Transcript Literacy – The Symbol Debate
Language Development and Literacy – The Symbol Debate
The use of symbols to support struggling readers Damhnait Ní Mhurchú Senior Speech and Language Therapist Central Remedial Clinic, Waterford, Ireland .
Background
Clinical setting Clinical experience Learned of a high demand for information on a local level from colleagues working in education, both special and mainstream environments arising from a practical study morning focused on this area
Introduction
Access to written language as part of everyday life Difficulties in successful acquisition → barrier to learning and full participation Dealing with populations at particular risk of difficulties with literacy acquisition The language component of development of proficient reading Can symbols provide support?
Definition of Reading
“Proficient reading is reading silently with comprehension” No consensus view of the reading process… Reading involves a range of complex intellectual activities alongside language Reading pertains to a broad variety of materials
Models of Reading
1. Bottom-Up Reading –
a series of stages in a hierarchy.
Letter Features Letters Words Sentences Meaning of Text 2. Top-Down Reading –
reader approaches text with a specific intention or purpose in mind; expects to find particular things in print; knowledge of language and knowledge of the world used; reader brings meaning to print rather than deriving meaning from it.
Visual and Sound Features of letters in Words Words and Sentences in Context Hypothesis about what Text Means Reader’s Experience of Language and the World; Cognitive Strategies
3. Interactive Model of Reading
Skilled reading = bottom-up and top-down processes occurring along side each other Reader has several sources of information; letters, sounds, words, clauses; and also reader makes predictions.
Each level operates independently and simultaneously, and influence each other.
Reading is an interactive process between information processed from current sensory information (bottom up) and the meaning of what has been read (top down).
For successful and competent reading acquisition…
Need to be able to use low-level decoding skills (eg) phonics, but also draw on higher level skills such as context.
The transition into fluent reading with comprehension depends on developing orthographic automaticity, but syntactic competence and semantic strength .
also on
Reading Comprehension
Word Identification Language Comprehension Automatic Mediated Knowledge of Text Structures Knowledge of the World Print Processing Beyond Word Identification Eye movements Print-to Meaning Links Predicting Prosody Integration Inner speech
Structure – how is language built?
Grammar/syntax Word order, even within word classes Word classes – nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.
Morphology – altering the word root; used to distinguish and mark. Often an area that challenges struggling readers, both with decoding and comprehension. Simple vs. complex grammar.
Grammar in written language is much more complex.
Most grammar rules are not overtly taught!
Content – what are the ideas?
Vocabulary and variety of words (lexical diversity) and word classes used conveys the message.
Closely linked to structure – the more complex the structure, the more ideas can be conveyed!
Linking and sequencing ideas.
Implied content.
Interactive reading model – bringing experience to text to extract ideas.
More on content……
As content becomes more syntactically complex, the child requires a facility with syntax to be able to read and understand the material, especially if content is not familiar. Thus more ambiguous and abstract language presents obstacles to comprehension.
Also impoverished vocabulary stores seriously impacts on reading comprehension.
The language features required for reading comprehension…
Phonology Awareness + discrimination Segmentation Sound blending Rhyming Phoneme manipulation Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondence
Lower Level
Syntax Semantics Word order Rules Irregular – rule breakers!
Morphology Single word understanding concrete + abstract Classification + categorisation Concepts Simple vs. complex Embedded clauses Punctuation Pronouns and referential pronouns Vocabulary + lexical diversity Text meaning
Higher Level
Inferencing – identify information not explicitly stated Metaphors and similes Problem solving Reasoning Ability to refer outside of the text and relate to personal/previous experience Extracting humour
What are the signs that someone is struggling with comprehension
Unable to answer factual questions based on the material read Unable to identify the main idea of passage Unable to follow directions in print Unable to follow sequence of events in printed material Unable to retell much of what has been read Unable to construct an outline of the content Unable to answer anything but literal questions in later primary years Unable to form judgements on what has been read
What are the signs that someone is struggling with context clues/cues
Gives a word that does not fit the context and does not see that it is an error Unusual difficulty in recognising words specifically related to a topic Weakness in citing words expected in a passage about a topic (prediction and semantics) Makes as many errors in reading words in context as when reading a list of words (unable to use clues in the text) Refusal to hazard a guess at a word when it’s meaning is clearly indicated by the rest of the sentence Unsatisfactory comprehension!
How can symbols work…?
The advantage of pictorial symbols over more abstract symbol systems is that they can more easily be understood, whatever the age, language or reading ability of the reader.
Symbols are used to support..
Communication Independence Writing Reading Access to information No discrete groups of people for whom symbols may aid literacy, but rather a continuum of need and capability
What do we know from research?
There remains little research in the use of symbols to support literacy.
Older papers suggest that children learned more words and faster when not paired with symbols….! However, little or no research beyond single word reading.
Some smaller studies in more recent times indicating improved reading comprehension, and motivation to read when text is supported by symbols.
