Early reading success: The language factor

Barbara Trudell, Ph.D.barbara_trudell@sil.org

SIL International, Africa Area

All Children Reading by 2015: From Assessment to Action

Washington, DCApril 12-14, 2010

Planning for language of instruction: what you need to know

• Mental development and language acquisition in the young child

• The role of the mother tongue in early school experience

• Learning a second language• Implications for planning mother-tongue

based BE or MLE

Section 1. Mental development and language

acquisition in the young child

• Development of language ability

and

• cognitive (mental) development

go together.

First language acquisition: A summary of research

• From around six months of age, babies make language-like sounds.

• The word ‘mama’ for ‘mother’ is found all over the world.• At about 18 months, babies discover that things have names.• Children then start to notice patterns in language.• By three and a half years of age, children talk freely.• Basic communication skills are learned first; after that,

language proficiency is built for conceptual information and abstract learning

When the child enters school…

Schooling is supposed to build on what the child has already begun to learn:– Vocabulary they

know– Their general ability

to communicate– Experiences they

have had

The first-year school child is not yet fully proficient in any language!

• The child is not a mature speaker of his/her mother tongue until around age 10.

• Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills vs. Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency

• Play-yard conversation does not require the same language ability that conceptual learning does.

A HUGE pedagogical mistake:Beginning school instruction in a second language

when the child does not yet have strong proficiency in his/her first language

“Cognitive hijacking”

The interruption in the process of a child’s cognitive development that happens when a language of instruction is used that the child does not speak.– Teacher’s oral input is not comprehensible

(directions, explanations, questions)– Their communication skills don’t work in class– The learning processes they know are now useless

Ensuring that the child understands what is taught

The teacher can do this by:– Giving instructions that relate to the students’ experience– Providing background knowledge– Using context or visual cues– Allowing students to express their own ideas on the topic

What language has to be used to ensure understanding?

A language that the child speaks.

Section 2. The role of the mother tongue in early school experience

Research on reading levels in English: Northwest Cameroon

0102030405060708090

100

Nonreading

Prereading

EarlyReading

FluentReading

Level of Proficiency

Grade 1Grade 2Grade 3

Grade 1 performance: English vs. Kom

But using the MT is not enough!

Eritrea National Reading Survey (2005):

“How can mother tongue-based primary education reach its full potential?”

“Phonemic awareness” of L1 needs to be taught

– sounds and letters– blending sounds to

make meaningful words

– Identifying individual sounds and parts of words

Teachers need to know how to teach reading

Invest in a lot of L1 reading material: practice, practice, practice!

Three goals of mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual education

• Language development, in L1 and L2 (and L3)

• Academic development

• Sociocultural development

Language development of the child

L1 fluency– listening, speaking, reading and writing– Gains here will make L2 learning easier

L2 fluency– teach oral L2 first– use oral fluency to bridge to L2 reading and writing

L3 fluency- as for L2

Academic development

Academic skills that are learned well in L1 will transfer to L2 also: maths, reading skills, science

Sociocultural development

• The MT is based in the culture of the child.

• The child’s identity is based in the community which speaks the MT.

• MT-based education draws the community into the school experience.

Section 3. Learning a second language

• It takes 2-3 years to learn a new language well enough to use for everyday communication.

• It takes 5-7 years to learn a new language well enough to use it to learn abstract concepts.

Teach oral L2 before written L2

Research shows that oral proficiency in a language is crucial for developing reading proficiency in that language.

At the same time, teach curriculum content in the child’s mother tongue

Develop children’s oral and written L1 Use L1 for teaching

Introduce oral L2Continue oral and written L1Use L1 for teaching

Bridge to written L2Continue oral and written L1 and oral L2Use both languages for teaching

Continue oral and written L1 and oral and written L2Use both languages for teaching

Some reading skills that transfer from L1 to L2

• Knowing that print carries meaning• Knowing that print is broken into words• Knowing that direction of print is important• Using context to guess unknown words• Knowing that letters represent sounds• Knowing that sounds can be blended together to

form words

Reading skills that have to be taught for each language

• The set of sounds used in the language• The sound-letter correspondences for the

language• The grammar and vocabulary of the language

Section 4. Implications for planning mother-tongue based BE/MLE

(ADEA 2010)

• The target languages• Policy setting and implementation• Teacher training• Curriculum development and materials

production• Evaluation

Target languages

• Which local language(s)?• Bilingual or multilingual education?• Development of the target languages so that

they can be used in school– Writing system– Literacy – Written materials

Policy

Setting a policy is not enough!

Implementation is CRUCIAL. . . .

including finances

It doesn’t cost as much as you may think…

• Adds 1% – 5% to the education budget

• cost is recuperated over time

. . . and it is much less than the cost of school failure!

Teacher training and recruitment

• Initial and in-service training must be provided for BE/MLE teachers

• Recruitment must take into account BE/MLE competencies needed (including language fluency)

• All teacher training must address the issues of the multilingual classroom

Developing curriculum and materials (1)

A multilingual curriculum is not just the current curriculum, carried out in several languages!– The timetable prescribes

the use of the different languages

– Curriculum reflects the learner’s growing language proficiencies

– Content-area teaching takes language proficiency into account

Developing curriculum and materials (2)

Mother-tongue materials (including teachers’ guides) should be made for every subject to be taught in the mother tongue.

EvaluationThe child’s mother tongue as the language of

instruction – and of examination

Summary• Learning the mother tongue and cognitive

development are linked in young children.• Using a language of instruction which the child

does not speak severely impedes learning.• Mother tongue-based bilingual or multilingual

education means better learning in the early grades, and greater success in second language learning as well.

• Mother-tongue based BE or MLE programs can be done!

Some resources• Teacher Training Manual for Multilingual Education (MLE

Network, 2009)• PRAESA materials (Project for Alternative Education in

South Africa) www.praesa.org• Child-Friendly Teaching Steps Toward Learning (Save the

Children UK, 2009) www.ineesite.org/uploads/documents/store/Steps_Towards_Learning_LR.pdf

• Breakthrough to Literacy program (Molteno Institute) www.molteno.co.za

• Policy Guidelines for the Integration of African Languages and Cultures into Education (ADEA 2010)

• Optimizing Learning and Education in Africa: The Language Factor (ADEA, UIL, GTZ, 2006)

Questions for working session on language of instruction

• If your country’s language policy does not permit the use of local languages in school, how could this be changed? If your country’s language policy is positive towards the use of local languages in school, what practical steps could be taken to ensure that MT-friendly language policy is actually implemented in the classrooms?

• Would bilingual or multilingual education be the best model, given the linguistic realities of your country?

Questions for working session on language of instruction

• How can you ensure that MT-based bilingual or multilingual education is given the attention and resources it needs?

• What are the implications of MT-based education for teacher recruitment and training in your country? What policies or processes will need to be changed or added? What are teachers’ attitudes towards using the MT in school?

• In which language communities would you plan to start BE or MLE, and why? Would you plan to cover all of the language communities in your country? If so, by when would they have BE or MLE programs?