MTTC 002 - Meaning and Communication (SET ONE) Flashcards
Define Literacy
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) defines literacy as the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, compute, and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.”
Subsets of reading literacy include phonological awareness, decoding, comprehension, and vocabulary.
Explain Phonological Awareness
A subskill of literacy, phonological awareness is the ability to perceive sound structures in a spoken word, such as the individual Phonemes within syllables, Onset Sounds, and Rime.
Define Phonemes
Phonemes are the sounds represented by the letters in the alphabet.
Define Onset Sounds
Onset Sounds are the initial sound in a word, such as /k/ in “cat”.
Define Rime
The sounds that follow the onset in a word, such as /at/ in “cat”.
List Classroom Activities That Teach Phonological Awareness
- Practicing saying blended Phonemes
- Singing songs that involve Phoneme Replacement (e.g., The Name Game)
- Reading poems, songs, and nursery rhymes out loud
- Reading patterned and predictable texts out loud
- Listening to environmental sounds or following verbal directions
- Playing games with rhyming chants or fingerplays
- Reading alliterative texts out loud
- Grouping objects by beginning sounds
- Reordering words in a well-known sentence or making silly phrases by deleting words from a well-known sentence (perhaps from a favorite storybook)
Describe the Teaching of Reading Through Phonics
Phonics is the process of learning to read by learning how spoken language is represented by letters.
Students learn Phonetically by sounding out the Phonemes in words and then blending them together to produce the correct sound in words.
Phonics is a method commonly used to teach Decoding and Reading, but has since been challenged by other methods, such as The Whole Language Approach.
When Phonics is used as a foundation for decoding, children eventually learn to recognize words automatically and advance to decoding multisyllable words with practice.
Explain the Alphabetic Principle and Discuss Alphabet Writing Systems
The Alphabetic Principle refers to the use of letters and combinations of letters to represent speech sounds.
The way letters are combined and pronounced is guided by a system of rules that establishes relationships between written and spoken words and their letter symbols.
List the Facts Children Should Know About Letters
- Each letter is distinct in appearance
- What direction and shape must be used to write each letter
- Each letter has a name, which can be associated the shape of the letter
- There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and letters are grouped in a certain order
- Letters represent sounds of speech
- Words are composed of letters and have meaning
- One must be able to correspond letters and sounds to read
Explain How Children Develop Language Skills and List Ways to Aid This Development
Children learn language through interacting with others, by experiencing language in daily and relevant context, and through understanding that speaking and listening are necessary for effective communication.
Teachers can assist language development by:
- Modeling enriched vocabulary and teaching new words
- Using questions and examples to extend a child’s descriptive language skills
- Providing ample response time to encourage children to practice speech
- Asking for clarification fo provide students with the opportunity to develop communication skills
- Promoting conversations among children
- Providing feedback to let children know they have been heard and understood, and providing further explanation when needed
Explain the Relationship Between Oral and Written Language Development
Oral and Written Language Development Occur Simultaneously.
However, Oral Language is not a prerequisite to Written Language.
Oral Language Development does not occur naturally, but does occur in a social context.
This means it is best to include children in conversations rather than simply talk at them.
Written Language Development can occur without direct instruction.
In fact, reading and writing do not need to be taught through formal lessons if the child is exposed to a print-rich environment.
A teacher can assist a child’s language development by building on what the child already knows, discussing relevant and meaningful events and experiences, teaching vocabulary and literacy skills, and providing opportunities to acquire more complex language.
List Ways to Provide a Print-Rich Environment in the Classroom
A teacher can provide a Print-Rich Environment in the classroom in a number of ways. These include:
Displaying the Following in the classroom:
- Children’s names in print or cursive
- Children’s written work
-Newspapers and magazines - Instructional charts
- Written Schedules
- Signs and Labels
- Printed songs, poems, and rhymes
Using Graphic Organizers such as KWL charts or Story Road Maps to:
- Remind students about what was read and discussed
- Expand on the lesson topic or theme
- Show the relationship among books, ideas, and words
Using Big Books to:
- Point out features of print, such as specific letters and punctuation
-Track print from left to right
-Emphasize the concept of words and the fact that they are used to communicate
Explain the Benefits of Print and Book Awareness for Children
Print and Book Awareness helps a child understand:
- That there is a connection between print and messages contained on signs, labels, and other print forms in the child’s environment
- That reading and writing are ways to obtain information and communicate ideas
- That print in English runs from left to right and from top to bottom
- That a book has Parts, such as a title, a cover, a title page, and a table of contents
- That a book has an author and contains a story
-That illustrations can carry meaning - That letters and words are different
- That words and sentences are separated by spaces and punctuation
- That different text forms are used for different functions
- That print represents spoken language
- How to hold a book
List the Facts Children Should Know About Letters
- Decoding is a method or strategy used to make sense of printed words and figure out how to correctly pronounce them.
