Transcript The Missing Links?

Some Missing Links?
Charles L. Mifsud
Literacy for All Seminar, 15th November 2012
Points to consider
 The importance of early intervention by establishing
baseline levels.
 Strenghtening of aspects of initial and continuing
professional development of teachers in literacy.
 Why are so few interventions really effective?
Early intervention
 The strong influence of the home background as established in our baseline
studies. Literacy and Mathematics baseline studies can serve as the basis for
early intervention.
 Incontrovertible evidence of the utmost importance of the first years: the
quality of parent-child interactions, shared storybook reading, phonological
awareness...
 The language comprehension ability of 14-month-old toddlers predicts their
subsequent expressive and receptive vocabulary. Language processing
speed and receptive vocabulary size at 25 months are predictive of
vocabulary when children are 8 years old.
 Increased evidence which supports a role for pediatric primary care
intervention programmes to reduce poverty related disparities in early child
development and school readiness. Preventive developmental services for at
risk children like ROR (Reach Out and Read). Collaboration between health
and education services: pediatric settings and early childhood development
and education specialists.
Strengthening of teacher education
 Importance of subject-specific knowledge about literacy (the
processes involved in reading and writing), literacy-specific
literacy-specific teaching strategies (word identification and
comprehension), appropriate assessment techniques for
diagnosing and addressing reading problems.
 No single teaching strategy works for all learners.
 Within the limitations of our initial TE programmes we have
elements of these in our ECE, Primary and Secondary
programmes (at least for English and Maltese and in the other
languages)
 However this is quite limited and restricted to the language
subjects. Broadening of scope of this training and extending it
further into CPD, and not only for basic skills tutors.
Why are so few interventions really
effective?
 An uncomfortable question: Why do our efforts frequently
result in limited success?
 What we know for sure:
- Powerful continuities between early language learning and
later academic success.
- Factors such as poverty place children at elevated risk of
failing to acquire language skills associated with later
reading.
- The disturbing but incontrovertible fact that while many
interventions have resulted in some growth in language
abilities, many have not had lasting effects.
Lasting effects
 To have substantial and sustained impact on children’s language
learning in ways that translate into improved reading
comprehension, a broad-based approach may be necessary:
Phonological awareness, decoding, spelling, reading
comprehension and semantic knowledge.
 The importance of the environment. Language development and
reading ability are largely determined by environmental factors.
Literacy-rich environment, especially specific classroom
behaviours like teachers’ use of language, especially sophisticated
vocabulary that fosters learning.
 However we need to identify in which ways language learning
affects not only language acquisition but also associated
competencies. These lasting effects may stem not only from
vocabulary learning but also from the fact that children who
experience enriched interactions with their teachers form closer
relationships and are more inclined to connect with their teachers.
 Enhanced attention regulation, information learning, selfregulatory abilities in group settings.
 Interventions in which children are pulled out of the
classroom and work with teachers one-to-one or in a small
group setting have, in general, shown more promising
results than large-scale efforts. For example shared book
reading is typically implemented one-to-one or in a smallgroup setting, often by parents. Focus and intensity of the
intervention may be a key element in fostering language
growth.
 Training of teachers to employ interactive book reading
techniques with an emphasis on vocabulary. Significant
positive effects on both expressive and receptive
vocabulary.
 Sufficient resources need to be in place.
 Fine-grained evidence of progress.