EDC235_A1_Report (Part 1)

.docx

School

Open Colleges *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

EDC245

Subject

Linguistics

Date

Jan 9, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by ProfOwl3544 on coursehero.com

A1 Report Assessment 1: Report – How do children learn to read? Curtin University EDC235 Teaching Language, Literacy and Literature in Junior Primary 1

A1 Report Table of contents 1. Introduction 2. Behaviourist theory 3. Psycholinguistic Theory 4. Transactional Theory 5. Critical Theories 6. Key Research 7. Oral language and Early literacy experiences 8. Phonemic Awareness 9. Phonics 10. Vocabulary 11. Fluency 12. Comprehension 13. Conclusion 14. References 2

A1 Report How do children learn to read? Introduction With the development of human civilisation and globalisation, language and education became moderate. So, the concept of literacy education now developed into multiliteracies (Anstey & Bull, 2018). Literacy is having at least the basic knowledge and competency in reading and writing the language (Anstey & Bull, 2018). This report will analyse how children learn to read. There are theories and approaches that teachers can include in their pedagogies to help children to learn to read. Behaviourism or bottom-up, psycholinguistics or top-down, transactional, and critical are the four theories of literacy development that can be useful for teaching reading. Behaviourist Theory The bottom-up theory is a root of behaviourist theory as students receive specific stimuli such as textbooks, flashcards, and other aids that help break down the learning reading process (Flint, 2016, p. 109). The bottom-up theory is learning to read in small, individual steps, from simple steps to more complex comprehension (Flint, 2016, p. 109). It emphasises the word learning. So, readers build meaning with letters and words (Flint, 2016, p. 109). Firstly, they recognise the features of letters, link them together to recognise letters, combine letters to identify words, and then carry on to sentences, paragraphs, and the whole text (Vacca et al., 1991, as cited in Budiharso, 2014). Applying this theory lets students continuously practice the parts of the hard process to reach up to automaticity, which makes being able to accurately map letters to sounds for word identification (Flint, 2016, p. 109). Therefore, this strategy is useful for reading and understanding complex texts (Budiharso, 2014, p. 193). Knowing the meaning of the words and combining them to identify the meaning of the phrases, sentences, and paragraphs until understanding the entire meaning of the text will be easy to read and understand a difficult text (Budiharso, 2014, p. 193). However, learners' background and prior experience do not consider in bottom-up theory (Flint, 2016, p. 109). Psycholinguistic Theory The psycholinguistic theory is the study of the bond between linguistic behaviour and psychological processes that includes the language acquisition process (Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 65). It is also known as top-down theory as, firstly, it emphasises the meaning and 3

A1 Report moves to the smaller parts such as letters and sounds (Flint, 2016, p. 114). This is a student- centred approach; this integrates students' needs and interests because background knowledge has a critical role in reading to learn ((Flint, 2016, p. 114). As students have a prior or sufficient knowledge of the text, it will be very useful for them to understand the meaning of the text completely; they will use the cues that they have and predict the printed stimuli (Samuels and Kamil, 1988, as cited in Budiharso, 2014, p. 194). The whole language model is a concept in literacy development that reflects the elements of the top-down theory (Flint, 2016, p. 115). Whole language theory believes that listening, speaking, reading, and writing is interconnected and that each area will promote developments in the other areas (Gooman, 1967; Smith, 1971, as cited in Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 67). The psycholinguistic or top-down theory does not focus on a particular skill, there are no predetermined lessons and assessments, and critical and social issues have minimum attention (Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 67; Flint, 2016, p. 119). Transactional Theory Every reader has a unique individualised reading experience according to their background (Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 63). Therefore, Rosenblatt (1978, as cited in Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 63) extended the transactional or reader response theory. This theory considers the reader's intention, purposes, and situations in the context of reading, and there are no two readers who can read the same (Flint, 2016, p. 117). The transactional theory provides opportunities for social and community attention and uses various genre texts (Tracey & Morrow, 2017, pp. 63-64). Though this theory does not have a specific curriculum to follow, decoding strategies and predetermined assessments, it accepts all interpretations equally (Flint, 2016, p. 117). These can be considered as lacks for this theory. Critical Theories This theory focuses on personal interests and social, historical, and political discourses (Flint, 2016, p. 124). The critical theory requires readers to read the text with a moral (Giroux, 1987, p. 179). Therefore, teachers use texts that can be analysed and involve students in solving real-world issues (Simpson et al., 2012, pp. 30-31). Teachers and students will question how power is exercised and by whom and how (Comber, 2001, as cited in Flint, 2016, p. 124). Following critical theory will be sometimes difficult as finding age-appropriate critical literacy books and prints are very hard to find and address in the classroom (Flint, 2016, p. 127). This theory also does not have a specific curriculum to follow (Flint, 2016, p. 127). 4

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help