Phonics for English as a new or additional language

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Phonics for English as a new or additional language

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Tim Shanahan's post below has been flagged up via Twitter -excellent:

http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/ ... uW9Ln.dpbs

I would like to take the opportunity to add to this as helpfully as I can.

First of all, Tim is right - it's the same English alphabetic code and phonics skills that English language learners have to deal with as English-speakers.

I have found a visual representation of 'the alphabetic code' is a great starting point for teachers, parents and learners alike (and teacher-trainers) and so I provide many versions for different users via this site:

http://alphabeticcodecharts.com/free_charts.html

I encourage others to create Alphabetic Code Charts for their own languages if their language is based on an alphabetic code (not all languages are) and you can see a version for Spanish and Danish here:

http://alphabeticcodecharts.com/other_languages.html

These charts demonstrate that the Danish alphabetic code is also quite complex (the English alphabetic code is the most complex alphabetic code in the world) and the Spanish alphabetic code is much simpler - with far fewer 'sounds' (phonemes -the smallest sounds we work with generally for writing) and with far fewer 'spelling alternatives' (graphemes).

Tim is also right that there can be helpful cross over between language systems and spelling systems. I can mainly speak of Spanish/English contexts where systematic synthetic phonics teaching starting with young Spanish-speaking learners has actually enabled the Spanish-speaking children to write stories in their Spanish language based on the code they have learnt for the English language (as the teaching for the English code has been ahead of, or more effective than, formal teaching of the code for Spanish).

One of our IFERI committee members, Grace Vilar, specialises in bi-lingual teacher-training in systematic synthetic phonics. You can read about her work here:

http://www.iferi.org/team-members-profi ... th-America

Grace knows that there is plenty of cross-over in code learning and speaking with more than one language, but she is very clear that there should be explicit teaching in the English alphabetic code using alphabetic code charts to be able to compare the alphabetic code of the mother tongue, or first language (where that is based on an alphabetic code).
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Phonics for English as a new or additional language

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I would also like to add that the Simple View of Reading model is very helpful, too, when considering what is involved with the teaching of English - for both print-reading and for language comprehension - both processes which need to be addressed.

This diagram of the Simple View of Reading as a paper resource may also be useful to consider learners' reading and spoken language profiles:

https://phonicsinternational.com/The_Si ... _model.pdf

In a scenario where teachers are teaching learners with more than one language, the teacher can plot the reading profile of the learner in both languages. On the same Simple View of Reading diagram, consider the word decoding/recognition and language comprehension of the learner in his or her first language and mark (for example, with a simple dot or cross) the quadrant accordingly (I always suggest you then bullet point your thoughts alongside the mark), then with another mark (perhaps in a different coloured pen), indicate the quadrant that best fits the learner's profile in the English language.

I also find the diagrams (the Simple View of Reading and the Simple View of Writing) are very helpful for professional development - I always use them in teacher-training for example. Everyone notes that using them with a colleague generates very helpful conversations about both the two main processes of being a reader in the full sense and with regard to considering learners' reading profiles.
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gracevilar
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Re: Phonics for English as a new or additional language

Post by gracevilar »

I have been teaching bilingual phonics (English/Spanish, and Portuguese) for at least 10 years now, and have sound evidence to state that the knowledge of both the alphabetic codes, is helpful and very important.

Children relate naturally the sounds/phonemes of their mother tongue to the second one. Spanish is one of the most, if not the most, transparent language of all. Spanish speaking children/people, when learning to read in English, just transfer the skills of blending naturally to English, but using the Spanish sounds, so teaching them the English sounds via the learning of the English Alphabetic code comparing it with the Spanish one, highlighting the common phonemes and the different and new ones, makes the magic!

I have seen children´s delight discovering how easy becomes reading and .... writing in this way!

I invite you to watch some videos of Spanish speaking children reading in English on my website:

http://gracevilarphonics.weebly.com

I totally agree with what Shanahan posted:
"Teach phonemic awareness and phonics to beginning English readers no matter what their language background or how much literacy they have. (If you are teaching kids to read in their home language first, then teach the decoding for that language, and provide additional instruction as needed when the transition takes place).
If students can already read in the home language, you should be able to reduce the amount of phonics that is needed to the extent that there is overlap between the two languages.
If students are phonemically aware in their home language, you shouldn’t have to do as much with that (though there can be a benefit from focusing on those English sounds that may be unfamiliar)."
Debbie was able to decode Spanish after learning the Spanish sounds when I was making the Spanish alphabetic code! Of course, decoding is the technical part, without comprehension reading is not happening. But if you are able to decode, you will naturally want to understand what you decoded...so it is a good start also to learn the language!
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