Language Development in the Primary Years

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CHAPTER 11 ENHANCING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE PRIMARY YEARS

In Mrs. C.’s first-grade classroom, the children were seated on the gathering rug with their insect research journals. Each child’s journal reflected his or her individual exploration of insects through various nonfiction trade books from the classroom library. In addition to naming an insect and drawing a picture of it, the children included in their journals where the insect lives, what it eats, and one “amazing fact.” Today, the children 304305were meeting to orally share their journals with their class, taking turns to read and to show their information charts. After each student read his or her information, it was recorded by the teacher on a large summative chart. As the sharing continued, children often asked questions about the illustrations or about the insect studied.

By first grade, most children have developed a basic level of communicative competence. They can participate in conversations and use language to communicate their needs and wishes. At this level, there are increasing expectations that children will participate in the academic community of their school and classroom. In Mrs. C.’s first-grade classroom, described in the opening vignette, children’s language development has been enhanced by opportunities to learn how to communicate both orally and in writing. Through the process of reading books on insects and writing about them in their journals, Mrs. C.’s students have had opportunities to increase their knowledge about language and how to share what they have learned orally and in writing.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT IN THE PRIMARY GRADES

In the primary years (grades 1–3), the language environment is influenced by the curriculum of each classroom as well as the way in which it is implemented. In addition, a teacher’s understanding of the importance of talk in the process of learning is also a factor.

Curricula and Standards

The curricula implemented in the primary grades are more formal and more firmly established than the curricula in kindergarten and preschool classrooms. Another strong influence on the curricula found in primary classrooms is the alignment of curricula to state and national standards (see Common Core Standards, 2012, http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-art). While such standards exist for all areas of elementary curricula, the area of language arts standards is most relevant to this chapter. Most school districts adopt commercially developed curricula that are standards aligned. All teachers are expected to follow this formal curriculum and to implement lessons targeted to meet standards. While classroom teachers may not have control over the specific commercial curriculum that is selected for implementation, they do control the way the implementation occurs through the manner in which children are engaged in the curricular activities and experiences. The way a curriculum is implemented has a strong influence on the presence of talk in the classroom and the ways in which children become engaged in learning activities.

Implementation of Curricula

Curricula are often implemented in either of two ways: (a) task centered or (b) learner centered. In task-centered implementation, the focus is on adhering to the sequence and scope of learning tasks provided in the curricular materials. Learning activities strictly follow the predetermined sequence and duration. In contrast, learner-centered implementation focuses on children’s individual needs, learning styles, and responses to instruction. Learner-centered implementation strives to fit the curriculum to the needs of the student. Thus, the sequence or duration of activities may vary, depending on a teacher’s perception of her children’s needs and learning styles. This approach recognizes that curricular planning should always reflect an awareness of children’s developmental levels and learning styles rather than simply following a presequenced curriculum (Strickland, 1998).

Critical Role of Talk in the Learning Process

Lindfors (1990) challenged teachers to create “classroom communities” where children’s talk is invited and sustained, allowing children “to connect with others, to understand their world, and to reveal themselves within it” (p. 38). A key component of classroom communities is talk—talk about what is being learned and about responses to the learning process. This awareness of the important role of classroom talk is a relatively recent development. In the past, a quiet classroom was considered the ideal, with students silently working independently on learning tasks. Talk was restricted to formal recitation exercises or oral reading. Researchers and classroom teachers have begun to question whether a quiet, ordered classroom is the best learning environment (Kasten, 1997; Raphael & Hiebert, 1996; Wells & Chang-Wells, 1996). When classroom talk is overly limited or restricted, children lose the opportunity to engage in focused conversations and do not learn how to express their thinking, clarify their misunderstandings, or question others’ perceptions.

Teachers who understand the critical role of talk in the process of learning create classroom environments with a strong foundation for children’s cognitive growth and the development of “higher mental processes that constitute reading and writing” (Raphael & Hiebert, 1996, p. 90). In these classroom environments, learning activities are planned and implemented to focus on enhancing children’s oral and written language development in each of the five areas of language knowledge: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic.

INTERACTION PATTERNS FOR PRIMARY CLASSROOMS

At the primary level, the main interaction patterns used by teachers to enhance language development include linguistic scaffolding, mediation, and questioning. A teacher’s active listening is an integral part of each of these strategies. Through active listening, teachers become aware of children’s thinking and can maintain and 306307extend their verbal participation. Only through active listening and observation can a teacher develop awareness of students’ needs and learning styles.

Linguistic scaffolding provides a supportive verbal framework that sustains and encourages children’s participation in both social and instructional conversations. Questioning, expansion, and repetition are specific ways in which linguistic scaffolding is created. At the primary level, teachers use linguistic scaffolding to support children’s participation in a whole-class discussion, in small groups, and with individual children.

Mediation is an interaction pattern that teachers use to simplify a learning stimulus or task to facilitate student learning and participation. When reading a book, a teacher may substitute more familiar vocabulary as a way to begin to create connections to the more precise or technical vocabulary of the text. For example, when reading The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body (Cole, 1989), a teacher might make the following substitution of words to mediate the text to facilitate children’s comprehension:

Text:	“In the small intestine, food is broken down into molecules tiny enough for the body cells to use.” (p. 10)
Teacher:	In the small intestine, food is broken down into very tiny pieces. These tiny pieces are called molecules. Then the cells in the body can use the food.

Mediation also occurs when teachers engage in “thinking aloud” or “reflecting aloud” (Matthews, 1999, p. 36). For example, in reading The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body(Cole, 1989), a teacher might engage in the following “thinking aloud” as he introduces the book to his class:

Teacher:

The title of this book is The Magic School Bus. Hmm, I wonder how a school bus could be magical. Maybe it is going to fly, or maybe it will travel somewhere very special.

