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    Teaching Reading and Writing in English

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    Teaching Reading and Writing in English

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    INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE EDUCATION: The Nigerian Perspective 2019 Copyright © oye. Esther N. Oluikpe Edited hy: E: TSBN:978-978-97 7-3 78"9 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ; ; No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transm; or reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopy, photograph, magnetic, OF other record, or otherwise without the prior agreement and written permission of the copyright owner. ited, ames and logos referred to herein are trademarks oy ir Many of the product ni ective owners. registered trademarks of their resp Published by: SPAKKLE SPAKK & SPAKKLE LTD. 69 Obiagu Road, By Afia Nine Bus Stop, Ogui New Layout, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria. [email protected] +234 (0)8037417131 Printed in Nigeria CHAPTER 13 ra TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH Ngozi U. Emelogu ABSTRACT This chapter examines how to teach reading and writing at three basic levels of learning — lower primary, upper primary and secondary level. The strategies to use at these levels are articulated. In addition, the chapter examines how to assess reading and writing at the three basic levels of learning. The chapter concludes by encouraging teachers to be flexible in the use of the reading and writing strategies in order to achieve the ultimate goal in the teaching and learning process -- learners’ independence in the use of these literacy skills. Keywords: Teaching reading skill, teaching writing skill, assessment of reading, assessment of writing, teaching literacy skills 13.1. INTRODUCTION Reading is an active communication process between the reader and the text through the print media. It is a thinking process that requires giving accurate meaning to words using sets of skills that involves eye movement, speech, comprehension and vocabulary. Reading is a means by which one can access the world of ideas and feelings as well as the knowledge of ages and visions of the future (Karami, 2008, p.2). It is an invisible form of internal soliloquy where the reader decodes and assigns appropriate meaning to the information being read. Most importantly, reading is the foundation of all learning. AAL (2007) as cited in Moreillon, (2014) quipped that ‘the degree to which students can read and understand text in all formats and all contexts is a key indicator of success in school and in life’ (p.1). Reading creates a positive platform for writing to spring up. The input from reading is made visible in writing. 325 PART TWO: PEDAGOGica, ‘oy y LED, e and, writing is mental aa ation Of ji leas, * i al. i involves the psychomotor, and graphic Ski. are Sean assembling the chaotic ideas in the hur rehendib te mn intangible ia nature and making them tangible in a comp! 2a aOR ‘anner, Nazario Borchers and Lewis (2010) define Ma a and sha oF thinking. * ry « new ‘ares the, " hicle through which one learns ¢ pf wit others Writing could be defined from either technical op cogniin perspectives. Taylor's (1973) definitions capture the two Perspectives of writing. According to Taylor: 326 On the other h Writing is the technical skill of actively forming letters in recognizable outline and _ assembling them — into conventional word units, with spaces in between (a separation which does not occur in speech) and keeping these units in reasonably straight lines so that they do not obliterate each other and the question of ultimately Phy separating collection of word unit with one of the ft punctuation marks. The second element is the aspect of i writing which involves original composition-- thinking of babel something to write, finding the words in one's vocabulary, solving the problem of discovering how to write them, and finally putting them together so that they express one's intention and are intelligible to the writer and to another reader (p. 87) Apparently, this definition highlights the four sub-skills that are interwoven in writing skill. These skills are the technical skill, mechanical skill, Cognitive skill and the linguistic skill. A teacher of English language needs to be equipped with the methods, strategies and techniques that facilitate mastery of this life skill in learners. Writing '8 a lifelong skill due to its importance in learners’ academic and ve life. This is the only skill that gives a learner a voice within and ours ‘ tis or her immediate environment. It is a skill that positions oT vintage point to share knowledge. Writing makes one visible though the Writer's corner may be very invisible. oo ! TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 327 Against the background of the definitions of both reading and writing, the purposes of this chapter are: «to examine how reading is taught and assessed in the three basic level of learning-- lower primary, upper primary, and secondary ¢ to examine how writing is taught and assessed in the three basic levels of learning-- lower primary, upper primary, and secondary. Traditionally, the discussion implies the examination of appropriate methods and techniques in the teaching of reading and writing. Because the 21st Century is regarded as a postmethod era in language pedagogy, we may gain some insights from the conclusion drawn in chapter 9 of this book. The chapter concludes as follows: Advances in ICT have transformed the 21st century into a