /p/ or /b/), which
are the smallest units of sounds in language.
Assessments of Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness subtest of the Test of Preschool Emergent Literacy
(TOPEL) (Lonigan et al., 2007): Standardized measure
Rhyming Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDI): Measures rhyme
identification skills
The Phonological Awareness Test 2 (PAT 2) (Robertson & Salter, 2007): Measures
all aspects of Phonological Awareness, including rhyming and the ability to detect
and manipulate phonemes
Alphabet Knowledge: Familiarity with letter names, forms, and corresponding
sounds
Alphabet Knowledge is predictive of Phonological Awareness skills such as
rhyming and blending phonemes.
Auditory Processing: The process of detecting sound and interpreting it as
meaningful input
Auditory Processing is necessary for speech perception and therefore essential for
developing Phonological Awareness.
Decoding: The ability to apply knowledge of relationships between letters and
speech sounds to properly recognize and pronounce words
Decoding is dependent on early literacy skills, including Phonological Awareness.
Hearing: The ability to hear sounds in the typical human range of approximately
20 – 20,000 Hz
Hearing loss can impact the ability to distinguish between different speech
sounds. This can result in reduced Phonological Awareness and reduced
production of certain speech sounds when speaking.
A strong HLE can aid in the development of Phonological Awareness skills.
Morphological Awareness: Sensitivity to linguistic units including root words,
prefixes, suffixes, intonations, and stress, which all convey meaning
Morphological Awareness includes understanding stress and phonological
changes that occur, such as the difference in pronunciation between “sign” and
“signature.”
Print Awareness: Understanding the forms, functions, and conventions of print
Phonological Awareness is important in the development of Print Awareness.
Students with better Phonological Awareness outperform their peers in Print
Awareness.
Short-term Memory: The ability to hold information for a short period of time
Deficits in verbal Short-term Memory may result from poor Phonological
Awareness.
Social Supports: The perception of the support network, including parents,
friends, and teachers, that is available to help if needed
Students with better peer relationships also tend to have better Phonological
Awareness skills. This is possibly because positive peer relationships contribute to
a student’s engagement in the classroom, which in turn supports learning.
Another possibility is peer relationships partially depend on language skills, such
as Phonological Awareness. Thus stronger language skills contribute to forming
stronger peer relationships.
Growth of receptive and expressive vocabulary is related to the development of
Phonological Awareness skills.
Research Findings
Phonological Awareness is a significant predictor of reading development, and
providing instruction in Phonological Awareness significantly improves early
reading abilities (National Reading Panel, 2000).
The size of a child’s Vocabulary may impact the emergence of Phonological
Awareness skills (Goswami, 2001).
In a study of 3- to 4-year-olds from low-income homes (part of SES factor), both
Phonological Awareness and Vocabulary played significant roles in predicting Print
Awareness (Dickinson et al., 2003).
Phonological Awareness abilities in younger children are highly predictive of
children’s later ability to read (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002).
Overall preschool and early school-age children from low-income households and
children whose parents have less education possess weaker Phonological
Awareness skills compared to peers from high SES households (Lonigan, 2004;
Lundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012). Weaker Phonological Awareness skills result in
significantly lower achievement in early word reading in students from low SES
homes relative to those from high SES homes (Goswami, 2001; Bowey, 1995).
Many researchers agree that instruction in Phonological Awareness and emergent
literacy is vital for preschool children from low SES households (Ehri et al., 2001;
Locke, Ginsborg, & Peers, 2002; McDowell, Lonigan, & Goldstein, 2007). A
recommended evidence-based approach is to assess Phonological Awareness
abilities in all students and create small groups of students with similar abilities so
instruction can be provided at the appropriate level (Phillips, Clancy-Menchetti,
Lonigan, 2008; Kruse et al., 2015).
Instruction at the small group or individual level is effective in training
Phonological Awareness (Rashotte, MacPhee, & Torgesen, 2001; Kruse et al.,
2015).
Alphabet Knowledge is tied to the development of Phonological Awareness
(Lerner & Lonigan, 2016), such that Alphabet Knowledge is predictive of growth in
rhyme, blending (combining individual phonemes to form a word), and elision
(being able to delete certain phonemes from a word properly, such as asking a
child to say the word keyboard without saying key (the correct answer is board).
Boets and colleagues (2008) examined Auditory Processing, Visual Processing,
Phonological Awareness, and reading skills in a group of 62 5-year-olds. They
found that dynamic Auditory Processing was related to speech perception skills,
and that speech perception skills were a predictor of Phonological Awareness
skills. There was also a direct link between Auditory Processing skills and
Phonological Awareness, suggesting that the relationship between Auditory
Processing and Phonological Awareness is only partially mediated by speech
perception skills. Phonological Awareness skills were directly related to early
literacy skills. Overall, these results suggest that Phonological Awareness deficits
are likely preceded by deficits in Auditory Processing.
Decoding is an essential aspect of reading and refers to the ability to read words
by applying knowledge of relationships between letters and speech sounds to
properly pronounce words. This also includes knowledge of letter patterns. The
ability to decode is dependent on early literacy skills, such as Phonological
Awareness and Alphabet Knowledge (Ehri et al., 2001).
Active Home Literacy Environment variables (e.g., reading to a child) are more
closely associated with Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary development and
early reading than passive Home Literacy Environment variables (e.g., seeing a
parent read). Additionally, evidence shows that the Home Literacy Environment
directly influences Phonological Awareness skills measured at the beginning of
kindergarten (Niklas & Schneider, 2013).
Syntax
Syntax refers to the rules and principles that govern the structure and word order
of sentences in language. Syntactic development progresses through several
stages beginning at the one-word and progressing to the point where children can
form more complex sentences, such as those with embedded clauses, passivation,
and wh- questions. Both expressive and receptive Syntax can be measured.

Home Literacy Environment: The environment the family provides to help a child
gain precursors of reading/spelling skills including access to reading materials and
exposure to reading/literacy concepts
Parent literacy and the amount of time spent engaging in shared reading with
their children are correlated with Syntax comprehension in children.
Morphological Awareness: Sensitivity to linguistic units including root words,
prefixes, suffixes, intonations, and stress, which all convey meaning
Syntax is very closely related to Morphological Awareness (the term
Morphosyntax is often used when discussing their combined properties) because
many morphemes carry Syntactic meaning. For example, the suffix “-ed” is
important to add to a verb in a sentence using past-tense (e.g., The man walked
to the store yesterday.).
Narrative Skills: The ability to tell stories requires the development and use of a
complex set of skills, including properly forming and organizing sentences,
understanding and using Vocabulary, and organizing the elements of a story (e.g.,
setting, main characters, etc.) in a logical manner
The development of Narrative Skills rely on knowledge of Syntax.
Socioeconomic Status (SES): A combination of factors including education and
income of a family compared to other families
Children raised in low SES homes tend to be exposed to less complex Syntax due
to less interactions with their parents, who may need to work several jobs thus
spend less time speaking with and reading to their children. Also, parent literacy
skills influence their children’s literacy, possibly because parents who read more
produce more complex Syntax in interactions with their children. Less exposure to
complex Syntax negatively impacts Syntactic development.
Verbal Reasoning: Required to fully understand a text’s meaning, through
comprehending figurative language such as metaphors and idioms, and making
inferences. Making inferences involves connecting and integrating information
read within a text, and global inferencing requires integrating Background
Knowledge.
Syntactic skills help children use story context to understand figurative language
like idioms and metaphors.
Working Memory: The type of memory that allows a person to temporarily hold
and manipulate information for use in many complex cognitive processes
Working Memory contributes to Syntax development through the phonological
loop, which processes spoken and written information through temporary storage
and repetition.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal Reasoning refers to the ability to comprehend and analyze concepts
expressed through words. Understanding figurative language and inferences are
important aspects of Verbal Reasoning.
In figurative language, the literal meaning of the text is different from the
intended meaning. Figurative language is typically more difficult to comprehend
than literal language and requires Verbal Reasoning to fully understand the
writer’s intended meaning. It is a skill that begins to emerge in the
prekindergarten to 3rd grade age group and continues to develop into adulthood.
Verbal Reasoning is important for making inferences to more thoroughly

understand text and for understanding figurative language like idioms and
metaphors. In order to appropriately apply Background Knowledge to aid reading
comprehension (see Background Knowledge section), students must use Verbal
Reasoning to form inferences. Most text requires the reader to make inferences
based on their Background Knowledge, which helps them use contextual cues to
infer the full meaning. Inference making can break down when the reader lacks
the applicable Background Knowledge (Hirsch, 2003), has incorrect Background
Knowledge leading to incorrect inferences (Kendeou & van den Broek, 2007), or
possesses the appropriate Background Knowledge but does not use it in a suitable
manner to form inferences. There are different types of inferences including local
and global inferences. Local inferences require the reader to connect and
integrate information within the text (e.g., understanding the relationship
between ideas across several sentences), and global inferences typically require
the reader to draw on information and Background Knowledge that is external
from the text (Cain & Oakhill, 1999; Currie & Cain, 2015).
Vocabulary
Vocabulary knowledge involves both the lexical representation of the stored
sound patterns (phonology) of words, as well as the semantic representations of
word meanings (Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 1999). Thus, a distinction can be made
between the number of lexical entries in a child’s Vocabulary (Vocabulary
breadth) and the richness and extent of the semantic representations (Vocabulary
depth). A distinction can also be made between receptive and productive
Vocabulary, where receptive Vocabulary refers to words that are understood by
the listener and productive Vocabulary refers to words that can be appropriately
produced in context by the speaker. Typically, Vocabulary growth is relatively
slow until a child has 50-100 productive Vocabulary words, usually at the end of
the 2nd year of life. At this point, it is common to see a sudden jump in
development (“vocabulary spurt”) where children add 10-20 new words per
week.
Classroom Activities
Young girl standing in front of chalkboard holding a block with the letter “M”
Home Teacher Resources Classroom Activities
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Developing Vocabulary and Spelling skills
Spelling is a fundamental skill that every child needs to learn in order to
successfully write the English language. As teachers, it is our goal to instill these
skills in our students so they will develop phonemic awareness and be able to
accurately represent our written language. Here are a few tips and activities for
students to strengthen their spelling skills.
Develop Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is when a child is able to recognize and distinguish the
sounds in words and then translate these sounds into print. When a student can
do this they will have a much easier time learning to spell and read. The perfect
activity that will help develop phonemic awareness is to teach rhyming. Any Dr.
Seuss book or Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino are great stories to
reinforce rhyming patterns. As you read, point out rhymes and periodically stop
and have students try to guess what word is coming next in the rhyme. This will
help students develop their phonemic awareness skills which will in turn help
them learn to spell.
Learn Spelling Patterns
It’s important for students to learn and practice common spelling patterns. Once
students learn these patterns, it will help them achieve spelling success. Explore
patterns together by rereading a familiar book and asking students to look for the
spelling pattern in the story. There are a million different activities that will help
students recognize spelling patterns, one being spelling bingo. Teachers can
create a bingo board that focuses on word families (map, cap, tap, nap). Here are
a five more activities to help students learn spelling patterns.
Play word sort. Discuss the spelling pattern of the week and have students cut out
words and sort them.
Put up a Boggle board. Each week create a Boggle board that reflects the spelling
pattern for that week. The students’ task is to create as many words as they can
with the letters on the board.
Use a plastic egg. Take a plastic Easter egg and on the left half of the egg write a
few letters, and on the other half of the egg write the ending of the word. For
example, the left half would be the letters, t,s,p, then the right half would be the
ending of the word in. So the students would be able to the turn the egg and see
the pattern tin, sin, pin, etc.
Go on a word hunt. Have students search through familiar books to look for a
particular pattern. For example, after reading the words make, take, ate, discuss
the spelling pattern a_e. The students’ task is to search their text for this specific
pattern.
Create an analogy book. If students know that the –at sound is in the word cat,
then they can spell and read mat, fat, bat, etc. Have students create their own
analogy books each time they learn a new spelling pattern. Then they can use
these books as a reference when reading or spelling unknown words.
Practice Spelling Words
The most effective way for students to develop spelling skills is to have students
practice their spelling words. Each week have students write their spelling words
at least five times each. Repeatedly writing these words help students build
knowledge, enhance learning, and develop their spelling skills. A fun way to help
students practice their weekly spelling lists is by having them visit Vocabulary
Spelling City. Students can go to this site or app and practice their words by taking
practice tests and playing a variety of spelling games. Here are a few more
activities to help students practice their spelling words.
Spelling stairs. Have students write their spelling word one letter at a time like the
example below.
S
Si
Sig
Sigh
Sight
Roll the dice. Have students write their spelling word once in pencil. Then they
must roll a die to determine how many times they must trace the word with a
different colored crayon.
Create a story. Students must use all of their spelling words to create a story.
Spelling scramble. Students must correctly unscramble all of their spelling words.
Newspaper spelling. Each week as part of their spelling practice, students must
search a newspaper and highlight each spelling word they find.
The most efficient way for students to develop their spelling skills is to practice,
practice, practice! Repetition is the key to achieving spelling accuracy.
#PhonemicAwareness, #Spelling
5 Surefire Strategies for Developing Reading Fluency

