GAMBAGA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM, EARLY GRADE UPER GRADE AND JHS

PREPARED BY AMIDU FATAWU

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course aims to equip student teachers with the skill to incorporate subject-specific literacy in

their disciplines to enhance students‘ academic success. The course introduces student teachers

to the concept of literacy across the curriculum, the importance of cross-curricula literacy,

principles and practice of cross-curricular literacy and planning for cross-curricular literacy.

Additionally, the course exposes student teachers to ways they can apply literacy skills in

teaching their subject areas. The course also aims at assisting student teachers to know how to

integrate subject-specific literacy into planning, teaching and assessing across the KG-P3/P4-

6/JHS1-3 curriculum and teaching strategies to use to improve literacy across the curriculum.

The course equips student teachers with listening, speaking, writing and reading strategies that

can be used to improve literacy across the curriculum. In this course, students are also introduced

to how to develop assessments and make use of literacy explicit in the various disciplines in the

KG-P3/P4-6/JHS 1-3. The course also emphasizes planning appropriate lessons taking into

consideration all manner of learners, their needs and interests. Student teachers are also allowed

to visit the school to acquaint themselves with how literacy is used across the curriculum in KG-

P3/P4-6/JHS1-3. Student teachers will also have the opportunity to teach their subject area using

the appropriate literacy demands. The course will be delivered through student-centred

approaches like discussion, brainstorming, project work/seminars, think-pair-share, class

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presentation by students, role-play, school visits/field work, concept mapping, teacher modelling

and practical teaching. The assessment modes - for, of, and as - for this course include quizzes,

assignments, examinations, presentations, report writing, portfolios and observations. The course

is aimed at achieving the following: NTS 2b, 3 b, e, f, I, j, m and NTECF bullets 7, 8 (p. 25),

bullet 6 (p. 25) and requirements.

For further information contact me via phone 0203157802/0543963349 or

Email [email protected]

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 Unit 1

The Literacy Across the Curriculum

Concept, tenets, importance, challenges and misconceptions

Introduction

The unit begins by looking at the definition of the ‗concept of literacy, the skills necessary for

literacy, literacy across the curriculum with examples, the importance of literacy across the

curriculum in educational learning and the principles and practices of effective instruction of

Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC). The unit ends with identifying the misconceptions about

literacy across the curriculum and how such misconceptions can be addressed.

Language and literacy are of personal, social and economic importance. Our ability to use language lies at

the centre of the development and expression of our emotions, our thinking, our learning and our sense of

personal identity. Language is itself a key aspect of our culture. Through language, children and young

people can gain access to the literary heritage of humanity and develop their appreciation of the richness

and breadth of Scotland‘s literary heritage. Children and young people encounter, enjoy and learn from

the diversity of language used in their homes, their communities, by the media and by their peers.

Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being

literate increases opportunities for the individual in all aspects of life, lays the foundations for lifelong

learning and work, and contributes strongly to the development of all four capacities of Curriculum for

Excellence.

Various definitions of literacy

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 1. Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that let us communicate

effectively and make sense of the world.

2. Literacy is the ability, confidence, and willingness to engage with language to acquire,

construct and communicate meaning in daily living. Literacy is traditionally understood

as the ability to read, write and use arithmetic.

3. Literacy can be defined as a set of cultivated skills and knowledge that serve as the basis

for learning, communicating, language use and social interaction. Literacy ranges from

the basic ability to read, write, listen and comprehend to higher level processing skills

where learners are able to deduce, interpret, monitor and elaborate on what is learned.

4. Literacy is the set skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in

learning through the different forms of language and the range of texts, which society

values and finds useful.

The important skills noted in the above definition are listening, speaking, reading, writing,

creative thinking and thought-provocative thinking

Exercises1

Briefly brainstorm how teachers can develop each of these skills in the Early Grade/

Upper PRI/ JHS curriculum.

Basic Ideas and Techniques for Teaching the four Language Skills

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In this guide post, I‘m going to guide you to the basic ideas and techniques to teaching the four

language skills

The Four Language Skills

The four skills of language learning are Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. They are

four capabilities that allow an individual to comprehend, produce, and use the language in

effective interpersonal communication. They are most often acquired in the order of listening

first, then speaking, then possibly reading and writing.

Listening and reading are called receptive skills because learners do not need to produce

language to do these, they receive and understand it. Speaking and writing are called

productive skills because learners doing these need to produce language.

Listening : This is the ability to accurately receive, attend to, understand and interpret messages

in the communication process, e.g., the ability to listen to, understand and follow directions,

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instructions etc. given in a language. This is closely related to Speaking. The two skills move

together.

Speaking: This is the ability to speak a language clearly, and in a way that will be understood by

listeners. This is an oral communication skill that learners should be encouraged to practise to

perfection because it serves as a foundational skill to other language and literacy skills.

Reading: Reading which is a receptive skill is closely linked to Listening. This is the ability to

receive a written message through reading it, attend to it, and understand what is conveyed in a

piece of writing/print. The reader must be able to read fluently, coherently, understand what is

read before responding to it. The reader responds to something that is read in many way; answer

questions arising from the passage/text read, retell, summarize texts read in his/her own words to

show understanding of the texts, act it out or write a response to it. Reading is closely linked to

Writing and must not be treated as an isolated skill.

Writing: It is the ability to express one‘s thought clearly and comprehensively in writing.

Writing may be in the form of scribbling, drawing, simple sentences, short essays,

compositions, summaries, letters, etc. The relationship among these quadruplet skills is that

―Listening‖ and ―Reading” are referred to as “Receptive Skills‖; the skills through which a

learner receives communication or a message. ―Speaking‖ and Writing‖ are referred to as the

“Productive/Expressive Skills‖ because these skills help the learner to respond to a message

received, or knowledge acquired, by expressing his/her understanding either through speaking

the language and/or through writing. When a child scribbles, draws, paints, writes new stories,

letters, simple sentences, short essays, or any form of compositions, he/she is producing

language. It is in this context that we

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Having a good English level means understanding and producing the language, so we should

teach and develop all the four language skills in our students.

Teaching Listening

Listening is a very important skill. It is the queen of the four skills as it helps students to speak,

communicate with others and learn vocabulary and grammar. It is the first receptive language

skill.

Listening difficulties

The speed

It is related to how many people are there in the conversation and how quickly they speak.

Vocabulary

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It is related to the inability of students to understand the listening text if they cannot understand

the vocabulary included.

Structures

It is related to the inability of students to understand the listening text if they cannot understand

the key structures included.

The length and the topic

A long conversation about football, food, clothes, films or TV programs may be easier for

students to understand than a short one about politics or science.

Intonation

The intonation and stress of English native speakers are different from speakers of other

languages.

Stages of teaching a listening activity

Before listening:

Prepare students for the listening activity by:

 Making them interested with an interesting introduction to the topic.

 Giving them a reason for listening and asking them a question to answer.

 Explaining the new words.

 Explaining the new structures.

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During listening:

 Students listen to the text for the first time.

 Helping them guess what will happen next after listening to a part of the text.

 They compare their predictions after their first listening.

 Ask some questions to answer before they listen a second time.

 Students listen a second time.

 They do some activities e.g. filling in a table while listening the second time.

Post listening

 Check students‘ understanding of the whole listening text by asking more questions on

details.

 The teacher reads aloud the text (the story) from the audio script with five or six mistakes

(not the grammar of course). Students correct these mistakes either immediately or by

making a list of these mistakes and tell the teacher of them after listening.

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Teaching Reading

Reading is the second receptive language skill which includes the following three levels in

sequence.

1. Getting the primary, directed meaning of a word, idea or sentence.

2. Getting what the writer is trying to say to us ―between the lines‖ without actually stating

it.

3. Analyzing what the writer says or means.

Techniques to teach reading:

1. KWL Technique (What I know – What I want to know – What I learned)

In this technique:

 The teacher uses a picture or the title to ask the students to say everything they know

about the subject they‘re talking about and lists their pieces of information (What I know)

 Students ask questions to get information about the topic they are reading about. The

teacher accepts any questions that the students ask (What I want to know)

 He/she gives answers to the questions the students asked. The teacher lists these pieces of

information (What I learned)

2. DRTA Technique (Directed Reading Thinking Activity)

In this technique:

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  The teacher asks students what they think a story or text with a title like this might be

about. Students then read part of the story or text.

 The teacher asks the students what they think now. Are their guesses right or wrong?

 The teacher asks students what it is in the story or text that makes them think this.

 The teacher asks the students what they think will happen next.

Teaching Speaking

Speaking problems and their solution

Problem Solution

Be patient and encourage group work. Correct only seriou

Some students are afraid of making mistakes.
mistakes.

Some students don‘t get a chance to take part in

Speak to them after the lesson.
speaking.