When teachers think and reflect aloud, they are verbalizing for their students their own thought processes. When this type of mediation is used in developing or completing a task, such as making applesauce or preparing to plant seeds, teachers make explicit what is happening and why or what worked in the past and what options may exist. In this way, teachers show children how language is used as a tool for learning. This type of verbal mediation is an inherent part of successful instructional interactions.

At the primary level, questioning most frequently takes place in instances in which children are expected to recite what they have learned. In this setting, questioning is used as a way to evaluate or monitor children’s comprehension or learning. Teachers may use questions found in commercial curricula as the format for the expected recitation. While this recitational questioning serves a purpose in monitoring learning, primary teachers need to also use questioning to encourage children to expand their thinking through inquiry and discovery. Through actively listening to children’s responses and comments, teachers can develop follow-up questions that 307308will stimulate higher levels of cognitive processing such as compare–contrast, inference making, problem solving, generalization, and synthesis.

In developing questions to use, primary teachers may find it helpful to consider the question–answer relationship (QAR) (Hostmeyer & Kinsella, 2010; Kinniburgh & Shaw,2009; Raphael, 1986). This refers to the relation between what information the question is asking for and where the answer is found. Some questions will ask for information that is “right there” in the text or in the immediate setting. For example, a teacher might point to the seashells on a table and ask, “Which of these seashells is round, like a ball?” Higher-level questioning uses a QAR in which the answer comes from either making an inference, drawing several pieces of information together, or perhaps from a child’s general world experience outside of the classroom, such as, “What do you think happened to the creature that lived in this seashell?”

The amount of wait time after a question is asked is critical to the type of interaction that occurs and to the content of that interaction. Rowe’s research (1986; as cited in Raphael & Hiebert, 1996) concluded that increasing the wait time from one to three seconds had significant beneficial effects. With three seconds of wait time, the development of ideas showed more continuity. While the volume of questions asked decreased when the wait time was increased, the questions asked became more cognitively complex. With the increased wait time, teachers incorporated more student responses into the instructional dialogue. This provided opportunity for more contingent questioning at higher levels of cognitive processing.

To be effective in encouraging children’s responses during the increased wait time, teachers need to monitor their facial expressions and body language to avoid appearing impatient. Teachers should model thoughtful contemplation of the questions asked as well as thoughtful consideration of children’s responses to questions.

OVERVIEW OF LANGUAGE-RELATED PRIMARY CURRICULAR GOALS

At the primary level, the main emphasis of the curriculum is often on the acquisition of reading, with little attention paid to the other language arts, such as listening, speaking, and writing. When the acquisition of reading is emphasized to the exclusion of other language forms, continued development of children’s total language competencies becomes limited.

Primary curricula need to incorporate learning activities that address listening, speaking, reading, and writing. A balanced language development program will not only address the five aspects of language knowledge (i.e., phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic) but will also focus on each of the areas of competency in using language (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing).

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The primary years are a time when children’s language competencies can be developed in ways that foster effective lifelong communication. Children’s long-term success in school is influenced by their ability to use language for many different purposes and in different settings. Pinnell (1996) encouraged teachers to engage in strategies and activities that promote children’s awareness of, and experiences with, the whole range of language functions.

KEY ROLE OF LISTENING COMPETENCIES

Listening is a key factor in language development. Not only is it an integral part of conversation and instructional dialogue, it is also a necessary competency for understanding direct instruction. Children’s listening competencies provide access to learning, particularly at the primary level, where students spend more time listening during the school day than they did in kindergarten. At the primary level, listening skills are essential because within this setting, children may be expected to listen for over half of their classroom activity time (Wilt, 1950, as cited in Wolvin & Coakley, 1985). Listening competencies are critical in facilitating the other language arts (speaking, writing, and reading) (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor, & Bishop, 2010). Children’s ineffective listening strategies make learning tasks more difficult and often result in frustration.

In primary classrooms, children need to be able to listen effectively in a variety of contexts, including the following:

· • Listening to and comprehending oral instructions or directions in a large-group setting

· • Listening to and comprehending explanations of concepts from teachers or guest speakers

· • Listening to peers in collaborative group work

· • Listening to class discussion

· • Listening when engaged in conversations with one or more others

Primary teachers can enhance children’s listening comprehension by modeling effective listening strategies, such as active listening and sending feedback (Wolvin & Coakley,1985). To be an effective listener, a child needs to (Lundsteen,1990):

· 1. Receive the message

· 2. Focus on the language used

· 3. Discriminate what has been said

· 4. Assign meaning to what has been said

· 5. Monitor the ongoing communication

· 6. Remember what has been said

· 7. Respond to what has been said

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As you encourage your students to be active listeners, you can observe their specific listening competencies. For example, a teacher might find that several children in her classroom need to be encouraged to remember more closely what the speaker has said and to use that knowledge to form their conversational response. Teachers can also explicitly encourage children to be active listeners who consciously focus on the message being spoken and then to give feedback to the speaker about whether they have comprehended the message.

Teachers who constantly repeat oral directions for their students may be doing their students a disservice with this repetition because it may not encourage careful listening. It may be better for a teacher to have another listener–student repeat the directions for other students rather than repeat the directions him- or herself. That way, another child provides a summary of the directions (Lundsteen, 1990).

