Learning/Word Recognition | Acquisition/Sociopsycholinguistic | |
Reading | Focus is on identifying words | Focus on meaning using background knowledge |
Teaching Reading | Teachers teach students skills to recognize and decode words to gain meaning | Teachers present students with books with illustrations, songs, poetry and rhymes to help build context for words. |
Classroom Activity | "Read orally so the teacher can help students learn to identify words and can supply words students don't know"(Freeman& Freeman, 2004, p.25). | "Read silently using strategies the teacher has helped students internalize to construct meaning from a text" (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p. 25). |
Tools for teaching | Phonics, Sight words, Segmenting word parts: "Structural Analysis" (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.27) | Background knowledge, context cues, visual cues, making predictions |
Writing | Focus on individual parts of writing piece. Formulaic in structure and desired out come | Focus on production of writing. Authentic in structure, students gain writing skills through experience with writing |
Tools for Teaching | Spelling, handwriting, teaching mechanics, 5 paragraph essay | Writer's workshop, mini-lessons, shared writing, modeling |
Language | Focus on parts of the language. Goal is to have "students who speak and understand the language" (Freeman & Freeman, 2004, p.33) | Focus on understanding the language. Goal is "to enable students to understand, speak, read, and write the language in different settings" (Freeman &Freeman, 2004, p.33) |
Tools for teaching | Written assignments, grammar and vocabulary are a focus, paired work, oral tests | Exposure to language, giving meaning to the language, completing small tasks using acquired language. |
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Entry # 6 Theory of Language Teaching
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Colleen, I appreciated how you highlighted the key differences between the traditional learning view and acquisition view for reading, writing, and language development in a way that was easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering which view of development you felt to be the most effective, or if you use a combination of the two when teaching. Personally, I believe that while students will acquire some knowledge through interactions with others and teacher-guided activities, there are certain aspects of language that must be directly taught. For example, students must follow correct conventions when writing so that others will be able to access their message; however, when all of the focus is placed on conventions, the writer may not view the content of their piece as the purpose behind writing.
Also, I think that having students read aloud allows me to assess what reading behaviors they have mastered and what they need to work on. Reading aloud also promotes reading fluently, and can reinforce comprehension by providing auditory and visual stimulus to the reader.