Passive students don‘t participate in speaking. They need help and attention from the teacher.

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 The topic is not interesting to students. Move on to a different topic.

Some of our students speak very quietly. Encourage them to speak loudly.

Speaking activities

There are six activities a teacher should use in speaking:

1. Students make sentences about themselves.

2. The teacher asks a question to one student who, in turn, asks another friend to answer.

3. He/she tells a learner to ask another learner one question.

4. The teacher asks a question and encourages students to give short, realistic answers.

5. He/she asks the students to give a response of more than one sentence.

6. The teacher gives a real answer and asks the students to make a question for it.

Techniques for correcting speaking mistakes based on the type of mistake

Accuracy Fluency

Expressions of face Don‘t correct everything

Gesture with hands Correct some at the end.

Something like ―Try again‖. List mistakes and deal with only common ones.

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Teaching Writing

There are three stages to deal with writing: before writing, during writing, and after writing.

Before writing (4 steps):

Students get enough ideas and information necessary for writing. It helps learners focus on the

purpose and possible readers of their written work before starting writing.

1. Grouping discussion.

Encourage your students to discuss a certain topic in groups. The advantages of this are:

 It helps students get different viewpoints.

 Stronger students can help weaker students.

 It helps the teacher find out whether his students have enough vocabulary and are good at

language structures.

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2. Sunshine outline.

 Students draw rays coming from the sun and write a question word on each ray: who,

what…etc.

 Help students think of possible questions that begin with these question words. Then,

they write a phrase or two to answer these questions.

3. Oral brainstorming.

This is done orally. It involves the use of questions. The teacher can write these questions on the

board and ask each student to think out answers to them. The teacher should bear in mind the

following points:

 Accept all students‘ answers.

 There are no wrong or right answers.

 Never force the students to follow your viewpoints.

 Never interrupt the students during answering.

The teacher discusses the answers with his students. Then, he asks them to go to the next step.

4. Interviewing.

Students interview each other. They share viewpoints and ideas. They usually share their

personal experiences and think about them during the interview. This makes students relaxed and

reduces the fear of writing.

During writing (3 steps): 1. Drafting, 2. Revising and 3. Editing.

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  The teacher tells his students to write on every other line of their paper to allow room for

revising and editing.

 They write the first form of their writing.

 Then they revise whether the content of their writing is clear or not, either in pairs or

alone.

 Students edit their writing, either in pairs or alone, as they focus on grammatical,

spelling, and punctuation mistakes they might have in their writing.

 In the end, they write the final form of their writing.

After writing (3 steps):

1. Publishing students’ writing:

The teacher encourages his students to publish their writing in different ways, e.g. in the

classroom, in school, in newspapers or in magazines. They can collect their written work in a

classroom book. They can put it in the classroom, or school library. Students can borrow it and

read it.

2. Classroom discussion:

Students can read their writing to the whole class, in groups or in pairs. This helps students

practice listening to and speaking about their writing.

3. Drawing pictures based on the writing:

Students start drawing pictures based on their writing. This helps students realize that learning

English can be fun, enjoyable and interesting.

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 WHAT IS THE CURRICULUM?

The term curriculum refers to the lesson and academic content taught in school or in a

specific course or program.

The curriculum requires students to have literacy skills which will enable them to become

independent learners.

WHAT IS LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM?

Literacy Across the Curriculum means making sense of the languages, texts and literacy

practices of a learning area/discipline. This means one has to develop the capacity to:

 read and understand texts in the discipline.

 construct texts appropriate to that subject

 think about, discuss, interact with, and use these texts in subject-specific ways (Gee,

2008).

Since students engage with many texts (whether printed or digital) which they need to be able to

make meaning out of it, using print, visuals, sound, space, and movement. They do so in ways

consistent with the learning discipline in which the texts are used.

In brief, LAC requires learners to have skills which enable them to interpret and compose texts

across different disciplines. This involves teaching about how different language choices and

patterns represent and document ideas and views of the world through a range of genres. It

requires developing a sense of the way disciplinary knowledge is organised, for example in

science or history or geography.

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It is an approach to formulating curriculum that favours the dynamics use of learning topics and

themes to be covered and skills/competencies to be developed in a number of learning areas

across the curriculum.

Literacy Across the Curriculum requires learners to have skills which enable them to interpret

and compose texts across different disciplines. It involves teaching prompts learning that:

 embeds a grasp of how different language choices and patterns represent and document

ideas and views of the world through a range of genres

 develops a sense of the way disciplinary knowledge is organized (for example, in

mathematics, science, history or geography).

To help understand the concept of Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC) very well, the

following tips when considered will help:

 LAC means learners are learning literacy skills while learning other content areas like

mathematics, science, Social Studies, Art and Music.

 LAC is learning in a subject area that requires the use of language; therefore speaking,

listening, reading and writing are used as tools for learning that subject area.

 The more fluent learners become as speakers, listeners, readers and writers, the clearer,

more coherent and more flexible their thinking will become in the discipline.

Fig. 1.: A graphical representation of language/literacy across the curriculum

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An effective Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC) development should involve the following:

 emphasizing speaking and listening skills. For example, teachers should explicitly teach

group work skills by using questioning to encourage the students to participate actively in

classroom discussions.

 ensuring that students have the skills both to decode and understand the meaning of texts.

For example, teachers may use phonics strategies with struggling readers (especially

Early Grade learners) and encourage them to pose questions about the meaning of what

they have read;

 explicitly teaching the skills needed to read and write in different genres and giving

students a meaningful reason for reading and writing. For example, teachers can use

models and writing frames to help students to structure their writing.

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WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

The four language skills are important in studying all subjects at school. All subjects will need

listening, speaking, reading, writing, problem solving and critical thinking. Teachers must teach

students in order to acquire these language skills.

Tenets of Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC)

The major tenets of Literacy Across the Curriculum are as follows according to May (1997 p.

230):

 language has a central role in learning

 students need to be actively engaged in meaning-making

 teachers need to foster student-centred learning (as opposed to didactic approaches)

 active learning involves four key modes of language: reading, writing, speaking and

listening

 students‘ language should be the principal tool for working through curriculum content.

The following are some importance of literacy across the curriculum;

1 .Literacy is the foundation for future learning and participation in society and employment. It is

also an access to source of personal enrichment such as social interaction and cultural activities.

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2. Literacy is a key element for success in education and the workplace. The correlation between

poverty and literacy is well- established. Children from a low social-economic status are likely to

be the biggest group among poor readers.

3. Literacy is essential for the building of a knowledge society and the strengthen of people,

families, communities and nations

4. Literacy skills allow students to seek out information, explore subject in-dept and gain a

deeper understanding of the world around them.

5. It promotes development of critical and creative thinking among learners

6. It promotes language development for effective communication

7. Literacy opens the world to more opportunities for the literate.

8. Individuals who have higher level of literacy are rewarded by society.

9. Literacy is the fundamental to all learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. A

person being literate increases opportunities of life lays the foundation for lifelong learning.

10. It promotes competence and confidence in literacy, since competence in grammar, spelling

and the spoken word are essential for progress in all areas of the curriculum. Because of this all

teachers have the responsibility for promoting literacy development.

11. Being able to read and write properly is the beginning of truly understanding yourself and

others through knowledge and, hopefully, eventually in acquiring wisdom.

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12. Literacy ensures critical thinking which helps one to learn to think independently. It makes

one to be able to make information from many different sources and to formulate one‘s own

opinion.

13. Literacy is necessary for simple daily tasks like reading the newspaper or tax forms, bills, job

application and many more

14. Literacy lifts individuals out of poverty, lacking basic reading and writing skills is

tremendous disadvantage. Literacy not only enriches an individual‘s life, but it creates

opportunities for people to develop skills that will help them provide for themselves and family.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

The principles and practice ensure that from the government educational policies, the colleges of

education, the employer of the teacher (GES), the school base system, the society, parents, the

communities and individuals should focus on developing literacy skills.

The principles and practice will provide the opportunity for all the stalk-holders in education to

come out with practices and strategies that will promote the developing of literacy in the

classroom.

SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE TEACHER CAN ENGAGE IN TO

PROMOTE LITERACY SKILLS IN THE CLASSROM.

1. Include all language skills in your teachings

2. Create a classroom library for independent reading

3. Create a writing competition among your students by asking them to write prose

drama, poems, stories

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 4. Ask students questions about their independent reading

5. Have a class discussions on books, poems etc

All practitioners – from the early years, through primary and secondary education, in youth

work settings and in colleges – are in a position to make important contributions to developing

and reinforcing the literacy skills of children and young people, both through the learning

activities which they plan and through their interaction with children and young people. Schools

and their partners need to ensure a shared understanding of these responsibilities and that the

approaches to learning and teaching will enable each child and young person to make good

progress in developing their literacy skills. It is expected that the literacy experiences and

outcomes will be read by a range of practitioners, including those who work in school library

resource centres, who make an enormous contribution to the development of the literacy skills of

children and young people.

