- There is a progression to the development of literacy skills and different skills are focused on at different levels.
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There are six different literacy skills:
- Texts and meaning
- The sounds of English
- Phonics, sight words, letter formation, and spelling patterns
- Reading comprehension
- Writing sentences and short paragraphs
- Fluency
- There are different activities listed to develop each skill.
- EAL/ESL literacy learners complete the same or similar assessments in reading and writing as their non-literacy peers, with some considerations for clarity, time, length, format, familiarity, scaffolding, digital literacy, numeracy, and visual literacy.
Literacy Skills for EAL/ESL Literacy Learners
6.1 The progression of literacy learning
Different literacy skills are taught and emphasized at different stages of the development of literacy. Depending on the level taught, there will be a different emphasis on literacy skills.
| The Development of Literacy Skills in the CLB | ||||
| Foundation L | CLB 1L | CLB 2L | CLB 3L | CLB 4L |
| Letters | Words | Sentence Frames | Sentences | Paragraphs |
| Texts and meaning (Intensive) | Texts and meaning (Ongoing) | |||
| The sounds of English (Intensive) | The sounds of English (Ongoing) | |||
| Letter formation (Intensive) | Phonics, sight words, and spelling patterns (Intensive) | Phonics, sight words, and spelling patterns (Ongoing) | ||
| Reading comprehension (Intensive) | ||||
| Writing sentences (Intensive) | Writing short paragraphs (Intensive) | |||
| Fluency (Intensive) | ||||
6.2 Texts and meaning
Learning about texts and meaning, also called textual awareness, is an essential early step in the development of literacy and is necessary for further skills in decoding/encoding (phonics, letter formation, and spelling patterns), comprehension, and composition.
Texts and meaning are primarily taught at Foundation L and CLB 1L and is reinforced throughout the rest of the levels.
Learning about texts and meaning includes learning that:
- Text has meaning: This is the first essential step in the development of literacy and involves the growing awareness that text exists and has purpose and meaning.
- Text is a system that represents oral speech: Learners also need to discover that text is a purposeful system that represents the words we say.
- Text has orientation: Nearly everything in the physical world is the same no matter which way it is pointing. A cow is a cow whether it is pointing to the left or right, standing up or laying down. Text, however, must be oriented right-side up to have meaning, and a number of letters, such as <p>, <q>, <b>, and <d> are identical except for their orientation.
| p | q | b | d |
- Text has directionality: In English, text is read left to right, top to bottom. Other languages have other directionality, such as Arabic, which is written right-to-left, and Japanese, which is written top-to-bottom. Learners will also need to apply this learning to the orientation and direction of papers, and many learners need to be explicitly taught which is the front and top of a page so as not to file their papers upside down and backwards.
Activities for learning about texts and meaning
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6.3 The sounds of English
Learning about the sounds of English, also called phonological awareness, is a critical step to developing literacy.
The sounds of English are taught intensively at Foundation L to CLB 2L.
Learning about the sounds of English includes learning that:
- English is made up of distinct sounds: Learners need to be able to hear, distinguish, and produce the approximate 44 sounds of English.
- Language is made up of words: Utterances are a combination of distinct words rather than a string of sounds, and each word is represented by one word on the page.
- Words have consonants and vowels: Learners need to know that there are consonants and vowels; this will help them to understand spelling systems and syllables.
- Words can be split into syllables: Splitting words into syllables is helpful in learning how to read longer words and in learning spelling patterns.
- Words can be split into sounds and sounds can be blended into words: This skill, also known as phonemic awareness, is critically important in learning to read and write. Learners can also learn onset and rime, which is the division between the first sound of a word and the rest of the word. Onset and rime help teach word families, such as bat, cat, sat, mat, fat, hat, chat.