In summary, to facilitate the development of children’s listening competencies, teachers must first provide a model for effective listening during class discussions and during one-on-one conversations or conferences (Farris, Fuhler, & Walther,2004). In addition, teachers should carefully observe how children take in and comprehend what is heard by noting both verbal and nonverbal responses. Primary students should have opportunities to continue to develop their listening skills because as they progress through elementary and secondary school, the amount of time they are expected to listen is likely to increase, depending on the specific class involved.

PLANNING ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE PRIMARY-AGE STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language-enhancing activities at the primary level include both exploratory discovery center activities and teacher-directed activities. Throughout exploratory and teacher-directed activities, children need to be encouraged to use language to learn, to reflect, and to inquire. Asking and answering questions is a critical part of classroom talk because it may stimulate curiosity and motivation to learn. Children need to have opportunities to ask questions and to seek answers to their questions through experiences and through focused classroom conversations. This process of asking questions and seeking out the answers through hypothesizing, collecting data, and analyzing the data is known as inquiry learning .

Inquiry learning is an approach that provides many opportunities to engage in questioning and conversations in the pursuit of new knowledge. Inquiry learning that integrates reading, writing, listening, and speaking into all areas of the primary curriculum can provide not only significant motivation to learn but also critical opportunities to learn how to use oral and written language in the process of gaining knowledge and solving problems. Teachers facilitate this language use through linguistic scaffolding, mediation, and questioning. Inquiry learning can take place through exploratory activities as well as teacher-directed activities.

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In the sections that follow, specific activities will be described that can enhance language development in a variety of settings and can accommodate a range of learning styles through hands-on experiences, collaborative activities, small group and large group activities, and more formal, teacher-directed activities.

EXPLORATORY LEARNING ACTIVITIES

An important part of primary classroom activities is the provision of open-ended, hands-on learning activities (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010). While these activities resemble the exploratory activities recommended for preschool and kindergarten classrooms, primary-level exploratory activities present opportunities for more focused engagement and more complex interactions with the materials provided.

Exploratory learning activities at the primary level have been described as involving “investigative play” (Wassermann, 1990). These investigative activities are characterized by the following features:

· • Are open-ended

· • Provide opportunity to generate ideas

· • Enhance the development of cross-curricular concepts

· • Encourage children to be active learners

· • Involve cooperative grouping

Classrooms with this focus are described as having a “can-do” perspective, in which children develop self-confidence in their abilities to interact effectively in their environment through successful risk taking and problem solving (Wassermann, 1990). Primary-age children are able to participate in generating the rules or directions for using each center. Posting the rules in each center provides opportunity for children to read and use language to direct their own interactions. It also encourages children to work independently (Sloane, 2002).

Three general areas of exploratory activities appropriate for primary classrooms are a classroom library center, a writing center, and content/concept learning centers, which focus on math/science, social studies/math, or science/social studies content. Other, more focused, centers can be developed; however, the focus of this section will be on these three types of centers. All children in a classroom should have an equal opportunity to engage in each center. Center activities should not be restricted to students who have finished their “seatwork.” Procedures for using each center should be well explained as the teacher introduces the center to the class. Implementation of each center should be consistent and simple enough for children to be independent of teacher assistance. In the descriptions of possible center areas that follow, the emphasis will be on clarifying the potential of the activity to enhance one or more aspects of language knowledge.

Classroom Library Center

The classroom library is the focal point of the primary classroom. The materials provided in the library provide a foundation for the learning that occurs in the classroom. A wide range of genres should be provided: various types of fiction (realistic fiction, fables, fairy tales, mysteries), nonfiction (alphabet books, concept books), and poetry. Trade books and chapter books should also be included, as should copies of books used in the reading curriculum for the classroom.

At the primary level, it is still important for books to have frequent illustrations, because they provide important contextual information about the concepts presented in the books. First graders will use the classroom library more successfully if the teacher has featured some of the books from the center in class read-alouds. As children develop more independent decoding skills, they will enjoy new books without first having them read aloud by the teacher. Books should also be rotated through the classroom library to keep student interest and motivation high. It is also beneficial to introduce new books that will enhance topics of current focus in the curriculum, such as a unit on insects.

The books provided in the library center support the foundation for learning that occurs in the classroom.

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Writing Center

The major goal of the writing center at the primary level is to facilitate the development of children’s competencies in using written language to communicate for a variety of purposes. Children are encouraged to incorporate what they have learned throughout the classroom in their writing. Ideas generated during group shared story time or read-alouds or concept-development activities can become the focus of their writing. First-grade children may use more illustrations in their stories because illustrations can support their efforts in communicating a particular idea or action. Gradually, as they are able to use print more conventionally, illustrations play a lesser role.

Organizing a writing center.

The setup of a writing center at the primary level is similar to that of writing centers in kindergarten, but a few differences should be noted. Primary-level writing centers are more likely to have lined paper available, along with plain paper. Additional materials are included for primary children to use in book-making, such as glue, scissors, a stapler, and a hole punch. In addition, a computer and printer or a typewriter may be included for children to use in creating their stories.

Journaling.

Primary teachers may incorporate journaling into a writing center. In this approach, each child has his or her own notebook of paper, often a spiral notebook that is used to record daily events or stories. Children’s writing in their personal journals is spontaneous, personal, and private (Tompkins, 2004a). One of the benefits of the journaling approach is that each child’s writing is kept together, and children can see their writing as it develops and changes. Frequently, children are amazed by the amount of writing they have done over time (Tompkins, 2004a).

Encouraging talk in the writing center.

In setting up a writing center, arrangement of furniture and supplies should accommodate and acknowledge the importance of ongoing conversations between the children in the center and occasional visits by their teacher. Dyson’s study of children’s self-talk and peer conversations during the process of composing have documented the importance of talk for self-direction, self-correction, and text development (Dyson, 1989, 2004). Teachers can carefully observe the talk that occurs in the writing center for insights into children’s emerging competencies in putting thoughts on paper.