Current practice suggests that modified picture supported reading can be of benefit if the goal is to develop emergent readers and writer’s literacy attitudes and understanding.
In fact….
Current practice suggests increased Interest Attention Time on task Comprehension of context Self-esteem (success!) And Improved behaviour and communication Better access to information and curriculum
Further research is needed to explore the effect of pictures on the ability to extract meaning from information in text for people with difficulties However, in the absence of empirical literature, there is adequate anecdotal evidence to support the use of pictures to facilitate understanding of meaning of printed material.
Different kinds of symbols
Photos Logos Signage Illustrations and line drawings Pictographs (eg) Widgit More systematic symbol set May use a combination of these depending on your focus….
Group 1 transparent or guessable symbols
These pictorial symbols are usually recognisable and need little teaching.
house
Group 2 translucent or learnable symbols
These symbols often fall into groups or schema, which can help their learnability.
bedroom
Group 3 –opaque or symbols which need to be learned
every As vocabulary and ideas become more complex, so does the representational nature of the symbols used to represent them. Symbols representing abstract concepts will need explanation, but for people with learning/language difficulties, chances of recall are better with the help of the graphic image than through an unrecognisable text alternative.
Group 4 – Symbols which are purely abstract
These are symbols which cannot be illustrated, and are the most difficult to learn, as the user not only has to learn the meaning, but also their use in sentence construction.
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Symbol interpretation
Can be hindered by limited life experience of different cultural background.
Clarity helps! More complex symbols need to be learned.
Concrete images reduce the need for numeracy and literacy.
Metaphors can be very confusing (eg) it’s raining cats and dogs….!
Some general recommendations around symbol selection and use in text
Symbols should match their meaning Language and symbols need to be specific Ideally they should be consistent re size, position, spacing and especially symbol used (eg) black + cat vs. black cat….
Typically when people are involved, the whole person is more meaningful, and photos for specific people where appropriate Think of colour, but use with consideration as the information overload can be excessive
Symbols to Support Text
Symbols can support some, or all text.
The relationship between the symbol and the text will depend on the reader’s cognitive, literacy and language level, and the reason they are using symbols.
2 groups of users The symbols are the MAIN communicative item.
The symbols are being used as a support, or a BRIDGE towards traditional orthography assisting the reader towards an exact reading of the written words.
Some considerations…
The text is more important than the pictures. The pictures are only a clue to the print. The ultimate goal is for the student to learn the read the words, and extract meaning, not merely recognise symbols.
Focus should shift to print As skills develop, pictures over every word are not required as the student should be able to begin to draw on context and syntax to support identification of some words.
Returning to language!
Supporting Structure
The symbols are not seen as part of an integrated linguistic structure in themselves – but they can support comprehension of the linguistic structure of the text.
Structure skills can be built through identifying Word order; statements vs. questions Word groups (eg) ‘doing’, ‘describing’, ‘thing’ words Focusing on morphology; -ing endings, plurals, superlatives, possessives etc.
Developing meta-awareness.
Supporting Content
Building vocabulary – both text-specific and intertextual Semantic networks Sequence Narrative story structure/story grammar Beginning-middle-end Reasoning and Problem Solving Inferencing Questions – are they questioning or always just responding?
5 Step Comprehension Framework Example of a strategy with symbol support
Build and activate background knowledge Set a purpose for reading Read or listen Complete a task Provide informative feedback
Build and activate background knowledge
Ask the student to tell you all of the words they can think of related to a topic Ask the student to categorise words you have provided related to the topic to be read Teach the student the meaning of important vocabulary, not just through definitions, but through relating new words to other known words. Visual supports such as symbols or visual maps (eg) Communicate Ideas can be very helpful in this regard.
Demonstrate the completion of the type of comprehension task, like a summary, by relating it to something very familiar. This helps build inferencing ability.
Imposing purpose on reading
There should be a purpose to what is being read BEFORE it is read.
Otherwise, the student is being asked to guess what the teacher thinks is important or relevant, or they’re trying to remember everything. How stressful!
Setting a purpose focuses a reader’s attention, and helps the student understand what is important.
Purposes can be set whether the student is listening or reading.
Read and listen
Before and after reading activities should take up much less time than the actual activity of reading and listening.
Time spent reading is the best predictor of progress.
BUT reading out loud can reduce comprehension; different neural pathways.
Complete a task
The task to be completed should be directly related to the purpose set (eg) to find out how to work something.
Don’t add to the task even if things are going well If there’s potential for more, read the same text on another occasion with a different purpose However, if they can complete the task before rereading, they won’t be motivated for you!
Provide informative feedback
The goal here is to get students to tell you what they did to accomplish the task.
This is to help them understand exactly what they did to get the correct answer, or to understand how they got a wrong answer in order to clarify.
This is not about reinforcement, but about strategy – they know what to do to get it right the next time.