Primary language learning and literacy development in children

Progression and Foundation of Language

Concept/topic

Learning of primary language complements skills development; this includes learning about language, as well as learning other subjects in the school curriculum via language. Language learning facilitates general literary skills and allows children to revert to, and strengthen skills and concepts studied through their first language (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Curriculum is enriched by language learning. Teachers as well as children find it fun and challenging, and display enthusiasm towards language; this leads to creation of interested learners and the development of positive attitudes towards learning languages, all throughout one's life. A natural link exists between language and other curricular areas, and this enriches the overall teaching-learning experience. Proficiencies, understanding, and information learned through language contribute greatly to literacy and oracy development in children, as well as to better understanding of one's own and others' cultures. Language is also integral to community and individual identity. Learning a different language can significantly influence children's notions in this key area, while granting them a fresh perspective of their native language (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Oracy: Appropriately teaching speaking/listening skills improves learning abilities and further raises children's standards (Independent Review, n.d.).

Listening: Through language learning, children can:

Acquire phonological skills, especially phonemic understanding for learning familiar as well as unfamiliar sounds;

Associate sounds with gesture, facial expression and mime; this enlivens language and helps in meaning consolidation;

Expand their grasp of how gestures, intonation and volume are applied by speakers of diverse languages;

Gather knowledge on how to gain meaning out of phonic information;

Have the opportunity to develop listening skills for gist as well as detail;

Brush up and enhance fundamental discrete listening abilities, for instance, looking at the speaker, ignoring any distractions, anticipating what may be said, utilizing the context for better understanding; (The National Strategies Primary, 2009)

Become exposed to different listening text genres (informational as well as interpersonal) and learn to discuss strategies for handling them;

Know the value and significance of repetitive text-listening to acquire a clearer picture of the text's content. This fosters diligence and determination in attaining an aim;

Develop skills to comprehend and execute both straight-forward and complex directions and commands (through a series of distinct messages);

Handle the unknown, such as unfamiliar content or language. Children can acquire the essential skill, in reading comprehension, of seeking familiar language in unfamiliar content and can consequently decipher the unfamiliar and unknown.

Language learning is especially beneficial and suited to students with special educational needs (SEN), and students who have English as an Additional Language (EAL). They can make the most of the targeted support and assistance offered to facilitate an understanding of foreign language listening texts (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Speaking: This forms the base in literacy development. By language learning, children can repeat sounds, form sentences/phrases, and converse in simple language (The National Strategies Primary, 2009). Through language learning, children can:

Understand that different sounds exist in different languages (French 'r', Spanish 'j', and German 'ich/ach'). This broadens their linguistic repertory;

Learn how important intonation, pronunciation and a language's informal and formal use are;

Become aware of the need to pronounce words distinctly and precisely for effective communication;

Develop significant presentation skills, and gain information on the importance of eye contact, demonstration and voice modulation;

Discuss and practice the non-verbal aspect of communication, which is an integral part of oral interactions;

Develop speaking skills, beginning from one-word responses and small phrases and going on to speak complete sentences involving subordinate clauses, ultimately being able to state small paragraphs involving connectives;

Gain the opportunity of role creation and sustaining, and scripting as well as enacting stories and plays (The National Strategies Primary, 2009)

Employ language in specific contexts, at first, and later personalize and employ it more creatively and freely;

Memorize material, including words, chants, short dialogues, songs and presentations, which forms a natural facet of learning;

Recognize the 'power of language', interact with natives, and come to the realization that native speakers can understand, get impacted by, and respond to their utterances;

Be encouraged to orally experiment with language without immediately being pressurized to be grammatically accurate (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Literacy: Oracy development is bolstered by, and supports reading/writing skills. Children understand the relation between graphemes and phonemes, and apply them in spelling and reading (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Reading: Children read, comprehend and enjoy various forms of electronic and paper texts, like poems, messages and stories, and can compare text styles and forms of different cultures and nations (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Writing: Developing writing skills in new languages supports and complements listening, reading, and speaking as children understand the language's writing system, structure, and spelling. During the initial new-language learning phase, writing may comprise accurate copying, writing words/phrases through recall (particularly words having accented characters), and labeling of items. Other approaches and templates, from initial foundation stage writing as well as key stage 1 activities, that primary teachers are familiar with are often useful in supporting learning and ensuring precision. Children write short pieces of text and small sentences from memory or by using a model/frame (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

f. Introduction/anticipatory set

A set induction / anticipatory set is also referred to as an attention-grabbing 'hook'. At this stage, statements and actions of teachers are aimed at relating student experiences to lesson objectives. The teacher, at this point, gets children in a responsive mood. One crucial thing attained here is grabbing the attention of students not concentrating on learning, by employing interesting, lesson-related activities. Furthermore, this phase can make students ready, or keen, to know what comes next. This can only be achieved by piquing children's interest, or else quite the opposite outcome will be seen.

Utilizing the "Hook":

Challenging questions

Picture- Cartoon

Reviewing previous lesson

Employing unexpected/attention-grabbing statements

Story

Referring children to particular visuals/thinking maps/graphic organizers (Anticipatory Set/Hook, n.d.)