Sharing children’s writing.

Primary children benefit from opportunities to share with others what they have written. Two ways this can be done is through teacher–student conferences and by providing an author’s chair where children can share what they have written with the whole class.

Teacher–student conferences.

By conducting one-on-one conferences with each of your students, you will have an opportunity to learn more about their thoughts as they go through the writing process. The conferences should be conducted in a quiet area of your classroom where you can sit beside the student.

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To begin a conference, ask the student to read aloud what he has written. This oral reading of the text provides a basis for the subsequent conversation you will have with the child about his writing. The focus of each conference needs to be on encouraging the child to talk about what he has written. You will want to ask questions that help a child focus on the meaning of what he has written. It is important to keep a conference short and focused (Cooper & Kiger, 2006).

Although there may be instances of unconventional spelling or grammar, it is important to focus initially on the meaning communicated and to validate the child’s efforts in creating the written text. Young writers are easily overwhelmed and discouraged when the message in their writing is ignored and their writing is seen only as being “incorrect” or needing to be revised to meet a teacher’s approval. This is especially important to remember when interacting with English language learners or children who speak a different dialect of English. This does not mean, however, that you avoid noticing instances of unconventional spelling and grammar. You can use this information as a basis for understanding children’s zones of proximal development and plan your curriculum and future lessons to address these areas of potential learning.

As you note the relationship between what is read and what is written, you can better understand a child’s developing phonological knowledge. In addition, by observing and reflecting on children’s responses and comments during these one-on-one conferences, you can further determine which areas of the writing process or which particular skill to focus on as you plan future language arts lessons.

Author’s chair.

You can designate (and label) a special chair as an “author’s chair.” During group time, individual children sit in this chair and share their creative writing with the class. Your role is to facilitate the children’s sharing and engage the class in responding to the shared writing. In responding to a child’s writing, you will want to encourage class members to focus on specific aspects of the writing they liked, questions they have about the story or text that they want to ask the author, and comments they have about the content of the writing (Tompkins, 2004b).

Because authors’ chair activities involve all of the four language arts (listening, speaking, writing, and reading), such activities enhance the development of receptive and expressive language knowledge of all five aspects (phonological, syntactic, morphemic, semantic, and pragmatic). Author’s chair activities are effective only if the audience (the rest of the class) can be attentive, active listeners for the author. Thus, it is important that a teacher be aware of attention-span limits. For this reason, author’s chair activities may involve only two or three children each time.

In summary, creative writing center activities in primary classrooms enhance children’s language knowledge in the following ways:

· • Pragmatic knowledge is increased as children have the opportunity to see how written language is used to communicate for different purposes: invitations, thank-you notes, lists, personal narratives/stories, signs, and nonfiction texts on a particular concept or related concepts.314315

Journaling provides primary children with opportunities to create their own stories or to write about their daily and family events.

· • Phonological knowledge and syntactic knowledge are increased through opportunities for children to put into print their experiences and thoughts. As they share their ideas through print, they gradually use more complex sentence and text structure to communicate.

· • Children’s productive semantic knowledge is enhanced as they have an opportunity to use their vocabulary in composing their written stories and other texts.

· • Morphemic knowledge is enhanced through writing center activities as children use inflectional morphemes to indicate past tense, possession, and plurality.

Content/Concept Learning Centers

A content/concept learning center focuses on a concept or set of related concepts and is designed to encourage children to explore materials independently or to solve problems. For example, a math/science center might focus on measuring the lengths of different common objects. Related concepts, depending on the grade level, might include inch, centimeter, longer than, longest, shortest, and fraction. A social studies/science center might focus on matching pictures of animals or insects with pictures of their habitats. Related concepts for this center might include savanna, swamp, mountain, grassland, lake, ocean, rain forest, desert, and Arctic Circle. Content/concept centers enhance children’s language development by focusing on increasing children’s conceptual knowledge and vocabulary. They also provide an opportunity 315316for children to use new vocabulary when responding to the tasks associated with the center.

In developing a content/concept center, teachers should label the materials with the appropriate vocabulary. Students will also benefit from having opportunities to discuss their learning center experiences when they gather in their classroom for circle time.

Word Walls

A word wall is a visual display of words that have been written on cards or large sheets of chart paper and mounted on a classroom wall. This visual display encourages children to focus on letter–sound connections and spelling patterns of words. Words selected to be included on the word wall are chosen based upon the way in which the word wall will support other classroom activities. Words placed on the word wall may represent children’s high-frequency words that they are learning to read. The displayed words might also represent major content/concept words used in the learning centers (Tompkins, 2004b). Word walls can also focus on specific words from teacher-directed activities or books shared with the class. Other possible types of words displayed include spelling words, seasonal or holiday-related words, and words representing colors, shapes, or numbers (Kieff, 2003/2004; Williams, Phillips-Birdsong, Hufnagel, Hungler, & Lundstrom, 2009).

Usually, the words on a word wall are organized alphabetically by the first letter in the word; however, other ways of organizing the words may be used to show how words are related either conceptually or structurally. For example, words could be organized to represent selected words from a literature or science unit. Words might also be grouped to show word families (cat, rat, mat, sat, hat) or sound similarities (fat, fun, fish, funny, furry). You might decide to use different colors of paper or ink to distinguish specific groupings of words.