Model Fluent Reading. In order to read fluently, students must first hear and
understand what fluent reading sounds like. ...
Do Repeated Readings in Class. ...
Promote Phrased Reading in Class. ...
Enlist Tutors to Help Out. ...
Try a Reader's Theater in Class. ...
Poetry Books for Repeated and Phrased Readings. ...
Books for Reader's Theater.
5 Surefire Strategies for Developing Reading Fluency
By Lisa Blau
Give students the practice to read with ease and confidence, and watch accuracy
and understanding soar.
Grades
1–2, 3–5
FROM
Have you ever watched students struggle with what you know to be a great book,
just perfect for their age and development? Without fluency, the world of
imagination, humor, and drama contained in the finest books is no more than a
tangle of words.
One definition of fluency is the ability to read aloud expressively and with
understanding. When fluent readers read aloud, the text flows as if strung
together like pearls on a necklace, rather than sounding halting and choppy.
Here are some strategies to help second through fifth graders make important
gains in this area. Before you use these techniques, however, you should assess
your students and determine their needs. If several students need help, you may
want to create whole-class lessons based on choral reading or reader's theater. If
there are only a few students, you may decide to work with them in small groups.
Developing Reading Fluency:
1. Model Fluent Reading
In order to read fluently, students must first hear and understand what fluent
reading sounds like. From there, they will be more likely to transfer those
experiences into their own reading. The most powerful way for you to help your
students is to read aloud to them, often and with great expression. Choose
selections carefully. Expose them to a wide variety of genres including poetry,
excerpts from speeches, and folk and fairy tales with rich, lyrical language — texts
that will spark your students' interests and draw them into the reading
experience.
Following a read-aloud session, ask your students: "After listening to how I read,
can you tell me what I did that is like what good readers do?" Encourage students
to share their thoughts. Also, ask your students to think about how a fluent
reader keeps the listener engaged.
2. Do Repeated Readings in Class
In their landmark book, Classrooms That Work, Patricia Cunningham and Richard
Allington stress the importance (and I agree) of repeated readings as a way to
help students recognize high-frequency words more easily, thereby strengthening
their ease of reading. Having students practice reading by rereading short
passages aloud is one of the best ways I know of to promote fluency.
For example, choose a short poem to begin with, preferably one that fits into your
current unit of study, and transpose it onto an overhead transparency. Make a
copy of the poem for each student. Read the poem aloud several times while your
students listen and follow along. Take a moment to discuss your reading
behaviors such as phrasing (i.e. the ability to read several words together in one
breath), rate (the speed at which we read), and intonation (the emphasis we give
to particular words or phrases).
Next, ask your students to engage in an "echo reading," in which you read a line
and all the students repeat the line back to you. Following the echo reading, have
students read the entire poem together as a "choral read." You will find that
doing group readings like these can be effective strategies for promoting fluency
because all students are actively engaged. As such, they may be less apprehensive
about making a mistake because they are part of a community of readers, rather
than standing alone.
3. Promote Phrased Reading in Class
Fluency involves reading phrases seamlessly, as opposed to word by word. To
help students read phrases better, begin with a terrific poem. Two of my students'
favorites are "Something Told the Wild Geese" by Rachel Field, and "Noodles" by
Janet Wong. (See resources below.)
After selecting a poem, write its lines onto sentence strips, which serve as cue
cards, to show students how good readers cluster portions of text rather than
saying each word separately. Hold up strips one at a time and have students read
the phrases together. Reinforce phrased reading by using the same poem in
guided reading and pointing to passages you read as a class.
4. Enlist Tutors to Help Out
Provide support for your nonfluent readers by asking tutors — instructional aides,
parent volunteers, or older students — to help. The tutor and the student can
read a preselected text aloud simultaneously. By offering positive feedback when
the reader reads well, and by rereading passages when he or she struggles, the
tutor provides a helpful kind of one-on-one support. The sessions can be short —
15 minutes at most. Plus, if you provide tutors with the text that you plan to use
in an upcoming group lesson, you can give your nonfluent readers a jump start
prior to the next lesson.
5. Try a Reader's Theater in Class
Because reader's theater is an oral performance of a script, it is one of the best
ways to promote fluency. In the exercise, meaning is conveyed through
expression and intonation. The focus thus becomes interpreting the script rather
than memorizing it.
Getting started is easy. Simply give each student a copy of the script, and read it
aloud as you would any other piece of literature. (See script resources below.)
After your read-aloud, do an echo read and a choral read of the script to involve
the entire class. Once the class has had enough practice, choose students to read
the various parts. Put together a few simple props and costumes, and invite other
classes to attend the performance.
For the presentation, have readers stand, or sit on stools, in front of the room and
face the audience. Position them in order of each character's importance.
Encourage students to make eye contact with the audience and one another
before they read. Once they start, they should hold their scripts at chest level to
avoid hiding their faces, and look out at the audience periodically.
After the performance, have students state their names and the part that they
read. You might also want to videotape the performance so that you can review it
with students later. In doing so, you will show them that they are, indeed, fluent
readers.
Poetry Books for Repeated and Phrased Readings
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, selected by Jack Prelutsky
Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk
de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary M. White, and Jan Carr
Treasure Chest of Poetry, by Bill Martin, Jr., with John Archambault and Peggy
Brogan
The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury, selected by Jack Prelutsky
Books for Reader's Theater
A Reader's Theatre Treasury of Stories, by Win Braun
Presenting Reader's Theatre, by Caroline Feller Bauer
Reader's Theatre for Beginning Readers, by Suzanne I. Barchers
The Best of Reader's Theatre, Vols. I and II, by Lisa Blau
DEVELOPING COMPOSING SKILLS
Developing Writing Skills - The Process Approach
Writing
• Writing can be thought of as thinking made visible.
• A process which involves several identifiable steps.
• Writing is a complex cognitive behavior and a nonlinear process of discovery
Writing Process
• Writing process refers to a broad range of strategies that include pre-writing
activities, such as defining audience, using a variety of resources, planning the
writing, as well as drafting and revising. These activities, collectively referred to as
process- oriented instruction, approach writing as problem-solving.
Writing
• emphasis on end product
• Individual • one draft • Structure as the starting point Product Approach
• emphasis on creative process • Collaborative • more than one draft • ideas as
starting point Process Approach
The Writing Process :
1. Prewriting
2. Drafting
3. Reviewing
4. Editing
5. Proofreading
6. Sharing
Prewriting
• Topic – Narrow your topic down to a specific angle. – Research and analyze
information sources.
• Audience
• My students / colleagues / parents / any other?
• Do they have any background knowledge of my topic?
Prewriting
• Purpose
• To provide information?
• To persuade?
• To find out information?
• To tell a story?
• Format
• Am I writing a letter, creating a book or PowerPoint, an essay
• What graphic organizer will I use?
Prewriting
• Brainstorm ideas on a piece of paper using mind-mapping.
• Organize your preliminary arguments into an outline following a logical order
that would suit the general essay structure of opening, body, and ending.
• Put ideas in sub-groups that will later develop into paragraphs.
Drafting
• Focus on content and structure only and forget about language and mechanical
aspects such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Write freely and try to find the best way to communicate your ideas.
Drafting
• Remember the Structure of your writing: – The opening paragraph
(introduction)
• Presents the text’s topic.
• Begins with a challenging question, a quotation, an illustrative story, a
description or present interesting facts. – The body (discussion)
• Presents one idea per paragraph
• Begins with a topic sentence
• Provides enough examples, explanations, facts, opinions, and quotes.
• Uses connecting words (conjunctions and discourse markers) – The ending
(conclusion)
• Presents summative remarks and repeat the text’s key idea in other words.
• Finishes with a strong statement
Reviewing
• Reread your writing to avoid any mistakes
• Evaluate your content and make sure you actually wrote what you planned.
Reviewing
• Ask yourself: – Did I actually write on the required topic and used relevant
arguments and examples?
– Is each piece of information relevant to the paragraph?
– Should I delete or move anything in the writing?
– Does each paragraph and sentence logically follow and relate to what’s written
before it?
– Did I use suitable connectors to present the logical relations between
sentences?
– Did I use a variety of sentence types and lengths (from simple to complex, short
and concise to long and elaborate)?
– Did I repeat the same ideas and words?
– Did I use adjectives and adverbs for text enrichment?
Editing
• Judge your writing for language and technicalities rather than content.
• Your sentences should adhere to proper word order rules, each containing a
subject and a predicate.
• Use a variety of verb tenses correctly and appropriately.
• Use a dictionary or spell checker when not sure about spelling.
• Use a variety of punctuation marks accurately.
• Edit for text mechanics: capitalization, numbering, italics, and abbreviations.
Proofreading
• Trace out all small mistakes.
• For a second proofread, try and pinpoint mistakes reading the text backwards.
Sharing
• Share it with your audience and look for any feedback
Finally
• The writing process may seem long and tiresome, but it is a guaranteed path to
success.
• The more you use it, the sooner you will realize how you couldn’t do without it.
Developing Composition Skills focuses students on narrating, describing,
analyzing, comparing and contrasting, classifying, and evaluating at the paragraph
level and offers a complete introduction that bridges the gap between the
paragraph and the essay level.
Here are 16 ways you can start improving your writing skills right now.
Brush Up on the Basics. ...
Write Like It's Your Job. ...
Read Like It's Your Job. ...
Find a Writing Partner. ...
Join a Workshop or Take a Night Class. ...
Dissect Writing That You Admire. ...
Imitate Writers You Admire. ...
Remember That Outlines Are Your Friend.
Why is it important to develop writing skills?
Writing is an essential job skill. Writing is the primary basis upon which one's
work, learning, and intellect will be judged—in college, in the work place and in
the community. Writing equips us with communication and thinking skills. ...
Writing makes our thinking and learning visible and permanent.
Why is Writing Important?
Writing is used in many areas of our lives.
Writing is critical to becoming a good reader.
Writing is an essential job skill.
Writing is the primary basis upon which one’s work, learning, and
intellect will be judged—in college, in the work place and in the
community.
Writing equips us with communication and thinking skills.
Writing expresses who we are as people.
Writing makes our thinking and learning visible and permanent.
Writing fosters our ability to explain and refine our ideas to others and
ourselves.
Writing preserves our ideas and memories.
Writing allows us to understand our lives.
Writing allows us to entertain others
Developing Composition Skills is an intermediate level writing text for
academically bound ESL/EFL students. The program provides paragraph-level
writing development, practice in the rhetorical modes, grammar support, and a
rich selection of readings that serve as springboards for writing. This text presents
concepts, skills, and strategies that are recycled and expanded upon in Refining
Composition Skills, a high-intermediate level writing text.
Composition
Grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, clarity, brevity, engagement,
proofreading, revising. Professional Writing Skills. Note taking, letter writing,
email writing, MS Office, business writing, written communication skills.
What are composition skills?
-Developing Composition Skills focuses students on narrating, describing,
analyzing, comparing and contrasting, classifying, and evaluating at the paragraph
level and offers a complete introduction that bridges the gap between the
paragraph and the essay level.
How would you describe your writing skills?
Written communication skills examples
Clarity. Clarity helps your reader understand what you are saying or, at least,
understand enough to know what questions they need to ask for further
clarification. ...
Conciseness. It's important to get to your point quickly and efficiently. ...
Tone. ...
Grammar and punctuation. ...
Edit thoroughly.
What are the three main parts of a composition?
Compositions nearly always have three main parts: introduction, body, and
conclusion. The first paragraph is often an introduction —a paragraph that
introduces the topic, says something interesting about it, and states the thesis.
Parts of composition
Compositions nearly always have three main parts:
 Introduction,
 body, and
 conclusion.
The first paragraph is often an introduction —a paragraph that introduces the
topic, says something interesting about it, and states the thesis. Following the
introduction are several paragraphs called the body. These paragraphs give
readers specific information about the topic, supporting and developing the
thesis. The conclusion, which is often one paragraph, gives readers a final,
interesting point to think about.
Although some compositions do not have separate introductory or concluding

