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Literacy Hour (literacy + hour)
Selected AbstractsThe early identification of dyslexia: Children with English as an additional languageDYSLEXIA, Issue 3 2004Jane M. Hutchinson Abstract It is generally accepted that dyslexia should be identified early for interventions to have maximum effect. However, when children speak English as an additional language (EAL), diagnosis is more complex and there is concern that these children tend to be under-identified. This paper reports a longitudinal study following the development of phonological awareness skills in relation to progress in learning to read with a cohort of British Asian children learning EAL and their monolingual peers. It also sought to determine the usefulness of a measure of phonological skills for the identification of dyslexic-type difficulties in children learning EAL. Analysis revealed that both cohorts achieved similar levels of reading accuracy in school Years 2, 4 and 6, with higher levels of reading comprehension for the monolingual children and faster reading fluency for children learning EAL in each school year. There was a similar pattern of relationships between the reading measures and measures of phonological awareness for both groups of children. However, monolingual children achieved higher levels of rhyme detection and alliteration fluency whilst the children learning EAL achieved faster number naming times. Overall, a phonological assessment battery was useful in identifying reading accuracy related difficulties in both groups of children. However, concerns are raised about the sensitivity of such measures following the introduction of the Literacy Hour. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Does the Model of Language in the National Literacy Strategy Create Failure for Pupils from Differing Language Backgrounds?ENGLISH IN EDUCATION, Issue 2 2002Pamela King Abstract The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) was introduced by the government in the wake of the hotly debated issue of falling educational standards in the UK. All schools were required to adopt the NLS Literacy Hour unless they could show their preferred programme would result in raised levels of achievement. My experience of delivering the Literacy Hour has been a process of adaptation to the needs of my pupils, who are drawn mainly from groups whose language backgrounds differ from that which is dominant in school. I have found that the requirements of NLS, together with many of the commercial resources used to teach it, are not appropriate for pupils from these groups and a question arose: is it the pupils who are in some way deficient or is it the approach and the resources being used? This article takes a case study of the use of a commercially produced resource to explore the model of language implicit in NLS, the kinds of resources it generates and the ways in which this creates failure in pupils from different language backgrounds. It then considers the New Literacy Studies and their implications for an alteration in our approach. [source] Writing Process and Progress: Where Do We Go from Here?ENGLISH IN EDUCATION, Issue 1 2001Mary Hilton Abstract This article examines the rationale behind the government's methods for raising standards in writing at Key Stage 2. Firstly there is a renewed drive to teach discrete units of sentence grammar. Secondly there is a fresh commitment to shared and guided writing. But, because it is envisaged that these teacher-led sessions will take up at least half of the Literacy Hour two or three times a week, both these aims will lead to a diminution of time for written composition by the children themselves. This is in accordance with new criticisms by NLS policy makers of the model of ,process' embedded in the National Curriculum, particularly the idea of creative pre-writing activities and sustained independent writing. The article goes on to argue that these new measures ignore research on the ways children learn to write and will not lead to a rise in standards. [source] How inclusive is the Literacy Hour?BRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 3 2001Janice Wearmouth In this article, Janice Wearmouth and Janet Soler, both lecturers in the Faculty of Education and Language Studies at the Open University, explore the implications of recent Government initiatives for pupils who experience difficulties in literacy development. The authors focus, in particular, on their perceptions of the contradictions between the inclusive requirements of the National Curriculum and the prescriptive pedagogy of the National Literacy Strategy. The National Curriculum now requires teachers to respond to pupils' ,diverse learning needs'; the National Literacy Strategy is founded upon an expectation that all pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 will be taught a daily Literacy Hour. This article explores the impact of these contrasting policies on classroom practice and concludes by drawing upon evidence of previously existing good practice in order to propose ways of resolving this dilemma. [source] Shared thinking: metacognitive modelling in the literacy hourLITERACY, Issue 2 2002Ros Fisher This paper considers evidence from an ESRC funded study of twenty teachers, teaching the literacy hour. In 170 hours of observation only one instance of a teacher modelling her thinking about reading or writing was recorded: and this was unplanned. It is suggested here that, although there should be opportunities for metacognitive modelling within the literacy hour, teachers find it difficult to use these opportunities. Some ideas about the importance of metacognition are reviewed and an example of metacognitive modelling in shared writing is analysed. It is argued that concern for improved performance may cause more attention to be focused on what is to be achieved rather than how. [source] | ||||||||||