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PROCEEDINGS SEMINAR PENDIDIKAN PRA SEKOLAH UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH, MALAYSIA, Dec 2003

TEACHING EARLY ESL READING AND WRITING

USING WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH:

THE STORY OF A GIRL, A BASAL AND THE WORD PROCESSOR

By

Noor Hanim Bt Rahmat

(noorh763@salam.edu.my)

Abstract

This case study reported the 4 months observation of a researcher teaching a 6 year old girl early reading and

writing using Basals and the word processor. The researcher does not claim that this is the best method nor is this better than

existing methods. The researcher only wants to share with others one approach that has worked well in her quest to help young

children to read and write. Existing research so far has made comparison of different types of reading methods. However,

according to Chall (1996), research in beginning reading seldom went beyond to investigate what and why a method works.

This case study looked into what and why an approach works. The learner will first be given a Pre-Test to

determine the level of reading and writing ability. Throughout the study, a popular basal will be used. The learner would then

be taught reading and writing concurrently using Word Learning Skills as well as Word Processor through Conditioning in the

environment of Whole Language Approach. At the end of the study, the learner was given a Post-Test to determine the level

of Reading and Writing. Word learning had positive influence on sight word recognition. Whole language approach had both

positive and negative influence on sight word recognition. Computer had shown to give interesting influence on early reading

and writing.

INTRODUCTION

WHY LOOK AT EARLY READING AND WRITING

Existing research on reading so far looks at comparison between different

approaches in the teaching of reading. These researches would conclude by

making justification as to which reading method is the better, or best one.

However, according to Chall (1996) research in beginning reading seldom “went

beyond to investigate what in the method and why.” So, this case study is done

not to prove how effective a reading and writing method but to zoom into what in

the method that is working for the learner, as well as why the method works.

Reading and writing are two aspects of the same language. According to

Mason (1989) agreed that teachers should expect the learning of reading and

writing to be done concurrently. Reading and writing should therefore not be

taught separately. Furthermore, Mason (1985) also added that the two skills;

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reading and writing are mutually supportive. Hence, knowledge of one skill may

help in the learning of the other. The integration of Whole Language Approach

into the teaching of reading and writing is done under the basis that reading and

writing are merely different parts of a language (Reutzel, 1996). Teaching reading

separately from writing means breaking two parts of a whole. Therefore reading

and writing is combined- taught together as a whole to become one whole part of

literacy.

Combining the teaching of reading and writing skill as a whole brings to a

very important question. Which is best to start with, reading and writing? One has

to start first somewhere. Dobson (1985) found in his research that writing ability

emerges before reading ability.

This is the era of computers. Computers are needed to transmit

knowledge. Writing is a complicated skill some never outgrew. Teachers in the

previous years used to penalized students with “unreadable” handwriting. Was it

necessary? Many educated adults can still succeed without a “nice handwriting”.

Must writing really be done with the writer holding the pencil or pen for that

matter? Teachers complain of having to hold a learner’s hand to teach him or her

to write. Can writing be done without “writing”?

Reading Theories

Bottom-Up

This theory believes that reading must be taught stage by stage. Readers

should be taught letters, then words, sentences paragraphs, then text then

meaning. According to Reutzel (1996), this theory is based on a branch of

psychology called behaviourism. According to the behaviourist, when a stimulus

is given to a subject, that stimulus will cause the subject to give a response. This

response can either be weakened of strengthened through reinforcement. In this

bottom-up approach, the print on the page is the stimulus. The reader then

continues with the letters, then words, then sentences, and then paragraphs. In this

way, the bottom-up approach views learning from parts of language to the whole

which involves the meaning.

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Top Down

This theory believes that what speeds up reading is the information and

experience of the reader. Reading in this way actually begins with the reader and

not the text. According to Reutzel (1996), this top-down theory is based on a

branch of psychology called the gestalt. Gestaltist views a subject as whole first.

Then the small parts will be viewed based on what the whole has perceived.

Interactive

In this theory, the reader makes hypothesis about the text while he or she is

reading. This hypothesis is made based on the readers’ prior knowledge.

According to Reutzel (1996), this theory of reading is based on a branch of

psychology known as cognitive or constructive psychology. From the

cognitivist’s view, readers will combine information from the text with his or her

background knowledge to understand the message in the text. The more

background knowledge that he or she has, the better chances he or she will have

in making sense of the text.