What does this mean for learning and teaching? For teachers and other practitioners, it means

asking the question, ‗How am I meeting the literacy needs of the learners in front of me?‘ It

means thinking about the kinds of literacy experiences provided for young people. It doesn‘t

mean that every practitioner will teach everything that a secondary English teacher does. These

experiences will sometimes be provided through collaborative working with other departments;

but the greatest impact for learners will come from all practitioners, in all learning environments,

including rich literacy experiences as part of their day-to-day learning and teaching programmes.

CROSS CURRICULAR LITERACY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING OTHER

SUBJECT

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Cross-Curricular Instruction Definition

Cross-curricular instruction is defined as:"...a conscious effort to apply knowledge, principles,

and/or values to more than one academic discipline simultaneously. The disciplines may be

related through a central theme, issue, problem, process, topic, or experience." (Jacobs, 1989).

Engaging in Cross-Curriculum Instruction

 Engage students in all grades in order to increase reading practice skills across all

disciplines. By centering student reading in a cross-curricular curriculum around a

particular topic (content area-informational) or theme (literary) can help make materials

more meaningful or relevant. Involve all teachers and demonstrate how they are all

engaged in using language to promote learning in their subject.

 Identify the particular needs of all pupils in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

 Make strong links between school and home.

 Plan for the longer term, emphasising the integral relationship between language for

learning and effective teaching in all subjects.

 What‘s also true of all schools is that literacy learning should be enjoyable, motivating

and challenging.

 Be actively engaging.

 Activate prior learning, secure understanding and provide opportunities to apply skills.

 Develop pupils‘ functional and thinking skills.

Literacy across the curriculum in all schools should also operate across three domains: speaking

and listening (or oracy), reading, and writing.

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Some of the skills and techniques required of literacy and language learning, in order for our

pupils to be literate, we need to:

 Activate prior knowledge in order to build on what pupils already know.

 Model in order to make language conventions and processes explicit.

 Scaffold in order to support pupils‘ first attempts and build confidence.

 Explain in order to clarify and exemplify the best ways of working.

 Question in order to probe, draw out and extend pupils‘ thinking.

 Explore in order to encourage critical thinking.

 Investigate in order to encourage enquiry and self-help.

 Discuss and engage in dialogue in order to shape and challenge developing ideas

MISCONCEPTION OF LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

1. This misconception assumes that as long as students have strong oral language skills,

then they will effortlessly learn to read. Yes, as discussed above, oral language skills are

extremely important, but even with strong oral language skills, if students don‘t have

adequate word reading skills, they will not be able to comprehend the spoken language

represented in the print. As teachers, we need to support both word reading AND

language comprehension.

2. Failure to learn to read is associated with low intelligence: This assertion is not true.

Some children with high intelligence sometimes have difficulties in reading especially if

they did not master the basic reading skills like phonics, which help with decoding

unfamiliar words.

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3. .Reading to children at home or in class can cease once children continue as long as

children enjoy them. From this experience children will learn vocabulary and their love

for reading and books.

4. If a child seems to struggle with reading in the first three years, we should not worry

because the child will catch up later to the other children. This is a myth because research

has shown that 88% of children struggling with reading in year one will still be struggling

in year three. Children who do not make good progress, or completely fail, to learn to

read in the first 2 years of school are likely to continue to struggle. They will gradually

fall further and further behind the other students, and unless rescues by intensive

interventions, they will have primary school with poor reading skills. These children may

eventually drop out of school or be disadvantage in the rest of their school career. Year 1

is the ideal time for children to learn to read

5. Children can learn to read the same way that they learn to talk, by immersion. This is a

misconception because children learn to talk by instinct. They imitate the speech they

hear from parents, adults, siblings and other people in the speech community as they

interact with them. Unfortunately, literacy (reading and writing) is not acquired by

instinct; they must be taught. Every child should learn how to read and write to a certain

level to be able to communicate in the modern world.

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6. If the whole language approaches to teaching reading works for some children, and the

phonic approach works for other children, then a combined approach should work for all

children. This is a myth and must be treated at thus. These two approaches to teaching

reading are far apart; the oppose to each other so they cannot be combined to teach

reading. Whole language is a topic down approach to teaching reading, while the phonic

approach is bottom-up. Language is learned top-down, by instinct but literacy, as a skill

is not by instinct. And must therefore be learned using bottom-up approach.

7. Children should use strategies to learn to read according to their natural strength and

weakness. This is also misconception. Activities like music, sports and art rely on talents

plus skills practices and guidance. People without such natural talent avoid such

discipline but reading involves complex tasks involving sub-skills, which have to be

coordinated automatically to make one a frequent reader. Brain research has shown that

every individual uses the same skills in the order for accuracy and fluency in reading.

Reading begins with identification of sounds, liked to letter sounds and followed by

phonetic synthesis of word, which results in word recognition. This is then linked to the

meaning for the word. By not going through these sub skills for every child will result in

disastrous effect.

8. The main determinant of a child‘s success in reading is the home environment. This is not

true because some children from poor socio-economic background and having low

vocabularies, general knowledge and had limited exposure with books and rhymes can be

helped by skillful teachers to overcome such limitations, skillful teachers, at the

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 preschool help such disadvantaged children to develop language and phonemic awareness

skills and become good reader.

9. The best way to learn the spelling of a word is to write the word several times. Writing

the same word repeatedly, means simply copying the word without recalling the word

from memory or sounding out the word, if not already stored in memory, just copying

does not help the child to recall the word and know how to spell it. The child gets to

know how to spell a word when he is asked to write from memory or by sounding it out

with immediate feedback.

10. That all children will acquire sufficient literacy skills through play. This misconception

stems from the misunderstanding of literacy instruction as didactic and teacher-centered

instruction. It must be noted that literacy instruction can assume several from ranging on

a continuum from a play-based approach to a direct teacher led approach, whereas,

didactic instruction is more narrowly defined explicit and systemic phonics instructions

helps to read better than just play-based. -Burkins & Yates (2021).This misconception

assumes that a child‘s ability to understand written texts only begins when they are able

to read words on a page. Due to this misconception, many teachers wait until a child is

able to decode before teaching them to comprehend texts.

How language comprehension works:

The 3 processing systems: Phonological, Meaning and Context

1. When working through the phonological processing system, a student will listen for speech

sounds.

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2. This links to the meaning processing system that does two things: it retrieves previously

stored vocabulary and it organizes new words for later use.

3. Finally, the context processing system relies on the meaning processing system. This system

uses the context, acquired background knowledge, and language structure to decide which

meaning fits in the chosen context.

Let’s walk through this process with an example:

Once you‘ve heard this sentence, you have used your meaning processing system to retrieve

definitions from your stored vocabulary. Your response could have been to think of scents such

as smells, perfume, or scented candles.

After context is added (i‧ e., ‗She collects vintage pennies and stores them in a photo album.‘),

you accessed information from your context processing system, returned to the meaning

processing system, confirmed the new meaning with the context and finally, aligned your

definition with a more meaningful interpretation of the word. This caused a rapid back and forth

between the systems until you settled on the meaning of coins or pennies.

In the end, you were most likely successful in using your listening comprehension skills, notably

your stored vocabulary and the context, to understand the recorded sentence.

The richness of a student‘s vocabulary will determine the variety of meanings that they can

access, allowing them to work flexibly as they add context, deepening their language

comprehension (Burkins and Yates, 2021).

Imagine the impact on the student that has limited vocabulary. What if they only had one

meaning for the word?

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Since the listening comprehension abilities of young children predict later reading

comprehension skills, as teachers, we must stretch the limits of our students‘ language skills

(Burkins and Yates, 2021). Opportunities to grow oral language – including vocabulary,

background knowledge, sentence structure, and more – actually develop the comprehension

mechanisms of reading (Quinn et al. 2015; Lervag, Hulme and Melby-Levag, 2017).

Unit 2

Language Register

According to Yule (2010), a register is a convenient way of using language that is appropriate in

a specific context, which may be identified as situational (e.g. in church), occupational (e.g.

among lawyers) or topical (e.g. talking about language). We can recognize specific features that

occur in the religious register (Ye shall be blessed by Him in times of tribulation), the legal

register (The plaintiff is ready to take the witness stand) and even the linguistics register (In the

morphology of this dialect there are fewer inflectional suffixes). Registers are synonymous with

styles Brown (2000) observes that a style is a social or regional dialect, but a variety of

languages used for a specific purpose.