paragraphs, all good compositions are organized carefully with a beginning,
middle, and end. They are well developed with examples, facts, incidents, or
reasons to make the point clear. In the models that follow, notice how the
authors organized and developed their descriptive, narrative, and expository
compositions.
8 Steps to Write a Good Composition
Are you having trouble with your writing skills? Read this and you will find good
and simple advice to make things much easier and your compositions much
better. Even impressive. Just follow the 8 steps we will show you. Or read these
essay writing service reviews and find out who can do your essay for you.
Puzzled Most people feel somehow at a loss when they have to write a
composition or an essay. They think for a moment, and then they start writing
and writing and writing till they consider it is time to finish, and so they finish.
That is probably the worst approach to composition writing. You must be talented
and very experienced if you expect to write good compositions that way.
The first thing to consider is that a composition is not simply a piece of writing. It
must be composed, it must have a structure and a cohesive organisation.
Compare these two examples:
A- My brother’s tall and handsome and with blue eyes and, yeah, well, maybe a
bit fat, but not much, you know, something like your cousin, but maybe not that
much. And he’s very funny, ha ha, I’ll tell you about what he did yesterday, but
not now. And brown-haired. Almost dark. Well, not dark but… well, yeah, dark.
Oh, I said funny, but well, when he’s got a bad day, uff, he scares me sometimes…
B- My brother is tall, handsome and has got blue eyes. He is a little fat, but not
much. His hair is dark brown. I like him because he is very funny and always
makes me laugh. Nevertheless, he can also be quite serious sometimes.
As you can easily perceive, A is a good example of oral English, but it would be
totally unacceptable for a composition. On the other hand, B is the right thing to
say when writing, with simple, organised ideas. But B would be considered too
pedantic and even unacceptable when talking in a normal conversation.
Using a correct language is part of it, but not enough. Both A and B are correct
language, but Spoken and Written language are different, they use, to some
extent, different vocabulary, different grammar and, especially, a different way to
express things!
Planification
So if correction is not the only thing we need for a composition, what is it we also
need?
Organisation
We need to compose our text like a nice piece of music, flowing. We need to
organise our ideas into paragraphs and make sure every paragraph, as well as the
whole composition, is cohesive. Our thoughts must unfold beautifully, clearly and
in a simple way in a sort of straight line that will lead us from one idea to the next
to end up in a conclusion. And that is not something you can usually come out
with by just sitting and writing. You need to have a plan first.
Many think that planning is a waste of time, especially if you are sitting for an
exam and time is limited. But the truth is that planning your composition will not
only make the task easy and much better; it will also make it all faster. At least
once you have practised a little bit.
Nevertheless, if you want to take the mess out of writing an essay or you really
need it to be good, you can always hire the services of an essay helper online, a
company that will do the job for you. These services are usually quite expensive
but you can also find good quality for reasonable prices. If you need or want to do
the job yourself though, here is how.
First, you have to know what topic you’re going to write about. In most situations
you will already know this when you sit down to write. And then, you must start
making an outline:
OUTLINE
1- opening sentence = topic + approach
2- ideas connected to the opening sentence
3- details about those ideas
4- closing sentence
When you are happy with the outline, it comes the time to do the writing, and
here you should follow these other 4 steps:
1. write a title
2. organize ideas into paragraphs
3. write the composition
4. correct your composition
In this article we will help you to make a good outline, which is the basis of this
method. We will complete the 8 steps in a second article (see part 2, to be
published very soon). So let’s get started.
1- topic + approach = opening sentence (O.S.)
The opening sentence will be the first sentence in your composition. It’s very
important because everything you will say in your composition must be
connected with the idea expressed in this sentence and nothing can modify it,
contradict it or say something which is not contained in this opening sentence.
Think of the opening sentence as a little perfume bottle: the topic is the material
(the glass), the approach is the shape of the glass, and all the composition will be
the perfume inside the bottle. If some perfume falls outside the bottle, it will
evaporate (and spoil your composition).
Think of a word or several words that will identify the topic. Think of a word or
several words that will identify the approach. The topic is what your composition
is about. Your approach is usually what your opinion about the topic is, or just the
way you see it, or what you want to say about that topic. When you have the
topic and the approach, write the opening sentence with both ideas.
Example:
Topic- Life in a village
Approach- better than cities
Opening sentence- Nowadays, most people prefer living in cities, but I prefer to
live in a village because life there is much better and healthy.
Another example of O.S.- Life in a village is very different from life in the city.
(topic: life in a village / approach: different from city)
2- ideas (points) connected to the opening sentence
Outline 1Think of several ideas deriving or connecting to the opening sentence
(both the topic and the approach). Remember that these ideas must explain,
expand, support or prove the opening sentence, and none of these ideas may
modify or contradict it. All these ideas must express what you said in the opening
sentence, so don’t talk about things which are not directly connected with it. For
example, don’t talk about a point (an idea) which is connected to another point in
the composition, but not directly connected to the opening sentence
(disgression).
Example of good points:
no pollution
people know each other
friendly people
contact with nature
life is cheaper
Example of bad points:
I live in Rome (not relevant to the O.S.)
Villages in the south of Spain are bigger than in the north (wrong, we must
compare life in the village with life in the city, not comparing different villages)
Last year I visited a very beautiful village (not relevant to the O.S.)
Night life is boring (it contradicts the O.S. unless you compensate this with a
“but…”)
People gossip and are nosy and messes with your life (modifies or contradicts the
idea in the O.S.)
In the 14th century many villages were created (who cares? We’re not talking
about history)
My friend Tom lives in a village (not relevant, unless you use Tom’s opinion to
support yours)
My friend Tom, from a village, is very friendly (digression: this idea is not directly
connected with the O.S.. It is directly connected to the point “friendly people”
and only indirectly connected to the O.S., so it’s no good)
3- details about the points
Each point is the seed of a future paragraph (or section or chapter, if it is a long
writing). For every point, think of a few details to explain that idea.
Example: - friendly people
people help you
people talk to you in the streets
people invite you to a drink in the bars
4- closing sentence
The closing sentence is also very important because it must leave your
composition closed, finished, so that you can’t say anything else after it. If the
opening sentence is the bottle of perfume and the ideas (and details) are the
perfume, then the closing sentence is the cap: If there is no cap, the perfume will
evaporate and be wasted. An open composition is a piece of unfinished work, and
not complete. There are many ways of closing a composition, but the most usual
ones are:
1- a restatement of the opening sentence (you say the same idea but using
different words) Example: There’s no doubt about it: life in a village is much
better than life in a city.
2- a summary of the points (ideas). Example: With a cheaper life, a close contact
with nature, a healthy environment and surrounded by nice people, villages are
the ideal place to live.
3- a look to the future. Example: I really think I should leave the city and look for a
nice house in a village as soon as possible.
4- a related thought that grows out of the body (usually a conclusion from the
points). Example: That’s why our urban societies are more efficient, but its people
are less human.
5- mixed type (a combination of several types of conclusions) Example: That’s why
I’m planning to move to a village, because life there is much better than in the
cities (type 3 + type 1, even the whole sentence can be an example of type 4)
So if you follow this advice, you will find that writing turns easier and the results
are much better than when you simply sit and write. Just remember the bottle of
perfume:
The glass: The opening sentence. Your first sentence, which will contain all the
ideas of your piece of writing inside.
The perfume: All the things you have to say. Don’t let even a drop fall outside the
bottle.
The cap: The last sentence in your composition. The one that will close it and
make it a finished piece of work.
Once you have a good outline, you must use it to write your composition, essay or
whatever you must write. Things are now much easier when you know all the
time exactly what you have to say, confident that you’ll never get tangled,
blocked or messed up in your writing. We can also guide you in this second phase
(steps 5-8), but that will be in our next article:
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Vocabulary development is a process by which people acquire words. Babbling
shifts towards meaningful speech as infants grow and produce their first words
around the age of one year. In early word learning, infants build their vocabulary
slowly. By the age of 18 months, infants can typically produce about 50 words and
begin to make word combinations.
In order to build their vocabularies, infants must learn about the meanings that
words carry. The mapping problem asks how infants correctly learn to attach
words to referents. Constraints theories, domain-general views, social-
pragmatic accounts, and an emergentist coalition model have been proposed[1] to
account for the mapping problem.
From an early age, infants use language to communicate. Caregivers and other
family members use language to teach children how to act in society. In their
interactions with peers, children have the opportunity to learn about unique
conversational roles. Through pragmatic directions, adults often offer children
cues for understanding the meaning of words.
Throughout their school years, children continue to build their vocabulary. In
particular, children begin to learn abstract words. Beginning around age 3–5,
word learning takes place both in conversation and through reading. Word
learning often involves physical context, builds on prior knowledge, takes place in
social context, and includes semantic support. The phonological loop and serial
order short-term memory may both play an important role in vocabulary
development.
Early word learning
Infants begin to understand words such as "Mommy", "Daddy", "hands" and
"feet" when they are approximately 6 months old. Initially, these words refer to
their own mother or father or hands or feet. Infants begin to produce their first
words when they are approximately one year old.Infants' first words are normally
used in reference to things that are of importance to them, such as objects, body
parts, people, and relevant actions. Also, the first words that infants produce are
mostly single-syllabic or repeated single syllables, such as "no" and "dada".By 12
to 18 months of age, children's vocabularies often contain words such as "kitty",
"bottle", "doll", "car" and "eye". Children's understanding of names for objects
and people usually precedes their understanding of words that describe actions
and relationships. "One" and "two" are the first number words that children learn
between the ages of one and two. Infants must be able to hear and play with
sounds in their environment, and to break up various phonetic units to discover
words and their related meanings.
Development in oral languages
Main article: Phonological development
Studies related to vocabulary development show that children's language
competence depends upon their ability to hear sounds during infancy.Infants'
perception of speech is distinct. Between six and ten months of age, infants can
discriminate sounds used in the languages of the world. By 10 to 12 months,
infants can no longer discriminate between speech sounds that are not used in
the language(s) to which they are exposed. Among six-month-old infants, seen
articulations (i.e. the mouth movements they observe others make while talking)
actually enhance their ability to discriminate sounds, and may also contribute to
infants' ability to learn phonemic boundaries. Infants' phonological register is
completed between the ages of 18 months and 7 years.
Children's phonological development normally proceeds as follows:
6–8 weeks: Cooing appears
16 weeks: Laughter and vocal play appear
6–9 months: Reduplicated (canonical) babbling appears
12 months: First words use a limited sound repertoire
18 months: Phonological processes (deformations of target sounds) become
systematic
18 months–7 years: Phonological inventory completion
At each stage mentioned above, children play with sounds and learn methods to
help them learn words.There is a relationship between children's prelinguistic
phonetic skills and their lexical progress at age two: failure to develop the
required phonetic skills in their prelinguistic period results in children's delay in
producing words. Environmental influences may affect children's phonological
development, such as hearing loss as a result of ear infections.Deaf infants and
children with hearing problems due to infections are usually delayed in the
beginning of vocal babbling.
Babbling
Main article: Babbling
Babbling is an important aspect of vocabulary development in infants, since it
appears to help practice producing speech sounds.Babbling begins between five
and seven months of age. At this stage, babies start to play with sounds that are
not used to express their emotional or physical states, such as sounds
of consonants and vowels. Babies begin to babble in real syllables such as "ba-ba-
ba, neh-neh-neh, and dee-dee-dee,"between the ages of seven and eight months;
this is known as canonical babbling.Jargon babbling includes strings of such
sounds; this type of babbling uses intonation but doesn't convey meaning.
The phonemes and syllabic patterns produced by infants begin to be distinctive to
particular languages during this period (e.g., increased nasal stops in French and
Japanese babies) though most of their sounds are similar. There is a shift from
babbling to the use of words as the infant grows.
Vocabulary spurt
As children get older their rate of vocabulary growth increases. Children probably
understand their first 50 words before they produce them. By the age of eighteen
months, children typically attain a vocabulary of 50 words in production, and