knowledge-based economy (see chapter 15 for knowledge- based economy). This transformation has consequences on education in the 21st century. The goal of education in this century is the transmission of knowledge required to make us self-reliant citizen equipped to engage in economically useful ventures. This goal of education also has consequences on language pedagogy. Focus on approaches and methods have been found to be inadequate to achieve the educational objectives in the 21st century. Consequently, there is a paradigm shift away from approaches and methods to embrace teaching strategies as the most effective pedagogical means to realize the goal of education. Based on this development, the discussion in this chapter on approaches and methods serves as historical facts of language pedagogy. It also serves to sensitize readers to current thinking in language pedagogy. With this development, the focus of language pedagogy in the teaching of reading and writing will shift from methods to strategies. 13.2. TEACHING READING The teaching of reading is discussed under the following subheadings: 328 PART TWo: PEDAGOGICAL ta . LED ge © Teaching Reading at the lower primary level ¢ Teaching Reading at the upper primary and secondary level 13.2.1 Teaching Reading at the Lower Primary Levey 1. Identification Strategy This is the oldest strategy in the teaching of readin, primary level. In this strategy, learners are made to Fecognize be phe alphabets in association with pictures of objects which Tepresent j lish of letters and their sounds. They read these letters until the can id ters them either in isolation or in words. Gradually, they arg aaa identify simple words like two letter words, three letter Wo to (http://www.americanliteracy.com) ds 2. Sound/Letter Strategy Teachers guide learners to think of the sounds that are associated with the letters. This strategy emphasizes on the Acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading and Spelling. It is believed that if children know how to pronounce words in phonics, they will read with ease. The primary focus of phonics instruction is to help beginning readers to understand how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes), how they form letter-sound correspondences and their spelling patterns. The knowledge of this helps the learners in their reading. This strategy involves a lot of sounding out exercises which could be accompanied with DVDs, videos and power point projector exercises. Constant practice prompts learners to read (http://www. americanliteracy.com). 3. Holistic Strategy This strategy is yet to gain a foothold in Nigeria. We include it in our discussion of strategies to sensitize teachers of its existence. This strategy is informed by the belief that language should be taught! Pe whole and not in part. Learners are not to be limited to learning O letters, then words, phrases and sentences. Rather, the top- i Strategies to learning which involves teaching a language #S 2 ea will enable learners acquire language skills faster. This st" a cue ee ‘TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 329 engages children in reading activities. which are similar to the ways they learn other language skills such as listening and speaking. These skills | are always known to be acquired naturally and enhanced through | teaching. Therefore, children are made to acquire reading skills naturally by recounting their experiences orally. Some of the words they have used in their narration are written boldly on the board. It is believed that seeing those words from their personal experiences would motivate and help tlem associate written words with their own spoken words. This strategy also encourages teachers to have learners write frequently and thus learn to write coherent sentences, paragraphs and pages by simply reading. It also encourages learners to work with whole texts in an integrated form and gradually acquire the phonemic skills (phonological or sound system of a language), graphemic skill (letter combination) and the lexical skill (structure of words) (http://www.americanliteracy.com). In our view, the holistic strategy is more appropriate in teaching reading in the mother tongue where the leamers have sufficient vocabulary to narrate their experiences. Ina second language situation, learners, at this stage, do not have sufficient vocabulary to verbalize in the new language. 13.2.2. Teaching Reading at the Upper Primary and Secondary | Level | There are many teaching strategies for reading available to the | | | teacher at this level of education. The teacher is to choose a strategy Or a combination of strategies that best serve his or her teaching goals in reading. These various strategies are discussed below. | 1. Reading Aloud In this strategy, the teacher reads to the children while they listen. This strategy ‘stimulates listening skills, helps to familiarize learners with the language of books and their patterns’ (N’Namdi, 2005 p.46). The teacher also serves as a model for learners in their pronunciations and expressions. It is worthy to note here that the teacher’s pronunciation must be intelligible enough to be understood by everybody. This is because the teacher is a non-native speaker of the ul 330 PART TWO: PEDAGOGIC, 0% DG i i i blems of interference, 4 h who is constrained by pro! r £004 Seas Bakes of English should ensure that his or her interferon’ problems are controlled as much as possible. Reading 2 Trae siieay the teacher introduces a book to the Class oy group of leamers to read. Afterwards, the learners will read With the teacher. The teacher focuses