MTTC 002 - Meaning and Communication (SET ONE) Flashcards
(40 cards)
Define Literacy
UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) defines literacy as the “ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, compute, and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.”
Subsets of reading literacy include phonological awareness, decoding, comprehension, and vocabulary.
Explain Phonological Awareness
A subskill of literacy, phonological awareness is the ability to perceive sound structures in a spoken word, such as the individual Phonemes within syllables, Onset Sounds, and Rime.
Define Phonemes
Phonemes are the sounds represented by the letters in the alphabet.
Define Onset Sounds
Onset Sounds are the initial sound in a word, such as /k/ in “cat”.
Define Rime
The sounds that follow the onset in a word, such as /at/ in “cat”.
List Classroom Activities That Teach Phonological Awareness
- Practicing saying blended Phonemes
- Singing songs that involve Phoneme Replacement (e.g., The Name Game)
- Reading poems, songs, and nursery rhymes out loud
- Reading patterned and predictable texts out loud
- Listening to environmental sounds or following verbal directions
- Playing games with rhyming chants or fingerplays
- Reading alliterative texts out loud
- Grouping objects by beginning sounds
- Reordering words in a well-known sentence or making silly phrases by deleting words from a well-known sentence (perhaps from a favorite storybook)
Describe the Teaching of Reading Through Phonics
Phonics is the process of learning to read by learning how spoken language is represented by letters.
Students learn Phonetically by sounding out the Phonemes in words and then blending them together to produce the correct sound in words.
Phonics is a method commonly used to teach Decoding and Reading, but has since been challenged by other methods, such as The Whole Language Approach.
When Phonics is used as a foundation for decoding, children eventually learn to recognize words automatically and advance to decoding multisyllable words with practice.
Explain the Alphabetic Principle and Discuss Alphabet Writing Systems
The Alphabetic Principle refers to the use of letters and combinations of letters to represent speech sounds.
The way letters are combined and pronounced is guided by a system of rules that establishes relationships between written and spoken words and their letter symbols.
List the Facts Children Should Know About Letters
- Each letter is distinct in appearance
- What direction and shape must be used to write each letter
- Each letter has a name, which can be associated the shape of the letter
- There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and letters are grouped in a certain order
- Letters represent sounds of speech
- Words are composed of letters and have meaning
- One must be able to correspond letters and sounds to read
Explain How Children Develop Language Skills and List Ways to Aid This Development
Children learn language through interacting with others, by experiencing language in daily and relevant context, and through understanding that speaking and listening are necessary for effective communication.
Teachers can assist language development by:
- Modeling enriched vocabulary and teaching new words
- Using questions and examples to extend a child’s descriptive language skills
- Providing ample response time to encourage children to practice speech
- Asking for clarification fo provide students with the opportunity to develop communication skills
- Promoting conversations among children
- Providing feedback to let children know they have been heard and understood, and providing further explanation when needed
Explain the Relationship Between Oral and Written Language Development
Oral and Written Language Development Occur Simultaneously.
However, Oral Language is not a prerequisite to Written Language.
Oral Language Development does not occur naturally, but does occur in a social context.
This means it is best to include children in conversations rather than simply talk at them.
Written Language Development can occur without direct instruction.
In fact, reading and writing do not need to be taught through formal lessons if the child is exposed to a print-rich environment.
A teacher can assist a child’s language development by building on what the child already knows, discussing relevant and meaningful events and experiences, teaching vocabulary and literacy skills, and providing opportunities to acquire more complex language.
List Ways to Provide a Print-Rich Environment in the Classroom
A teacher can provide a Print-Rich Environment in the classroom in a number of ways. These include:
Displaying the Following in the classroom:
- Children’s names in print or cursive
- Children’s written work
-Newspapers and magazines - Instructional charts
- Written Schedules
- Signs and Labels
- Printed songs, poems, and rhymes
Using Graphic Organizers such as KWL charts or Story Road Maps to:
- Remind students about what was read and discussed
- Expand on the lesson topic or theme
- Show the relationship among books, ideas, and words
Using Big Books to:
- Point out features of print, such as specific letters and punctuation
-Track print from left to right
-Emphasize the concept of words and the fact that they are used to communicate
Explain the Benefits of Print and Book Awareness for Children
Print and Book Awareness helps a child understand:
- That there is a connection between print and messages contained on signs, labels, and other print forms in the child’s environment
- That reading and writing are ways to obtain information and communicate ideas
- That print in English runs from left to right and from top to bottom
- That a book has Parts, such as a title, a cover, a title page, and a table of contents
- That a book has an author and contains a story
-That illustrations can carry meaning - That letters and words are different
- That words and sentences are separated by spaces and punctuation
- That different text forms are used for different functions
- That print represents spoken language
- How to hold a book
List the Facts Children Should Know About Letters
- Decoding is a method or strategy used to make sense of printed words and figure out how to correctly pronounce them.