Many teachers and parents today lament a lack of formality in student language, especially

writing. Ask any educator about the use of so-called "texting language" in student writing, and

you will likely see eye rolls, a pained look on their face, hear a sigh or complaint about the

decline in language. What students may not understand, however, is language register —

different language and levels of formality are used in different situations and scenarios. While

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most people have a working understanding of the concept, students may need to be taught or

reminded that different scenarios call for different language.

Perhaps the first considerations for students, when speaking or writing, are audience, topic,

purpose and location. Many students need to be explicitly taught about these ideas and how to

adjust their language use based on these considerations. When working with English learners,

explicit instruction in vocabulary and syntax is important.

Audience

Students need to understand that different audiences require differing types of language.

For example, the way they speak to their parents may differ from how they speak to their

siblings when they are alone. The language they use will likely change when speaking with

friends, and should change again when speaking in school.

Similarly, when writing, students should adjust the formality, tone, and vocabulary used

based on whom the writing is intended for.

Topic

Different subject areas in school and differing topics require differing styles of speech and

writing. Mathematicians, scientists, historians, artists, musicians and others use differing

styles when speaking about or writing about the subject and topic at hand.

For example, when writing in science, students should avoid the use of metaphors or

unnecessary language, being as concise as possible while getting the appropriate principle,

finding, description, etc., across to the reader. It is critical that we, as educators, share with

students the differing language styles used in the subject areas we are discussing and learning

about.

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 Purpose

Students should clearly understand the purpose of their writing or speech. Is it to inform,

argue, persuade, describe, narrate, share cause and effect, or some other purpose? When

students are clear on the purpose of the writing or speech, they can more accurately choose

the language register to use.

Additionally, teachers will need to explicitly teach students the appropriate general academic

vocabulary that pertains to the specific language function. Teachers can include instruction on

specific sentence frames, starters and signal words to help students choose the most

appropriate language for the purpose of their writing or speech.

Location

Location can, and often does, dictate the appropriate register to use. In a school setting, the

language and formality used in the classroom should differ from the language used in the

hallways or on the playground. Similarly, the vocabulary and syntax used to answer a simple

question versus giving a formal speech in the classroom differs.

Students should know that the way they speak and the words they use in a library versus a

restaurant versus a shopping center differ, and they should adjust their language register

accordingly.

The considerations listed above will help students begin to understand how language should be

used in differing contexts. Once they understand these, or while learning about the

considerations, students can learn about and be given examples of the five language registers.

It is helpful for students to learn about register, especially if students are from culturally and

linguistically diverse homes. As people are interacting with others, it is acceptable to move from

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one register into an adjacent register without any problems or awkward moments. However,

skipping a level or even more than one level may be considered inappropriate or offensive.

 Frozen/Static Register: This register rarely or never changes. Examples of frozen

register include the Pledge of Allegiance or the Preamble to the Constitution.

 Formal/Academic Register: This register includes academic language from speeches,

proclamations and formal announcements.

 Consultative Register: This register is formal and acceptable speech often used in

professional settings. Some examples of this register include discourse between teachers

and students, judges and lawyers, doctors and patients, and between a superior and a

subordinate.

 Casual Register: This register is used among friends and peers, and includes informal

language including slang and colloquialisms. Casual register is often used among friends,

teammates, etc.

 Intimate Register: This register is reserved for close family members such as parents

and children and siblings, or intimate people such as spouses.

In the context of schools and instruction, it is important to note that students can be taught about

the five registers and when they are used, but perhaps more importantly should be taught the

language that is used in the first three registers listed.

Students will encounter the language in the Frozen/Static Register as they study social studies

primarily. The Preamble, Pledge of Allegiance and other examples are exemplary resources to

teach history along with language and word choice.

Speeches, lab reports and other examples of the Formal/Academic Register are also prime

candidates for close reading and analysis of text and language. Lastly, the Consultative Register

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should be focused on in schools as students learn to interact with teachers, administrators, guest

speakers and each other. Utilizing and practicing this register allows students to incorporate

skills such as interviewing a professional or practicing being interviewed for a job, or speaking

formally to another.

While teaching students about the five registers may not be high on the teaching priority list,

being aware of register is helpful as teachers prepare students for a variety of contexts and task.

The language involved in each of these registers provides rich opportunities for language and

content instruction, especially for English learners.

Teaching the audience, topic, purpose and location in regard to language, including speech and

writing, will benefit students as we help them to achieve academically.

HOW TEACHER CAN LET PUPILS UNDERSTAND THE USAGE OF REGISTER IN

THE CLASSROOM.

Imagine that you're going to be introduced to a very important person who you have never met.

Maybe it is the Queen of England. When you meet her, would you say: 'Hey, dude! What's up?'

Probably not. You would say something more formal such as 'It is an honor to meet you, Your

Highness.' On the other hand, you wouldn't call your best friend 'His Royal Highness.' Instead

you would be fine using the informal address, 'dude.'

In every situation you encounter, you use speech appropriate to the person to whom you are

speaking and his or her context. The language you use when talking to your friends is not the

same language you would use when meeting someone as important as the Queen. This difference

in language formality is called register.

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Categories of Registers

There are formal and informal registers in spoken and written language. Formal registers can

include everything from an academic essay to wedding vows. The academic essay is formal

because it includes polished speech, complex sentences, and precise vocabulary. The wedding

vows are an example of extremely formal language that must be said the same way each time as

part of a ritual.

There are also varieties of informal registers. Informal language occurs between people who

know each other well and who speak without trying to be 'proper'. Sometimes this includes

speaking in slang and other times it's simply a more casual delivery. For example, you might say,

'Could you bring us more coffee, please?' to a waiter at a fancy restaurant, but at your favorite

hangout you might say, 'Can I get a little more coffee here?' when you've reached the bottom of

your cup.

Register & Literature

Register is often used to create a unique tone or style in a literary work. Literary language does

not have to be formal. In fact, it can use formal and informal registers at any time. Sometimes, it

uses both.

Register & Fiction

In the case of fiction, register informs the style of narration. It is also important in dialogue

between characters. A narrator can take a distanced stance and sound very formal and objective.

However, when a character speaks, his or her register can depend on what defines him or her,

such as gender, social class, or cultural background. Let's look at an example from the second

chapter of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:

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The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that the guard suspected the passengers, the

passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the

coachman was sure of nothing but the horses; as to which cattle he could with a clear

conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments that they were not fit for the journey.

'Wo-ho!' said the coachman. 'So, then! One more pull and you're at the top and be damned to

you, for I have had trouble enough to get you to it!--Joe!'

'Halloa!' the guard replied.

In this passage, the first paragraph objectively sets the scene for the dialogue between the

coachman and the guard and uses a formal literary tone. When the coachman speaks to the guard,

though, he uses a casual form of speech, including mild swearing. The coachman's informal

register and use of vulgar language implies that he does not have a high position in society.

Teachers should use Appropriate Register in the Subjects they Teach

Math

Teach your students the academic vocabulary required for understanding math or numeracy. By

learning math-related vocabulary, students develop the skills needed for academic success in

math. Ask your students to use the words in their math-related conversations and in their writing.

Writing is a way of communicating knowledge. When your students can explain in writing how

they solve math problems, they have a better understanding of what you are teaching.

Science

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Science has more content-specific vocabulary than any other subject. Your pupils or student will

learn the content better if they understand the vocabulary. When direct-teaching vocabulary,

create word walls containing the words and their pictures. Group the vocabulary words by

concept when possible. Require your students to write up lab reports in science by using correct

grammar and accurate spelling.

Social Studies

Conducting research requires reading and writing skills, so social studies is a natural vehicle for

teaching summarization, reporting, and comprehension skills. The teacher should teach the right

vocabulary in social studies.

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Unit 3

INTERPRETING THE KG-P3/PRI/JHS CURRICULUM IN RELATION TO

DEVELOPING LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Introduction:

The unit commences with the introduction. It has two main sub-headings. These are how to

improve effective Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC) and ways of organizing effective

Literacy Across the Curriculum in schools.

Effective Literacy Across the Curriculum Development

Effective literacy practice in schools enables students to access and engage in learning in all

subject areas. The following approaches will help literacy across the curriculum development in

schools:

 Involve all teachers and demonstrate how they will all be engaged in using language to

promote learning in their subject. As earlier indicated, every teacher is a language

teacher. This implies that all teachers must be involved in the literacy development of

their learners because they use language (English) in teaching their subjects. As a result,

they should be trained to know how to get involved in the literacy development of their

learners in the subject area by using the appropriate language unique to their subject

(technical language) instead of just using common sense language (ordinary language).

 Identify the particular needs of all pupils in reading, writing, speaking and listening.

 Make strong links between school and home.