When introducing a word wall, be sure that you have carefully selected the words to be placed on the word wall. The words should have significance to the students. For example, children’s first names could be used for an initial word wall (Campbell, 2001) at the beginning of the school year. This would generate interest from the students as they see their name and their classmates’ names on the word wall. Gradually, high-frequency words and names of characters from favorite stories could be added. Words should be added to the word wall slowly to avoid overwhelming the children with too many new words. Rasinski and Padek (2004) recommended introducing three to five new words per week during the primary grades.

Kieff (2003/2004) cautioned teachers to “make the word wall a teaching–learning tool, not just a display, by using it throughout the day … otherwise it just adds to the clutter of the room” (p. 84J). Word walls can serve as a focal point in teacher-directed word study activities. In addition, teachers can demonstrate how a word wall is used as a reference for writing and for reading. Word walls should be visible to the writing center area so that children can refer to the words during their writing activities (Casbergue,1998). Students can be encouraged to create their own personal dictionaries based on words from the word wall. Games such as a form of bingo or “I Spy” can be developed to use with word walls (Kieff, 2003/2004).

Words displayed on a word wall can be added and deleted as students’ needs for specific words change and develop. Once word cards are removed from the wall, they can be kept for individual student use in the writing center, perhaps on a ring or in a file box, or for use with a pocket chart.

Take-Home Exploratory Activities

Children may not have sufficient time at school to engage in exploratory reading and writing activities, or they may have limited literacy materials at home. One way to increase language-enhancing opportunities for children is to provide take-home suitcases (or book bags or backpacks) that are equipped for reading activities and/or writing activities.

A reading suitcase is equipped with one or more storybooks to be read either alone or with a parent (depending on the child’s reading competencies). A spiral sketchbook is also included, along with drawing or writing implements. After a child has read a story (or listened to the story read aloud), she can draw or write her response to the story. When the reading suitcase is returned to the classroom after a day or two, the child may have the opportunity to share her written response with the class. As several children use the reading suitcase, a collection of responses is developed. The response book can be placed in the classroom library after all the children have had a chance to use the reading suitcase. Children will enjoy looking at and reading or rereading their own responses and other children’s responses.

A writing suitcase is similar to a reading suitcase except that no storybook is included. Instead, the suitcase contains a larger assortment of writing and drawing implements (markers, chalk, pens, and pencils) and a variety of materials for making different book formats: blank books, assorted papers in different sizes, scissors, transparent tape, a stapler, paper clips, construction paper for book covers, and a handheld hole punch. At the first-grade level, an alphabet card can be included to assist children in letter formation. At the third-grade level, the letter card can be written in cursive lettering. In using a writing suitcase, children might need to have the suitcase for several days. Teachers might provide a theme or suggested story stems for children to use in their writing. When the writing suitcase is returned to the classroom, each child should have an opportunity to share his writing with the class.

Through these two take-home activities, primary-age children will have extended opportunities to explore and refine their language knowledge through reading and writing. You could include a materials checklist in each suitcase so that the contents can be easily determined as it is checked in and out.

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TEACHER-DIRECTED ACTIVITIES

At the primary level, teacher-directed activities occur in both large and small group settings. Large group teacher-directed activities involve experiences in which the entire class can participate. Examples of large group language activities for primary grades described in this chapter include teacher read-alouds, oral discussions, creative drama, language experience and interactive writing, an author’s chair, and media presentations on videotape or audiotapes. In this setting, the activities provide opportunity to develop a shared knowledge base and frame of reference for the entire class. This can facilitate children’s sharing of ideas and also focus their communication on shared events.

Small group language activities are more focused on the specific needs of a subgroup of children or may focus on encouraging a higher level of involvement and group interaction between a few children. Suggested small group activities described in this chapter include word study activities, shared reading, literature circles, and collaborative–cooperative projects.

Teacher Read-Alouds

When a primary teacher reads to his class, children are encouraged to develop a shared knowledge of the concepts in the text, the sequence of the events, and the specific language used in the text. This shared knowledge provides children a common frame of reference on which they can focus their discussions and interactions.

Books selected to share during read-alouds should have a language level appropriate to the listening comprehension of children in the classroom. By selecting and using texts with different levels of complexity, you can develop your awareness of the texts appropriate for your students. The introduction of chapter books during teacher read-alouds is an effective way of enhancing children’s ability to understand more complex story lines and characters. Chapter books enhance comprehension and story recall because the book is read over a period of time, and the story continues with each additional reading session. It is also important to include books that have dialect speech and other varied language styles, such as humor, figurative language, alliteration, and rhyme (Glazer,2000).

Read-alouds can enhance language development in the primary grades in the following ways:

· • Receptive phonological knowledge is increased as children hear your pronunciation of the words (and sounds) in the text. When big books are used, children can better see the relation between speech and print, which enhances their receptive phonological knowledge of written language.

· • Receptive semantic knowledge is enhanced as new words are encountered in the text and when you take time to explain the meaning of the new 319320vocabulary. Be sure to refer to illustrations accompanying the text that enhance comprehension and provide opportunity to extend semantic knowledge.

· • Receptive syntactic knowledge is increased as children hear the complex sentence and text structures contained in the shared books. Your fluent and expressive reading enhances children’s processing of text that may be at a higher level of complexity than their current expressive syntactic knowledge.

· • Receptive morphemic knowledge is enhanced through hearing you read the story text. Through your clear enunciation, children can become more aware of word structure and its relation to meaning. You can also pause to explain the meaning of words with specific inflectional or derivational morphemes.

· • Receptive pragmatic knowledge is developed when a variety of genres is used during teacher read-alouds. Through the use of a variety of genres, children can develop different expectations for different texts, such as fairy tales, fables, narratives, poetry, mysteries, and nonfiction. This knowledge of text types may then be evident when children create their own stories, poems, or informational texts.

