Outline for Workshop
WORKSHOP RATIONALE
WHY GIVE STUDY STRATEGIES & TEACH RULES FOR ENGLISH SPELLING & READING?
To help students achieve FLUENCY, a process needed to function successfully in our literate world!
WHAT IS FLUENCY?
Working definition - the ability to read and write smoothly without conscious
attendance to the actual processes or rate of processing involved.
BEFORE reading & writing processes can become fluent or ‘2nd nature’ we have to achieve automaticity. This can be accomplished using metacognition.
WHAT ARE METACOGNITIVE PROCESSES?
Working definition – the conscious awareness and control of the cognitive processes used for reading and writing language.
Thus, achieving fluency for some adults is like learning to ride a bike. They have to consciously learn and focus on the physical and mental processes involved before these can become automatic or fluent.
What underlying requisite cognitive processes do we need to know about?
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING: the ability to sequence sounds (phonemes) and awareness of these sequences in syllables and words (also referred to as “auditory conceptualization” by Lindamood and spoken of as “phonological memory” and “phonological awareness” by other researchers such as Ganschow and Sparks).
VISUAL PROCESSING: the ability to perceive incoming visual stimuli such as letters (graphemes) and visual images such as pictures, charts, and text layout for purposes of comprehending written text.
Note: both visual and phonological processes entail use of memory, perception, and executive functions; there are numerous theories as to how these interact, but most researchers agree that all of these cognitive functions play a role.
What POPULATIONS have difficulties achieving fluency?
A. NATIVE SPEAKERS:
1. Students Lacking Phonological Processing Skills - students who have difficulty with the decoding aspect of reading (going from the visual code to the verbal or internally voiced version of the words) usually experience difficulties with spelling; therefore, this process impedes their ability to achieve fluency in their writing as well as their reading. Memorizing sight words as the only strategy for reading only works up to a point. As soon as these students start experiencing multisyllabic words, their reading and writing skills break down.
2. Students Lacking Visual Processing Skills- students who don’t visualize or use imagery to remember ‘sight words’ or to comprehend text.
B. NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS (our EFL students):
1. EFL Students with transparent languages (there is a nearly direct sound to symbol correspondence ) such as Spanish or Arabic and/or with weak visual processing skills.
2. EFL Students with weak phonological processing skills
and/or who have experienced academic learning
difficulties in their 1st language.
C. AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT:
When addressing INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING, whether for native or EFL speakers, the following factors should be taken into account before even trying to assess cognitive issues of attention, memory, and processing deficits:
1. Affects of Physical Impairments on Fluency:
a. vision or hearing impairments
b. illness such as diabetes
2. Affects of Lifestyle:
a. lack of sleep; poor diet; poor scheduling; or
environmental distractions
b. learned helplessness (external locus-of-control)
c. different cultural expectations of the learner’s role
In case you needed proof as to why English can be so hard to read and spell, check this out.
Please note: this is from an email circulated by fluent native speakers!
If you’ve ever felt stupid because you’ve had difficulty reading English, you’re not alone.
Try to read these aloud:
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm used to produceproduce.
3. We must polish the Polish furniture.
4. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
5. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
If you read the above correctly, you’re a genius! Now try to figure out what’s strange or funny about these statements.
6. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
7. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger.
8. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
9. Noses can run and feet can smell.
10. When the stars are out, you can see them, but when you put out the lights, you can’t see.
11. If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
12. If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy and creativity of English!
WHY IS ENGLISH SO HARD TO SPELL & READ?
Because English is a stew of many language influences,
its spelling makes people crazy!
*4 TYPES OF WORD PATTERNS & STUDY METHODS
*Note: A-C can teach whole class
A. SIGHT WORDS – uses visual memory and imagery; pail vs. pale,
night, laugh, etc.
1. visualization: picture the word in your mind, reverse spelling,
mnemonics (eye - the ‘e’s are eyes and the ‘y’ is the nose)
2. kinesthetic: tracing; using large motor movements in air; repetitive
writing on folded paper
3. * imagery: for ‘sow’ as in, “The farmer fed his sow some grain.” the
student makes a ‘movie’ in her mind of a farmer actually feeding
a large pig.
*see materials & resources by Lindamood & Bell
B. *RULE GOVERNED WORDS – uses cognitive based strategies:
1. Soft vs. Hard ‘C’ and ‘G’, and __ck pattern
2. The 1-1-1 Doubling Rule
3. ‘Y’ Rule
4. ‘E’ Rule
5. Stress Based Doubling Rule
*see Megawords series and Betty Azar’s EFL grammar series
C. *MEANING BASED WORD PARTS: uses morphemic based approach:
1. Teaches visual (graphemic) pattern awareness & meanings added by
affixes such as un-, ex-, and -ly.
