Thematic Course on Supporting Students with SEN: Phonics Instruction and Vocabulary Development

1. Thematic Course on Supporting Students with SEN:Phonics Instruction and Vocabulary Development Dr. Joanne Robertson July 16, 2014 Polytechnic University, HK

2. Phonics Instruction • letter-sound relationships • Vocabulary instruction strategies • Nursery Rhymes • Songs • Literacy lessons with picture books • Picture Word Inductive Model Shape of the Day

3. Structure of Reading • oral language • phonemes • phonics • vocabulary • comprehension

4. Framework A(SEDL, 2008) Oral Language • Phonology - the sounds of the language • Syntax - including grammar • Semantics - including word knowledge/vocabulary • Linguistic knowledge - the ability to put together or understand proper sentences • Background knowledge + linguistic knowledge = language comprehension

5. Framework A(SEDL, 2008) Written Language • Concepts about print - child’s knowledge of form and purpose of written text • Phoneme awareness - ability to manipulate sounds in language • Alphabetic principle - letters and letter combinations represent sounds • Letter knowledge - letter appearance and sound • Lexical knowledge - knowledge of printed words • Cipher knowledge - understanding the rules for writing and spelling • Decoding skills - break sentences into words and units of meaning

6. True or False? • reading is a skill learned through phonics Y/N • children naturally learn how to read Y/N • memorizing a book is not reading Y/N • oral language and reading are not Y/N directly related • technology can teach children how to read Y/N

7. Holistic • whole to part or “top – down” theory • children are immersed in print rich / language rich environment • comprehension is the driving force behind development • sight word learning and guessing based on pictures • demonstration of good reading • phonics instruction is a last resort

8. Skills Based Theory • “part to whole” or “bottom up” theory • explicit teaching of the sub skills of reading • letter sound correspondence • efficient decoding leading to meaning • e.g. phonics, phonograms, blends, digraphs • for many students with learning disabilities, this is an effective method

9. Finding the Balance • The development of decoding skills • connecting sounds to print, learning rules for spelling and developing a knowledge of printed words • The development of oral language skills • building vocabulary, enhancing grammar by forming correct sentences and increasing listening comprehension

10. Print Awareness Stage Child understands that text contains information Child learns to flip through books from beginning to end, holding them right-side-up Activity/ Instruction Teacher reads to group, shows book and talks about story Teacher shows title, author’s/illustrator’s names on cover, and back of the book 1. Concepts about Print/Print Awareness

11. Print Awareness Stage Child understands that text is read top to bottom and from left to right Activity/ Instruction Teacher follows words with finger while reading them aloud, and talks about how reading is from “this side” to “this side” and from the top of the page to the bottom 1. Concepts about Print/Print Awareness

12. Components of Literacy Development 2. Connecting Speech Sounds to Print/Decoding • Oral languageand print development must be closely integrated and coordinated in reading instruction(Blaiklock, 2004; Foorman, Chen, Carlson, Moats, Francis, & Fletcher, 2003; Schneider, Roth, & Ennemoser, 2000; What Works Clearinghouse, 2006b) • Elements of decoding include: letter knowledge, phonological/phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle and phonics

13. 2. Connecting Speech Sounds to Print/Decoding 2a. Letter Knowledge • Letter knowledge is not just reciting the alphabet! • It includes knowledge about: • letter names • upper and lower case letters • handling and grouping letters • word discrimination • Explicit Instruction: • Present upper and lowercase letters at random(Blair & Savage, 2006) • Learn appearance of letters • Teach letters with the sounds

14. 2. Connecting Speech Sounds to Print/Decoding 2b. Phonological Awareness • Definition: All aspects of speech processing and production • Regular exposure to activities that promote phonological awareness skills enhance reading development(Blachman, 2000) • Activities: • Syllable segmentation, Rhyming, Phoneme isolation

15. 2. Connecting Speech Sounds to Print/Decoding 2c. Phonemic Awareness • The awareness of, and ability to manipulate, individual sounds in words • Strong link between phonemic awareness and reading ability(National Reading Panel, 2000; SEDL, 2008) • Teaching phonemic awareness: • Sounds should be taught with letters • Simple phonemes (e.g., /p/, /b/, /t/, /s/), to vowel sounds, to complex phonemes (e.g., -ng /ŋ/, sh /ʃ/, ch /tʃ/) • Teach phonemes as one sound - do not add “uh” (e.g., ruh-ae-nuh for ‘ran’)

16. 2. Connecting Speech Sounds to Print/Decoding 2d. Alphabetic Principle and Phonics • Alphabetic Principle – understanding that letters and letter patterns in written words represent the phonemes in spoken words in systematic, predictable relationships • Phonics – teaching term for the study of the alphabetic principle

17. 2d. Alphabetic Principle and Phonics Synthetic Phonics Instruction • Teach specific pronunciation patterns (e.g., silent ‘e’ rule) as well as exceptions in irregular words (e.g., through) • Provide many examples to build sight word recognition of irregular words • Allow inventive spellings to practice connecting sounds with letter patterns; once the connection is made, correct spelling patterns should be emphasized.