Oral Discussions

A teacher read-aloud is usually accompanied by an oral discussion related to the book just read. These discussions typically focus on determining children’s comprehension of story events and concepts. It is important for teachers to use a variety of questions, both literal and higher level (inferential). Teachers should also use linguistic scaffolding to support and extend children’s responses.

In these discussions, teachers are enhancing children’s expressive language competencies. As children develop answers to specific questions, they are using their phonological, syntactic, semantic, morphemic, and pragmatic language knowledge. Based on class needs, teachers may also decide to focus the oral discussion on a particular aspect of language knowledge, such as letter–sound relations, vocabulary, word endings, or story genre or structure. This is more easily done when oversized or big books are used because the text is more visible to the children. Unison or choral reading may also be used to encourage children’s expressive knowledge of written language.

Galda and Beach (2004) emphasized the importance of sharing responses to literature through oral discussions: “By creating opportunities for students to read and respond in the company of others, teachers foster their students’ ability to make sense of text words and lived worlds” (p. 865). As children make connections between the experiences of the characters in the stories they read and their own experiences, they use oral and written language to learn about the world and to comment on it.

Oral discussions can be supplemented with the use of charts such as those suggested by Yopp and Yopp (2001): compare-and-contrast charts, semantic maps, and KWL charts. While these charts may be introduced prior to reading a story, they are also the basis of the poststory discussion. Compare-and-contrast charts focus on specific concepts portrayed in a story, such as good friends and bad friends, and may be used prior to reading or after the reading. Semantic maps encourage children to categorize words that are related concepts (see Figure 11.1).

When semantic maps are used with primary children, they need to be kept very simple, with only three or four main items. As this technique is used over time, more detail can be added. In addition, teachers should keep in mind that not all concepts presented in a text need to be represented in a semantic map. Instead, the main concepts or high-interest concepts can be the focus of a semantic map.

The KWL strategy, developed by Ogle (1986), is most successfully used with nonfiction texts. A three-column chart is created by the teacher. The first two columns are filled in prior to reading the text. In the first column, the K column, the teacher records what the children already know about the topic or concept. In the second column, the W column, the teacher records what the children want to know about the topic. Then, after the text is read, the third column, the L column, is where the teacher records what the children say they have learned from the reading. Figure 11.2 shows a completed KWL chart on “big cats.”

Informational text may also describe a sequence or process. This can be summarized and represented in a diagram format. For some students, such diagrams are a useful way of condensing information through visual representation and enhances their memory for that information. For example, Figure 11.3 was created after a book on the water cycle was shared.

Creative Drama

One way of enhancing primary-age children’s language development is to use creative drama for story reenactment or event reenactment. Creative drama increases children’s use of language to fit different contexts, their use of specialized vocabulary, and their experiences with different speech registers (Alber & Foil, 2003; Wagner, 1990). This type of activity is familiar to primary-age children because it resembles the spontaneous pretend play they may have engaged in during preschool or kindergarten.

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Story reenactment can be conducted in these four ways:

· 1. While you or a student reads a story aloud, the whole class can simultaneously pantomime the story actions or events.

· 2. First you read the text aloud, and then the class discusses how the text can be acted out. Then individual students assume specific character roles.

· 3. Based on the context of the story or text, you would direct students to dramatize a scene not actually in the story—something that might have happened based on the context or major events in the story. In this strategy, there is no script, so children are using their knowledge of all aspects of oral communication to take on and extend the role of the character(s) involved. To begin this type of event reenactment, you first describe the specific context or event to the class. Then the class discusses how such an event might be dramatized, and individual students assume specific roles. Examples are ordering food at a restaurant or imagining what might have happened at a point in history, such as riding on a wagon train, using the first telephone, or walking on the Moon.

· 4. Using the original story as a basis, students develop their own script, using a Reader’s Theater format. In addition to students developing their own script, the focus here is on students orally reading the script in a fluent and expressive manner. When beginning this activity, you will want to first review the main events and characters in the story. Then you can scaffold students’ script writing in a group setting by writing down their script suggestions on chart paper. Your scaffolding may take the form of questions that help students focus on what is happening and which character is speaking. It may take several days to generate a complete script. Then you will need to make copies of the script for students, assign parts, and provide practice time before you have them perform their “Reader’s Theater” version of the story.

In summary, creative drama provides the opportunity to enhance each of the five aspects of language knowledge, in both receptive and expressive modes: phonological, semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic.

Morning Messages, Language Experience, and Interactive Writing

Morning messages, language experience stories, and interactive writing are used in primary classrooms to actively engage students in reading and writing processes through teacher mediation, linguistic scaffolding, and modeling. Each of these activities also provides a context for conducting minilessons on specific language concepts and competencies.

Morning messages.

When conducting a morning message activity, you will first develop a letter to your students on chart paper or white board and have it posted when students enter your classroom (SchifferDanoff, 2001). It is important to have 324325the morning message focus on and reinforce a specific aspect of your language arts curriculum; for example, phonological knowledge, spelling, written conventions (such as punctuation), or high-frequency words.

As you read the message to your students, you will use a pointer and encourage students to echo read or read in unison with you. As you do this, you will stop to talk about the various language concepts that are the focus of your morning message. For example, in Figure 11.4, the morning message is centered on the letter F when it is used as the initial letter of words. This focus on initial sounds would be emphasized 325326early in first grade as a way of reviewing what knowledge entering students bring with them from kindergarten. When sharing this morning message, you would encourage individual students to come up to the chart and write in the missing letter.