Varieties of Reading Instruction

Phonics

In this instruction, reading is taught only after the reader has memorized the

alphabets. Reading is taught through isolation of letter/sound relationships. (p42,

Vacca, Vacca& Gove,1995) Remember the good old days when kindergarten

students would sing the “ABC” song, and when the child got the alphabet only

could he then move on to the sounds. This approach follows the bottom-up

approach.

Skills (use Basal Reading Approaches)

This is a very popular method of reading instruction in the twentieth

century. According to Vacca, Vacca and Gove (1995) reading here is taught

through isolation of skills with emphasis on word recognition. This method of

instruction follows the bottom-up approach.

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Whole Language

This whole language approach views reading as holistic and indivisible.

According to Reutzel (1996), there is no isolation of skills for practice; where the

emphasis is on comprehension and whole text experiences. Through this

approach, the text, the reader as well as the social or situational atmosphere are

treated as an integral whole.

Reading Readiness

Whether a child is ready to read or not is determined by several factors.

Reutzel (1996) suggested 9 factors.

(1) Age

Although the many researchers have conflicting opinions about the

appropriate age to begin early reading, there appears to be a common cut-off

age. Many research have shown a good age to begin is 6. Although this age

may differ in either chronological age or mental age, the latest a child should

begin is 13. At this age the ability will decreases substantially and by 17 the

ability to learn to read may disappear.

(2) Gender

In some countries, girls learn reading faster than boys, while in other

countries boys score better in reading tests than girls. What need to be noted

here is that those research may be culturally biased.

(3) Intelligence

There were several research that showed relationship between

intelligence and reading achievement. However, those high reading achievers

had also mastered the mechanics of reading due to their intelligence. On the

other hand, there were also other research that had proven that children with

low IQ managed to learn to read well.

(4) Visual Ability

It is generally accepted that the eyes play an important in learning to

read. There had been cases of students who had difficulty in reading merely

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because the teacher did not know that the student had problem with his or

her sight.

(5) Auditory Ability

Auditory ability can be separated into two components; auditory

discrimination and phonemic segmentation. The former is the ability of the

person to distinguish between the similarities and differences of two or

more auditory stimuli like /f/ and /v/ sound. The latter is the ability to

isolate individual sound from words,

(6) Learning Modalities and Learning Styles

Many reading experts believe that different learning modalities and

learning styles may produce different reading success rates on the readers.

According to Reutzel (1996) modality preference refer to different modality

in processing information; for example, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, as well

as tactile. Another research concluded that learning styles is a combination

of many factors such as, environment, social aspects, physical conditions,

etc.

(7) Listening Comprehension

Reading experts believe that before a child learns reading, he or she

should listen to how the text are read. Pearson and Fielding (1982) felt that

a teacher should develop the child’s listening comprehension skills first

before proceeding to formal reading instruction. Activities like listening to

stories, plays riddles, etc are suitable examples of listening comprehension

activities.

(8) Alphabetic and Phonics Knowledge

The issue of alphabets and phonics has always become a debatable

issue in the teaching of reading. Although phonics may not be necessary in

beginning reading programmes, however, such knowledge may distinguish

between a good reader and a not so good reader.

(9) Word Recognition

Reading expert have long agreed that the knowledge of sight words

can benefit reading instruction. According to Reutzel (1996) as early as

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1885, James Cattell could recognize words as rapidly as single letters. After

that many other researches have proven sight words as useful in allowing

“automaticity” among early readers.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING AND WRITING

Reading and writing may not be mirror images of each other but

mutually reinforce each other in the process of literacy development.

Mason (1989) feels that prior knowledge of one skill might facilitate the

learning of the other. Harp and Brewer (1996) also feel that reading and

writing are closely connected. The learning of one reinforces the learning of

the other. Furthermore, it is also believed that learning to write is like

learning to read. Harp and Brewer (1996) also believe that the act of writing

strengthens the ability to read. They also believe that once the writing

ability is acquired, the problem of decoding words in reading is simplified.

TEACHING WRITING

Stages in Learning to Write

Learners go through different stages while learning to write. According

to Citravelu (1995), there are 4 stages in learning to write. The 4 stages are (1)

writing readiness, (2) early writing, (3) developmental writing and (4) mature

writing. During the first stage (writing readiness), the learner who wants to

write in English will need to:

(a) develop his knowledge of English so he or she can understand

what is copied and say what he or she wants to say.