For set induction, students can be made to:

State synonyms for extremely common words, when one aims at improving descriptive writing

Formulate word problems for numerical problems, when one aims at making children practice meaningful computation

Revise the key concepts of the previous lesson, upon which more elaboration will be done today

Express ways in which a skill may come of use in everyday life, when one aims to make children fluent in that skill (Anticipatory Set/Hook, n.d.).

g. Step-by-step procedures

Lesson 1

Speaking and Listening:

From the onset of gaining education, students are always urged to hear and speak. Children are provided opportunities for individual, group, class, and school-level discussions, and presenting/articulating ideas. They will:

Be faced with numerous activities, audiences, and settings, aimed at creating confidence, precision, and competence in listening and speaking.

Acquire vocabulary and oral skills based on their own level

Acquire skills in comprehension and listening through various activities

Become capable of articulating opinions and feelings, and frame suitable responses to highly complex questions and directions (The National Strategies Primary, 2009)

Lesson 2

Reading

Teachers actively urge children to immerse themselves in reading different types of books, newspapers etc., as a hobby, and for obtaining information, as well as to broaden, practice and explore vocabulary. Students will:

Engage in pre-reading activities and games for developing skills required to learn reading.

Learn various reading approaches like phonics, context and picture clues, and recognizing whole words for obtaining a meaning from text.

Read out of a foundation level reading scheme and core texts, along with an assortment of books of different genres and appropriate level of vocabulary.

Leaf through, enjoy, and share the reading experience with friends and family, in addition to read-aloud classes with teachers. Daily reading of books with adults, even for short durations of time, are crucial to confident, effective reading (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Lesson 3

Writing

All teachers endeavor to ensure that students enjoy the process of writing and consider it fun, educational and creative. Writing develops together with listening, speaking and reading skills. Pupils, at every level, can gain access to writing models across various media and genres for developing the skill. Apart from compositional skills, children are also taught spelling, grammar, and handwriting for becoming successful writers (The National Strategies Primary, 2009). All students enrolled into school come with different writing ability levels; teachers, however, endeavor to coach all kids in the following skills:

Using writing in the form of a learning aid and for recording personal experiences with many curricular activities.

Employing a range of forms suited to the purpose, context and audience.

Delving into writing through discussions in an encouraging environment

Taking part in thinking that goes with structuring compositions, making language choices, and reflecting on the effectiveness and suitability of a specific word/phrase to a context.

Achieving independent high-quality writing and presenting a composition that portrays care, pride and thought (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

h. Assessment

This offers information on students' knowledge, understanding and ability levels, and what comes next with regards to their skill development. This forms a part of regular teaching-learning practice. Suitable material for summative term-wise judgments on student's performance and progress is also provided by the school (The National Strategies Primary, 2009). Subject leaders' role includes:

Developing, promoting and ensuring that the language policy is implemented all over the school.

Staying updated with national and local programs and developments.

Tracking, supporting and assessing language development planning and teaching, as well as curriculum progression and continuity.

Monitoring and tracking attainment and progress according to national-level expectations, determining and achieving targets, and further steps to guarantee student achievement to their utmost capacity.

Heading staff's professional development via modeling, training and support

Allocating staff and resources, in line with school budget, for attaining policy goals (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

i. Technology integration

Digital Storytelling Projects

The aim of these projects is utilizing digital video editing and photography for enhancing the process of writing, giving students' an impression of having their work seen by an audience. Students script digital stories, combining words and images, thereby becoming storytellers. The main ingredient in this video-based activity is storytelling, with students incorporating their thoughts, knowledge and life experiences into their stories. The script (written narrative) forms a key component in the project (Tai, 2014).

Using Technology in Performance Assessment

Here, rubrics are employed for students to (1) have a clear outline of how their assignments are evaluated and graded, and (2) complete specific tasks or attain specific goals for achieving a certain score, level or grade. New teachers may be requested to formulate assignments with rubrics, thus gaining an opportunity to employ this assessment type with their students (Developing Lessons with Technology, n.d.).

j. Adaptations and extensions

Intercultural tolerance and language competence are essential to all citizens and to classroom language learning. Children understand their lives better by exploring that of others. They view things from others' perspective, and gain an insight into other individuals' traditions and cultures. They also recognize differences and similarities between people, their lives, morals and beliefs. These objectives can also be incorporated into language learning curricula, or may be separately taught. Good teaching in the language context involves teaching children to oppose racism and value diversity. Teachers can create opportunities for children to grasp and value cultural diversity, as well as expand one's view on one's culture. Children who are linguistically-able aren't necessarily bilingual; bilinguals usually have good oral skills, however, they may not be very adept at writing the languages spoken by them (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).

Many students learning EAL display the abilities cited in the above paragraph, but might not be linguistically able; often, support is required for becoming bilingual. Nevertheless, some children may display linguistic talents. Empirical evidence proves that students enjoy language learning and make good, visible progress. New language learning can result in positive academic achievements, according to various Ofsted reports. Even learning the basics of a language helps in linguistic progress and development, and children begin demonstrating new skills; e.g. pronunciation improvement, listening and reading improvement, greater general awareness of languages through opportunities to revisit and strengthen concepts of the first language, etc. Research shows that students can fare at new languages with the same linguistic and conceptual levels as they do in their native language; this facilitates general development of linguistic abilities (The National Strategies Primary, 2009).