on new words which he/she may instrug the learners to circle or underline. The learners use this Medium to learn the spelling and meaning of new words. The teacher oes fy help the learners identify rhymes (if it is a poem), Punctuation and sounds and then blends all in the context of the story being read Kimbel-Lopez and Cummings (2009) believe that a lot of incidental learning takes place during shared reading. The teacher Scaffolds the learners at the beginning of the reading exercise and gradually withdraws as the children become familiar with the language of book. In our view, this strategy should follow the read aloud Strategy and should be adopted when the children have learnt the rudiments of reading books on their own. 3. Paired Reading Paired reading is similar to shared reading but differs in the aspect of the role of the teacher. In Paired reading, the learners read in pairs or small groups. The teacher only guides the learners as they assist each other in reading and comprehending the text. Leamers of mixed age and ability are paired. Topping (2014) explained that paired reading is enjoyable when able readers are paired with less able readers. The able reader becomes the tutor while the less able reader is the tutee. The tutor reads together with the tutee but at the tutee’s pace. The tutor helps the tutee to Pronounce difficult words while the teacher guides the reading. According to the author, this exercise can be done Tepeatedly till the tutee gains independence in reading. | | | TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 331 The picture above is an example of learners engaged in paired reading as culled from www.google.com 4, Guided Silent Reading This strategy engages a teacher with the learners reading a text together silently with intermittent discussions and questions. The intermittent discussions and questioning help the teacher to monitor and to access learners’ level of understanding and areas of difficulties. According to Whiteheed (1994), teachers play a role of helping learners make meaning from the text by encouraging them to share text related experiences prior to reading and asking questions designed to test and extend understanding after reading. This strategy, in our view, is appropriate at the senior secondary school level when students can read independently. 5. Teaching Reading through Comprehension The learners read independently and answer questions that appear after the comprehension passage. A lot of literary, critical and inferential understanding is required at this level. For the learners to acquire these skills, the teacher can introduce them to pre-reading, while- reading, and after- reading strategies. According to Sandhu (2019), the reading process involves three stages; the pre-reading stage Which allows the reader to activate background knowledge, preview the text and develop a purpose for reading. The second stage occurs during Teading when the reader makes predictions. The last stage is after Teading, At this last stage, the reader retells, discusses, answers questions and/or compares the text with other texts. For a learner to noes aaa ae SE REDeeae ee 332 PART TWO: PEDAGOGICa, ia Ow, perform the required task at each stage of reading, the learner h, exposed to the various reading activities: 8 ty te ¢ analyzing the features of a text e finding transitional words in paragraphs © using anticipation guide and creating word walls These are some of the pre-reading activities that a teacher ¢, to get the readers’ mind prepared for the reading (EduGain A te These pre-reading activities translate into the following Sub-actiyn ), skimming through the text, locating pictures, visual aids Gun charts if any) finding the signal words, italicized or bold worse using these explicit information to form an anticipation Buide abo the content of the text and its organizational pattern. It js he reading the text that learners can compare the information from the text with the ones they have predicted. * while- reading questions’, jotting down important ideas which can be referred to when answering questions after the reading exercise ¢ using both the explicit details and implicit clues to infer meaning Making inferences is a key comprehension skill. To achieve this, the learner has to engage in the following; © reading between lines in order to make appropriate inferences. ¢ reading for contextual meaning to get meanings of words without referring to the dictionary. In fact, the dictionary should be the last resort. ¢ analyzing what have been read critically and drawing accurate conclusions after reading, using graphic organizers such as: = flow charts, * T-charts or Graffiti (group recordings of opinions and understanding of a given text) to aid learners to critically analyze a text and draw conclusions (EduGain, n.d). This reading strategy is most beneficial at the tertiary education. level of 6. Independent Reading «stance from Learners read on their own with minimal or no assistan : ding adults. According to Spear-swerling (2005), independent eo NGLISH 10 WRITING INE 333 ‘eacHiNG READING ANT sists of reading done in and out of school, including purely oa ntary reading for enjoyment and assigned reading for homework. i Tis point, learners have gained confidence and independency in oe communication with a written text. They can read and interpret hat they are reading without the help of the teacher by eaning in wi ; ‘ 5 applying decoding and comprehension strategies learnt in the class. 