In contrast to Figure 11.4, the morning message in Figure 11.5 focuses on eight initial-letter sounds. This type of morning message could be used as a review before focusing on ending and middle sounds in words. The use of sticky notes for the missing letters is an additional way of engaging students. First, all of the sticky notes would be posted up at the top of the message. As the message is shared, individual 326327children would be called on to come select the sticky note letter and put it on the appropriate word.

Knowledge of the conventions of writing is a first-grade English language arts standard identified in the Common Core State Standards Initiative (http://www.core-standards.org/the-standards/language). The morning message found in Figure 11.6 focuses on a review of writing conventions. Since there is no punctuation or capitalization in this example, a teacher would use this type of morning message to engage 327328students in determining what punctuation (periods, commas, exclamation points) and capitalization (initial words of sentences, proper nouns) are needed.

It is important to understand that some children will be ready to actively participate in the morning message activity, while others will need time to observe their peers and benefit from seeing others participate. Be sure to keep the morning message time appropriate for your students’ attention span. As needed, you may decide to continue a morning message activity on the following day. For additional examples and guidelines, see http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/Lessons/397.htm;http://www.mrsnelsonsclass.com/teacherresources/teachingwriting.

Language experience stories.

A central aspect of the language experience strategy is children’s dictation of a text. The teacher, acting as a scribe, writes on chart paper, a chalkboard, or an overhead projector transparency exactly what children say. During the preschool and kindergarten years, children’s dictation will typically be their oral language, which may contain aspects of their home dialects. At the primary level, children may dictate text that more closely represents the literate register, reflecting their knowledge of written language structure and decontextualization.

Teachers can encourage children’s contributions during dictation by asking questions and providing comments to encourage further thought or response, such as:

· • “Tell me more about … “

· • “What did it remind you of?”

· • “How did you feel about that?” (Mooney, 1990, p. 42)

The language experience strategy is used when teachers want to provide an opportunity for children to create a shared text and then share the reading of that text. Because the teacher assumes the writing of the text, children are not constrained by their lack of orthographic (spelling) knowledge. This strategy is a good way for teachers to observe the expressive language knowledge children have in the areas of semantic, syntactic, morphemic, and pragmatic knowledge. Based on this observation of students’ language knowledge during language experience dictation, a teacher may develop and implement specific activities designed to enhance further growth in one or more of the five aspects of language knowledge.

Interactive writing.

With interactive writing, the teacher focuses specifically on language concepts such as letters, words, or sounds and also focuses on specific vocabulary or sentence structure. Children are encouraged to contribute to the writing and spelling process. For example, as a first-grade teacher, you might decide that you want to emphasize that the first word of every sentence should be capitalized. Then, as your children dictate the sentences for your group story, you would stop before starting each new sentence to talk about the word that will start the sentence and the letter that begins the first word. Then you would ask 328329for a volunteer to come to the story chart to write the capital letter to begin the word. At other times, you might decide to focus on parts of words, punctuation, or letter–sound connections.

It is important that the texts created in language experience stories and interactive writing be recopied in enlarged book form and eventually placed in the classroom library. This allows for individual student use during independent activity time.

At the primary level, students’ group dictations can be used to create a wider variety of texts than in kindergarten classrooms. Whereas kindergarten children’s dictated texts may focus only on a shared class event, primary children may be able to jointly create a fictional takeoff on a favorite storybook. Primary children’s dictated texts may also be in the form of a nonfiction account of their knowledge about a set of related concepts (e.g., the weather), a list of words with similar characteristics, or a list of questions about a particular topic.

Media Presentations

Occasionally showing videotapes or DVDs can provide children with an opportunity to expand their listening vocabulary and receptive knowledge of syntax and semantics. Because there is no opportunity for children to have their questions answered or comments shared during the showing of the videotape or DVD, it is important that you take time just after the showing for children’s questions and comments and to ask children questions to determine whether they comprehended the important ideas or concepts.

Audiotapes or CDs can also be used to enhance listening vocabulary, but only if the story is familiar to the children or if the story incorporates schemata already established. To comprehend an audiotape or CD story, children must be able to visualize the story characters and the events that occur. When children are inattentive during this activity, it may indicate that their listening comprehension is not sufficient to foster comprehension.

SMALL GROUP TEACHER-DIRECTED ACTIVITIES

Small group teacher-directed activities are planned to focus on the needs of a smaller group of students or to provide an opportunity for children to become more actively engaged in verbal interaction with several children. Four sample activities will be described in this section: word study activities, shared reading, literature circles, and collaborative–cooperative projects.

In organizing these activities, you will need to group students based on the children’s specific needs or the purpose of the activity. For word study activities, children need to be able to focus on the selected linguistic concept (e.g., initial sounds, word endings). In literature circles, children need to have read the same story or text in order to be able to effectively discuss it.

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Word Study Activities

Word study activities may focus on phonetic, morphemic, or semantic knowledge related to specific words (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2011; Burns, Roe, & Smith, 2002). In conducting a word study activity, the teacher first determines which children have a specific need for a focused activity and then selects an appropriate word study activity. Word study concepts are introduced in the format of a mini-lesson: an introduction to the concept, examples of the desired word analysis, and then an opportunity for children to practice the task cooperatively or independently, depending on their level of understanding.

Word families.

Word family activities may focus on onset and rime (Johnston, 1999). In these activities, children sort words (written on cards) from two or more word families, such as hop, stop, mop, map, tap, and cap. Initially, the teacher guides the sorting process. Later on, children can work in pairs or alone. After sorting, words are written down in categories, and children are encouraged to add more words to each category on their own. When children can quickly and correctly read and spell the selected word families, the focus can change to new word families. Word family activities enhance language knowledge by encouraging children to identify and manipulate words, which enhances their phonetic knowledge of oral and written language.