(b) Be interested to write

(c) recognize that print is different from pictures and they have

meaning

(d) develop ability to distinguish shapes and alphabets

(e) develop visual memory for shapes

(f) develop his or her large muscles of the arm and hands- to be able

to write.

During the second stage- Early writing, learners need to be (a) given

meaningful context to write, (b) use their own oral composition to write about, (c)

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told the benefits of writing, (d) read to by teachers a variety of things and (e) be

curious about things around them to write about.

Stages of writing can also be defined by the activities that the writer does

throughout a certain length of time in the writing process. Harp and Brewer

(1996) consider these stages as the Developmental Stages. The First Stage is the

Scribbling Stage where scribble forms in writing just as they babble before they

use words. The Second Stage is Random Letter Stage where children learn which

forms are acceptable as letters and use them in some random order to record

words or sentences.

The Third Stage is the Early Phonemic Writing where the children begins to

make connection between letters and sounds. The Fourth and Final Stage is

Conventional Spelling where the child now has spaces between words, writes

from left to right and begins to understand words.

The next Stage is the Discovery of Governing Principles. The First Stage is

Flexibility Principle where the child’ s knowledge of writing is limited to

alphabets. The Second principle is the Inventory Principle where the child takes

stock of their own learning. The Third Stage is Recurring Principle where there is

a tendency for the child to repeat certain elements in sentences. The Fourth and

final Stage is the Generating Principle where the child begins to know certain

rules in writing.

Writing : Practice vs idea?

By definition, when a person writes, he or she is writing the character of the

written language (Mason,1989). However, the mention of the word “writing”

would bring to mind the act of holding a pencil, pen or any writing instrument and

creating the characters of the written language on a paper. Since the definition

merely goes for “characters of the written language”, so, “keying” letters and

words on the keyboard and having the words (which are the characters of the

written language) displayed can also be seen as writing.

WORD PROCESSOR IN LEARNING

The Rationale of Using Word processor in the Writing Process

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The word processor is an alternative way to writing. Mac Arthur (1988)

feels that “writing” using the word processor is a replacement of messy

handwriting by neatly printed, “adult-like” documents . For early readers and also

early writers, seeing words printed as such may decrease their frustration and

sense of failure, thus may further encourage more reading and writing. Geisert

(2000) also felt that through the word processor, early readers and writers

perceive themselves as “real” writers. This could be due to several factors. Firstly,

their writing no longer become illegible to them. They see their “writing” as

similar to adult or “book” writing.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This research is rooted from the Classical Conditioning Theory of

learning using the Whole Language Approach.

a. THEORY OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Learning is a series of responses that are selected and

sequenced. -This is a classical theory introduced by important names

like Ivan Pavlov, and John,B. Watson. John Broadus Watson

(Lefrancois, 2000) believed that each child is born with “tabula rasa”-

his or her mind is blank and it is the experiences that fills the mind.

Watson controversial statement about being given any child and he

(Watson) could condition the child to be/do what he wants them to

be/do. In addition to that, Watson also introduced the term “transfer”

which is also commonly known as “stimulus generalization.” This

involves the person making the same or similar responses when he or

she is presented with any of a number of related stimuli (Lefrancois

,2000).

Pavlov’s (Bernstein, et al; 1988) classical conditioning what

happens when “a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that elicits

a reflex or other response until the neutral stimulus alone comes to

elicit a similar response. In addition, according to Atkninson, et al

(1993) classical conditioning can further be extended to learning

through both conditioned and unconditioned stimulus. Conditioned

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stimulus needs to be taught to result in conditioned response. On the

other hand, unconditioned stimulus needs no learning involved to

produce unconditioned response.

Conditioning in this research refers to the list of sight words

that the learners have to learn at the beginning of the research. In other

words, the learners are “conditioned” to learn and recognize the list of

words on sight. This is achieved through a series of Whole Language

Approach activities in order to recognize the words. Then, when the

person proceeds to reading the assigned books containing the sight

words already learnt, he or she will recognize the sight words on sight

using the theory of stimulus generalization or transfer. On the other

hand, the process of copying acts as an unconditioned stimulus

towards learning to read, spell as well as write.

b. WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH

Many have used this approach in the teaching of language.