1. Language Exploration — / This strategy requires using variety of styles in presenting information to the learners. This includes: drama, songs and poems. ‘According to Koutsompou (2015), this strategy provides learners with genuine, authentic samples of language and also with real samples of wide range of styles, text types and registers. Research has equally shown that exposure of the mind to literary works makes learners more active in the learning process. When learners are asked to recite poems or read dialogues, it gives room for teacher-learners interaction, motivates the learners and also improves their communicative competence. Thereby, making learning to be very real and functional. 8. Teaching Reading through Writing It requires learners to keep journals, engage in guided writing, content writing and peer editing. Since reading and writing are two sides of the same coin, it is believed that the acquisition of one facilitates the acquisition of the other. Writing creates a good platform for the reading skill to be acquired. Keegan (2000) referred to ‘reading and writing as a communicative pair’ (p. 4). He believes that the ability in one improves the ability in the other while if one skill languishes so also will it affect the other. To improve the reading skill, learners need to participate in writing frequently because the organizational pattern encoded in writing is what the reader will decode in reading. Writing provides a reader means of recording, connecting, analyzing, personalizing and manipulating ideas (Fleming, 2014). 9. The Eclectic Strategy _ This is a combination of valuable aspects of other strategies. ‘It a strategy that allows teachers to absorb the best activities of all the aS ee ae ee 334 PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE well-known language-teaching strategies into their classroom procedures using them for appropriate purposes’ (River 1981 cited in Burhanuddin, 2012, p.244). The combination of the best activities of several language teaching strategies in eclectic strategy makes it more appropriate for mixed ability learners in the classroom since there is no one classroom that has learners of same learning needs. The proponents of this strategy believe that in a class of different kinds of learners, no single strategy could achieve optimum success rather flexibility and adaptability on the selection and use of strategies and activities in teaching and learning process would bring the expected success in language learning. Therefore, a teacher should not be a slave to any strategy or text material. It is observed that the reading strategies discussed in this section of the chapter appear to match the cognitive development of learners according to educational level. Even though these strategies have been categorized to match each educational level, we feel that it is better to fine tune the categorization in more specific ways along the lines of junior and senior secondary school level. Consequently, the following suggestions are made: Educational Level Teaching Strategies Lower Primary Alphabet identification Sound-letter awareness Reading aloud Upper Primary Reading aloud Shared reading Paired reading Junior Secondary Guided silent reading Reading aloud Language exploration Senior Secondary Independent reading Teaching through comprehension Teaching reading through writing ee Te ‘TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 13.3 READING SKILL ASSESSMENT Reading assessment is treated as follows: ¢ Assessment at the Primary Level © Assessment at the Secondary Level It must be pointed out that, in discussing assessment, we retain the term, method because it is only in teaching that the term is replaced by strategies. Instead of teaching methods, we use teaching strategies, as pointed out in 13.1 above. 335 13.3.1 Assessment at the Primary Level 1. Letter Knowledge Method The teacher tests the young learners’ ability to associate sounds with letters. The teacher does this by presenting a list of letters that represent speech sounds and instructs the learners to name them. The teacher can as well mix up the letters with numbers and other symbols probably mathematical symbols and instructs learners to separate and categorize the letters by upper and lower cases. 2. Phonemic Awareness Method The teacher tests learners’ ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words. According to Shanahan (2005) and Phajane (2014), segmentation, blending and discrimination are the common activities of this method. Learners are asked to break words into sounds. Examples: /m/ + /a/ + /t/ = mat (segmentation) map = /m/ + /a/ + /p/ (blending) Learners may also be asked to count number of phonemes, delete or add a phoneme to make a new word. Examples: rib: remove /b/ and add /p/ = rip. eat: remove /t/ and add /r/ = ear ¢ The teacher may pair words of similar sounds, pronounces them and instructs learners to discriminate the sounds. Examples: re nee 336 PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDge ma/t/ and ma/p/ /s/ad and /m/ad © The teacher can also use words of the same number of gtaphemes and different number of phonemes and instruct the learners to identify the longer word in pronunciation. Example: star stag /sta:/ /steeg/ 4 graphemes and3 phonemes 4 graphemes and 4 phonemes 13.3.2 Assessment at the Secondary Level 1. Reading Comprehension Method s The aim behind a teacher’s assessment with teading comprehension is to check learners’ understanding of a written or printed text (National reading panel, 2000). In this method, the teacher can instruct learners to: © answer questions after reading the comprehension passage summarize the passage or retell the text read in their own words predict