between two and three times greater in comprehension.A switch from an early
stage of slow vocabulary growth to a later stage of faster growth is referred to as
the vocabulary spurt.Young toddlers acquire one to three words per month. A
vocabulary spurt often occurs over time as the number of words learned
accelerates. It is believed that most children add about 10 to 20 new words a
week.Between the ages of 18 to 24 months, children learn how to combine two
words such as no bye-bye and more please.Three-word and four-word
combinations appear when most of the child's utterances are two-word
productions. In addition, children are able to form conjoined sentences,
using and.This suggests that there is a vocabulary spurt between the time that the
child's first word appears, and when the child is able to form more than two
words, and eventually, sentences. However, there have been arguments as to
whether or not there is a spurt in acquisition of words. In one study of 38
children, only five of the children had an inflection point in their rate of word
acquisition as opposed to a quadratic growth.
Development in sign languages
The learning mechanisms involved in language acquisition are not specific to oral
languages. The developmental stages in learning a sign language and an oral
language are generally the same. Deaf babies who are exposed to sign language
from birth will start babbling with their hands from 10 to 14 months. Just as in
oral languages, manual babbling consists of a syllabic structure and is often
reduplicated. The first symbolic sign is produced around the age of 1 year.
Young children will simplify complex adult signs, especially those with
difficult handshapes. This is likely due to fine motor control not having fully
developed yet. The sign's movement is also often proximalized: the child will
articulate the sign with a body part that is closer to the torso. For example, a sign
that requires bending the elbow might be produced by using the shoulder
instead. This simplification is systematic in that these errors are not random, but
predictable.
Signers can represent the alphabet through the use of fingerspelling.[15] Children
start fingerspelling as early as the age of 2. However, they are not aware of the
association between fingerspelling and alphabet. It is not until the age of 4 that
they realize that fingerspelling consists of a fixed sequence of units.
Mapping problem
In word learning, the mapping problem refers to the question of how infants
attach the forms of language to the things that they experience in the
world. There are infinite objects, concepts, and actions in the world that words
could be mapped onto. Many theories have been proposed to account for the
way in which the language learner successfully maps words onto the correct
objects, concepts, and actions.
While domain-specific accounts of word learning argue for innate constraints that
limit infants' hypotheses about word meanings,domain-general perspectives
argue that word learning can be accounted for by general cognitive processes,
such as learning and memory, which are not specific to language.Yet other
theorists have proposed social pragmatic accounts, which stress the role of
caregivers in guiding infants through the word learning process.According to
some[who?] research, however, children are active participants in their own word
learning, although caregivers may still play an important role in this process. [20]
[21]
Recently, an emergentist coalition model has also been proposed to suggest
that word learning cannot be fully attributed to a single factor. Instead, a variety
of cues, including salient and social cues, may be utilized by infants at different
points in their vocabulary development.[1]
Theories of constraints
Theories of word-learning constraints argue for biases or default assumptions that
guide the infant through the word learning process. Constraints are outside of the
infant's control and are believed to help the infant limit their hypotheses about
the meaning of words that they encounter daily.[17][22] Constraints can be
considered domain-specific (unique to language).
Critics[who?] argue that theories of constraints focus on how children learn nouns,
but ignore other aspects of their word learning.[23] Although constraints are useful
in explaining how children limit possible meanings when learning novel words,
the same constraints would eventually need to be overridden because they are
not utilized in adult language.[24] For instance, adult speakers often use several
terms, each term meaning something slightly different, when referring to one
entity, such as a family pet. This practice would violate the mutual
exclusivity constraint.[24]
Below, the most prominent constraints in the literature are detailed:
 Reference is the notion that a word symbolizes or stands in for an object,
action, or event.[25] Words consistently stand for their referents, even if
referents are not physically present in context.[25]
 Mutual Exclusivity is the assumption that each object in the world can only
be referred to by a single label.[17][26]
 Shape has been considered to be one of the most critical properties for
identifying members of an object category.[27] Infants assume that objects
that have the same shape also share a name.[28] Shape plays an important
role in both appropriate and inappropriate extensions.[27]
 The Whole Object Assumption is the belief that labels refer to whole
objects instead of parts or properties of those objects. Children are
believed to hold this assumption because they typically label whole objects
first, and parts of properties of objects later in development.
 The Taxonomic Assumption reflects the belief that speakers use words to
refer to categories that are internally consistent. Labels to pick out
coherent categories of objects, rather than those objects and the things
that are related to them.For example, children assume that the word "dog"
refers to the category of "dogs", not to "dogs with bones", or "dogs chasing
cats".
Domain-general views
Domain-general views of vocabulary development argue that children do not
need principles or constraints in order to successfully develop word-world
mappings.[18] Instead, word learning can be accounted for through general
learning mechanisms such as salience, association, and frequency.[18] Children are
thought to notice the objects, actions, or events that are most salient in context,
and then to associate them with the words that are most frequently used in their
presence.[18] Additionally, research on word learning suggests that fast mapping,
the rapid learning that children display after a single exposure to new
information, is not specific to word learning. Children can also successfully fast
map when exposed to a novel fact, remembering both words and facts after a
time delay.
Domain-general views have been criticized for not fully explaining how children
manage to avoid mapping errors when there are numerous possible referents to
which objects, actions, or events might point. For instance, if biases are not
present from birth, why do infants assume that labels refer to whole objects,
instead of salient parts of these objects? However, domain-general perspectives
do not dismiss the notion of biases. Rather, they suggest biases develop through
learning strategies instead of existing as built-in constraints. For instance, the
whole object bias could be explained as a strategy that humans use to reason
about the world; perhaps we are prone to thinking about our environment in
terms of whole objects, and this strategy is not specific to the language
domain. Additionally, children may be exposed to cues associated with
categorization by shape early in the word learning process, which would draw
their attention to shape when presented with novel objects and labels.Ordinary
learning could, then, lead to a shape bias.
Social pragmatic theories
Social pragmatic theories, also in contrast to the constraints view, focus on
the social context in which the infant is embedded. According to this approach,
environmental input removes the ambiguity of the word learning situation.[1 Cues
such as the caregiver's gaze, body language, gesture, and smile help infants to
understand the meanings of words. Social pragmatic theories stress the role of
the caregiver in talking about objects, actions, or events that the infant is already
focused-in upon.
Joint attention is an important mechanism through which children learn to map
words-to-world, and vice versa.[33] Adults commonly make an attempt to establish
joint attention with a child before they convey something to the child. Joint
attention is often accompanied by physical co-presence, since children are often
focused on what is in their immediate environment.[33] As well, conversational co-
presence is likely to occur; the caregiver and child typically talk together about
whatever is taking place at their locus of joint attention.[33] Social pragmatic
perspectives often present children as covariation detectors, who simply
associate the words that they hear with whatever they are attending to in the
world at the same time.[34] The co-variation detection model of joint attention
seems problematic when we consider that many caregiver utterances do not refer
to things that occupy the immediate attentional focus of infants. For instance,
caregivers among the Kaluli, a group of indigenous peoples living in New Guinea,
rarely provide labels in the context of their referents.[34] While the covariation
detection model emphasizes the caregiver's role in the meaning-making process,
some theorists[who?] argue that infants also play an important role in their own
word learning, actively avoiding mapping errors.[21] When infants are in situations
where their own attentional focus differs from that of a speaker, they seek out
information about the speaker's focus, and then use that information to establish
correct word-referent mappings.[20][34] Joint attention can be created through
infant agency, in an attempt to gather information about a speaker's intent.
From early on, children also assume that language is designed for communication.
Infants treat communication as a cooperative process.Specifically, infants observe
the principles of conventionality and contrast. According to conventionality,
infants believe that for a particular meaning that they wish to convey, there is a
term that everyone in the community would expect to be used. According to
contrast, infants act according to the notion that differences in form mark
differences in meaning. Children's attention to conventionality and contrast is
demonstrated in their language use, even before the age of 2 years; they direct
their early words towards adult targets, repair mispronunciations quickly if
possible, ask for words to relate to the world around them, and maintain contrast
in their own word use.
Emergentist coalition model
The emergentist coalition model suggests that children make use of multiple cues
to successfully attach a novel label to a novel object. The word learning situation
may offer an infant combinations of social, perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic
cues. While a range of cues are available from the start of word learning, it may
be the case that not all cues are utilized by the infant when they begin the word
learning process. While younger children may only be able to detect a limited
number of cues, older, more experienced word learners may be able to make use
of a range of cues. For instance, young children seem to focus primarily on
perceptual salience, but older children attend to the gaze of caregivers and use
the focus of caregivers to direct their word mapping.[1] Therefore, this model
argues that principles or cues may be present from the onset of word learning,
but the use of a wide range of cues develops over time. [37]
Supporters of the emergentist coalition model argue that, as a hybrid, this model
moves towards a more holistic explanation of word learning that is not captured
by models with a singular focus. For instance, constraints theories typically argue
that constraints/principles are available to children from the onset of word
learning, but do not explain how children develop into expert speakers who are
not limited by constraints.[38] Additionally, some argue[who?] that domain-general
perspectives do not fully address the question of how children sort through
numerous potential referents in order to correctly sort out meaning. [38] Lastly,
social pragmatic theories claim that social encounters guide word learning.
Although these theories describe how children become more advanced word
learners, they seem to tell us little about children's capacities at the start of word
learning.[38] According to its proponents, the emergentist coalion model
incorporates constraints/principles, but argues for the development and change
in these principles over time, while simultaneously taking into consideration social
aspects of word learning alongside other cues, such as salience.[39]
Pragmatic development
Both linguistic and socio-cultural factors affect the rate at which vocabulary
develops.[40] Children must learn to use their words appropriately and strategically
in social situations.[41] They have flexible and powerful social-cognitive skills that
allow them to understand the communicative intentions of others in a wide
variety of interactive situations. Children learn new words in communicative
situations.[42] Children rely on pragmatic skills to build more extensive
vocabularies.[43] Some aspects of pragmatic behaviour can predict
later literacy and mathematical achievement, as children who are pragmatically
skilled often function better in school. These children are also generally better
liked.[44]
Children use words differently for objects, spatial relations and actions. Children
ages one to three often rely on general purpose deictic words such as "here",
"that" or "look" accompanied by a gesture, which is most often pointing, to pick
out specific objects.[43] Children also stretch already known or partly known words
to cover other objects that appear similar to the original. This can result in
word overextension or misuses of words. Word overextension is governed by the
perceptual similarities children notice among the different referents. Misuses of
words indirectly provide ways of finding out which meanings children have
attached to particular words.[43] When children come into contact with spatial
relations, they talk about the location of one object with respect to another. They
name the object located and use a deictic term, such as here or "there" for
location, or they name both the object located and its location. They can also use
a general purpose locative marker, which is
a preposition, postposition or suffix depending on the language that is linked in
some way to the word for location.[43] Children's earliest words for actions usually
encode both the action and its result. Children use a small number of general
purpose verbs, such as "do" and "make" for a large variety of actions because
their resources are limited. Children acquiring a second language seem to use the
same production strategies for talking about actions. Sometimes children use a
highly specific verb instead of a general purpose verb. In both cases children
stretch their resources to communicate what they want to say.
Infants use words to communicate early in life and their communication
skills develop as they grow older. Communication skills aid in word learning.
Infants learn to take turns while communicating with adults. While preschoolers