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  Prioritize 'disciplinary literacy' across the curriculum

Literacy is key to learning across all subjects in schools and a strong predictor of outcomes in

later life. Teachers should be supported to understand how to teach students to read, write and

communicate effectively in their subjects. Also, school authorities should help teachers by

ensuring training related to literacy priorities

This should relate to subject specificity over general approaches.

 Provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject

Teachers in every subject should provide explicit vocabulary instruction to help learners access

and use academic language. Teachers should use effective approaches, including those related to

etymology (In Biology a teacher introducing students to the concept of ―symbiosis‖ might

emphasize the origin of the word to explain the concept memorably. The scientific word

symbiosis originated from the Greek for ―companion‖ and ―a living together) and morphology

(e.g., in science photosynthesis is morphologically made up of ‗photo‘ – light, ‗syn‘ – with or

together and ‘thesis’ – setting, putting or placing) to help students remember new words.

Prioritize teaching tier 2 words (high-frequency words for mature language users) and tier 3

vocabulary which students are unlikely to encounter in everyday speech (subject-specific).

Lastly, teachers and subject leaders should consider which words and phrases to teach as part of

curriculum planning.

 Develop learners' ability to read complex academic texts.

Teachers should have focused training on teaching reading to help them teach their subject more

effectively. Additionally, for learners to comprehend complex texts, they have to be engaged

38
actively in what they are reading and use their existing subject knowledge. Teachers must also

use reading strategies, such as activating prior knowledge, prediction and questioning, to

improve students‘ comprehension. Besides, teachers should provide model activities to help

learners emulate and promote independent learning.

 Break down complex writing tasks.

Writing is a challenging task. Therefore, learners in every subject should benefit from explicit

instruction on how to improve their writing skills. Teachers should break writing down into

planning, monitoring and evaluating. They should support students by modelling each step.

Additionally, teachers should make a conscious effort to support struggling learners to improve

their writing skills. Besides, teachers should use a variety of approaches, including collaborative

and pair writing to motivate students to improve their writing.

 Combine writing instruction with reading in every subject.

To improve learners‘ skills in both reading and writing, teachers should combine the two

language skills. Reading helps students gain knowledge which leads to better writing, whilst

writing can deepen students‘ understanding of ideas. Teach learners to recognize features, aims

and conventions of good writing within each subject. Also, teach spelling, grammar and

punctuation explicitly to improve learners‘ writing, particularly when the focus is on meaning.

 Provide opportunities for structured talk.

Let the student talk about important matters because it has an impact on other aspects of

learning. Such quality talk should be typically well structured and guided and should emphasize

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subject-specific topics. Teachers should support learners by modelling high-quality talk, for

example including key vocabulary and metacognitive reflection.

 Provide high-quality literacy intervention for struggling learners.

To ensure high-quality intervention, develop a model of tiered support to increase intensity in

line with the need of learners in a subject area. Assessment should be used to match students to

appropriate types of intervention and to monitor the impact of interventions on their learning.

HOW DOES THE CROSS-CURRICULA LITERACY TEACHER DEVELOP THE CROSS-

CURRICULAR LITERACY SKILLS OF LEARNERS?

Developing literacy across the curriculum will involve:

 Emphasizing speaking and listening skills, for example, teachers explicitly

teach group work skills and use questioning to encourage students to

participate actively in classroom discourses.

 Ensuring that students have the skills both to decode and understand the

meaning of a text. For example, literacy teachers may use phonics strategies

with struggling readers and encourage students to ask questions about the

meaning of the text they have read. Again, teachers can use prediction

activities through the use of titles, pictures and illustrations to encourage

learners to ask questions, answer questions and talk about a passage.

 Literacy teachers can also develop learners‘ writing skills using different

genres, models and writing frames. The use of these writing models and

frames will help students structure their writing.

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 An example of practice

1. Teachers in two schools investigated ways of developing reading and writing in history

lessons. Students read a story about the English Civil War and were encouraged to

engage with it through activities such as highlighting words related to causes. They were

then given a series of scaffolded exercises to extract and organise the main causes of the

war from the text. They then used a writing frame to help them develop an extended

piece about what they had found. Students who were given literacy support in this way

were more successful in their understanding of the Civil War than other students. The

teachers came to recognise their role as ‗literacy coaches‘ as well as history teachers.

HOW TO DEVELOP LITERACY SKILLS

 Conversation and Oral Language: The ability to produce or comprehend spoken language.

 Alphabet Knowledge: The ability to visually discriminate the differences between letters and

say the names and sounds associated with printed letters.

 Concepts about Print: Students understand that print has meaning and how books and print work,

such as left‐ right, front‐ back, letters and words.

 Phonological Awareness: The ability to detect, manipulate, or analyze the auditory aspects of

spoken language, including the ability to distinguish or segment words, syllables, rhymes, and

beginning sound.

 Vocabulary and Background Knowledge: A collection of words that relate to children‘s

experiences and knowledge.

Elements of English Language class

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 English Language instructional time should focus on the competencies of listening and

speaking and reading and writing.

Listening and Speaking

 Oral language development for comprehension and collaboration

 Presentation of knowledge and ideas with support to add increasing detail, description, and to

express thoughts and feelings

According to The Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation tool, oral language

development is most effectively supported when children are actively engaged in conversations

that facilitate mutual exchanges of ideas, opinions, and feelings. As a teacher, extend

conversations in meaningful ways to build specific oral language skills, and additionally

introduce and infuse new and challenging vocabulary throughout the day.

Reading and Writing

 Print concepts

 Phonological awareness

 Phonics and word recognition

 Fluency

 Opportunities to produce written communication through dictation, drawing, and writing that

offer opinions, retell stories, and give information

Book reading is an integral part of the daily experience and can occur in a variety of settings and

groupings. Engage students in stories to support comprehension, while introducing them to the

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features of text, authorship, print rules, pictures and ideas, in addition to building vocabulary.

Additionally, using rhymes and alliteration throughout the day is a fun way to build children‘s

awareness of sounds.

Motivate children to use their emerging writing skills by having many materials available

throughout the classroom that encourage print and writing, both spontaneously in play and

during routines. Model writing and support dictation by writing stories with ideas generated by

your students, and support understanding of print conventions by making charts demonstrating

upper and lower case letters, spelling and spacing, and other conventions. Help children

recognize and learn to write letters of their name and common words, and engage them in the

development of environmental print for labels and to express ideas.

Teacher should teach word recognition, vocabulary development, fluency, comprehension and

the development of writing and spelling as they relate to processing of print and digital texts.

Early models of the reading process give a unique perspective on reading and emphasise an

information processing approach. An interactive model of reading incorporates elements of both

bottom-up and top-down approaches and proposes to describe and explain how the perceptual

and the cognitive processes in reading interact (Rumelhart, 1994). The stages of word

recognition outlined by Frith (1985) and the phases of reading development outlined by Ehri

(1985) are described. Vocabulary knowledge is a core component in language proficiency as it

relates to literacy development. Attention is drawn to individual differences in vocabulary

development among young children and research by Neuman (2011) focuses on the need to place

vocabulary at the forefront of early literacy. Reading fluency is dependent on the development of

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several different skills (Leppänen et al., 2008). Fluency in reading also supports the development

of reading comprehension; however the relationship between the two is complex. Influencing

factors include skill in word recognition and the orthography of the language in question. The

work of Pressley and other researchers has contributed to the understanding of the importance of

reading comprehension. Although this body of research does not specify stage models of

development, the reader could be conceptualised as a ‗builder‘ or ‗fixer‘ of meaning (Pearson,

2009), as an ‗assembler‘ drawing on Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education.

Kintsch‘s situational model (Kintsch 1998), and as a ‗responder‘ in line with reader-response

theory (Rosenblatt, 1978). A wide range of reading strategies can be taught using a gradual

release of responsibility model (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983).

The development of writing is outlined, beginning from the early stages of emergent writing

involving symbolic drawings arising from play and social interaction to more independent

expression. Children gradually use their developing orthographic knowledge to represent their

thoughts and ideas. The importance of using a writing process approach is clearly outlined. A

subsequent section on spelling development can be read in conjunction with the earlier section

on word recognition and the phases of development of reading as there is commonality across

the phases outlined. Handwriting in general, and cursive writing in particular, is identified as

being important in supporting the generation of well-structured written text and also affects

fluency of writing. Children are active users of technology in their everyday lives across a range

of media, and this can be described as both creative and active. It also offers potential for

children to engage as ‗produsers‘ (Bruns, 2006) as they create new texts.

Our consideration of literacy pedagogy begins with a review of meta-analyses of research into

effective literacy instruction that have been influential in shaping policy and practice

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internationally. These studies represent an important body of knowledge on what we know about

some of the essential skills and strategies that are pivotal to Literacy in Early Childhood and

Primary Education (3-8 years) 15 literacy development. They are however, not without their

limitations.

