Modul PPG PKB3105 - Bab 4

7/30/2019 Modul PPG PKB3105 - Bab 4

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PKB 3105 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY

TOPIC 4READING SKILLS

2HRS

SYNOPSIS

Students are exposed to the definition and concept of reading here. Apart

from that students will find out about factors affecting reading readiness,

basic reading skills , how to assess reading ability as weil as techniques

for teaching reading and remedial reading problems.

LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this topic, you will be able to :

1. Understand the definition and concept of reading

2. Explain the factors which affect reading readiness

3. Describe the basic reading skills

4. Assess reading ability for classroom reading instruction

5. Describe and use techniques for teaching reading and remediating

reading problems

TOPIC FRAMEWORK

1

Reading Skills

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

4.4 Assessing Reading Ability for Classroom ReadingInstruction

4.3 Basic Reading Skills

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and

remediating reading problems

4.1 Definition and concept of reading


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READING SKILLS

4.0 Introduction

Before you go through this topic, bare in mind that teaching

reading to pupils with learning difficulties requires the application

of specialised instructional approaches. As such you have to be

well informed about the approaches given in the module and

from other sources.

Reading should be regarded as one aspect of an integrated

programme of language development which includes speaking,

writing and spelling. Therefore, reading should not be thought ofas an isolated skill.

4.1 Definition and concept of reading

Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a

complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources

of information (Anderson et al., 1985).

Reading is also the process of constructing meaning through the dynamic

interaction among: (1) the reader's existing knowledge; (2) the information

suggested by the text being read; and (3) the context of the reading

situation (Wixson, Peters, Weber, & Roeber, 1987, citing the new definition

of reading for Michigan).

Older, mechanistic definitions of reading as the translation of printed

symbols into oral language equivalents are incomplete, given the progress

made in understanding the nature of the reading process. There is

widespread agreement that without the activation of relevant prior

knowledge by a cognitively active reader and the melting of that prior

knowledge with the text information, there can be no readingof text. Even

definitions of reading that emphasize meaning indicate that reading is

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activated by print. The reader must be able to translate the written words

into meaningful language. Virtually all four- and five-year-old children can

communicate with and learn from oral language, but very few can read,

because they lack the ability to identify printed words. While simply being

able to recognize or "say" the printed words of text without constructing the

meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from written text

is impossible without being able to identify the words.

The terms word identification, word recognition, and decodingare

frequently used interchangeably. The new Literacy Dictionary(Harris &

Hodges, 1995) defines both word recognition and word identification as

"the process of determining the pronunciation and some degree ofmeaning of an unknown word" (pp. 282-283). For words that are in a

reader's meaning vocabulary, unlocking the pronunciation leads to the

word's meaning. If a printed word is not in a reader's meaning vocabulary,

word-identification skills may allow access to the pronunciation of the word,

but not its meaning. Being able to arrive at the pronunciation of a printed

word constitutes word identification in the most minimal sense; however, if

the reader is unable to attach meaning to the word, then he or she has not

read the word, since reading must end in meaning construction.

4.2 Factors affecting reading readiness

Before carrying out formal reading instruction,always make sure

that your pupils are ready to learn because the development of

reading skills begins at the readiness stage and continues untilreading competency has been achieved.

According to Savage and Mooney, (1979) reading readiness has

been defined as a state of maturity and development that will

allow a person to begin to learn to read. Some of the factors

contributing to reading readiness are:

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1. Physical factors children should have acquired vision,

hearing, speech and coordination at a level that allows them

to adequately see, hear, speak, manipulate print, and deal

with the type of instruction that they will encounter. Most

commonly associated with reading readiness are visual and

auditory acuity, eye-hand coordination, large and small

muscle development and generally sound health.

2. Emotional factors the children should also have attained a

certain measure of personal confidence and security, and the

ability to maintain attention, to stick with a task until

completion, to work independently, to accept responsibility,

and to adjust well to a learning situation. These factors also

include social readiness, that is, a willingness to participate

in social activities, the ability to work well with others, to

cooperate, and to share responsibility in a learning task.