lack precise timing and rely on obvious speaker cues, older children are more
precise in their timing and take fewer long pauses. Children get better at initiating
and sustaining coherent conversations as they age. Toddlers and preschoolers use
strategies such as repeating and recasting their partners' utterances to keep the
conversation going. Older children add new relevant information to
conversations. Connectives such as then, so, and because are more frequently
used as children get older.When giving and responding to feedback, preschoolers
are inconsistent, but around the age of six, children can mark corrections with
phrases and head nods to indicate their continued attention. As children continue
to age they provide more constructive interpretations back to listeners, which
helps prompt conversations.
Pragmatic influences
Caregivers use language to help children become competent members of society
and culture. From birth, infants receive pragmatic information. They learn
structure of conversations from early interactions with caregivers. Actions and
speech are organized in games, such as peekaboo to provide children with
information about words and phrases. Caregivers find many ways to help infants
interact and respond. As children advance and participate more actively in
interactions, caregivers adapt their interactions accordingly.Caregivers also
prompt children to produce correct pragmatic behaviours. They provide input
about what children are expected to say, how to speak, when they should speak,
and how they can stay on topic. Caregivers may model the appropriate behaviour,
using verbal reinforcement, posing a hypothetical situation, addressing children's
comments, or evaluating another person.
Family members contribute to pragmatic development in different ways. Fathers
often act as secondary caregivers, and may know the child less intimately. Older
siblings may lack the capacity to acknowledge the child's needs. As a result, both
fathers and siblings may pressure children to communicate more clearly. They
often challenge children to improve their communication skills, therefore
preparing them to communicate with strangers about unfamiliar topics. Fathers
have more breakdowns when communicating with infants, and spend less time
focused on the same objects or actions as infants. Siblings are more directive and
less responsive to infants, which motivates infants to participate in conversations
with their older siblings. There are limitations to studies that focus on the
influences of fathers and siblings, as most research
is descriptive and correlational. In reality, there are many variations of family
configurations, and context influences parent behaviour more than parent gender
does.The majority of research in this field is conducted with mother/child pairs.
Peers help expose children to multi-party conversations. This allows children to
hear a greater variety of speech, and to observe different conversational roles.
Peers may be uncooperative conversation partners, which pressures the children
to communicate more effectively. Speaking to peers is different from speaking to
adults, but children may still correct their peers. Peer interaction provides
children with a different experience filled with special humour, disagreements
and conversational topics.
Culture and context in infants’ linguistic environment shape their vocabulary
development. English learners have been found to map novel labels to objects
more reliably than to actions compared to Mandarin learners. This early noun bias
in English learners is caused by the culturally reinforced tendency for English
speaking caregivers to engage in a significant amount of ostensive labelling as
well as noun-friendly activities such as picture book reading.Adult speech
provides children with grammatical input.
Both Mandarin and Cantonese languages have a category of grammatical function
word called a noun classifier, which is also common across many genetically
unrelated East Asian languages. In Cantonese, classifiers are obligatory and
specific in more situations than in Mandarin. This accounts for the research found
on Mandarin-speaking children outperforming Cantonese-speaking children in
relation to the size of their vocabulary.
Pragmatic directions
Pragmatic directions provide children with additional information about the
speaker's intended meaning. Children's learning of new word meanings is guided
by the pragmatic directions that adults offer, such as explicit links to word
meanings. Adults present young children with information about how words are
related to each other through connections, such as "is a part of", "is a kind of",
"belongs to", or "is used for". These pragmatic directions provide children with
essential information about language, allowing them to make inferences about
possible meanings for unfamiliar words. This is also called inclusion. When
children are provided with two words related by inclusion, they hold on to that
information. When children hear an adult say an incorrect word, and then repair
their mistake by stating the correct word, children take into account the repair
when assigning meanings to the two words.
In school-age children
Children in school share an interactive reading experience.
Vocabulary development during the school years builds upon what the child
already knows, and the child uses this knowledge to broaden his or her
vocabulary. Once children have gained a level of vocabulary knowledge, new
words are learned through explanations using familiar, or "old" words. This is
done either explicitly, when a new word is defined using old words, or implicitly,
when the word is set in the context of old words so that the meaning of the new
word is constrained. When children reach school-age, context and implicit
learning are the most common ways in which their vocabularies continue to
develop. By this time, children learn new vocabulary mostly through conversation
and reading. Throughout schooling and adulthood, conversation and reading are
the main methods in which vocabulary develops. This growth tends to slow once
a person finishes schooling, as they have already acquired the vocabulary used in
everyday conversation and reading material and generally are not engaging in
activities that require additional vocabulary development.
During the first few years of life, children are mastering concrete words such as
"car", "bottle", "dog", "cat". By age 3, children are likely able to learn these
concrete words without the need for a visual reference, so word learning tends to
accelerate around this age. Once children reach school-age, they learn abstract
words (e.g. "love", "freedom", "success"). This broadens the vocabulary available
for children to learn, which helps to account for the increase in word learning
evident at school age. By age 5, children tend to have an expressive vocabulary of
2,100–2,200 words. By age 6, they have approximately 2,600 words of expressive
vocabulary and 20,000–24,000 words of receptive vocabulary. Some claim that
children experience a sudden acceleration in word learning, upwards of 20 words
per day,but it tends to be much more gradual than this. From age 6 to 8, the
average child in school is learning 6–7 words per day, and from age 8 to 10,
approximately 12 words per day.
Means
Exposure to conversations and engaging in conversation with others help school-
age children develop vocabulary. Fast mapping is the process of learning a new
concept upon a single exposure and is used in word learning not only by infants
and toddlers, but by preschool children and adults as well. This principle is very
useful for word learning in conversational settings, as words tend not to be
explained explicitly in conversation, but may be referred to frequently throughout
the span of a conversation.
Reading is considered to be a key element of vocabulary development in school-
age children. Before children are able to read on their own, children can learn
from others reading to them. Learning vocabulary from these experiences
includes using context, as well as explicit explanations of words and/or events in
the story. This may be done using illustrations in the book to guide explanation
and provide a visual reference or comparisons, usually to prior knowledge and
past experiences. Interactions between the adult and the child often include the
child's repetition of the new word back to the adult.When a child begins to learn
to read, their print vocabulary and oral vocabulary tend to be the same, as
children use their vocabulary knowledge to match verbal forms of words with
written forms. These two forms of vocabulary are usually equal up until grade 3.
Because written language is much more diverse than spoken language, print
vocabulary begins to expand beyond oral vocabulary. By age 10, children's
vocabulary development through reading moves away from learning concrete
words to learning abstract words.
Generally, both conversation and reading involve at least one of the four
principles of context that are used in word learning and vocabulary development:
physical context, prior knowledge, social context and semantic support.
Physical context
Physical context involves the presence of an object or action that is also the topic
of conversation. With the use of physical context, the child is exposed to both the
words and a visual reference of the word. This is frequently used with infants and
toddlers, but can be very beneficial for school-age children, especially when
learning rare or infrequently used words.[ Physical context may include props such
as in toy play. When engaging in play with an adult, a child's vocabulary is
developed through discussion of the toys, such as naming the object (e.g.
"dinosaur") or labeling it with the use of a rare word (e.g., stegosaurus). These
sorts of interactions expose the child to words they may not otherwise encounter
in day-to-day conversation.
Prior knowledge
Past experiences or general knowledge is often called upon in conversation, so it
is a useful context for children to learn words. Recalling past experiences allows
the child to call upon their own visual, tactical, oral, and/or auditory
references. For example, if a child once went to a zoo and saw an elephant, but
did not know the word elephant, an adult could later help the child recall this
event, describing the size and color of the animal, how big its ears were, its trunk,
and the sound it made, then using the word elephant to refer to the animal.
Calling upon prior knowledge is used not only in conversation, but often in book
reading as well to help explain what is happening in a story by relating it back to
the child's own experiences.
Social context
Social context involves pointing out social norms and violations of these
norms. This form of context is most commonly found in conversation, as opposed
to reading or other word learning environments. A child's understanding of social
norms can help them to infer the meaning of words that occur in conversation. In
an English-speaking tradition, "please" and "thank you" are taught to children at a
very early age, so they are very familiar to the child by school-age. For example, if
a group of people is eating a meal with the child present and one person says,
"give me the bread" and another responds with, "that was rude. What do you
say?", and the person responds with "please", the child may not know the
meaning of "rude", but can infer its meaning through social context and
understanding the necessity of saying "please".[72]
Semantic support
Semantic support is the most obvious method of vocabulary development in
school-age children. It involves giving direct verbal information of the meaning of
a word.[63][73] By the time children are in school, they are active participants in
conversation, so they are very capable and willing to ask questions when they do
not understand a word or concept. For example, a child might see a zebra for the
first time and ask, what is that? and the parent might respond, that is a zebra. It
is like a horse with stripes and it is wild so you cannot ride it.[73]
Memory
Memory plays an important role in vocabulary development, however the exact
role that it plays is disputed in the literature. Specifically, short-term memory and
how its capacities work with vocabulary development is questioned by many
researchers[who?].
The phonology of words has proven to be beneficial to vocabulary development
when children begin school. Once children have developed a vocabulary, they
utilize the sounds that they already know to learn new words.[74] The phonological
loop encodes, maintains and manipulates speech-based information that a person
encounters. This information is then stored in the phonological memory, a part of
short term memory. Research shows that children's capacities in the area of
phonological memory are linked to vocabulary knowledge when children first
begin school at age 4–5 years old. As memory capabilities tend to increase with
age (between age 4 and adolescence), so does an individual's ability to learn more
complex vocabulary.[74]
Serial-order short-term memory may be critical to the development of
vocabulary.[75] As lexical knowledge increases, phonological representations have
to become more precise to determine the differences between similar sound
words (i.e. "calm", "come"). In this theory, the specific order or sequence of
phonological events is used to learn new words, rather than phonology as a
whole.[75]
COMPREHENSION
Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and
to integrate with what the reader already knows.
What is an example of comprehension?
The definition of comprehension refers to your ability to understand something,
or your actual understanding of something. An example of comprehension is how
well you understand a difficult math problem. ... Thorough understanding.
What are the 4 types of comprehension?
Four Levels of Comprehension
 Level 1 – Literal – Stated facts in the text: Data, specifics, dates, traits and
settings.
 Level 2 – Inferential – Build on facts in the text: Predictions, sequence and
settings.
 Level 3 – Evaluative– Judgement of text based on: Fact or opinion, validity,
appropriateness, comparison, cause and effect.
Types of Comprehension:
Literal Comprehension:
Inferential Comprehension: The inferential comprehension level is when the
reader infers meaning that goes beyond explicitly stated information.
What are comprehension questions examples?
Some examples: “What was the main character's name?” or “When did the boy
go to the store?” “Why do you think the main character did that?” or “How do
you think she is going to solve this problem?” These questions require young
readers to “read between the lines”.
What Causes Poor Reading Comprehension. Disinterest and
boredom causes children not to pay attention to what they're reading. ...
Decoding individual words slows down or prevents reading comprehension. If the
assigned material includes too many words a child doesn't know, they'll focus on
decoding rather than understanding .
How do you teach comprehension?
In that spirit, here is a step-by-step guide that can help your students improve
their reading comprehension significantly.
1. Discuss Reading Comprehension. ...
2. Practice What You Preach. ...
3. Discuss Each Assignment. ...
4. Urge Thinking Before Reading. ...
5. Teach Goal Setting. ...
6. Urge Thinking While Reading. ...
7. Urge Note Taking. ...
8. Tell Them to Plan Ahead.
Here is a step-by-step guide that can help your students improve their reading
comprehension significantly.
1. Discuss Reading Comprehension