According to Munir (1998), the concept of whole language was introduced by

Jerome Harvste and Carolyn Burke in 1977. After that Dorothy Watson

followed suit but introduced a new term – “Teachers Applied Whole

Language (TAWL) in 1978. Ken Goodman used the name “Whole Language

Comprehension-Centred Reading Programme in 1979. After that, the use of

this approach – whatever name it carries – became popular after 1980.

According to Blair, Turner and Schaudt (1992) listed four major approaches

of decoding the written language in Whole Language Approach. The first

involves learning words by sight without examining them carefully – also

known as sight word or whole word approach. The second approach involves

associating letters with speech sounds they represent (phonics). The third

approach uses meaning of surrounding text (contextual analysis) and the

fourth involves utilizing the structural elements of a word (structural analysis).

Using all the four approaches will lead to comprehension of the text.

According to Blair, et. Al (1992), once students have developed automaticity,

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they can spend more time either thinking about the text or responding to the

text.

WHY IS THIS APPROACH CONSIDERED SPECIAL? To begin

with, this approach believes that learning takes place in real environment that

children experience. Secondly, the teaching involves several disciplines.

Finally, the language used is thematic and the curriculum is planned in a

functional manner, taking into consideration the physical, social-emotional,

mental and intellectual development of children.

HOW IS THE WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH CARRIED

OUT? An interesting feature of this WLA is that students who follow this

programme usually start with “zero” and more often than not end up

becoming successful readers. Another interesting feature is that even if the

WLA is not carried fully yet, progress can be seen even after the first few

weeks of the approach. This is because this approach is based on four most

important and basic principles : (1)whole or cooperative experience, (2)

meaningful, (3)functional and (4) natural or authentic. (Munir, 1998). These

four basic principles become the skeleton of the approach.

WHOLE OR COOPERATIVE EXPERIENCE

Through the use of these four basic principles, the students are

introduced to an interesting world of learning to read. To begin with, (1) this

WLA uses the whole or cooperative experience. To support this “whole”

approach, the concept of phoneme or whole word approach is used. For

example, the word “Malaysia” is not taught as “MA”, “LA” and “SIA” but

taught as a whole “MALAYSIA”. According to Smith (1977), a word must be

recognizable as a whole for immediate word identification. In this case, the

book series “Ladybird – Peter and Jane” was used for English. The concept of

whole is also indicated by the fact that reading and writing is taught together

not as separate skills.

THEMATIC

Next, (2) the WLA is based on thematic. A good theme is one that is

directly related to children’s interest (Munir,1998). In this case, the books

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used stories about what children do every day. The activities done by the

characters in the stories are what the children would do also.

FUNCTIONAL

The next concept is (3) functional. The WLA is cognitive,

intellectual, as well as affective. These are all associated with the development

of the child’s socio-emotional and psychomotor. The activity involves using

the same words in different ways. The child sees that the words have several

functions. The words will be used in many different sentences. The sentences

are typed using typed using the word processor. The child then draws relevant

pictures to indicate the meaning of the word in the sentences. These are

examples for psychomotor skills. This activity also helped improve her

spelling of words besides increasing her vocabulary.

NATURAL / AUTHENTIC

The final concept of WLA is (4) natural or authentic. All

these activities chosen are things that children enjoy. Also, the condusive,

relaxed environment facilitates learning. Hence, the concept of classical

conditioning and the whole language approach are immersed into the

framework of this study using (a)sight words, (b)word learning, and (c)

copying.

SIGHT WORDS

Sight words, as the name implies are words that readers recognize on

sight, without much effort. These are the words that are frequently used in

many text. According to Chitravelu (1995), sight words are words that readers

will frequently see in texts. Chitravelu (1995) also made references to the

Ladybird Series where the use of sight words are extensively repeated in many

different contexts. This approach enables the reader to feel a sense of

achievement because he/she could “read” different books.

Refer to Appendix 1 for list of Sight Words available in the text for

Pre and Post Test. Refer also to Appendix for Sample of the text used for the

Pre and Post-Test.

WORD LEARNING

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Word learning can be seen as a “spill over” from the Whole Language

Approach. This method is based on THREE main principles and they are (a)

repeated readings, (b) whole-to-part activities and (c) word recognition.