| Is English phonetic? A phonetic language is a language with a high degree of correspondence between the sounds and letters of the language. In a truly phonetic language, there is a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters, where each sound is represented by a different letter, and each letter only represents one sound. There are approximately 44 sounds in the English language (depending on dialect), but there are 26 letters in the alphabet. English is largely a phonetic language, but it has “deep orthography,” which means there is greater variation in how sounds are represented by letters. Most consonants in English represent one sound, e.g. <d> always makes a /d/ sound. However, some consonants have two common sounds, e.g. <c> makes both /k/ and /s/. Other consonants change their sound depending on letter combinations. <t> makes a /t/ sound, but it changes sound depending on surrounding letters. Compare the sound of <t> in these words: take, then, both, action. Vowels are even more complex, with the same five letters, <a>, <e>, <i>, <o>, and <u>, as well as the semivowels <y> and <w>, making up the approximate 20 vowel sounds. English has one of the most complex vowel systems of the world languages. So, is English phonetic? The alphabetic system is intended to be phonetic, and there are predictable rules that govern the relationships between sounds and letters. Most exceptions to these rules represent historic spellings and are also predictable, once you know all the rules. English is largely phonetic; however, for someone who is just learning to speak and read in English, there is a lot to learn. |
Activities for learning the sounds of English
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6.4 Phonics, sight words, letter formation, and spelling patterns
Once learners have an awareness of text and the sounds of English, they are ready to learn the mechanics of reading and writing, which include phonics, sight words, letter formation, and spelling patterns. These skills are also known as decoding (when reading) and encoding (when writing).
Different aspects of these skills are taught at different stages.
Different aspects of these skills are taught at different stages.
- Letter formation is taught intensively at Foundation L and is reinforced at CLB 1L.
- Tracking and visual discrimination are taught intensively at Foundation L to CLB 2L.
- Phonics, sight words, and spelling patterns are taught intensively at CLB 1L and CLB 2L and are reinforced and expanded in CLB 3L and CLB 4L.
- Tracking: Tracking is the ability to move your eyes along a line or to move your eyes back and forth between two places.
Tracking is important to reading, writing, and copying. Beginning readers will struggle to track from the end of one line to the beginning of the next (i.e. to read wrap-around text). Learners begin to read wrap-around text around CLB 2L.
In copying, learners need to move their eyes back and forth from the source to the place they are writing, finding their place each time. Copying is easiest if the word to copy is directly above the place to write. Tracking is exhausting for beginning readers and writers, and activities that involve tracking should be broken up with activities with listening and speaking, movement, or singing. - Visual discrimination: Visual discrimination is the ability to see small details and distinguish between two things, such as finding the differences between letters.
This includes directionality and orientation as some letters are distinguished only by their direction, such as <p>, <q>, <b>, and <d>. Initially, learners should be taught with complete consistency of how letters are represented. This means using a literacy-friendly font, such as Century Gothic, which as an <a> and <g> that looks like hand printing. By CLB 3L, learners can tolerate variation in fonts and can read a variety of standard fonts. - Phonics: Phonics is the relationship between sounds and letters.
Learning about phonics is a critical step in learning to read, and learners should be taught phonics in a portion of every class, one letter at a time, starting with key consonants, and then incorporating one or two vowel sounds. - Sight words: The goal of learning to decode and encode is to develop sight words.
Site words are a bank of words that you can recognize without decoding or using phonics. Proficient readers spend very little time and cognitive effort on decoding; they have enormous sight word banks. Literacy learners develop sight words over time, usually starting with the most familiar personal information words, such as their own names. Sight words lower the effort of reading and the overall cognitive load of a task. - Letter formation: Learners will need to learn how to form letters.
This requires a certain amount of finger strength and hand-eye coordination. Learners with no experience with printing may struggle to hold a pencil at first; if they have experience with working with their hands, such as through knitting, embroidery, or building with their hands, they may find this a little easier. Have learners work with larger pencils that are easier to grip.
Air writing and writing in a different kind of medium, such as a sand tray, can be helpful to practice the motions with less physical effort. Start with make straight lines and then curves, and have learners trace as well as copy letters. - Spelling patterns: English is only partially a phonetic language, and there are many spelling patterns that are not phonetic.
As learners become more comfortable with phonics, teach an extended range of spelling patterns. Take the same approach as with phonics, working on patterns for a part of every class, teaching one pattern at a time.
Activities for learning phonics, letter formation, and spelling patterns
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6.5 Reading comprehension
Reading comprehension is the process of making meaning from what you read. Reading comprehension is a higher-level literacy skill that comes with reading sentences and connected text at CLB 3L and 4L, but some of the strategies for reading comprehension can be taught and practiced in lower levels using very simple stories that are read aloud.
Reading comprehension is taught intensively at CLB 3L and CLB 4L.