- In order to decode, a student needs to know the relationship between letters and sounds, including letter patterns; that words are constructed from phonemes and phoneme blends; and that a printed word represents a word that can be spoken
Explain the Role of Fluency in Literary Development
- Fluency is the ability to read accurately and quickly
- The student should be able to self-check for comprehension and should feel comfortable expressing ideas in writing
Teachers can help students build fluency by continuing to provide:
- Reading experiences and discussions about text that gradually increase in level and difficulty
- Reading practice, both silently and out loud
- Word analysis practice
- Instruction on reading comprehension strategies
- Opportunities to express responses to readings through writing
Explain the Role of Vocabulary in Literacy Development
- When students do not know the meaning of words in a text, their comprehension is limited
- The Larger a student’s vocabulary is, the better their reading comprehension will be
- A larger vocabulary is also associated with an enhanced ability to communicate in speech and writing
Describe Some Effective Teaching Techniques That Can Be Used to Promote Vocabulary Development
A Student’s Vocabulary Can Be Developed By:
- Calling upon a student’s prior knowledge and making comparisons to that knowledge
- Defining a word and providing multiple examples of the use of the word in context
- Showing the student how to use context clues to discover the meaning of a word
- Provide instruction on prefixes, roots, and suffixes to help students break a word into its parts and decipher its meaning
- Showing students how to use a dictionary and thesaurus
- Asking students to practice new vocabulary using the words in their own writing
- Providing a print-rich environment with a word wall
- Studying a group of words related to a single subject, such as farm words, transportation words, etc…so that concept development is enhanced
Define Affixes
Affix - syllables attached to the beginning or end of a word to make a derivative or inflectional form of a word (Both prefixes and suffixes are affixes)
Define Prefix
Prefix - a syllable that appears at the beginning or a word that creates a specific meaning in combination with the root or base word
Ex: “mis” means wrong. When combined with the root word “spelling”, the word “misspelling” is created
Define Root Word
Root Word - is the base of a word to which affixes can be added
Ex: Adding prefix “in” or “pre” to the root word “vent” to create “invent” or “prevent”
Define Suffix
Suffix - a syllable that appears at the end of a word that creates a specific meaning in combination the the root or base word. There are three types of suffixes
What Are the Three Types of Suffixes
Noun Suffixes - can change a verb or adjective to a noun
EX: “ -ment” added to “argue” becomes “argument”
EX: -hood, -ness, -tion, -ship, and -ism
Verb Suffixes - change other words to verbs and denote to make or to perform the act
EX: “ -en” added to “soft” makes “soften”
EX: -ate (perpetuate), -fy (dignify), and -ize (sterilize)
Adjectival Suffixes - change other words to adjectives and include suffixes like “ -ful”, which means “full of” (Careful).
EX: -ish and -less
Describe Some Strategies a Teacher Can Use to Improve Reading Comprehension
Teachers can model the strategies students can use on their own to better comprehend a text through a read-aloud
- Do a walkthrough of the story illustrations and ask “What’s happening here?”
- Ask students to predict what the story will be about based on what they have seen
- As the book is read, ask open-ended questions like, “Why do you think the character did this?” and “How do you think the character feels?”
- Ask students if they can relate to the story or have background knowledge of something similar
- Ask the students to retell the story in their own words to check for comprehension
Describe the Role of Prior Knowledge in Determining Appropriate Literacy Education
Comprehension results from relating two or more pieces of information
1.) From the text
2.) Prior Knowledge (From a student’s long-term memory)
- For a child, that prior knowldege comes from being read to at home and taking part in other literacy experiences such as playing computer or word games, being exposed to a print-rich environment at home, and observing parents’ reading habits
- Children who have not taken part in many literacy experiences are at a disadvantage.
- Teachers should use intense, targeted instruction. Otherwise, the student may have trouble improving their reading comprehension
List Four Theories of Language Development and Give a Brief Summary of Each
Learning Approach - This theory assumes that language is first learned by imitating the speech of adults. It is then solidified in school through drills about the rules of language structures
Linguistic Approach - Championed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s, this theory proposes that the ability to use a language is innate. This is a biological approach rather than one based on cognition or social patterning.