Repeated reading is a traditional method introduced by Samuels and Chomsky

in the 1970’s. This involves the teacher asking the student to read and reread a

particular material. This repeated readings helps to improve word recognition,

speed expression and also comprehension (Johnston, 2000). Secondly, The

teacher begins the whole-to-part activity by reading the selected story to the

students first. Then, the teacher will get students to learn certain words on

Flashcards. This word recognition activity helps students learn words, letters

and sounds (Johnston,2000). Finally, word banks activity is done when the

teacher collects a few words from a story. Although the students learn these

words in the word banks in isolation from the context, the studies by Bond

and Dykstra (1967) and Stauffer (1970) and the latest by Johnston (2000) have

shown high success rates.

COPYING

The mechanics learning through copying is an extension of the

unconditioned classical conditioning theory. Copying not only helps writing

(spelling specifically) but also reading. Conditioning helps the writer to be

conditioned to be familiar with the written symbols. This is also agreed by

Grabe and Kaplan (1996) who felt that copying helped students gain fluency

with the mechanics of writing. Citravelu (1995) also felt copying helped to

improve accuracy in spelling, regularity and fluency as well as improve the

knowledge of the writing convention. In addition, to that, Raimes (1983) also

felt that copying has been frequently used as a technique in early writing for

elementary students. It gives practice with mastering what might be a new

word, developing fluency in writing as well as learn the mechanics of

punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and paragraph indentation.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Specifically, the purpose of this study is to introduce the Whole

Language Approach to an early reader. Generally, this research is done

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merely to introduce another alternative to the teaching of beginning reader and

writer. An approach that may seem TOO easy to some but may prove some

remarkable results to beginning readers. This approach does not seek to

replace any existing approach done so far. This study can be seen as (i) yet

another approach as a choice among teachers or (ii) a supplement to existing

approaches to the teaching of beginning reading.

This research is based on the following questions:

(i) How has word learning influenced sight word recognition?

(ii) How has whole language approach influenced sight word recognition?

(iii) How has computer influenced early reading?

(iv) How has computer influenced early writing?

METHODOLOGY

A six year old girl was chosen for this qualitative case study.

According to Reutzel (1996), a good age to begin reading is 6 years old. The

study also found that girls learn faster than boys. The subject was given a dose

of Word Learning, Whole Language Approach, Word processing on the

computer. The case study took 4 months to complete. The subject was first

given a Pre-Test to determine the “take-off” point and later a post-test was

given to find out the end result. The Pre-Test and Post-test was constructed

based on the Informal Reading Inventory suggested by Dechant (1982) and

The Qualitative Reading Inventory by Leslie and Cladwell (1990). The

Reading Inventory measures (1) actual reading level-Independent,

Instructional Level and Frustration Level, and (2) looks at reading behaviour.

One way of constructing this Informal Reading Inventory is to select passages

from a graded book, preferably from Basals because they are graded. The

researcher then constructs comprehension questions on the passages. The Pre-

and Post test will determine the level the subject are in.

This case study used (1) a Basal Reading programme- Ladybird

Keyword Reading Series; as well as, (2) Predictable Texts – Follow-up Fairy

Tale Series from Ladybird Keyword Reading Series, and (3) a Word

Processor. The subject was initially exposed to word learning of sight chosen.

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Writing (using the word processor) and reading activities were done to learn

the words. Early writing activities were mostly copying from the text to the

word processor done by the subject. As more sight words were added, the

subject continued with repeated readings until progress was made to proceed

to another level in the Basal Series. As time goes on the reading activity was

added to a set of Predictable Texts. These are fairy tale series that used the

same sight words found in the basal series. At the end of the study, the

researcher would be able to know the (1) readers initial and end Reading

Level, (2) understand the Reading Behaviour, (3) understand the Writing level

of the subject.

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

During the Pre-Test, the subject was not able to read words. She was only able

to decipher the alphabets. When asked to draw, she merely drew a flower and spent

time colouring the flower. She did not indicate any form of writing on the paper. She

said she could not write. Based on the analysis by Dechant (1982), the reading Level

was at Frustration Level.