- In order to decode, a student needs to know the relationship between letters and sounds, including letter patterns; that words are constructed from phonemes and phoneme blends; and that a printed word represents a word that can be spoken
Explain the Role of Fluency in Literary Development
- Fluency is the ability to read accurately and quickly
- The student should be able to self-check for comprehension and should feel comfortable expressing ideas in writing
Teachers can help students build fluency by continuing to provide:
- Reading experiences and discussions about text that gradually increase in level and difficulty
- Reading practice, both silently and out loud
- Word analysis practice
- Instruction on reading comprehension strategies
- Opportunities to express responses to readings through writing
Explain the Role of Vocabulary in Literacy Development
- When students do not know the meaning of words in a text, their comprehension is limited
- The Larger a student’s vocabulary is, the better their reading comprehension will be
- A larger vocabulary is also associated with an enhanced ability to communicate in speech and writing
Describe Some Effective Teaching Techniques That Can Be Used to Promote Vocabulary Development
A Student’s Vocabulary Can Be Developed By:
- Calling upon a student’s prior knowledge and making comparisons to that knowledge
- Defining a word and providing multiple examples of the use of the word in context
- Showing the student how to use context clues to discover the meaning of a word
- Provide instruction on prefixes, roots, and suffixes to help students break a word into its parts and decipher its meaning
- Showing students how to use a dictionary and thesaurus
- Asking students to practice new vocabulary using the words in their own writing
- Providing a print-rich environment with a word wall
- Studying a group of words related to a single subject, such as farm words, transportation words, etc…so that concept development is enhanced
Define Affixes
Affix - syllables attached to the beginning or end of a word to make a derivative or inflectional form of a word (Both prefixes and suffixes are affixes)
Define Prefix
Prefix - a syllable that appears at the beginning or a word that creates a specific meaning in combination with the root or base word
Ex: “mis” means wrong. When combined with the root word “spelling”, the word “misspelling” is created
Define Root Word
Root Word - is the base of a word to which affixes can be added
Ex: Adding prefix “in” or “pre” to the root word “vent” to create “invent” or “prevent”
Define Suffix
Suffix - a syllable that appears at the end of a word that creates a specific meaning in combination the the root or base word. There are three types of suffixes
What Are the Three Types of Suffixes
Noun Suffixes - can change a verb or adjective to a noun
EX: “ -ment” added to “argue” becomes “argument”
EX: -hood, -ness, -tion, -ship, and -ism
Verb Suffixes - change other words to verbs and denote to make or to perform the act
EX: “ -en” added to “soft” makes “soften”
EX: -ate (perpetuate), -fy (dignify), and -ize (sterilize)
Adjectival Suffixes - change other words to adjectives and include suffixes like “ -ful”, which means “full of” (Careful).
EX: -ish and -less
Describe Some Strategies a Teacher Can Use to Improve Reading Comprehension
Teachers can model the strategies students can use on their own to better comprehend a text through a read-aloud
- Do a walkthrough of the story illustrations and ask “What’s happening here?”
- Ask students to predict what the story will be about based on what they have seen
- As the book is read, ask open-ended questions like, “Why do you think the character did this?” and “How do you think the character feels?”
- Ask students if they can relate to the story or have background knowledge of something similar
- Ask the students to retell the story in their own words to check for comprehension
Describe the Role of Prior Knowledge in Determining Appropriate Literacy Education
Comprehension results from relating two or more pieces of information
1.) From the text
2.) Prior Knowledge (From a student’s long-term memory)
- For a child, that prior knowldege comes from being read to at home and taking part in other literacy experiences such as playing computer or word games, being exposed to a print-rich environment at home, and observing parents’ reading habits
- Children who have not taken part in many literacy experiences are at a disadvantage.
- Teachers should use intense, targeted instruction. Otherwise, the student may have trouble improving their reading comprehension
