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National Literacy Report Recommendations Chapter 9 Submitted by Brandi Gutierrez The focus of this chapter is the cross-linguistic influences of literacy knowledge, processes, and strategies in children who are learning a second language. In chapter 9 there are six subcomponents: word reading, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, strategy use, and writing. I will look at various recommendations in the subcomponents and how to implement them in a classroom. The number one finding to remember is that first - and second-language transfer is relevant to first- and second-language literacy (Dressler and Kamil, 2006).

__Word Reading and Spelling__ Through investigations of various studies of word reading from the NLP report, Dressler and Kamil(2006) found that children who are good readers in the first language are likely to be good readers in the second language. Also, findings from error analyses and studies of emergent writing indicate that, in the early stages of second-language spelling development, there is an effect both of first-language phonology and first-language graphophonic rules on students’ spelling of English words (Edelsky, 1982; Fashola et al., 1996; James & Klein, 1994; Nathansen-Mejia, 1989; Zutell & Allen, 1988). Recommendations: · Bilingual Programs can help to facilitate English Language Learners to learn their first language proficiently and acquire a second language at a good pace. This will help with knowledge transfer for word reading and spelling skills · A teacher can team up English Language Learners with a highly proficient bilingual student of the same origin to help that student with various in class assignments · A dual language dictionary will also be helpful with going back and fourth from one language to another until a student is proficient in both languages

__Vocabulary__ Chall (1987) explains that at about grade 4 or 5, student’s transition from learning to read (decoding) to reading to learn and encounter textbooks, for example, with vocabulary that is increasingly specialized, abstract, and literary. This type of learning creates a challenge for English Language Learners. Recommendations: · A dual language dictionary will be helpful in acquiring new vocabulary in both languages · The use of Academic Vocabulary in a simple form will be useful. Academic Vocabulary is when a teacher is introducing new vocabulary to his/her students in order to help them better retain a new word. I teach kindergarten, and when I teach academic vocabulary, I include a picture with a specific word and definition to help my students retain the new vocabulary word. We also play vocabulary bingo and do word searches with the new word

__Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies__ Dressler and Kamil (2006) investigated Lee and Schallert (1997) study which found that for students with high levels of second-language oral proficiency, reading ability in the second language appeared to be a function of both second-language proficiency and first-language reading ability, whereas for students with lower proficiency, transfer of first-language literacy skills was short-circuited by limited second-language proficiency. Therefore students who are literate in their first-language and proficient in their second-language orally will be likely to comprehend and use reading strategies to help construct meaning. Students who are limited will have a more difficult time comprehending and using reading strategies in a second language. Recommendations: · When teachers are teaching comprehension and reading strategies to English Language Learners a think aloud is a good tool to use. A think aloud is when a teacher dissects all the information in using a particular strategy out loud for his/her students to understand what is going on inside their brain. For example if I am teaching my students how to predict what is going to happen next in a story I would go through what I am thinking out loud so the students can follow my thought process

__Writing__ The NLP reports cite Edelsky (1982), who argues that a learner’s ability to coordinate these systems (graphic, graphophonic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic) in the first language can help the second-language learner to manipulate and make sense of the second-language’s writing systems. Recommendations: · A Bilingual Program can help facilitate proficiency in a student’s first language and learn knowledge of a second language. With regards to writing, if a literate student can write in his/her first-language the program will guide the student to learn how to write in a second language. · There are a number of websites that allows people to translate their writing into other languages. This will help students get use to the idea of writing in a new language with support from the internet. When using these types of websites you want to be careful that students are not using the website to get out of doing meaningful assignments. · The use of Graphic Organizers can help students to organize their thoughts before they begin writing. For example, a tree map will help you categorize a topic of interest. · A dual language dictionary can help students when they are stuck on a word they do not know how to translate

Academic Vocabulary Activity Here is what a lesson of academic vocabulary would look like in my kindergarten classroom. 1. On Monday, I will introduce a new math word like, triangle. I would give them a definition for triangle, a shape with 3 equal sides. We would practice the definition orally for a few minutes and practice using it in a sentence. We would also look for that shape around the room. 2. On Tuesday, I will give each student their academic journal and we would practice writing the word triangle and drawing a picture of it. We would also review the definition. 3. On Wednesday and Thursday, we would play a game with the word. For example, a word search, where we would find the word triangle more than 3 times in a single search and either circle or highlight it. We could also play shape bingo, focusing on the triangle and definition. Each time triangle is called the students would have to recite the definition.

Here are some useful websites to checkout: Academic Vocabulary: [|http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/index.htm]

Translation Websites: [|babelfish.yahoo.com] [|http://www.freetranslation.com]

Here is a site that has a dictionary, thesaurus, and an encyclopedia [|http://www.dictionary.com]

Sites to learn to read: [|http://www.starfall.com] http://www.colorincolorado.org/