2. Advantages: helps expand students’ vocabulary as well as enhances spelling & reading fluency.
3. Index bank of vocabulary with color coded affixes & roots - each card is divided into quads containing: student’s paraphrased definition, associations & personal memories in English or **primary language, word used in a sentence, and entries of related derived words.
*see Megawords series
**written words are used to trigger right brain responses such as images, smells, tastes, and/or feelings – so language of initial stimulus is not as relevant as saliency of memory
4 TYPES OF WORD PATTERNS & STUDY METHODS
D. *PHONETICALLY REGULAR WORDS – uses multisensory approaches for correcting reading and spelling errors: (these are small group & 1-on-1 techniques)
1. Multisensory approach witha kinesthetic feedback system such as the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LIPS): the goal is for students to strengthen their auditory conceptualization of English; the student is taught how each English phoneme feels and is made (metacognitive awareness of articulatory patterns); she develops and uses the new ‘motor’ memories to analyze & self-correct spelling and reading errors.
a. Technique based on LIPS: employs self-correction strategies with feedback; the aim is to empower student to monitor & analyze own reading and writing errors.
2. Parsing & blending techniques: letter by letter blending for targeted syllable or take initial syllables off & get student to read last syllable, then work to combine first parts with last; uses finger signals to cue students
*see Orton Gillingham, Lindamood Bell, and Wilson on their multisensory techniques
REFERENCES & USEFUL RESOURCES
Books & Articles:
Azar, Betty, Fundamentals of English Grammar, White Plains: Longman 2003
Goulandris, Nata, (ed.) Dyslexia in Different Lanaguages, Cross-Linguistic Comparisons, London: Whurr Pub. 2003
Lindamood, Charles H. & Pat C. The LAC Test, The Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test Manual, Austin: Proed: 1979 (This is an older version of their test)
Ganschow, Lenore and R Sparks, “’Foreign’ language learning disabilities: Issues, research, and teaching implications,“ in Vogel, S. and Adleman, P. (eds) Success for College Students with Learning Disabilities, New York: Springer-Verlag 1993
Johnson, Kristin and P. Bayrd, Megawords, Multisyllabic Words for Reading, Spelling, and Vocabulary, (workbook series)Cambridge: Educators Publishing Service 1983
Peer, Lindsay and G. Reed, (eds) Multilingualism, Literacy, and Dyslexia A Challenge for Educators, London: D. Fulton Pub. 2000
Pierie, Pearl, “Assessing Learning Disabilities in ESL,” http//
Sparks, Richard et.al. “Benefits of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction for At-Risk Foreign Language Learners: A Comparison Study of High School Spanish Students,” Annals of Dyslexia Vol. 48 1998
RESOURCES ON THE WEB:
Lindamood Bell Processes workshops & materials:
Wilson multisensory teaching workshops:
Orton Gillingham info. at International Dyslexia Assoc. (IDA) web site
The 1-1-1 Doubling Rule
Ask yourself these 4 questions:
Word: hop Suffix: ing
Is the word only one syllable? Yes
Does it have only one vowel letter? Yes
Does it end in only one consonant? (look after the vowel) Yes
Are you adding a vowel ending (suffix)? Yes
If you get 4 ‘yeses’ DOUBLE the last letter! hopping
……………………………………………………………………………
Word: meet Suffix: ing
Is the word only one syllable? Yes
Does it have only one vowel letter?No
If the answer is NO to any question, STOP! You CANNOT DOUBLE! Just add the ending. meeting
Material from: Megawords 2, Multisyllabic Words for Reading, Spelling, and
Vocabulary, K. Johnson and P. Bayrd, EPS 1983
The “Y” Rule
First, look AFTER the ‘y’ at your ending (suffix)
1. If you’re adding ‘ing’, keep the ‘y’ w o r r y + ing =
worrying
Next, look BEFORE the ‘y’
2. If there’s a vowel before the ‘y’, p l a y+ed =played
keep it!
3. If there’s a consonant before the ‘y’ h a p p y + ness =
change y to i ! happiness
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TWO EXCEPTIONS to CHANGING Y to I
KEEP the “Y” if:
1. You are adding ‘ing’ studying
(look after the y_)
2. There a vowel before the ‘y’ stayed
(look before the _y)