Writing a one-page handout detailing your ideas about reading comprehension
and why it’s important can be helpful. You can include your ideas about subjects
such as taking notes, setting goals, and asking questions. Additionally, connect the
importance of improving reading comprehension to something practical and
relevant to them like texting, emails, and blogs. Share these written thoughts with
your learners and use the handout as a reminder throughout the school year.
2. Practice What You Preach

Telling students that improving reading comprehension is crucial and then giving
them tests that emphasize rote memorization is backward reasoning. Instead,
give them essay tests and ask them to write reports. Your students might not be
used to what appears to be subjective grading, but it’s your responsibility to detail
what you’re looking for in their written answers and reports and explain that
you’re preparing them for college.
3. Discuss Each Assignment

Prior to each reading assignment, you should tell students what you want them to
learn from the text. Ask them a few questions and tell them you want to discuss
the answers in the next class. They should also write down your questions and use
them in group discussions of their own.
Perhaps the most important tip you can give learners about how to read is that
their reading comprehension is most likely to improve when they stop reading.
Students should be thinking while they’re reading rather than reading
continuously.
4. Urge Thinking Before Reading

Students should read your questions and/or the book’s questions before they
begin reading. This should help them know when to focus on text and when to
skim it.
In other words, thinking before reading can help them be selective instead of
trying to comprehend every sentence.
The questions can also help them formulate their own questions before they
begin reading.
5. Teach Goal Setting

Teaching students to set goals before they read is also a good idea. Initially, the
goal might be to answer your questions. Eventually, they should be able to set
their own goals such as “I want to understand why the Civil War started.” “Before
reading, good readers tend to set goals for their reading,” reports the article
“What Research Tells Us About Reading, Comprehension, and Comprehension
Instruction.”
“They are likely to focus more of their attention on the parts of the text that are
most closely tied to their reading goals.”
6. Urge Thinking While Reading

Perhaps the most important tip you can give learners about how to read is that
their reading comprehension is most likely to improve when they stop reading.
Students should be thinking while they’re reading rather than reading

continuously.
Thus, they should be taught to stop when they are confused or have a question or
thought about what they have just read. Teaching students to stop and think
might lead them to reread what they have just read or seek the answers to their
questions in the material that they haven’t read yet.
7. Urge Note Taking
It's likely most of your high school classmates did not take notes while they did
their schoolwork. In college, though, everyone took notes in their textbooks. Your
students should know that college students regularly highlight important material
via underlining, circles, and notes in margins. They can take notes too, in
notebooks rather than textbooks. Students should be encouraged to stop reading
after they have read something important and write down that fact, point, or
argument. They should also be writing the answers to your pre-reading
assignment questions.
Teaching students to set goals before they read is also a good idea. Initially, the
goal might be to answer your questions.
8. Tell Them to Plan Ahead

Reading doesn’t accomplish much in and of itself. Reading assignments should be
connected to future class discussions, oral presentations, tests, or reports.
Thus, you should urge students to stop reading when they think of a point they
want to make for a class discussion, oral presentation, test, or report.
They should write down their points. Emphasize that they can prepare for a test
while reading. There is nothing wrong with giving students an idea about
questions on tests. You want them to practice improving their skills so they’re
ready when they’re being graded.
9. Recommend Visualizing
“Some good readers may also create mental images, or visualize a setting, event,
or character to help them understand a passage in a text,” the Texas Education
Agency wrote. Are students more apt to recall what happened at the Yalta
Conference if they can visualize U.S. leader Franklin D. Roosevelt, United Kingdom
leader Winston Churchill, and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin talking about
what to do after World War II ended? Some will. It’s a good idea to mention to
students, who could also learn better by studying the text’s photos and captions.
10. Assign Summaries

Asking students to write summaries of what they have read sounds like you're
requiring them to do a lot of work, but you can emphasize that these summaries
can reduce how much time they spend studying, or cramming, for a test.
Essentially, these summaries can be homework. They can also help students
prepare for class discussions and oral presentations.
Practice (A Lot of It) Makes Perfect
Many of these tips can be summarized in one word—practice. Yes, students can
succeed at improving reading comprehension skills by practicing how to ask and
answer questions while they’re reading, taking notes, setting goals, writing
summaries of what they have read and more. Be honest with them about the fact
that improving reading comprehension skills is a lot of hard work. Nevertheless,
it’s worth it if they want to possess a useful skill for school and for life beyond it.
Developing Study Skills
Learning Objectives
1. Use strategies for managing time effectively as a college student.