In addition to that based on the category by Mason, et, al (1986), the Wrting

attempt was at Level 1 (0-10 score) which is Picture Level only. Interestingly, in the

writing done by the subject during the Post test, she drew the picture of a girl standing

next to an apple is accompanied by the sentence “Fathiyah (the subject’s name) like

apple.” The subject was able to repeat words seen in the sight word to form her own

sentence during the Post-Test. This is an indication of Level 6 from Mason,et al 1986,

a good improvement from Level 1 during the Pre- Test. Harp and Brewer (1996) also

agreed that once writing is acquired, the problem of decoding of words in reading is

simplified. Reinforcement takes place at the same time. Also, the act of composing

reinforces concepts important to reading comprehension. In addition to that, Harp and

Brewer (1996) also felt that the act of writing strengthens the reading ability. This is

also agreed by Anderson and others, 1985 (in Harp and Brewer, 1996) who said that

children should spend more time writing because it tends to promote better reading.

Throughout the 4 months, the researcher observed many changes. The Pre-test

and post test involves the subject decoding the list of words from Appendix 1. On the

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whole, the subject was able to get 19 (38%) words automatically decoded, 13 (26%)

words wrongly decoded and 18 (36%) words unable to decode. This is interesting

because the subject began with a “0” decoding skill.

What was interesting was the wrongly decoded words showed an interesting

pattern. The words like “make” was decoded as “milk”, the word “thing” was

decoded as “they”. These words were wrongly decoded because they had similar

configuration pattern as the correct word. This is both positive and negative transfer

of learning from conditioning and whole language approach. Positively, the subject

did not totally discard the word as unable to decode. Negatively, she could not

differentiate the configuration pattern due to learning the sight words as a “whole” in

the Whole Language Approach.

In addition to that, when the passage on Appendix 3 was given “A Trip” the

subject was able to read the passage at Instructional Level. Similarly, the passage in

Appendix 6 was also successfully read at Instructional level. When the questions

were asked in Appendix 4,5 and 7 about the passages, the subject could respond to

the questions but in Bahasa Malaysia. This does indicate that the student understood

the story and the reading was done not by merely “barking at the print”.

Hence, the data so far could answer Research Question 1- “How has word

learning influenced sight word recognition?” The subject benefitted from word

learning. She improved to automatic decoding of 38% from a “0”. In addition to that

the subject was brave and confident to try as many words as possible. The wrongly

decoded words were interesting decoded based on the configuration pattern. The

words that were not decoded at all were words not in the sight word list from Basal

Reader. So, this is the answer to the Research Question 2- “How has whole language

approach influenced sight word recognition?” Whole Language Approach has made

the student confident to read, not realizing that the decoding was wrong. The subject

merely saw a “whole” word that she remembered from the sight word learning.

Research Question 3 and 4 looks at the influence of computer on early reading

and writing. Since reading and writing are related discussion to answer the two

questions will be done together. Computer has positive influence on the subject’s

early reading. The subject began by tapping alphabet by alphabet on the keyboard. As

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the days progressed, she became confident in the spelling of commonly repeated

words like “is”, “ball”, “has”, etc. Computer has not only reinforced reading learnt

before but also spelling of words. The finding is also in accordance with that of

Geisert (2000) who found that the writing done by the computer is legible compared

to the writing done by the early writer. So, the subject felt that she was reading

“adult” or “book” writing.

CONCLUSION

Word learning helped reinforce the decoding of Sight Words. Sight words

are helpful in the reading of not only Basal readers but also other beginners’ story

books. Computers help to reinforce both reading and writing skills. This was

reinforced through the copying activities on the computer. Writing not only helps

reading but also spelling. The students no longer need to memorize alphabets for

spelling. Spelling was learnt unintentionally.

The results of this case study is not conclusive and may not be applicable for

any early reader. It would be interesting to find out if early readers and writers of

different age groups and genders would show similar findings. It would also be

interesting to see if the results would be similar for a class of 30-35 students.