18. Phonics • The relationship between the letters (graphemes) of written language and the sounds (phonemes) of spoken language. • Phonics instruction is teaching children these letter-sound relationships.

19. Important Points about Phonics Instruction • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves kindergarten and first-grade children’s word recognition and spelling. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves children’s reading comprehension.

20. Important Points about Phonics Instruction, continued • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is effective for children from various social and economic levels. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is particularly beneficial for children who are having difficulty learning to read and who are at risk for developing future reading problems. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is most effective when introduced early (K or 1).

21. What is Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction? • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction provides instruction in a carefully selected and useful set of letter-sound relationships and then organizes the introduction of these relationships into a logical instructional sequence. • Children have ample opportunities to practice and review the relationships they are learning.

22. Some Approaches to Phonics Instruction • Synthetic (explicit) phonics--Children learn how to convert letters or letter combinations into sounds, and then how to blend the sounds together to form recognizable words. Children have learned the letters m, a, n and the corresponding sounds /m/ /a/ /n/. They blend them to make the word man. • Analytic (implicit) phonics--Children learn to analyze letter-sound relationships in previously learned words. They do not pronounce sounds in isolation. Children see and say the word man. The teacher tells the students that the letter m makes the beginning sound in man.

23. Some Approaches to Phonics Instruction, continued • Analogy-based phonics. Children learn to use parts of word families they know to identify words they don’t know that have similar parts. Children use their knowledge of key words such as must and ate to read the word frustrate.

24. Some Cautions about Phonics Instruction • Phonics instruction is not an entire reading program for beginning readers. • “The best way to get children to refine and extend their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to read.”-Becoming a Nation of Readers. • Approximately two years of phonics instruction is sufficient for most students. If phonics instruction begins early in kindergarten, it should be completed by the end of first grade. If phonics instruction begins early in first grade, it should be completed by the end of second grade.

25. Phonics Instruction Phonics Games http://www.kizclub.com Songs to Connect Letters and Sounds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saF3-f0XWAY Phonics Demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLJe7IQtoeM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McVyqP4N-5Y&feature=related

26. What Did You Notice in the Videos about Phonics Instruction?

37. Secret Messages Rosie went for a w_ _ _ Across the _ _ _d Around the p _ _ _ Over the h _ _ s _ _ _ k Past the m _ _ _ Through the f _ _ _ _ Under the b _ _ h _ _ _ _ And got back in time for d _ _ _ _ _ Nouns – how many compound words can you find? How many words have short vowels? Long vowels? Can you clap the syllables?

38. Morning Message Secret Message: Good m _ _ _ _ _ _ boys and g _ _ _ _! Today is Friday, M _ _ _ _ 25, 2011. To _ _ _ we are going to r _ _ _ a story. The ‘code’ word today has a silent e. Can you guess? ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ 6 5 14 3 5

39. Morning or Secret Messages By participating in the writing of a morning or secret message, students learn... writing is speech written down proper letter formation upper and lower case letter recognition associating letters and sounds left to right progression differentiate between a letter, a word, and a sentence reading of common sight words spacing punctuation to look for patterns within words (word families)

40. Ideas for Morning/Secret Message • Say the words as you write, spelling each as you go. • How many words are in the first sentence? Circle and count the words. • How many letters are in the first sentence?" Circle and count the letters. • Talk about which sentence has more letters, and words. • Discuss how what you say, you can write • Observe where to start writing and which way the writing goes (left to right) • Observe where to begin the next sentence or line (top to bottom) • Practice saying the words, then saying each letter, one at a time, as it is written

41. Ideas for Morning/Secret Message • Notice capital letters • Notice the use and function of punctuation • Count sentences • Count words in sentences • Count letters in words or sentences • Decide which of the sentences has more words/letters • Clap the sounds (syllables) you hear in words, like today (to-day) • Talk about how you start and end a message • Talk about the things that happen each day (notice patterns • Talk about special events that happen to students