The role of motivation and engagement in literacy, the teaching of writing or the role of parental

or family involvement in children‘s literacy development. Skills and strategies that are essential

to effective literacy teaching in the early years include phonological awareness, phonics (for

reading/ spelling), vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and writing (composition). It is important

to distinguish between skills which are constrained and unconstrained (Paris, 2005). Once

mastered, constrained skills (e.g. phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, grammar,

punctuation) contribute little to literacy development across the life span. In contrast,

unconstrained skills (e.g. oral language, vocabulary knowledge, comprehension, writing)

continue to develop and contribute to enhanced literacy development. It is especially important

that unconstrained skills are given attention alongside the constrained skills in the early years‘

classrooms and that the emphasis is on reading and writing for meaning and communication

from the outset so children‘s language skills and higher-order thinking skills are enhanced in

parallel with the basic skills. This is particularly important for children in DEIS schools who,

because they often struggle with the basic skills, may receive instruction that is more focused on

those skills than on instruction that contextualises skills and provides opportunities for them to

develop the more academic style of language utilised in schools. Skills and strategies are best

embedded within a research-based balanced literacy framework that provides opportunities for

children Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education (3-8 years) 16 to develop the

essential skills in contexts that are meaningful, developmentally appropriate and which capitalise

45
on the ‗funds of knowledge‘ (González, Moll & Amanti, 2005) that children bring from home. In

reading, these contexts include, teacher read-alouds in a range of genres, make-believe play,

shared reading of texts, guided reading, reading workshops and opportunities for independent

reading of self-selected texts. In writing, these contexts include opportunities for play, emergent

writing, shared and interactive writing and writing workshops. Creating a culture of reading and

writing for pleasure and information is important in cultivating a positive disposition to literacy.

This can be enhanced through provision of a broad range of reading materials (print and digital)

which children can also bring home to share with family, providing opportunities for children to

collaborate and engage in high-level discussion about their books and the texts they are creating;

all of which promote the social dimension of literacy.

A cognitively challenging balanced literacy framework such as this creates opportunities for

children to develop their conceptual knowledge, their creativity and their imagination and to

reach an understanding of literacy as a tool to be harnessed for fulfilment of personal goals both

within and outside school. Given that there is no one best method for teaching literacy, we

highlight a range of strategies with which all teachers should be familiar and we emphasise the

depth of expertise required by teachers. We also highlight the need for instruction to be guided

by a range of assessment procedures (formative and summative, see Chapter 6) to enable

teachers to differentiate and meet the needs of the children in their classes. The importance of

teaching in ways that are motivating and engaging for children, and in ways that provide

opportunities for them to experience optimum challenge is highlighted. We also identify the

importance of building on success in meeting challenges and creating opportunities for children

to Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education (3-8 years) 17 develop their agency and

sense of self-efficacy. The importance of scaffolding metacognition to the conditional level is

46
also noted. When children have this level of knowledge about strategies they know why a

particular strategy is useful and so can call on it when needed as they are engaged in suitably

challenging tasks. Using strategies independently to problem-solve builds children‘s persistence

and academic resilience.

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UNIT 4

INTEGRATION OF LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Teach literacy skills in every content area

It‘s possible to teach literacy skills in any subject, including PE. Literacy is about speaking,

listening, reading, and writing.

Think about the ways in which you can get your students talking about and listening to the

content you teach. Include reading assignments, and ask questions about the reading afterward.

By requiring writing, you are asking your students to think more deeply about they are learning.

Ask your students to explain processes by putting them in writing. Processes include the steps to

take in making a rim shot in basketball or how to use gouache in painting.

If you‘d like more ideas for teaching literacy across the curriculum, ask the English Language

Arts teacher on your campus. Explain what you‘re teaching and what you‘d like your students to

get out of the lesson.

The chances are good that you‘ll have a strong ally in your corner, ready to help you with more

strategies to use for teaching literacy across the curriculum.

Examples of Cross-Curricular Teaching

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Examples of cross-curricular or interdisciplinary teaching can be found in STEM (science,

technology, engineering, and math) learning and the more recently coined STEAM (science,

technology, engineering, arts, and math) learning. The organization of these subject areas under

one collective effort represents a recent trend toward cross-curricular integration in education.

The cross-curricular investigations and assignments that include both humanities (such as ELA,

social studies, and arts) and STEM subjects highlight how educators recognize the importance of

creativity and collaboration, both skills that are increasingly necessary for modern employment.

Planning Cross-Curricular Instruction

As with all curriculums, planning is critical to cross-curricular instruction. Curriculum writers

must first consider the objectives of each content area or discipline:

 Selecting benchmarks or standards from the subject areas to be integrated;

 Identifying cross-curricular questions that can be asked about the benchmarks that have

been selected;

 Identifying a product or performance assessment that incorporates the benchmarks.

In addition, teachers need to create day-to-day lesson plans that meet the needs of the subject

areas being taught, ensuring accurate information.

There are five ways that cross-curriculum units can be designed: parallel integration, infusion

integration, multidisciplinary integration, transdisciplinary integration and

Intradisciplinary integration approach.

A description of each cross-curricular approach with examples is listed below.

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Parallel Curriculum Integration

In this situation, teachers from different subject areas focus on the same theme with varying

assignments. An example involves integrating the curriculum between American literature and

American history courses. For example, an English teacher might teach "The Crucible" by

Arthur Miller while an American history teacher teaches about the Salem witch trials.

Combining Lessons

By combining the two lessons, students can see how historical events can shape future drama and

literature. This type of instruction is beneficial because teachers can maintain a high degree of

control over their daily lesson plans. The only real coordination involves the timing of the

material. However, issues can arise when unexpected interruptions cause one of the classes to

fall behind.

Infusion Curriculum Integration

This type of integration occurs when a teacher infuses other subjects into daily lessons. For

example, a science teacher might discuss the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb, and the end of

World War II when teaching about splitting the atom and atomic energy in a science class. No

longer would a discussion about splitting atoms be purely theoretical. Instead, students can learn

the real-world consequences of atomic warfare.

Complete Control

The benefit of this type of curriculum integration is that the subject area teacher maintains

complete control over the material taught. There is no coordination with other teachers and

50
therefore no fear of unexpected interruptions. Further, the integrated material specifically relates

to the information being taught.

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Integration

Multidisciplinary curriculum integration occurs when there are two or more teachers of different

subject areas who agree to address the same theme with a common project. A great example of

this is a class-wide project like a "Model Legislature" where students write bills, debate them,

and then gather together to act as a sitting legislature deciding on all the bills that got through the

individual committees.

Integration Required

Both the American Government and English teachers have to be very involved in this sort of

project to make it work well. This type of integration requires a high degree of teacher

commitment, which works great when there is high enthusiasm for the project. However, it does

not work as well when teachers have little desire to be involved.

Transdisciplinary Curriculum Integration

This is the most integrated of all types of curricular integration. It also requires the most planning

and cooperation between teachers. In this scenario, two or more teachers share a common theme

that they present to the students in an integrated fashion. Classes are joined together. The

teachers write shared lesson plans and teams teach all the lessons, weaving the subject areas

together.

Combining Forces

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 This will only work well when all teachers involved are committed to the project and work well

together. An example of this would be an English and social studies teacher jointly teaching a

unit on the Middle Ages. Instead of having students learn in two separate classes, they combine

forces to ensure that the needs of both curriculum areas are met.

Cross-Curricular teaching is the essence of collaboration for students‘ learning—a fundamental

way to teach concepts in the context of multiple subjects at once. It requires the math teacher to

align with the literature teacher, who aligns with the art teacher. Cross-Curricular teaching is a

fresh perspective for teaching and for learning.

Intradisciplinary integration approach

This is when teachers integrate the sub disciplines within a subject area. For example in English

language , we can integrate reading, writing and speech work in Social studies, we also can

integrate History, Geography, Economic and Government. Individual teachers could specialize

in the different sub disciplines of a particular subject area.

 Curriculum integration can have positive outcomes across a wide range of grades and with a

wide range of students (including demographics and learning abilities).

1. Integration has led to greater gains in content knowledge than improvements in

literacy. This is to be expected as the studies often aligned their knowledge tests with the content

taught in their lessons – and reading is often evaluated with more general standardized

assessments. In any event, given these findings, the successful combination of reading and

science or social studies should not encourage schools to reduce the amounts of explicit reading

instruction that they provide. Kids still need to develop print awareness, phonemic sensitivity,

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decoding skills, oral reading fluency, general vocabulary, grammatical skills, as well as general

reading comprehension abilities. Those are not likely to benefit from these integration efforts.