the writer’s thought j answer oral or written quiz based on the content of the passage | record their reading and replay to the reading to their hearing. This is to enable learners identify their errors in pronunciation and reading speed. ¢ Identify omitted words and fill in the gaps with the correct options. © apply inferential and critical level of understanding in a given text. 2. Language Comprehension Method The sole aim of the teacher is to access if learners understand the language of communication. The teacher reads the passage while the learners listen. Afterwards, the learners may be asked to: retell the story * answer questions from the text * visualize the text This assessment is slightly different from _ reading comprehension. In reading comprehension assessment, the learners a {TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 337 read independently while in language comprehension, the learners listen while the teacher reads the text. One thing that both have in common is that they ensure that learners get both the explicit and implicit (literal and inferential meaning) message of the text. In reading and language comprehension assessment, the teacher can apply the following methods as suggested in SEDL (2015): e Prediction Prediction is an educated guess. The teacher uses this method to allow learners to guess the content of the passage based on the title of the text. It is expected that the learners must have been taught how to use visuals (if any) such as pictures, graphs or diagrams to make predictions. These predictions should be written down as the reading progresses. After the reading activity, the predictions and the overall content of the text can be compared. It is exciting and motivating when learners discover that they predicted correctly. ¢ Identification This method requires learners to identify the author’s purpose and themes embedded in the text. Questions such as this can help the teacher to achieve this: = What lessons can be learnt from this passage? = What does the author tend to achieve through the passage? etc. ¢ Visualization This method helps learners connect the written words with actual visible scenes through their imagination. = Learners can be asked to draw the characters based on the details of description of the text. "They can even create comic strip from the details in the text = Based on their drawing, the teacher can access if learners understood the content of the passage or not. For instance, a passage may describe the appearance of a thief wearing dark shades, with a face cap, sagged jeans trousers, puffing cigarettes; if a learner draws an image of someone on a suit and os nn PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE tie, carrying a brief case, it clearly shows that the learner Needs more assistance. 3. Decoding Method This is an assessment that examines learners’ decoding skills and reading accuracy. According to Lee (2014), decoding requires learners to sound out words that they have heard before but have not seen them written out in which the ability to decode, gives them a basic foundation for other reading skills. Decoding aims at assessing learners’ reading accuracy. This is done through the teacher’s Tecording of learners’ reading or noting of learners’ errors as they read. After the reading exercise, the teacher analyses the mistakes to determine if the errors are at the phonological, semantical, morphological or syntactical level. The outcome of the analysis will aid the teacher to restructure the reading instruction to suit the learners’ need. 4. Fluency be This is the automatic ability to read words in connected text. Words are read in groups and not in isolation. Learners are tested on their ability to read at a particular speed based on the readability of the material. The readability of the text must be at par with learners’ — cognitive development. The common activities for fluency is to instruct | learners to read aloud for some minutes though reading aloud sometimes is discouraged because some learners read without assigning meaning to what is being read. During the reading aloud exercise, the teacher will stop learners at intervals. The learners will be asked to make some explanations on what is read. The teacher also keeps counts of words that are skipped or wrongly pronounced. The | total number of words pronounced correctly gives the learner’s overall score in oral fluency rate (SEDL, 2015). i | | 13.4 TEACHING WRITING The teaching of writing is discussed under the following heads: © Teaching writing at the Lower primary level ¢ Teaching writing at the upper primary ¢ Teaching writing at the secondary school level — eee oe ——J {TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 339 13.4.1 Teaching Writing at the Lower Primary Level | The teachers’ focus in teaching writing, at the early childhood, is to help learners to acquire the technical skill of writing. The writing process begins with the following strategies combined with scaffolding (a temporary support which the teacher gives intermittently to learners to enable them to accomplish a task: L Teaching of Letters The learners’ drawings are gradually turned into letters with the teacher’s help. As the learners hold their writing tools like first time engineers at site, the teacher’s hand is always there to guide and control the drawings into letter formations. This motor skill according to Graham (2012) begins with demonstrations of how to hold a pencil comfortably between the thumb and forefinger, resting on the middle finger. See the illustration below: Example of a teacher’s hand, helping the