When teaching reading comprehension, model reading strategies by using a think aloud, which is a process of verbalizing what is happening in your head while you use a reading strategy.
| Using a think aloud When you use a think aloud, tell the learners what is happening inside your head while you are using a strategy. E.g. if you are making predictions about a story about buying food, you might say: “Before I read, I’m going to make predictions. I’m going to look at the title. Hmm, it says Buying Food. Okay, I buy food at the supermarket. I know about buying food. I’m going to look at all the pages and look at the pictures. I see a woman and a younger boy, maybe her son? It looks like they have a shopping cart. I see vegetables in their cart. Now I see a chicken. I wonder if they’re going grocery shopping.” |
Reading comprehension includes a number of different skills and reading strategies, including learning how to:
- Identify topic and purpose of the text: The process of making meaning begins with identifying the topic and purpose of the text. What is it about? Why do you need to read it?
- Identify details in the text: Learners will learn to identify details in the text, answering questions about who, what, where, and when, and eventually very simple, straightforward questions about why and how.
- Activate knowledge: Once learners know the topic, they can activate what they already know, thinking about the knowledge they have and the vocabulary they are familiar with in English.
- Make predictions: Making predictions is a valuable strategy to engage with the text from the top down, using what you can see from the title, headings, and pictures to determine as much as you can about the text.
- Use knowledge of vocabulary and grammar: Much of the meaning of the text comes from the words and the way they are put together. Initially this will mostly be about vocabulary, but as learners develop their listening and speaking skills in English, they can use their knowledge of different kinds of structures to help make meaning, including tense, prepositional phrases, modal verbs, and basic connecting words such as and, or, but, so, and because.
- Use knowledge of punctuation: At lower levels, learners can learn about periods and question marks. As they progress through the levels, they can learn about additional punctuation marks including commas, and how these impact meaning.
- Make inferences: Making inferences is the art of understanding what is not directly stated. Learners will need to be explicitly taught how to make inferences. The level of inference must be very simple and straightforward. E.g. A man wakes up. He looks out the window. He is sad. He puts on a jacket and gets his umbrella. What is the weather like?
Activities for learning reading comprehension
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6.6 Writing sentences and short paragraphs
Once learners are able to trace, copy, and write words, they can begin to write short sentences and then simple paragraphs.
Writing sentences and short paragraphs is taught intensively at CLB 3L and CLB 4L.
The act of making meaning begins with connecting the written word with oral language. Developing writing skills includes learning to:
- Create early composition: Before learners are ready to write down what they want to say, they can practice composition skills through dictation to an instructor, volunteer, or higher-level learner. LEA (Language Experience Approach) stories are a valuable way to capture learner language at lower levels and turn it into writing.
- Write words to complete simple sentences: Starting at CLB 2L, learners can write words to complete simple sentences. The cognitive load of the activity is lowered by the sentence frames, and it can be further lowered by other scaffolding such as vocabulary cards or word banks.
- Complete sentence stems: Learners can complete sentence stems. This activity can be further scaffolded with vocabulary cards or word banks. The next step after this is to write simple sentences using sentence stems, so the beginning few words of the sentence are the same each time.
- Write simple sentences: Learners can write simple sentences. Encourage learners to speak their sentences aloud first before writing them down, and to read them aloud afterward to hear whether they have included all of the words. Simple sentence writing can be supported by word banks and vocabulary cards.
- Write compound and simple complex sentences: At CLB 3L and 4L, learners can begin to use compound sentences using and, or, but, and They can make simple complex sentences using because. Encourage learners to speak their sentences aloud before writing them down and to read their writing aloud afterwards to make sure it sounds right. Please see ESL for ALL for more information.
- Write short paragraphs: At CLB 4L, learners begin to write short paragraphs. Please see ESL for ALL for more information. Create model paragraphs together through choral or group writing. Teach words that help connect ideas together and build skills to organize ideas into relationships, such as cause and effect or topic and example. Help learners through a writing process:
- Brainstorm ideas
- Talk about what you want to say: Activate ideas and language
- Write the first draft
- Read the first draft aloud: Does it sound right?
- Revise the draft
- Read the second draft aloud: Does it sound right?