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(8) pp 600 – 607 APPENDIX 1

WORD LIST (Predictable Text- Basal Reader)- (STUDENT COPY) Read the words below

1. mother

2. went

3. have

4. animal

5. what

6. saw

7. some

8. make

9. was

10. play

11. put

12. every

13. children

14. go

15. want

16. thing

17. they

18. need

19. were

20. like

21. little

22. girl

23. the

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24. old

25. woman

26. magic

27. porridge

28. pot

29. once

30. upon

31. a

32. an

33. met

34. gave

35. cook

36. cooking

37. said

38. and

39. some

40. took

41. soon

42. full

43. still

44. house

45. street

46. stop

47. eating

48. town

49. whole

50. but

Appendix 2 EXAMINER WORD LIST (Leslie and Cladwell (1990)

Word Automatic Decoded

mother

went

Have

animal

what

Saw

some

make

Was

Play

Put

every

children

Go

want

thing

They

Need

were

Like

Little

Girl

The

Old

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woman

magic

porridge

Pot

Once

Upon

A

An

Met

Gave

Cook

cooking

Said

And

some

Took

Soon

Full

Still

house

street

Stop

eating

Town

Whole

But

Total no of word Automatically decoded /50 = %

Total no. of words wrongly decoded /50 = %

Total no. of words unable to decode /50 = % Total Number Correct /50 = %

Appendix 3

Taken From Leslie and Cladwell (1990) - A Trip

It was a warm day.

The children were going on a trip.

The trip was to the zoo.

The children wanted to see many animals.

They wanted to write down all they saw.

They were going to make a book for their class.

On the way to the zoo the bus broke down.

The children thought their trip was over.

Then a man stopped his car.

He helped to fix the bus.

The bus started again.

The children said, “Yea!”

The children got to the zoo.

They saw an elephant.

They saw a tiger and a lion.

They also saw zebras.

They saw monkeys doing tricks.

They liked the trip to the zoo.

They wanted to go again.

Appendix 4

Questions for “A Trip” (leslie and Cladwell, 1990)

1. Where were the children going?

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Explicit: on a trip to the zoo

2. What did they want to see?

Explicit: many animals, or names of at least 2 animals.

3. Who do you think went with the children on the trip?

Implicit: their teacher. If a chlid says, Bus driver,” ask, “who else with them besides the bus driver?”

4. What happenend on the way to the zoo?

Explicit: the bus broke down.

5. What would have happened to their trip if the man hadn’t stopped the car?

Inplicit: they wouldn’t have gotten to the zoo, they got to the zoo late.

6. What did the children learn at the farm?

Explicit: about monkeys doing tricks, if they say “ about monkeys”, say, “What about monkeys?”

Appendix 5 The Magic Porridge Pot (Predictable Text, Basal Reader)

Once upon a time a little girl met an old woman.

The old woman gave her a magic porridge pot.

“Cook, little pot, cook,” said the old woman.

And the little pot cooked some porridge.

“Stop, little pot, stop,” said the old man.

And the little pot stopped cooking.

The little girl took the magic porridge pot to her mother.

“Cook, little pot, cook,” said the little girl’s mother.

And the little pot cooked some porridge.

Soon the kitchen was full of porridge.

And still the magic porridge pot went on cooking.

Soon the house was full of porridge.

And still the magic porridge pot went on cooking.

Soon the street was full of porridge.

And still the magic porridge pot went on cooking.

Soon the whole town was full of porridge.

And still the magic porridge pot went on cooking.

“Stop, little pot, stop,” said the little girl.

At last the magic porridge pot stopped cooking.

But the whole town is still eating porridge.

Appendix 6

Questions for The Magic Porridge Pot (Basal Reader)

1. Who did the girl met one day?

2. What did the old woman give her?

3. What can the pot do?

4. Who did the girl give the pot to?

5. What did the mother do to the pot?

6. Where did she cook the pot?

7. How did the girl make the pot stop cooking?

Appendix 7

Ranking of Children’s Writing Attempts

(adapted from Mason, et al , 1986)

0 No Response or response unrelated to task

1 Picture

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2 Nonpicture; scribble

3 Single letterlike forms

4 Multiple letters, either not wordlike or copied

5 Wordlike forms, containing prominent consonants, usually initial ones, and with more than half of all letter

pairs in the invented spelling being possible English combinations

6 Isolated word(s) with good attempt at spelling: (ie, with the word’s having more than half its phonemes)

7 Single sentence or phrase

8 Unrelated multiple sentences or phrases

9 Event related sentences or phrases

10 Story-related sentences.

APPENDIX 8 Reading Level (Dechant 1982)

Independent Level (Reads on his/her own most of the time)

Instructional Level (Some help needed)

Frustration Level (No reading done)

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