Cognitive Approach - Developed in the 1970s and based on the work of Piaget, this theory states that children must develop appropriate cognitive skills before they can acquire language.
Sociocognitive Approach - In the 1970s, some researchers proposed that language development is a complex interaction of linguistic, social, and cognitive influences. This theory best explains the lack of language skills among children who are neglected, have uneducated parents, or live in poverty.
List Some Effective Classroom Practices That Benefit Second Language Selection
- Make all instruction as understandable as possible and use simple and repeated terms
- Increase interactive activities and use gestures or nonverbal actions when modeling
- Provide language and literacy development instruction in all curriculum areas
- Establish consistent routines that help children connect words and events
- Use a schedule so children know what will happen next and will not feel lost
- Integrate ESL children into group activities with non-ESL children
- Appoint bilingual students to act as student translators
- Explain actions as activities happen so that a word to action relationship is established
- Initiate opportunities for ESL children to experiment with and practice new language
- Employ multisensory learning
Explain the Importance of Using Special Teaching Strategies to Promote Listening Skills of ESL Students. Discuss Topic Choice and Manner of Speaking in Particular
- One way to encourage ESL students to listen is to talk about topics that are of interest to the ESL learner. Otherwise, the student may tune out of a topic they find boring.
- Talk about content or give examples that are easy to understand or are related to a topic that is familiar to ESL students.
- Explore culturally relevant materials that will make them feel more comfortable and will contain vocabulary that they may already be familiar with.
Explain Three Additional Considerations Related to Learning by Listening That Are Especially Relevant to ESL Students
- Avoid colloquialisms and abbreviated or slang terms that may be confusing to the ESL listener, unless there is enough time to define them and explain their use
- Make the spoken English understandable by stopping to clarify points, repeating new or difficult words, and defining words that may not be known
- Support the spoken word with as many visuals as possible.
Explain how Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing Apply to Language Skills
Top-Down Processing - the listener refers to background and global knowledge to figure out the meaning of a message.
EX: When asking an ESL student to perform a task, the steps of the task should be explained and accompanied by a review of the vocabulary terms the student already understands so that the student feels comfortable tackling new steps and new words. The teacher should also allow students to ask questions to verify comprehension.
Bottom-Up Processing - the listener figures out the meaning of a message by using “data” obtained from what is said. This data includes sounds (stress, rhythm, and intonation), words, and grammatical relationships. All data can be used to make conclusions or interpretations.
EX: The listener can develop Bottom-Up skills by learning how to detect differences in intonation between statements and questions.
Discuss the Three Steps of Listening Lessons and How a Teacher Should Guide Students Through Them
Pre-Listening Activity - this establishes the purpose of the lesson and engages students’ background to think about and discuss something they already know about the topic. Alternatively, the teacher can provide background information.
The Listening Activity - this requires the listener to obtain information and then immediately do something with that information.
EX: The teacher can review the schedule for the day or the week. In this example, students are being given information about a routine they already know, and need to be able to identify names, tasks, and times.
Post-Listening Activity - this is an evaluation process that allows students to judge how well they did with the listening task. Other language skills can be included in the activity.
EX: This activity could involve asking questions about who will do what according to the classroom schedule and could also involve asking students to produce whole-sentence replies
List Some Teaching Strategies to Help ESL Students Understand Subject Matter Through Speaking
- Read aloud from a textbook, and then ask ESL students to verbally summarize what was read. The teacher should assist by providing new words as needed to give students the opportunity to practice vocabulary and speaking skills. The teacher should then read the passage again to students to verify accuracy and details.
- The teacher could ask ESL students to explain why the subject matter is important to them and where they see it fitting into their lives.
- Whenever small group activities are being conducted, ESL students can be placed with English-speaking students so that the ESL student will be motivated by the need to be involved. English-speaking students should be encouraged to include ESL students in the group work
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List Some Teaching Strategies to Help ESL Students Understand Subject Matter Through Reading
- Make sure all ESL students have a bilingual dictionary and thesaurus to use
- Try to keep content area books written in the students’ native languages in the classroom. Students can use them side-by-side with English texts
- If a student lacks confidence in his or her ability to read the textbook, the teacher can read a passage to the student and have him or her verbally summarize the passage. The teacher should take notes on what the student says and read them back.