2. Understand and apply strategies for taking notes efficiently.
3. Determine the specific time-management, study, and note-taking strategies that work best for you
individually.
By now, you have a general idea of what to expect from your college courses. You have
probably received course syllabi, started on your first few assignments, and begun applying the
strategies you learned about in Section 1.1 “Reading and Writing in College”.
At the beginning of the semester, your work load is relatively light. This is the perfect time to
brush up on your study skills and establish good habits. When the demands on your time and
energy become more intense, you will have a system in place for handling them.
This section covers specific strategies for managing your time effectively. You will also learn
about different note-taking systems that you can use to organize and record information
efficiently.
As you work through this section, remember that every student is different. The strategies
presented here are tried and true techniques that work well for many people. However, you may
need to adapt them slightly to develop a system that works well for you personally. If your friend
swears by her smartphone, but you hate having to carry extra electronic gadgets around, then
using a smartphone will not be the best organizational strategy for you.
Read with an open mind, and consider what techniques have been effective (or ineffective) for
you in the past. Which habits from your high school years or your work life could help you
succeed in college? Which habits might get in your way? What changes might you need to
make?
Understanding Yourself as a Learner

To succeed in college—or any situation where you must master new concepts and skills—it
helps to know what makes you tick. For decades, educational researchers and organizational
psychologists have examined how people take in and assimilate new information, how some
people learn differently than others, and what conditions make students and workers most
productive. Here are just a few questions to think about:
 What is your learning style? For the purposes of this chapter, learning style refers to the
way you prefer to take in new information, by seeing, by listening, or through some other
channel. For more information, see the section on learning styles.
 What times of day are you most productive? If your energy peaks early, you might
benefit from blocking out early morning time for studying or writing. If you are a night owl, set
aside a few evenings a week for schoolwork.
 How much clutter can you handle in your work space? Some people work fine at a
messy desk and know exactly where to find what they need in their stack of papers; however,
most people benefit from maintaining a neat, organized space.
 How well do you juggle potential distractions in your environment? If you can study
at home without being tempted to turn on the television, check your e-mail, fix yourself a snack,
and so on, you may make home your work space. However, if you need a less distracting
environment to stay focused, you may be able to find one on your college’s campus or in your
community.
 Does a little background noise help or hinder your productivity? Some people work
better when listening to background music or the low hum of conversation in a coffee shop.
Others need total silence.
 When you work with a partner or group, do you stay on task? A study partner or
group can sometimes be invaluable. However, working this way takes extra planning and effort,
so be sure to use the time productively. If you find that group study sessions turn into social
occasions, you may study better on your own.
 How do you manage stress? Accept that at certain points in the semester, you will feel
stressed out. In your day-to-day routine, make time for activities that help you reduce stress, such
as ex
 Exercising, spending time with friends, or just scheduling downtime to relax.
Learning Styles
Most people have one channel that works best for them when it comes to taking in new
information. Knowing yours can help you develop strategies for studying, time management, and
note taking that work especially well for you.
To begin identifying your learning style, think about how you would go about the process of
assembling a piece of furniture. Which of these options sounds most like you?
1. You would carefully look over the diagrams in the assembly manual first so you could
picture each step in the process.
2. You would silently read the directions through, step by step, and then look at the
diagrams afterward.
3. You would read the directions aloud under your breath. Having someone explain the
steps to you would also help.
4. You would start putting the pieces together and figure out the process through trial and
error, consulting the directions as you worked.
Now read the following explanations. Again, think about whether each description sounds like
you.
 If you chose (a), you may be a visual learner. You understand ideas best when they are
presented in a visual format, such as a flowchart, a diagram, or text with clear headings and
many photos or illustrations.
 If you chose (b), you may be a verbal learner. You understand ideas best through reading
and writing about them and taking detailed notes.
 If you chose (c), you may be an auditory learner. You understand ideas best through
listening. You learn well from spoken lectures or books on tape.
 If you chose (d), you may be a kinesthetic learner. You learn best through doing and
prefer hands-on activities. In long lectures, fidgeting may help you focus.
Your learning style does not completely define you as a student. Auditory learners can
comprehend a flow chart, and kinesthetic learners can sit still long enough to read a book.
However, if you do have one dominant learning style, you can work with it to get the most out of
your classes and study time. Table 1.3 “Learning Style Strategies” lists some tips for maximizing
your learning style.
Table 1.3 Learning Style Strategies
Learning
Strategies
Style
When possible, represent concepts visually—in charts, diagrams, or sketches.

Use a visual format for taking notes on reading assignments or lectures.
Use different-colored highlighters or pens to color-code information as you
read.
Visual Use visual organizers, such as maps, flowcharts, and so forth, to help you plan
writing assignments.
Use colored pens, highlighters, or the review feature of your word-processing
program to revise and edit writing.
Use the instructional features in course texts—summaries, chapter review

questions, glossaries, and so on—to aid your studying.
Take notes on your reading assignments.
Rewrite or condense reading notes and lecture notes to study.
Verbal Summarize important ideas in your own words.
Use informal writing techniques, such as brainstorming, freewriting, blogging,
or posting on a class discussion forum to generate ideas for writing assignments.
Reread and take notes on your writing to help you revise and edit.
Ask your instructor’s permission to tape-record lectures to supplement your

notes.
Read parts of your textbook or notes aloud when you study.
If possible, obtain an audiobook version of important course texts. Make use
Auditory of supplemental audio materials, such as CDs or DVDs.
Talk through your ideas with other students when studying or when preparing
for a writing assignment.
Read your writing aloud to help you draft, revise, and edit.
When you read or study, use techniques that will keep your hands in motion,
such as highlighting or taking notes.
Use tactile study aids, such as flash cards or study guides you design yourself.
Use self-stick notes to record ideas for writing. These notes can be physically
Kinesthetic reorganized easily to help you determine how to shape your paper.
Use a physical activity, such as running or swimming, to help you break
through writing blocks.
Take breaks during studying to stand, stretch, or move around.
Tip
The material presented here about learning styles is just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous other
variations in how people learn. Some people like to act on information right away while others reflect on
it first. Some people excel at mastering details and understanding concrete, tried and true ideas while
others enjoy exploring abstract theories and innovative, even impractical ideas. For more information
about how you learn, visit your school’s academic resource center.
Time Management
In college you have increased freedom to structure your time as you please. With that freedom
comes increased responsibility. High school teachers often take it upon themselves to track down
students who miss class or forget assignments. College instructors, however, expect you to take
full responsibility for managing yourself and getting your work done on time.
Getting Started: Short- and Long-Term Planning

At the beginning of the semester, establish a weekly routine for when you will study and write. A
general guideline is that for every hour spent in class, students should expect to spend another
two to three hours on reading, writing, and studying for tests. Therefore, if you are taking a
biology course that meets three times a week for an hour at a time, you can expect to spend six to
nine hours per week on it outside of class. You will need to budget time for each class just like
an employer schedules shifts at work, and you must make that study time a priority.
That may sound like a lot when taking multiple classes, but if you plan your time carefully, it is
manageable. A typical full-time schedule of fifteen credit hours translates into thirty to forty-five
hours per week spent on schoolwork outside of class. All in all, a full-time student would spend
about as much time on school each week as an employee spends on work. Balancing school and
a job can be more challenging, but still doable.
In addition to setting aside regular work periods, you will need to plan ahead to handle more
intense demands, such as studying for exams and writing major papers. At the beginning of the
semester, go through your course syllabi and mark all major due dates and exam dates on a
calendar. Use a format that you check regularly, such as your smartphone or the calendar feature
in your e-mail. (In Section 1.3 “Becoming a Successful College Writer” you will learn strategies
for planning out major writing assignments so you can complete them on time.)
Tip
The two- to three-hour rule may sound intimidating. However, keep in mind that this is only a rule of
thumb. Realistically, some courses will be more challenging than others, and the demands will ebb and
flow throughout the semester. You may have trouble-free weeks and stressful weeks. When you schedule
your classes, try to balance introductory-level classes with more advanced classes so that your work load
stays manageable.
Crystal knew that to balance a job, college classes, and a family, it was crucial for her to get
organized. For the month of September, she drew up a week-by-week calendar that listed not
only her own class and work schedules but also the days her son attended preschool and the days
her husband had off from work. She and her husband discussed how to share their day-to-day
household responsibilities so she would be able to get her schoolwork done. Crystal also made a
note to talk to her supervisor at work about reducing her hours during finals week in December.
Staying Consistent: Time Management Dos and Don’ts

Setting up a schedule is easy. Sticking with it, however, may create challenges. A schedule that
looked great on paper may prove to be unrealistic. Sometimes, despite students’ best intentions,
they end up procrastinating or pulling all-nighters to finish a paper or study for an exam.
Keep in mind, however, that your weekly schedule and semester calendar are time-management
tools. Like any tools, their effectiveness depends on the user: you. If you leave a tool sitting in
the box unused (e.g., if you set up your schedule and then forget about it), it will not help you
complete the task. And if, for some reason, a particular tool or strategy is not getting the job
done, you need to figure out why and maybe try using something else.
With that in mind, read the list of time-management dos and don’ts. Keep this list handy as a
reference you can use throughout the semester to “troubleshoot” if you feel like your schoolwork
is getting off track.
Dos
1. Set aside time to review your schedule or calendar regularly and update or adjust them as
needed.
2. Be realistic when you schedule study time. Do not plan to write your paper on Friday
night when everyone else is out socializing. When Friday comes, you might end up abandoning
your plans and hanging out with your friends instead.
3. Be honest with yourself about where your time goes. Do not fritter away your study time
on distractions like e-mail and social networking sites.
4. Accept that occasionally your work may get a little off track. No one is perfect.
5. Accept that sometimes you may not have time for all the fun things you would like to do.
6. Recognize times when you feel overextended. Sometimes you may just need to get
through an especially demanding week. However, if you feel exhausted and overworked all the
time, you may need to scale back on some of your commitments.
7. Have a plan for handling high-stress periods, such as final exam week. Try to reduce your
other commitments during those periods—for instance, by scheduling time off from your job.
Build in some time for relaxing activities, too.
Don’ts
1. Do not procrastinate on challenging assignments. Instead, break them into smaller,
manageable tasks that can be accomplished one at a time.
2. Do not fall into the trap of “all-or-nothing” thinking: “There is no way I can fit in a three-
hour study session today, so I will just wait until the weekend.” Extended periods of free time are
hard to come by, so find ways to use small blocks of time productively. For instance, if you have
a free half hour between classes, use it to preview a chapter or brainstorm ideas for an essay.
3. Do not fall into the trap of letting things slide and promising yourself, “I will do better
next week.” When next week comes, the accumulated undone tasks will seem even more
intimidating, and you will find it harder to get them done.
4. Do not rely on caffeine and sugar to compensate for lack of sleep. These stimulants may
temporarily perk you up, but your brain functions best when you are rested.
1. Review the preceding list of dos and don’ts.
Writing at Work
If you are part of the workforce, you have probably established strategies for accomplishing job-related
tasks efficiently. How could you adapt these strategies to help you be a successful student? For instance,
you might sync up your school and work schedules on an electronic calendar. Instead of checking in with
your boss about upcoming work deadlines, establish a buddy system where you check in with a friend
about school projects. Give school the same priority you give to work.
Note-Taking Methods
One final valuable tool to have in your arsenal as a student is a good note-taking system. Just the
act of converting a spoken lecture to notes helps you organize and retain information, and of
course, good notes also help you review important concepts later. Although taking good notes is
an essential study skill, many students enter college without having received much guidance
about note taking.
These sections discuss different strategies you can use to take notes efficiently. No matter which
system you choose, keep the note-taking guidelines in mind.
General Note-Taking Guidelines
1. Before class, quickly review your notes from the previous class and the assigned reading. Fixing
key terms and concepts in your mind will help you stay focused and pick out the important points
during the lecture.
2. Come prepared with paper, pens, highlighters, textbooks, and any important handouts.
3. Come to class with a positive attitude and a readiness to learn. During class, make a point of
concentrating. Ask questions if you need to. Be an active participant.
4. During class, capture important ideas as concisely as you can. Use words or phrases instead of
full sentences and abbreviate when possible.
5. Visually organize your notes into main topics, subtopics, and supporting points, and show the
relationships between ideas. Leave space if necessary so you can add more details under important
topics or subtopics.
6. Record the following:
7. Review your notes regularly throughout the semester, not just before exams.
Organizing Ideas in Your Notes

