Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Xiangfeng Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Enshi Tujiazu Miaozu Zizhizhou? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
ITTT 120 hr. Summative task. I have a keen personal interest in ‘remedial’ education with a specific focus on the causes of, and solutions to ‘learning difficulties’. I would like to expand on this subject during my diploma course, but felt that this task could be a precursor to the ‘main’ task/thesis, later. How can reading influence language acquisition? What are the barriers to language acquisition and reading and what are the remedies? It is an overwhelming fact that reading prowess in any class or any language is absolutely essential for academic success and therefore exponentially expands language acquisition in students of any age, ranging from young pre-schoolers to post graduates. It is always easier to understand more of a language when you are able to use active speech (reading/writing or expressive language), as well as amassing passive vocabulary. (Receptive language) This applies to EFL, ESL as well as one’s mother tongue. What are the barriers? Language Problems: Quite simply put, it is not possible to read a book with comprehension and understanding, if your knowledge of the language is poor. Similarly, the analogy of, crawling before walking would apply and can be described as a stratified process, by which it is commonly accepted, that a person starts the education process at the lowest grade and gradually progresses to a higher grade. The only way to achieve improved reading, would be to improve the student’s command of the English language. If this is not achieved, reading will not improve. Even a child will not develop language acquisition ‘naturally’, or its knowledge grow automatically, unless there are certain ‘stimuli’ present. The stimulus, is supplied at a very young age, normally by the parents, who talk to the child, stimulating its auditory senses, an essential cognitive skill. A child learns a language quicker by hearing language structures and phrases, repeatedly, increasing its passive vocabulary, by constant repetition. Reading Problems: As mentioned previously, reading skills are acquired by a stratification process, however, there are some indicators which would essentially be indicative of reading difficulties and possibly a language problem. Typical reading ‘disabilities’, will include (but not limited to): • Difficulty distinguishing foreground from background letters, • Difficulty differentiation between letter forms • Inability to perceive different parts of words as a whole • Unable to distinguish for eg. ‘b’ from ‘d’, ‘p’ from ‘q’ etc. • Confusion with capital and lower case letters. These indicate a lack of developed ‘cognitive skills’, which besides, language skills, form the foundation s of reading. Cognitive skills problem: Briefly, there are many cognitive skills for learning success, but the four main ones are as follows: “Cognition” is described as a ‘process of knowing’. By mainstream belief, no human being is able to do anything he/she has not learned. (Excluding natural biological functions like breathing and involuntary functions such as closing one’s eyelids etc. All cognitive skills have to be taught. Typical Cognitive skills Concentration Concentration is by and large a bodily function, which is not taught, however, what has to be taught, is the ability to ‘focus’ attention for a prolonged period of time Perception This is the ability to process and interpret what has been learned before, generally owing to some exposure to ‘experience’. Processing speed also plays a role, or how long it takes to do something. Memory Memory takes many forms. This can be short term memory, visual memory, auditory memory, ‘habit’ memory, receptive memory, working memory (holding some facts in memory while solving another problem) etc. Logical thinking Being able to structure information (to make sense of) and process it using reasoning, to arrive at a logical conclusion. Auditory processing Auditory processing is to interpret, and organise information that has been heard through the ears and make sense of it. Some auditory problems include difficulty in distinguishing words and sounds, by ‘blending’ them together. Another is to ‘cut out’ background sound, but this is also a function of concentration. Remedies available for improving language acquisitions and reading I would suggest that activities are applied that improve and enhance cognitive learning skills, that stimulate creativity, memory activities, teaches students to apply logic. The main stimulus should be, remembering, understanding, applying, evaluating and creating. Remembering activities: • Memory activities or games, to recall previous lessons or reciting poetry • Mnemonics (memory techniques) ‘Understanding’ activities: • Techniques to understand content quickly like debates or a point of view • Classifying information by events, interpretation or categories Applying Problem-solving activities to ensure students apply what they have learned using the specific skills that they have learned, by • Let students ‘invent’ their own game • Students must solve problems and demonstrate their interpreted procedures to the class Evaluating These activities will be focused on their ability to analyse their judgment calls based on the previous activity criteria. • Compiling pros and cons list • Creating a questionnaire for other students to answer about their activity • Creation of a demonstration graph Creating Since the focus is on the outcome of cognitive learning, a demonstration of creativity, would be an ideal activity to undertake. These might be: • Write a manual or guidebook demonstrating important information • writing an original poem High Frequency words Studies have shown that English can be mastered by learning a number of high frequency words. Qoute”According to Robert Hillerich, “Just three words I, and, the account for 10 percent of all words in printed English.” Dr. Edward Fry et al. (The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists, 2000) state that the 25 most common words make up about one-third of our written material, while the 100 most common words actually make up about 50 percent of the material we read. The Fry Sight Words list is a more modern list of words than the well-known Dolch list, and was extended to capture the most common 1,000 words.” This may be a useful tool for progressive understanding, and consist of 1000, most frequently used words in English. References: Coles, G. S., The Learning Mystique (New York: Pantheon Books). Bartoli, J. S., “An ecological response to Coles’s interactivity alternative,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, vol. 22(5), 292-297. Kronick, D., New Approaches to Learning Disabilities. Cognitive, Metacognitive and Holistic (Philadelphia: Grune & Stratton), 6. Lerner, J., Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies (4th ed.), (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company), 173. Lipa, S. E., “Reading disability: A new look at an old issue,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, vol. 16(8), 453-457. Mursell, J. L., Successful Teaching (2nd ed.), (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.), 210-211. Forness, S. R., Kavale, K. A., Blum, I. M., & Lloyd, J. W. (1997). Mega-analysis of meta analysis: What works in special education and related services. Teaching Exceptional Children, 29 (6) , 4-9. Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (1990). Mnemonic instruction for students with learning disabilities: What it is and what is does. Learning Disability Quarterly, 13, 271-280.