Word banks.

With word banks, children make a collection of the words they can read or vocabulary words they know. Usually, the words are placed on index cards and then used in word sort activities. Other types of word collections include word posters and word clusters (see Tompkins & Hoskisson, 1995).

Shared Reading

In shared reading, children take turns reading to each other from individual copies of either basal readers or trade books. At the first-grade level, reading pairs are more effective than larger groupings. In second or third grade, children may be able to have shared reading in groups of three or four. The purpose of shared reading is to provide opportunities for children to read orally in an informal setting. Through repeated opportunities to read texts at their appropriate level of reading, children develop reading fluency.

Shared reading typically involves dividing the entire class into reading pairs or threesomes for a period of 10 to 15 minutes. The classroom teacher initially determines the composition of each reading group and then monitors children’s participation. In this way, children have an opportunity to practice their oral reading with a peer. Children can be encouraged to share with each other their “detective strategies” in using clues from their word knowledge to decode and comprehend what is written. Shared reading may boost self-confidence and greater oral fluency.

Primary children also benefit from cross-age shared reading, which is typically referred to as “buddy reading” (Campbell, 2001). In this type of shared reading, students from upper grades visit a primary grade to read storybooks to two or three children at a time. This activity gives primary children an opportunity to increase their listening comprehension as well as their conversational skills.

Guided Reading

For this small group activity, children are selected by reading ability to read texts that have been designed for their reading level (Fountas & Pinnell, 2009). In this setting, the teacher provides different levels of scaffolding and mediation as individual children read the text. Decoding skills, oral fluency, and comprehension are emphasized in this activity. As the teacher guides the children through the text, she encourages children to think about how they read as well as the meaning of the text (Cole, 2006).

Literature Circles

With a literature circle, a small group of students meet to discuss a piece of literature (Galda, Cullinan, & Strickland, 1993; Owocki, 2001; Yopp & Yopp, 2001). For first grade, these discussion groups may follow a teacher read-aloud; in second and third grades, students may read their selections silently, prior to their discussions. This activity enhances children’s oral language communication skills in each of the five areas of language knowledge. Children’s comprehension is enhanced through peer discussions (Kasten,1997). Their knowledge of the conventions of written language may also be enhanced as they refer to the text to support and clarify their discussion responses. Research studies have concluded that literature circles provide opportunity for primary students to develop more elaborate and complex responses to what they read through the process of orally sharing their thoughts and interpretations with each other (Morrow & Gambrell, 2002).

Literature circles require specific communication skills that primary children may not yet have developed (Galda et al., 1993). Teachers should discuss with students which kinds of questions are appropriate for literature circles and for specific genres. When initiating this activity, teachers may decide to provide specific questions for the groups to use and then gradually encourage students to develop their own questions. Encouraging children to develop and use their own questions enhances their conversation skills (Newkirk & McLure, 1996).

Teachers must clearly communicate their expectations for the processes to be used in literature circles (i.e., thinking, reading, sharing meanings) and the ways in which students are to interact in terms of turn-taking or specific roles to be assumed (e.g., questioner, scribe/recorder). Students can also be encouraged to reflect on the success of their group in the discussion. Effective literature circles will develop over an extended period of time, with students gradually assuming more responsibilities in planning and conducting their discussions. When teachers of successive grade levels (e.g., first-, second-, and third-grade teachers) use this technique, students have repeated opportunities to continue to develop their oral discussion competencies and their ability to interact effectively.

Collaborative–Cooperative Projects

In the primary grades where themed cross-curricular instructional units are used, children may work in small collaborative groups. This may involve dramatic improvisation, role-playing, story retelling, or the creation of a mural or other hands-on 332333project, such as a model or diorama. These projects may also involve exploring specific topics through a variety of library resources.

A wide variety of language skills are enhanced through collaborative–cooperative projects. In these projects, students use listening, speaking, reading, and writing to explore, create, and solve problems (Morrow & Gambrell, 1998). By working together on a project, children are encouraged to reflect on their thinking. The development of this “critical reflectiveness” contributes to literate thinking (Wells & Chang-Wells, 1996, p. 165).

Like literature circles, collaborative projects require social and interaction skills that students may need to acquire over an extended period. Teachers may need to introduce collaborative projects one step at a time, providing a supportive environment in which students can gradually assume more responsibility for planning and conducting their own projects.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Family–school connections can be strengthened by providing parents with specific activities and ideas for extending their children’s learning at home. One of the key areas of language development in the primary years is vocabulary. Wasik (2006) described the following ways teachers can encourage parents to strengthen vocabulary development at home:

· • Provide parents with a list of current vocabulary words, along with a brief definition. Include a note suggesting that the family use the words in conversations and talk about the meaning of the words.

· • From your classroom library, provide photocopies of books you have created with your students using target vocabulary.

· • Provide materials in a “writing book bag” to encourage parents and children to write their own stories using target vocabulary.

Your classroom newsletters to parents can also describe activities that parents and children can engage in that will enhance children’s language development. Be sure to keep the newsletter easy to read and parent-friendly (see Figure 11.8).

SUMMARY

During the primary years, children continue to develop knowledge of oral and written language in each of the five aspects of language knowledge. Classrooms that encourage children’s active explorations of language through hands-on, collaborative activities increase the depth and breadth of children’s language competencies. At the primary level, teachers use linguistic scaffolding, mediation, and questioning to encourage children’s expressive language. Children’s listening competencies are critical to their language development and success at school. Language-enhancing activities include both exploratory–discovery center activities and teacher-directed large and small group activities.