learner to write alphabets. Culled from www.google.com Cabell, Totorelli and Gerde (2013) posit that teachers can help these emergent writers by sounding out the letters, making drawings in the air, sand or salt trays. The learners should be taught size variation of letters (capital and small letters) and directionality of letters. It is important they master the different directions alphabets face e.g alphabets ‘b’, ‘d’, and ‘c’. It is also at this level that the learners need — PART TWO: PEDAGOGIC, 340 AL KNOWLEDGe to know the appropriate spacing of letters and words. Leamers g also understand that English words are written from left to right in other languages such as Chinese and Arabic. houlg Unlike 2. Teaching of Phonics Phonics is all about learning what sound letters make, The learners need to identify sounds and differentiate them from letters, It is the duty of the teacher to aid learners to know how to manipulate sounds with words and identify compound sounds as well such as clusters (ch sh th ) etc. This phonemic awareness enables leamers to spell words correctly. Shanahan (2005) states that phonics instruction improves young learners’ word recognition and spelling skills. For instance, if a learner has recognized that alphabet ‘n’ gives the sound /n/, to spell words that have the sound /n/ may not be an arduous task for that learner again. This is based on the fact that the learner has being taught letter and sound variation. 3. Word Formation Once young learners have a solid grasp of letters and sounds associated with them, the teacher can control the learners writing by using the letters and sounds taught to form words. At this stage, the teacher needs to read frequently with the learners and as well write lots of examples for them to see. An important part of this strategy is that the teacher must help the learners differentiate consonant and vowel sounds to enable them spell words correctly. The learners can begin with two letter words and gradually transit to larger number of words. Chard and Osborn (2019) advice that word formation may begin with two or more single consonants and one or two short vowels. For | instance, letters such as m, a, n, and t can be introduced and learners can work with the letters to form words such as: att=at ) a+n= an a+n+t=ant m+a+t=mat | m+a+n=man TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 341 Gradually, more single consonants and short vowels will be introduced for learners to form more words with them. Whatever orders the teacher chooses to introduce the letters, Chard and Osborn (2019) advise a logical and consistent introduction of the letters to enable learners work with words instantly. 4, Copying of Words This involves the teacher writing sentences or short composition on the board and instructing the learners to copy. According to Lumen (n.d.), the learners copy models from the teacher over and over again in order to master the physical act of writing which results in producing legible, accurate and beautifully formed letters and words. This strategy ensures that the learners can write visibly clear; from left to right, maintain appropriate spacing, writing the alphabets correctly and observing the punctuation marks. Adequate mastery of this skill will lead the teacher to start omitting words, re-organizing words and omitting punctuation marks. The learners will begin to fill in gaps, re-order words, punctuate sentences and even rewrite a given paragraph. Sometimes options of various parts of speech may be provided for them to select the correct answers and fill in the gaps with them. Example: --- travelled to Lagos to visit her friend Her friend . to the Zoo where she .............006 monkeys, and snakes Looking at the above example, the teacher has intentionally omitted nouns, verbs and punctuation marks for the learners to fill in the gaps with the correct options. This is to enable learners acquire the linguistic and mechanical skills of writing and gradually, learners will begin to compose a similar text. 13.4.2 Teaching Writing at the Upper Primary Level ____ The following strategies are deemed appropriate at the upper primary level: = 342 PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEp, 1 Use of Pictures 7 ani { The learners’ imaginative and creative ability is aroused by i using pictures to teach writing. In the words of Albano (2013), ‘teachers can fire leamers’ imagination through the use of pictures in writing lessons’. The author believes that pictures are essentials when j it comes to engaging students who are learning a new language at any j level as pictures will help them predict, interact and create. Leamers can write or tell a story by using a sequence of pictures. At the upper i primary level, learners are expected to use pictures to write short stories filled with simple sentences. 2. Teaching of Grammar and Punctuations The basic conventions of writing are grammar, spelling and punctuations. When these fundamentals are explicitly taught, learners put them into practice by writing at varying levels of teacher’s support. Graham (2012) stipulates that teachers should connect spelling | instruction with writing as much as possible and also explicitly demonstrate how sentence construction and sentence mechanics such as punctuation and capitalization interact to form strong sentences. 