A good note-taking system needs to help you differentiate among major points, related subtopics,
and supporting details. It visually represents the connections between ideas. Finally, to be
effective, your note-taking system must allow you to record and organize information fairly
quickly. Although some students like to create detailed, formal outlines or concept maps when
they read, these may not be good strategies for class notes, because spoken lectures may not
allow time for elaborate notes.
Instead, focus on recording content simply and quickly to create organized, legible notes. Try
one of the following techniques.
Modified Outline Format

A modified outline format uses indented spacing to show the hierarchy of ideas without
including roman numerals, lettering, and so forth. Just use a dash or bullet to signify each new
point unless your instructor specifically presents a numbered list of items.
The first example shows Crystal’s notes from a developmental psychology class about an
important theorist in this field. Notice how the line for the main topic is all the way to the left.
Subtopics are indented, and supporting details are indented one level further. Crystal also used
abbreviations for terms like development and example.
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Teachers spend a lot of time in class working on reading, writing, listening and speaking with
their students. These skills are essential for effective communication and are the areas tested in
many well-known English language examinations.
We may work on a number of these skills within a single lesson, however, we often teach
students to do them in isolation. If we want our learners to become successful communicators,
we need to make the situations as authentic as possible inside the classroom.
To do this we need to use an integrated approach to language learning.
An integrated approach to language learning
This is when we ask the students to use a combination (or all four) of these skills within a single
activity (or series of activities) to create a situation which is much more similar to one they might
come across in the real world.
If you take, for example, a simple telephone conversation. We listen to what the other person is
saying and then reply. We may also need to make a note of something they’ve said, read it back
to make sure it makes sense and then explain it to someone else.
Integrating skills can help students transfer skills, e.g. if students have to read a blog post before
writing their own they’ll become familiar with the structure and content which will help them
write it.
It also allows you to vary your activities in class, creating a more engaging and motivating
experience for students.
How to Integrate the four skills
The four skills can be referred to as Receptive Skills (listening and reading) or Productive Skills
(speaking and writing).
Perhaps the easiest way to start integrating skills in your class is by combining the receptive and
productive skills which are used across the same medium.
Oral medium – Listening and Speaking
Try a simple yet fun activity like Telephone.
Telephone
Level: Any
Grammar: Any
Vocabulary: Any
Skills: Listening and Speaking
Put students into groups (or, if you have a small class, do it as a whole class activity) and tell
them to sit in a circle.
Nominate a student to think of a sentence (ideally related to what you’ve been doing in class).
Have them whisper their sentence to the next person in the circle, who must listen and repeat
what they heard to the person next to them. This continues until they reach the final person in the
group. The last person then has to say out loud what they thought they heard. Finally ask the first
person what their original sentence was and write both on the board and compare them. Deal
with any issues which come up.
Written medium – Reading and Writing
Group story writing
This game works well with all levels and can be used to write funny stories using the target
language of your choice.
First, put students into groups (or if you have a small class do it all together). Hand out a piece of
paper to each student.
Next, read a cue (see an example below) to the students and have them write a sentence at the top
of the paper. They then fold the paper so their sentence is hidden and pass the paper to the person
on their right. Each student should receive a new piece of paper each time they pass it on.
Continue until you’ve read all the cues. At the end of the game each student unfolds their piece
of paper and reads it to the rest of their group. Make the activity more challenging by getting
students to read the story and then retell it to the class without looking. They should then discuss
the stories and decide which one they thought was best.
My last holiday
Level: 1
Grammar: Past simple

Vocabulary: Holidays
Skills: Writing and reading
In this story your students will tell an exciting story about trip they went on. Tell your students to
write in full sentences. If this is too difficult you can give them the start of the sentence, the verb
they need to conjugate or the key vocabulary etc.
Example cues:
Where did you go? The more creative the better. (E.g. I went to the moon).
Fold the paper and pass it to your right.
Who did you go with? (E.g. I went with the Queen of England).
How did you get there? (E.g. We travelled by hot air balloon).
How long did it take? (E.g. It took 5 hours).
Where did you stay? (E.g. We stayed in a tent).
What did you do during the day? (E.g. During the day we played volleyball).
What did you do at night? (E.g. At night we went dancing).
How was your trip? (E.g. We had a great time).
Unfold the paper and read the story to the rest of the group.
When you start to feel more adventurous try to combine all four skills. A good way to do this is
by doing content based learning (where students learn about other subjects like science, history
or geography) using English as the medium of instruction. Task based learning also works well.
Here is an easy activity you can do at the start of a course that combines all four skills and helps
the students learn new things about each other.
About me
Level: A1+
Grammar: Present simple
Vocabulary: Likes and dislikes
Skills: Writing, reading, listening, speaking
Have students write a short introduction (50-70 words) about themselves on a piece of paper.
Include things like where they are from, their likes and dislikes etc. They shouldn’t include their
names.
Collect the papers and distribute at random. Have students read out the information while the
others listen. The students should then guess who they think it is about.
Once they’ve determined who it is, have your students mingle and ask further questions about
each other based on what they heard.
Integrated skills in Pearson Test of English (PTE) General
One of things which sets the PTE General apart from other examinations is that it incorporates
integrated skills.
In Section 2 students are tested on both their listening and writing. They first have to listen to a
recording and then have to write down exactly what they heard. This is something we have to do
in our daily lives and by including it in the exam, it encourages students to practice combining
skills in class.
Sections 7 and 8 also rely on skill integration. Section 7 is a reading activity where students have
to read a text and then complete some notes. In Section 8 they must write a correspondence such
as an email or letter. However, to do so, they need to use the information found in the previous
section.
Sample activity
Here is an example activity you can do to help students practice integrated skills and prepare for
PTE General.
Level: Any (choose text and writing task depending on level)
Grammar: N/A
Vocabulary: N/A
Skills: Reading, listening, writing, speaking
Choose two short texts similar to what might appear in Section 7 of the exam that your students
might be interested in.
Split students into pairs – A and B. Give one text to person A and the other to person B.
Have student A read the text to their partner who has to transcribe it. Remind them to speak
slowly and clearly, pausing when necessary.
Swap so that B reads their text to A who now has to write down what they hear.
Get students to check accuracy by comparing their transcriptions with the original texts. Assist
them and help with difficult vocabulary or other problems.
Next have them briefly discuss each text with their partner, giving their opinion on the content.
Finally, they should write a correspondence like in Section 8 of the exam. This will vary
depending on the text given and the level of the group, however, it should be something like an
email to a friend or a letter of complaint to a hotel manager.
For more information visit the PTE General website and discover the free resources.
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Teaching and Learning

Sample activity
Here is an example activity you can do to help students practice integrated skills and prepare for
PTE General.
Idea Mapping
If you discovered in this section that you learn best with visual presentations, you may prefer to
use a more graphic format for notes, such as an idea map. The next example shows how
Crystal’s lecture notes could be set up differently. Although the format is different, the content
and organization are the same.
Charting
If the content of a lecture falls into a predictable, well-organized pattern, you might choose to use
a chart or table to record your notes. This system works best when you already know, either
before class or at the beginning of class, which categories you should include. The next figure
shows how this system might be used.
YEARS STAGES OF CHILD

THEORIST COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
1. sensorimotor (0-2)
2. preoperational (2-7)
1920s through
3. concrete operational (7-
Jean Piaget Switzerland 12)
1970s
4. formal operational (12-
adulthood)
1. trust vs. mistrust

(infants)
2. autonomy vs. shame
and doubt (toddler)
3. initiative vs. guilt
1930s through (preschool-K)
Denmark (studied in Austria,
Erik Erikson 4. industry vs. inferiority
emigrated to US in 1930s) 1980s (elementary school)
5. identity vs. role
confusion (teen years)
***See also stages of adult

development
The Cornell Note-Taking System
In addition to the general techniques already described, you might find it useful to practice a
specific strategy known as the Cornell note-taking system. This popular format makes it easy not
only to organize information clearly but also to note key terms and summarize content.
To use the Cornell system, begin by setting up the page with these components:
 The course name and lecture date at the top of the page
 A narrow column (about two inches) at the left side of the page
 A wide column (about five to six inches) on the right side of the page
 A space of a few lines marked off at the bottom of the page
During the lecture, you record notes in the wide column. You can do so using the traditional
modified outline format or a more visual format if you prefer.
Then, as soon as possible after the lecture, review your notes and identify key terms. Jot these
down in the narrow left-hand column. You can use this column as a study aid by covering the
notes on the right-hand side, reviewing the key terms, and trying to recall as much as you can
about them so that you can mentally restate the main points of the lecture. Uncover the notes on
the right to check your understanding. Finally, use the space at the bottom of the page to
summarize each page of notes in a few sentences.
Using the Cornell system, Crystal’s notes would look like the following:
Writing at Work
Often, at school or in the workplace, a speaker will provide you with pre-generated notes summarizing
electronic presentation slides. You may be tempted not to take notes at all because much of the content is
already summarized for you. However, it is a good idea to jot down at least a few notes. Doing so keeps
you focused during the presentation, allows you to record details you might otherwise forget, and gives
you the opportunity to jot down questions or reflections to personalize the content.
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SC- ENG2/ Teaching English in the Elementary Grades through Literature

Fundamentals of Language: Grammar and Discourse

English in the World

Assessments of Phonological Awareness

Learner Factor Connections

Verbal Reasoning is important for making inferences to more thoroughly

5 Surefire Strategies for Developing Reading Fluency

Although some compositions do not have separate introductory or concluding

1. Discuss Reading Comprehension

2. Practice What You Preach

3. Discuss Each Assignment

4. Urge Thinking Before Reading

5. Teach Goal Setting

6. Urge Thinking While Reading

Students should be thinking while they’re reading rather than reading

8. Tell Them to Plan Ahead

10. Assign Summaries

1. Use strategies for managing time effectively as a college student.

Understanding Yourself as a Learner

When possible, represent concepts visually—in charts, diagrams, or sketches.

Use the instructional features in course texts—summaries, chapter review

Ask your instructor’s permission to tape-record lectures to supplement your

Getting Started: Short- and Long-Term Planning

Staying Consistent: Time Management Dos and Don’ts

1. Review the preceding list of dos and don’ts.

Organizing Ideas in Your Notes

Modified Outline Format

Resources for English Language Learners and Teachers | Pearson English

English Graded Readers

Pearson English Assessment

Online teaching and learning

Free Classroom Resources

Free Student Resources

Free Teacher Resources

Learn. Prove. Move.

Pearson English Global Teacher Award

Global Scale of English

Sign In & Help

Pearson English Portal

Pearson Practice App

To do this we need to use an integrated approach to language learning.

An integrated approach to language learning

How to Integrate the four skills

Oral medium – Listening and Speaking

Try a simple yet fun activity like Telephone.

Skills: Listening and Speaking

Written medium – Reading and Writing

Group story writing

Grammar: Past simple

Skills: Writing and reading

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.

How long did it take? (E.g. It took 5 hours).

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.

Where did you stay? (E.g. We stayed in a tent).

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.

Fold the paper and pass it to your right.