3. Intellectual factors the abilities of perception and thinking

play a role as a readiness factor. Perception involves an

awareness of similarities and differences in the size, shape,

orientation, color and other relationships in objects and visual

symbols. It also involves an awareness of auditory stimuli,

the ability to recognize similarities, differences, and

relationships in sounds, and the recognition of separate

sounds in spoken words. At the readiness stage, children are

trained in the ability to interpret pictures and experiences to

recall ideas and details to see relationships and predict

outcomes, to think logically and reasonably and to grasp

ideas. Since language and thinking are so closely tied

together, cognition also includes the ability to know the

meaning of words, to understand and interpret verbal

messages, to express thoughts and to otherwise manipulate

verbal concepts.

4. Linguistics factors these are factors related to language

power and language thinking. Language power deals with the

language codes learning letter names and sounds.

Language thinking factors are developed through oral

language activities such as show and tell, discussion,

listening exercises, poetry and story telling, creative

dramatics, conscious vocabulary development, conversation,

and all the other formal and informal encounters with

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language that are typically a regular part of a childs early

educational experience.

5. Experience background experience is highly important in

providing interests and knowledge upon which the teaching

of reading can be based. A child who has been to manyplaces and seen many things, listened to stories and retold

them to others, witnessed reading as an important part of the

lives of those around him will likely be more pbysically,

emotionally, intellectually and linguistically ready to read.

4.3 Basic reading skills

Now that you know what reading readiness is, make sure that

your pupils are ready before you proceed with the teaching of

basic reading skills which are described below:

4.3.1 Word recognition skills allows the reader to

instantaneously identify words upon visual contact.

The child learns to recognise a word by sight and to

attach meaning to that word by seeing it over and

over.

4.3.2 Word analysis is an essential part of the act of

reading and an important component in reading

instruction. We usually analyze words that we dont

recognise to get the pronunciation and meaning.

These word analysis or word attack skills are

phonetic analysis and structural analysis.

4.3.3 Phonetic analysis is the process of analyzing

unknown words on the basis of letter sound

relationships in the words. Phonics begins at the

readiness stage with an awareness of separate

sounds in spoken words and a knowledge of the

written symbols that represent these sounds.

4.3.4 Structural analysis is a natural process of

expanding knowledge of words both identification

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and meaning. Structural analysis usually begins

with the identification of independent word parts in

compound words. It extends to the recognition of

other meaningful units from which words are built

roots and affixes (word endings, prefixes, and

suffixes).

4.3.5 Comprehension the ability to derive meaning and

understanding from printed language is the

consummation of the act of reading. Since

language is a tool of communication, and

communication involves the reception as well as

the expression of ideas,then the act of reading is

not complete until comprehension has taken place

4.4 Assessing reading ability for classroom readinginstruction

In order to assess your pupils achievement level, you must

know the different types of assessment measures for reading

ability. An assessment of the pupils current reading ability can

point to specific strengths and weaknesses and aid the teacher

in planning instructional objectives. To obtain a valid

assessment of the pupils reading abilities, the teacher should

use a variety of assessment procedures.

For discussion purposes, assessment can be either formal or

informal. Do not worry if in some books the classification

appears to be contradictory or confusing. The most important

thing is that you know how to assess your pupils reading ability

correctly

4.4.1 Formal assessment

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Examples of formal assessment are:

Standardized Achievement and ReadingSurvey Tests

Diagnostic Tests

Criterion-Referenced Tests

Normed-referenced Tests

4.4.2 Informal assessment

Examples of informal assessment are:

Teacher Observations

Graded word Lists

Cloze Procedure

Teacher-made Tests

Informal reading Inventory

4.5 Techniques for teaching reading and remediatingreading problems

When teaching pupils with reading problems, it is often

necessary to adapt developmental programs to meet their

needs, such as changing the sequence, providing additional

practice activities, and modifying the input-output arrangements

of selected tasks. Developmental reading approaches

emphasize sequential instruction on a daily basis.