3. Controlled Writing: The teacher takes the centre stage in the writing activity. The teacher determines what the learners write and how they write; helps the learners both in content and expression, supplies the ideas and expressions to use in the writing activity. According to Fabayos (2016), controlled writing strategy gives learners a focused practice though sometimes it limits the learners’ use of their own expressions and stifles their creativity but it is adequate for beginners and intermediates. Constant modeling of these activities and exposure to relevant materials such as writing workbook and picture storybooks will enable learners at both the lower and upper primary levels to gain manual dexterity in writing. Just as Lonigan(1998) as cited in Cabell, Totorelli and Gerde ( 2013) notes that ‘early writing is part of a set of important foundational literacy skills which serve as necessary precursors to Conventional reading including developing understandings of both Print and sound’ (p.2). : f TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 13.4.3 Teaching Writing at the Secondary School Level At the secondary school level, learners are to be seen to transit from the foundational literacy skill to writing to suit their every day | need for expressing themselves in writing. To achieve this goal, the } following teaching strategies are used according to the maturity level of the learners: controlled writing: modeled writing shared writing interactive writing guided writing ¢ workshop writing © independent writing Each is discussed in turn. 1. Controlled Writing2 Controlled writing is also used at the junior and senior secondary level. At this level, the teacher uses various strategies to help learners acquire writing skills. The teacher controls the content and expression of learners but at a much reduced rate. The learners are free to express themselves explicitly. What the teacher does mainly, at this level, is to give their writing practice a focus by creating a purpose and audience that will make writing meaningful. Writing, at this level, is , advised to be taught as a process than as a product. Carl (2000) opined that teaching writing as a process allows the teacher to give an explicit writing instruction, using various strategies and activities at different stages of writing. These stages are: ¢ Prewriting stage Drafting stage Revising stage Editing stage Publishing stage. = PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAI 344 L KNOWLEDg¢ are interlinked. There is no meaningfy} act Writing and thinking e from thought. of writing that does not emanate a. Prewriting stage : “ ; This is the stage where the writer thinks of what to write and how to write it. The writer is engaged in generating of ideas and Planning how the ideas will be developed into a coherent whole. There are many activities that the teacher can expose the learners to. The essence is tg equip learners with strategies that will enable them to transit smoothly from novice writers to skillful writers. When learners are consistently exposed to writing strategies, it will get to a point that the strategies will be internalized and they use them to write independently. At the prewriting stage, learners should be taught to brainstorm ideas alone or with others. According to Widiningrum (2009), the brainstorming stage is a stage where learners list all the ideas they can think of to a related topic which can be done individually, in pairs or in groups. Learners should be taught to let their ideas flow from the head into the paper. Ideas are better organized in a paper than in the head. The ideas can be made visible by making an outline, ranking the ideas, expunging irrelevant ones and merging repeated ideas. For example, if a learner is asked to: ‘write a composition describing an interesting cultural festival in your community’ Brainstormed ideas used to form topic outline © Cultural attire — 34 Dancing steps - 4" History of festival — 1* ) | Famiby-relationship — cancelled | Significance of festival — 2™ Entertainment — 5 | Personal feelings — ee Merged Food and drinks - 5! The learner has made an outline of generated ideas, ranked the ideas according to their level of importance, merged the related ones (entertainment and food and drinks) and struck out the irrelevant idea. ee TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 345 With this outline, the writer can easily commence the next stage of writing which is the drafting stage. pb. Drafting Stage This is the level where the writer is expected to convey meaning using the generated ideas. The teacher can use the P.LE strategy (Wallace, 1989). This strategy is for paragraph development. The acronym stands for P — point, I - illustration, E — explanation. When ideas generated are tumed to topic sentences, they represent the main points of paragraphs. These points are further supported by giving illustrations\ The writer expands the ideas by elaborating the points and giving illustrations with other supporting ideas. Point/[Ilustration Example: Ekpe Festival is a popular festival in Ngwa Land. The popularity of this festival dates as far back as 1945 after the great ancestors of the land gained victory over their enemies. The festival is largely celebrated by people of different age grades. For instance, those born between1945 — 1950 are of the same cultural age grade. The different age grades do appear on particular cultural attire and dance stlyes chosen by them. While presenting their cultural dance, a black He goat will be handed over to the oldest man in the village who is always the Chief priest of the Ekpe Festival. Elaboration Supporting ideas can further be generated by using the E.E.E strategy (EduGains, n.d). The acronym stands for E - expand, E - extend, E - elaborate. In using this strategy, the teacher introduces a paragraph of writing as a stretching