- Complete a checklist for capitals, periods, commas, word endings, and spelling
Activities for learning to write sentences and short paragraphs
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6.7 Fluency
Fluency as a literacy skill is the ability to read and write with accuracy, speed, expression, and automaticity. Fluency comes from lots of practice below a learner’s current reading and writing level, working with material that feels straightforward and easy to the learner. Fluency helps learners to develop their expression, consolidate their skills, and build confidence in themselves as readers and writers.
Fluency is taught intensively at CLB 3L and CLB 4L.
Developing fluency includes learning to:
- Read and write with accuracy: Learners with fluency can read and write at their own level with accuracy. They attend to the details of the text such as level-appropriate punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure. They have a level-appropriate sight bank and can use strategies for decoding and encoding unfamiliar words.
- Read and write with speed: When learners feel comfortable with the level of material, they can begin to read and write with increased speed. EAL/ESL literacy learners will likely always take more time for reading and writing tasks, but their speed can increase when working on material that is below their level. This increase in speed can help learners consolidate what they know and can carry over into at-level work.
- Read and write with expression: Reading (and writing) with expression is one of the goals of fluency. Reading with expression comes with fully understanding what it is you’re reading and understanding the rhythm and intonation of English.
- Read and write with automaticity: Learners can read and write words from their sight word bank with a degree of automaticity; they won’t need to spend time or cognitive effort on decoding those words and will spend less time with writing. Learners will also begin to use chunking in their reading, which is the process of reading several sight words together in one stretch (as a meaningful chunk).
Activities for learning fluency
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6.8 Assessment of reading and writing tasks
With the exception of Foundation L learners, EAL/ESL literacy learners complete the same or very similar reading and writing tasks as their non-literacy peers. Tasks may be modified to meet the unique learning needs of EAL/ESL literacy learners. Considerations for modification include:
- Routine: Assessments should be given in the same or similar way with the same or similar formatting and instructions.
- Clarity of task instructions: The instructions for a task must be written in learner-friendly language at the same level as the rest of the task. Reading instructions adds to the cognitive load of the task; instructions can also be read aloud by the instructor and explained orally until learners understand.
- Time: Learners can be given extra time to complete a task to help make up for the extra cognitive load of developing language and literacy skills simultaneously.
- Length of task: Learners can be given shorter tasks, or tasks that are broken up into smaller steps.
- Familiarity of vocabulary: Reading and writing should contain only orally familiar language for EAL/ESL literacy learners.
- Scaffolding: Tasks can include scaffolding such as vocabulary cards, clear pictures, sentence stems, word banks, examples, and so on.
- Formal learning strategies: Learners can be explicitly taught formal test-taking strategies, such as how to approach comprehension questions of different kinds (short answer, true/false, multiple choice, and so on), how to do the easiest parts of a task first, and how to use strategies such as process of elimination.
- Digital literacy: If the task contains elements of digital literacy, EAL/ESL literacy learners will need to be explicitly taught this aspect before the task and given ample time to practice and develop their digital literacy skills.
- Numeracy: If the task contains elements of numeracy, including time, money, measurement, and concepts of ordering, ranking, or comparing value, then either learners will need to be taught all of these skills beforehand, or the task needs to be modified.
- Visual literacy: The images of the task should be appropriate for the literacy level of the learners. Foundation L and CLB 1L learners should have clear photographs on a white background, CLB 2L learners should have clear photographs, and CLB 3L and 4L learners can tolerate some clear drawings as well as photographs.
- Action-oriented feedback: Feedback should be given to learners as close to task completion as possible. Written feedback should be in learner-friendly language and/or use a familiar set of symbols. Suggestions can be made to the learner orally.
- Assessment tool: All assessment tools, such as rubrics or checklists, should be in learner-friendly language and/or use a familiar set of symbols. As much as possible, use the same format for assessment tools each time so that learners can become familiar with the tool. Go over the expectations for the assessment beforehand and go through the assessment tool carefully with learners after the task. An example of assessment tools can be found in the CCLB Multi-Level Literacy Modules, such as Greetings and Introductions: CLB 1L/2L or The Weather: CLB 1L/2L
- Filing tasks in the portfolio: Help learners file tasks in their PBLA portfolios. Make filing the task a routine part of completing the task. Use colour-coding and/or symbols to help learners understand the organization of the portfolio. Explicitly teach learners the correct way to put papers in their binders (right-side up and forwards) and practice frequently.