We are discussing the following approaches in this module:

4.5.1 Basal reading approach

A basal reading program is a core reading program that is used to

teach children to read. The term "basal" comes from the word

"base," as the program acts as the basis for the lessons that teach

children reading skills.

Many teachers use a basal reading series as the core reading

program. The content is based upon common experiences and

interests of the children. A basal series systematically presents

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reading skills in word recognition, comprehension, and word

attack, and it controls the vocabulary from level to level.

4.5.2 Phonics approach

A phonic approach to reading is an approach that teaches the

relation of the letters (graphemes) to the sounds (phonemes) they

represent to teach reading. (Halvorson 1992) This approach

emphasizes word recognition through learning grapheme-

phoneme associations. Phonics should be taught directly,

through demonstration of how the strategy is used to decode a

word. After learning the sounds of vowels, consonants, and

blends the child learns to sound out words by combining sounds

and blending them into words. Thus the child learns to recognize

unfamiliar words by associating speech sounds with letters or

groups of letters. The learning of phonics should be a realistic

experience. The phonics approach can be added to a basal

reading approach as well as the language experience approach

as soon as learners have mastered a basic sight vocabulary of

about 50-100 words.There are two phonics methods; the synthetic and the analytic

methods. Using the synthetic method the sounds are taught in

isolation, they learn that the letter represents a certain sound, for

example b = buh, and must then learn to blend the sounds to form

words or, in other words, synthesize. The analytical method, on the

other hand, teafhes the sound as part of a word, for example, b as

in bat. The learners learn the new words as the phonic elements are

introduced to them. Although the two phonic approaches differ, the

end result is the same, as they teach the learner word-attack skills

based on a grapheme-phoneme approach. Using this approach a

learner will soon be able to read independently.

There are a few disadvantages to the phonics approach. Some

learners may struggle to combine and blend the sounds into words.

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Learners may focus so much on the pronunciation of words that

comprehension of the sentence or paragraph is lost. The exceptions

to the basic phonic rules may also confuse learners.

However, beginning readers may find the use of phonics in their

reading very helpful. It can also be used as a support technique if a

learner has sufficient sight vocabulary, but finds it difficult to

analyze.

It will be helpful if you can do some research for the connection

between the words and the sounds.

4.5.3 Linguistic approach

This approach emphasizes decoding changing the printed

words into verbal communication. Words are taught in word

families and only as wholes and does not use exercises in

sounding and blending.

The linguistic approach differs from the phonics approach in that

linguistic readers focus on words instead of isolated sounds. It

differs from the basal reading approach in that linguistic

instruction places emphasis first on breaking the writtenlanguage code before meaning and comprehension are

considered.

4.5.4 Language Experience approach

This approach integrates the development of reading skills with

the development of listening, speaking and writing skills. In this

approach, the language patterns of the reading materials are

determined by the childs speech, and the content is determined

by his experiences. The teacher tries to broaden and enrich the

childs base of experiences from which he can think, speak, and

read. Eventually, with help, the child can write his own stories.

4.5.5 Individualized Reading approach

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Each child selects his own reading material according to his

interests and ability and progresses at his own rate. The

teachers role is to diagnose and prescribe. The success of the

program depends on the teachers resourcefulness and

competence. Individual work may be supplemented with group

activities using basal readers and workbooks in order to provide

practice on specific reading skills.

4.5.6 Multi-sensory approach

This approach is also known as VAKT (visual-audio-kinestatic-

tactile) method. In learning a word the child sees the word,

hears the word, says the word, hears himself saying the word

and feels the muscle movement and tactile surface under his

finger as he traces the word.

4.5.7 Rebus approach

A rebus can be a method of helping involve young children in the

act of reading, as well as two types of puzzle in which letters, words,

and pictures are combined to convey a phrase or sentence. A rebus

is a variation on apun. In a pun, the sound and/or meaning of two

words is made into a play on words. In a rebus, the pun is created

by using pictures to evoke a sound that is identical or similar to a

word or word part.