List Some General Teaching Strategies That Can Be Used in Any Classroom to Help ESL Students
- Partner English-speaking students with ESL students as study buddies and ask the English-speaking students to share notes
- Encourage ESL students to ask questions whenever they don’t understand something.
- Dictate key sentences related to the content area being taught and ask ESL students to write them down.
- Alternate difficult and easy tasks so the ESL students can experience academic success.
- Ask ESL students to label objects associated with content area, such as maps, diagrams, parts of a leaf, or parts of a sentence.
Generally Describe Three Periods of Communication Development Normally Occurring Within a Child’s First Five Years of Life
1.) First Period Begins at Birth
- Characterized by infant crying and gazing.
- Expressive, but not yet intentional
- When needs are met, these communicative behaviors are reinforced
2.) Second Period Begins Between 6 and 18 Months
- Infants become able to coordinate their attention visually with other people relative to things and events, enabling purposeful communication with adults
3.) Third Period Begins from 18 months On
- Children come to use language as their way main way of communicating and learning.
- Preschoolers can carry on conversations, exercise self-control through language use, and conduct verbal negotiations.
Identify Some Milestones of Normal Language Development in Children by the Time They Are 2 Years Old
** By the age of 2, most children have acquired a vocabulary of around 150-300 words
- They are able to use at least two prepositions in their speech
- They can name various familiar objects found in their environments
- Two-year-olds typically combine the cords they know into short sentences, usually noun-verb or verb-noun combinations (“Daddy work”, “Watch this”)
- A normally developing two-year-old will respond to some commands, directions, or questions, such as “Show me your eyes” or “Where are your ears?”
Give a Summary of Some Salient General Aspects of Human Language Abilities from Before Birth to Five Years of Age
- Human language ability begins before birth
- The developing fetus can hear not only internal maternal sounds, but also the mother’s voice, others’ voices, and other sounds outside the womb.
- Humans have a natural sensitivity to human sounds and languages from before they are born until they are about 4.5 years old
- Children absorb their environmental language completely, including vocal tones, syntax, usage and emphasis
- The linguistic absorption occurs very rapidly. Children’s first 2.5 years particularly involve amazing abilities to learn language, including grammatical expression
Identify Some Milestones of Typical Child Language Development by the Ages of 6 Months, 12 Months, and 18 Months
- Typically, babies respond to hearing their names by 6 months of age
- By the age of 12 months, toddlers can usually understand and follow simple directions, especially when these are accompanied by physical and/or vocal cues
- By the age of 18 months, a normally developing child usually has acquired a vocabulary of roughly 5 to 20 words and can follow simple verbal commands
Identify Some Developmental Milestones Associated with the Normal Language Acquisition and Communication of Children at the Age of 3 Years
- By the time they are 3 years old, most normally developing children have acquired vocabularies of between 900 and 1,000 words.
- Can typically use “I”, “me” , and “you” correctly.
- They use more verbs more frequently and apply past tenses to some verbs and plurals to some nouns
- Knows the major body parts and can name them
- Parents should find approximately 75 to 100 percent of what a 3-year-old says to be intelligible, while strangers should find between 50 and 75 percent of what they say to be intelligible
- They can tell about their experiences in ways that adults can generally follow
- Should be able to tell others their name, sex, and age
Identify Some of the Milestones of Typical Language Development in Children at the Age of 4 Years
- Most children at the age of 4 years know the names of animals familiar to them
- They can use at least four prepositions in their speech
- They can name familiar objects in pictures, and they know and can identify one color or more
- Are usually able to repeat four-syllable words they hear
- They verbalize as they engage in their activities, which Vygotsky dubbed as “Private Speech”, which helps them think through what they are doing, solve problems, make decisions, and reinforce correct sequences in multistep activities
- Can understand comparative concepts like bigger and smaller
- Are able to comply with simple commands without the target stimuli being in their sight
- Will frequently repeat speech sounds, syllables, words, and phrases, similar to 18-month-olds, but at a higher linguistic and developmental levels
Identify Some of the Milestones of Typical Language Development in Children at the Age of 5 Years
- Nouns, verbs, and a few prepositions have expanded
- Now characterized by many more descriptive words, including adjectives and adverbs
- Can understand common antonyms
- Can now repeat longer sentences they hear, up to about 9 words
- Can typically follow three consecutive, uninterrupted commands without forgetting one or two
- Can speak in relatively long sentences and should be incorporating some compound sentences (with more than one independent clause) and complex sentences (with one or more independent and dependent clauses).
- Five-year-old children’s speech is also grammatically correct most of the time