2. Also, it is important to remember that the reading teachers have special responsibilities

when it comes to literature. Literature is content, just like social studies and science. It seems

wise to focus some reading units on the reading of informational or expositional texts. It is just as

wise to provide a similarly sharp focus on reading literature and understanding how it works.

3. Even with integration, we should be delivering high quality science and social studies

lessons. There is more to these subjects than text reading, though text reading certainly matters.

At this stage, integration should create opportunities for double dosing and extending lessons,

rather than to making the curriculum more efficient.

5. In many of these studies, the teachers should be guided to make accommodations in the

text in order to let all pupils be able to read. This may be done by putting the lowest readers in

easier texts reading. If students are practicing reading comprehension with texts they can already

read satisfactorily, progress will be low. The teachers should not reduce the text complexity –

except possibly for the very low readers (K-1 level) but spend time showing students how to

make sense of unknown vocabulary, complicated sentences, subtle cohesive links, and complex

text organization. This should include showing students how to read and reread content texts in

small chunks, linking those pieces together as you go. (Such lessons could easily replace the

kinds of round robin reading so ubiquitous in social studies and science classes).

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6. Finally, it is crucial that teachers recognize that curriculum integration is more than an

alternative way of teaching. Its purpose, ultimately, is to increase the intellectual challenge of

our curriculum and to foster a greater depth and appreciation of knowledge and research. In these

studies, that was often evident in the curriculum designs, though surprisingly, it was rarely

addressed in the evaluations. Integrated instruction should do more than improve reading

comprehension (e.g, understanding or remembering facts). With such curricula, students should

be reading more critically (such as recognizing the fallibility of sources). And, content outcomes

should be more than longer lists of facts the students have managed to memorize but a deeper

understanding and appreciation of the nature and value of scientific and historical knowledge.

7 .Connecting even two subjects together with a similar lesson focus can deepen the learning

for students who often ask ―When will I ever need this?‖ The purpose is to expand learning at all

levels.

8. This approach seeks to apply the math knowledge to the science concept that is

represented by the art project, English paper or history project. It is moving away from a

prescribed curriculum to a collaborative one in which teachers work together to design a multi-

layered lesson that incorporates more than one discipline.

9. The Cross-Curricular lesson can span an entire semester or a whole year, culminating in

a final project or performance. Since it makes connections among disciplines, this approach

fosters critical thinking and collaboration from students, as well.

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10.Students are expected to apply their learning, which in turn leads to excitement about

further understanding and discoveries. They should be able to reflect on concepts and ideas and

interact with each other as they dig deeper into the focus of the lessons.

11.Cross-Curricular learning prepares the way for students to learn and work together,

which is more reflective of real life. Very few people do their jobs without collaborating with co-

workers, so this type of instruction is a training ground for future interactions.

12. Moving away from merely memorizing facts, Cross Curricular learning encourages

students to make their own connections and draw their own conclusions based on the material.

Some Drawbacks

The primary drawback as expressed by teachers is a lack of time for collaboration. Frequently,

teachers are already over-extended in lesson planning, grading and preparing for teaching, so

some restructuring of planning time would be necessary.

A second drawback is how to assess mastery of the concept(s). Would it be project-based,

written, oral? Constructing the assessment method takes time to ensure all of the disciplines are

represented.

A third drawback is that it has the potential to start off with a bang and fade over time if not

well-planned and directed. Keeping students‘ attention over time can be challenging.

A study done in England followed eight teachers who taught a group of 48 students in a cross-

curricular way for a specified concept. The findings revealed that once the students learned how

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to work together to complete the assigned tasks, the lower attaining students had the most

confidence boost and felt the most gratification in completion. Some of the students began to

understand that thinking skills could be translated into any subject.

Cross-Curricular teaching certainly has the potential to change the way students learn and

process information in a dramatic way. However, it seems that there needs to be a sizable shift in

the way the school day is structured and in how teachers plan their lessons

WAYS OF INTEGRATING LITERACY ACROSS IN KG-P3 CURRICULUM

Integrating Literacy Instruction with Science and Social Studies

As teachers we will need a strong advocate of integrating reading and writing instruction in the

classroom. There have been dozens of studies exploring issues of curriculum integration. As

research has progressed, the newer studies have become more ambitious in curriculum design,

more detailed in their results, and more rigorous in their research design to integrate learning.

For example, research has reported that having students write about the texts they were reading

improved reading comprehension and the learning of information from the texts (Graham &

Hebert, 2010). Writing about the texts had a bigger impact on learning than reading or reading

and rereading. Various kinds of writing in response to texts were effective. Text summarizations

or retellings were most effective with younger students and more extended writings (analysis,

critique, synthesis) had a bigger learning payoff for the older ones.

Studies continue to accumulate showing that combining reading and writing can enhance

learning, particularly when these combinations are carried out in content areas like history (De

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La Paz & Felton, 2010; Monte-Sano, 2011; Monte-Sano, De La Paz, & Felton, 2014; Sielaff &

Washburn, 2015; Wiley & Voss, 1999).

Another body of studies has examined reading instruction in the context of middle school and

high school social studies and science classes. These studies (Swanson, Wanzek, Vaughn,

Roberts, & Fall, 2015; Vaughn et al., 2013; Wanzek, Swanson, Roberts, Vaughn, & Kent, 2015)

emphasized text reading, connecting text-based learning to prior learning, and applying the

knowledge gained from texts to problem-solving activities in the content areas. Such literacy

activities enhanced performance on measures of content knowledge, content reading

comprehension, and standardized reading comprehension.

A meta-analysis of 16 such studies (Swanson, Wanzek, Vaughn, Roberts, & Fall, 2015)

examined the impact of reading interventions delivered with social studies content. Such

approaches proved effective with learning disabled students across lower grade levels — they

did best in the upper grades. Studies in this synthesis focused on graphic organizers, mnemonics,

reading and answering questions assignments, guided notes, and other related practices, and

reported positive results with both social studies content and reading comprehension. A similar

meta-analysis (Kaldenberg, Watt, & Therrien, 2015), this one examining reading instruction

using science texts, reported similar outcomes with learning disabled students. Not only were

these approaches successful with struggling readers, but they have evidently worked with

students from a wide array of demographic backgrounds (economic, racial, ethnic, linguistic).

For instance, the use of learning projects that address a combination of social studies and literacy

standards leads to increase learning of both content and improved ability to read informational

text .

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 What does all that mean?

 The use of content texts in reading comprehension lessons can improve content knowledge

and reading ability.

 Teaching students how to use reading and writing in content classrooms can also have these

kinds of dual effects.

Challenges in Implementing Literacy across the Curriculum

The challenges of literacy in individuals stems from different, generally inter-related causes

which, together, create a series of often insurmountable barriers for those concerned. Some of the

challenges of literacy in children are:

 Unqualified teachers

 Lack of structures in various schools

 Unavailability of text books

 Lack of right educational policies

 Undiagnosed learning disabilities

 Hearing or vision loss

 Lack of a role model, i.e. no one in the family or household stresses reading or education

 Poverty or a focus on survival needs rather than education

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 Violence in the community or fear of violence, causing a student to miss large amounts of

school

 Moving from one school to another throughout childhood, so that education didn‘t make

sense and didn‘t fit together

 Leaving school at a young age to care for a sick or dying family member

 Leaving school at a young age to provide income for the family

 Living in a refugee camp where education was minimal or not available

 Being a foreigner and needing to learn English as a second language

WAYS OF ADRESSING SOME OF THE CHALLEGES OF LITERACYACROSS THE

CURRICULUM

1. Schools should be equipped with teaching and learning materials that will promote

literacy teaching

2. Qualified teachers should be employed

3. In- service training should be given to teachers to help them strategies their lessons in

such a way that will enable them to dispense literacy skills to students

4. No school should sit under trees

5. Libraries should be provided for all schools

6. Students should be encouraged to read

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7. Teachers should create the right environment in the classroom that will help promote

literacy skills

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 UNIT FIVE

ASSESSMENT OF LITERACY

What are broad features of assessment in literacy?

As literacy is the responsibility of all staff, and because of the importance of literacy across all

aspects of a young person‘s learning, all staff should be clear about their responsibilities and

their roles in the assessment of literacy. Assessment in literacy will focus on children and young

people‘s progress in developing and applying essential skills in listening and talking, reading

and writing. From the early years to the senior stages, and particularly at times of transition, it is

vital to have a clear picture of the progress each child and young person is making across all

aspects of literacy so that further learning can be planned and action can be taken if any ground

has been lost. Within the overall approach to assessing literacy, evidence of progress in

developing and applying skills in day-to-day learning across the curriculum will complement

evidence gathered from language lessons. Specific assessment tasks will also have an important

part to play.