The rebus offers a way to enable children to help read a story

before they can decipher print. In this type of story, a picture of, say,an apple, a cat, or a bird some simple object that the child can

identify and name is substituted for the word, so the child can

read that part of the story.

The Rebus equations are often found in childrens pastime and

puzzle books, one form of a rebus appears in an equation form. In

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this kind of rebus, you will find examples like: F + [picture of an ear]

=. You add the sound characteristically made by the letterFto the

sound of the word earto make the word fear.

Notice that this kind of rebus focuses on the sound of the word,

rather than the spelling. So if you saw F + [picture of an eye] =, you

would be intended to gatherfie, not feye which is not an English

word. Benjamin Franklin used this kind of writing, without the plus

and minus signs, in his brief article, The Art of Making Money

Plenty in Every Mans Pocket.

In rebus puzzles, it is common to find

8 forate or a syllable with that sound

4 forfor, and

2 forto ortoo.

So, you can have:

gr + 8 = great

4 + T = fort

2 + L = tool

To this extent, the rebus has some common ground with texting

language, also known as txtortxtspk, but while texting language

employs these devices to save space when communicating on, for

example, mobile phones, rebuses use them for entertainment.

Other popular rebus pictures include:

a honey bee for the sound /be/

a hand saw for the sound /saw/

a knot in a rope for the sound /not/

a sheep for the sound /ewe/

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an open food can for the sound /can/

R for the sound /are/

Besides the puzzles, there are rebuses that convey meanings by

the way words are arranged on the page.

HEAD

HEELS

shows the phrase head over heels.

SAILING

CCCCCCC

means sailing on the seven seas.

This is a way that rebuses are enjoyed after childhood is past.

A picture or a symbol of the printed word is used in the reading

material instead of certain printed words.

4.6 Remediating Reading Problems

Before we plan any remedial reading programme, it would help

for us to know what are the contributing factors to reading

problems.

4.6.1 Contributing factors to reading problems

a. Physical factors

Visual defects ...a child with poor sight will have

difficulty identifying details of the printed word.. Goldberg

et al(1983) in Kerk & Chalfant (1985)

Hearing defects major factors here are auditory

discrimination, auditory closure and auditory sound

blending.

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b. Developmental psychological factors

Language if a child does not acquire language he will

have difficulty in learning to interpret the printed page

Attention if a child is unable to concentrate on the

printed page he will have difficulty learning to read

Auditory functions

Visualization or visual memory the ability to reproduce

visual materials from memory will affect reading ability.

Closure the term is used to indicate the response to

familiar items from which a part has been omitted. Closure

can be either visual or auditory.

c. Relationship of contributing factors

Reading, writing and spelling disabilities cannot be

consistently explained by any one of the contributing

factors or developmental learning disabilities alone.

Studies have contradictory results because physical,

environmental, and psychological characteristics of

children with difficulties cannot be isolated from the

method used in teaching them to read.

Children with difficulties in reading, writing and spelling can often be

helped when a method is found that matches the childs abilities,

ameliorates the deficit in the task of reading or compensates for the

particular deficit.

Remediating reading problems should involve:

The development of reading readiness

The acquisition of a sight vocabulary of meaningful useful

words

The development of independent reading aided by the use of

phonic analysis and other word recognition techniques

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The development of speedy, relaxed, silent reading for content

and ideas

Reference:

Halvorson, Marian A. 1992.Literacy and lifelong learning for women. Part of

UNESCO series on literacy in development. New York: Intermedia. 124 pages.

Exercise 1:

... no single approach to teaching beginning reading is

successful with all children...

a. Discuss and list down the possible advantages

and disadvantages of each approach.

b. Discuss other possible approaches to teach pupils

to read.

Exercise 2:

Discuss the different types of assessemnt for reading

skills. Describe one way of testing in detail. Administer

the test and write a report of the results.

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Modul PPG PKB3105 - Bab 4