of ideas guide. With this guide, the learners will be able to read and indicate ideas that need to be expanded, extended or elaborated. The above example can be used as a stretching- of- ideas guide for the learners to identify ideas that need to be expanded, extended or elaborated. When this strategy is internalized, PART TWO: PEDAGOGI ' 346 ICAL KNOWLEDGe learners can equally apply same in their own writing. This Strategy will enhance learners’ ability in paragraph development. Sometimes a teacher may be faced with learners who get nervous at the sight Of blank pages. Such learners can be assisted with the use of writing frames (Oregon Literacy Plan, n.d). Writing frames are starters for Paragraphs which learners can follow and build their own ideas. They give confidence to less-able writers and remove fear of blank page. As learners gain confidence and write independently, these frames can be withdrawn. For instance, a nervous learner can be given a topic on his or her favorite food. Then a writing frame that goes in this form can help the learner to think of more ideas. Rice is my favorite food. I love eating rice because... . With this kind of writing frame, the learner will be able td think of reasons why he/she loves to eat rice. c. Revising stage , At this stage, learners revisit their written work and effect corrections on the content and organization of ideas in the work, Additions, change of ideas and deleting of irrelevant ideas are done at ~ this stage. The ARMS strategy can be used at this stage. The acronym stands for A — add, R — remove, M- move, S — substitute (EduGains, n.d p.124). This stage of writing seems to be boring to the learners. The teacher can make this stage interesting by providing a well decorated author’s chair. It could be the teacher’s chair or a learner’s chair, A learner is required to sit on the author’s chair and read out his or her written work while others listen and make their input. This process can begin with the confident learners so that others will be encouraged to participate. d. Editing stage At this stage, the learners correct errors on punctuation, spelling and grammar. Carl (2000) terms this process as the nitty-gritty checks on mechanics of writing. This stage can be done in pairs or in groups (mixed ability group). It could also be through self- editing or teacher be eae TEACHING READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 347 conferencing strategy. In teacher conferencing, the teacher conducts a ‘one on one interaction with learners. Learners need to know that editing is an integral part of writing skill that cannot be ignored. The absence of editing makes a mess of all the wonderful ideas developed in the paragraphs. | e, Publication | This stage calls for celebration. The knowledge that learners’ work | will be shared with a particular audience is a great motivation for them. | They will always be eager to write and put in their best in the process. | It is not only the teacher that needs to read the learners finished product. Their work can be shared among their peers, published in the school magazine, read in the general assembly, pasted on notice board or in the class, or even read by family and friends. All these avenues make learners’ work visible and spur them to be better writers. 2. Modeled Writing This strategy is a traditional mode of teaching writing at the secondary school level. According to Department of Education and Training (2018), modeled writing gives learner's opportunities to observe a proficient writer go through the process of putting ideas into a written form. The proficient writer in a classroom setting is assumed to be the teacher. The teacher teaches the art of writing through demonstration. The teacher models the writing skills by engaging in these activities; thinks aloud the ideas, writes the ideas on the board > and creates a text. The teacher: « demonstrates how to compose an essay that meets a particular audience and a specific purpose. demonstrates the metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring and | evaluating) of writing ¢ demonstrates correct use of mechanics of writing and print directionality (i.e for lower primary learners) The learners’ roles are to watch, observe and listen, It is expected that from their observation, they will be able to note: oe Th rrr——U r— Erm LLL 348 PART TWO: PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE © the teacher's line of thought, organizational and developmental skills . © practice the activities on their own in order to gain independence in writing. The teacher controls the learner's pen in this method in terms of content and expression. 3. Shared Writing In this strategy, the teacher still controls the pen but with an active involvement of the learners in the writing process. The teacher thinks aloud together with the learners, plans the writing process with the | learners, records the learners’ ideas and composes a text. Succinctly put, the teacher co-creates ideas for the text with the learners but composes the text alone. This method reinforces print conventions such i as capitalization, punctuation and print directionality (Carl 2000, p.131). Example of a teacher with students engaged in shared writing. Culled from www.google.com The teacher engages the learners in spelling drills, identification of places to Punctuate, the appropriate punctuation marks to use and even when to begin a new Paragraph. As they participate in these activities, they learn the Convention of writing. After the text is fully composed Beets _

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