Practitioners and learners need a common understanding of expectations in literacy across all

curriculum areas, and discussion and sharing examples of work will help to achieve this.

Approaches to assessment should identify the extent to which children and young people can

apply their literacy skills across their learning. For example: How well do they contribute to

discussions and openly explain their thinking? Are they increasingly able to distil key ideas

from texts? Can they apply their literacy skills successfully in different areas of their learning

and their daily lives? Children will demonstrate their progress in reading through their growing

fluency and understanding, and their increasing confidence in reading to learn as well as learning

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to read. Literacy experiences and outcomes emphasise the development of critical literacy.

Progress here can be seen as children move from dealing with straightforward information

towards analysing, evaluating and being aware of the trust that they should place on evidence.

Children and young people will demonstrate their progress in writing though the degree of

independence they show, the organisation and quality of their ideas, their skills in spelling,

punctuation and grammar, the match of their writing to audience and the effectiveness of their

use of language. Progress in listening and talking can be assessed through their interactions in

social and learning contexts and through using individual talks, presentations and group

discussions. This range of sources will provide evidence about their confidence, their increasing

awareness of others in sustaining interactions, the clarity of their ideas and expression and their

skills in listening to others and taking turns. Learners‘ enthusiasm and motivation for using

language will show in their growing use of different media and texts, their preferences in

reading, their confidence in sharing experiences through talk and writing and in the ways they

apply their skills in their learning and communicating. These aspects will be indicators of their

long-term success in using literacy in learning in their lives as citizens and in preparing for the

world of work. Where do I begin? You might begin by asking yourself to what extent you

already provide literacy experiences for learners. As a first step, you might want to consider the

ways in which you use listening, talking, reading and writing for learning day to day in your

teaching programmes. For example, do you provide learners with opportunities to: Listening and

talking for learning engage with others in group and class discussions of appropriate complexity?

learn collaboratively – for example, when problem solving? Explain their thinking to others?

explore factors which influence them and persuade them in order to help them think about the

reliability of information?

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Reading for learning find, select, sort, summarise and link information from a variety of sources?

Consider the purpose and main concerns in texts, and understand the differences between fact

and opinion? Discuss similarities and differences between texts? Writing for learning make

notes, develop ideas and acknowledge sources in written work? Develop and use effective

vocabulary? Create texts – for example, presentations – which allow learners to

persuade/argue/explore ideas? Where you answer ‗yes‘ to these questions, you are contributing

to the development of the literacy of the learners for whom you are responsible. You will see that

literacy is already reflected within the experiences and outcomes of the other curriculum area

frameworks. It is important to use the literacy experiences and outcomes alongside those of the

other curriculum areas when planning for learning. What is meant by ‗texts‘? It follows that the

definition of ‗texts‘ also needs to be broad and future proof. Therefore, within Curriculum for

Excellence: a text is the medium through which ideas, experiences, opinions and information can

be communicated. Reading and responding to literature and other texts play a central role in the

development of learners‘ knowledge and understanding. Texts not only include those presented

in traditional written or print form, but also orally, electronically or on film. Texts can be in

continuous form, including traditional formal prose, or non-continuous, for example charts and

graphs.

The literacy framework reflects the increased use of multimodal texts, digital communication,

social networking and the other forms of electronic communication encountered by children and

young people in their daily lives. It recognises that the skills which children and young people

need to learn to read these texts differ from the skills they need for reading continuous prose.

Examples are given below. Examples of texts novels, short stories, plays, poems reference texts

the spoken word charts, maps, graphs and timetables advertisements, promotional leaflets

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comics, newspapers and magazines CVs, letters and emails films, games and TV programmes

labels, signs and posters recipes, manuals and instructions reports and reviews text messages,

blogs and social networking sites web pages, catalogues and directories in planning for learning

in any curriculum area is important for practitioners to ensure that children and young people

encounter a wide range of different types of text in different media. As they progress in their

learning, children and young people will encounter texts of increasing complexity in terms of

length, structure, vocabulary, ideas and concepts.

OUR WORLD OUR PEOPLE(SAMPLE LESSONS FOR KG)

Strand 2 : My Family

Sub- Strand 1: Types of family

Lesson 1: Family Members and their Role

CONTENT STANDED Main Activities

Activity 1
Demonstrate understanding of the importance, In a community circle, have learners sing
role and responsibilities of family members traditional song that talks about the family

Indicator: Discuss different types of family Give them a simple picture of family to
they have at home, their roles and identify family members eg father, mother,
responsibilities children

Essential for learning: Learners know that

father and mother are their immediate family
Activity 2

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members Tell learners stories about the tribe e.g we have
Ewes from Volta Region, Dagaabas from Upper
West, Dogombas from Northern Region, Ga from
Greater Accra

Activity 3
Have learners tell you about the role of family
New Words
members. Eg father, mother
Origin, language, tribe Father goes to work and provides for family
Mothers cook, wash and take care of children
Children cook/wash/ sweep and do other household
Resources chores
Poster of people from different tribe, cryon,
coloured, pencil

Core Competencies Review Exercises

Communication and collaboration In pairs, let learners talk about their family history
1. Where they come from
Personal Development and Leadership
2. Their sample food
Critical thinking and Innovation creativity
3. The number in the family
4. The work of their parent
Warming Up 5. The language they speak
Have learner sing any song that contains
members of the family

LESSON PLAN

SUBJECT: R.M.E CLASS: B2

WEEK ENDING: 9-9-2022 CLASS SIZE: 24

DAY Tuesday DATE 6-09-2022 DATE 6-09-2022 PERIOD 10:25-
11:00
STRAND SUB-STRAND
Religious practices and Festivals in the three major religious groups
their moral implications

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 INDICATOR (CODE) CONTENT STANDARD (CODE)
B2.2.2.1.1: B2.2.2.1:
Basic two, strand 2, sub-strand 2, Basic two, strand 2, sub-strand 2, content standard 1
content standard 1 and indicator 1
PERFORMANCE INDICATOR
- Learners can demonstrate activities which take place during celebrations of
festivals.
CORE COMPETENCIES KEY WORDS
Communication and collaboration, Personal Development and Festival, celebration,
Leadership, Creativity and innovation, Critical thinking and Christmas, Easter, Eid-fitr
Problem Solving.
TLR(s): pictures and videos of festival and real objects like: REF: R.M.E curriculum
cowries calabash, posts etc. page 11

DAY Phase 1: Phase 2: Main (new learning Phase 3: Plenary/ Reflection

including assessment)
Tuesday Teacher Let learners mention religious Write down names of some
engage festivals they have witnessed or festivals that you know.
learners to sing heard of various religions. For
songs of example,
festivals in 1. Islamic festivals
their localities/ Eid-ul-fitr
communities. Eid-ul-ahada 2. explain/ describe the
2. Christmas meaning of festivals
Easter 3. draw any festival scenes.
Palm Sunday
Good Friday
3. Traditional festivals e.g.
bugum festivals, adaakuya
festival, paaragbiela festival,
bongo festival
Put learners into groups to describe
how various festivals are
celebrated.

Let learners role-play or dramatize

activities that take place during one
of the festivals e.g. Merry-making,

66
 sharing, family re-union, worship,
etc.
Let learners draw scenes from
festivals

ASSESSMENT: Let learners

explain the meaning of festivals

Answer: Festivals are occasion that

are celebrated to mark past events.
Or a festival is the gathering of
people to celebrated something.
Ask learners to write one festival
each from the three (3) main
religion.

Islamic: Eid-ul- fitr

Christians: Christmas

Traditional
Homowo
Ask learners to explain one of the
festivals celebrated by Christians

Answer: Christmas is celebrated to

remember the birth of Jesus Christ.

Lesson 2: Rules and Regulation in the classroom

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Content standard Main Activities
Demonstrate understanding of Activity 1
the rules and regulations that Have learners sit in a
govern the members of the community circle, pose this
school. question to them. Why should
there be rulers in sch.? Use
think-pair share strategy for
learners to discuss the topic.
After ten minutes have learners
report to the whole class

Indicator: Talk about the Suggested Answers

members of school, the activities 1. We have to be
they do and create rules and tolerant
regulations that should govern 2. We have to be
their classroom obedient
3. We have to
respect each
other
4. We have to obey
instruction
5. We have to
respect our
teachers and
Learning outcomes seniors
Learners will be able to identify Activity 2
rules and regulations which will In pair, have learners talk about
help the school family some activities which are not
right for the school, family Eg
New words fighting each other, bulling,
Rules and regulation, obey, stealing, talking whiles teacher
peace. is teaching etc
Core Competences
Communication and
collaboration. Personal
development and leadership.
Critical thinking and problem
solving, creativity and
innovation

Warming up

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Have members sing songs of
classroom rules

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