Reading in a Second Language 4:
Books and prediction |
Reading is a process of sampling, predicting and checking. Prediction in reading is possible because of the readers' background knowledge and their linguistic competence. Many bilingual pupils who are still acquiring English may find difficulty in reading because their English is not yet sufficiently developed or because they have a different range of experiences and background knowledge from those assumed by the writer.
When choosing books to teach reading, teachers bear in mind certain criteria such as the age and interest level of the pupils. When choosing books for pupils learning English as an additional language we need to bear in mind these and other criteria, for example:
Background knowledge.
Sentence patterns.
Vocabulary level.
Presentation.
The use of natural language.
The age and interest level of the pupils.
Reflection of multicultural environment.
1. Background knowledge
Many pupils/students who are learning EAL have very different experiences to those assumed by the authors of many of the books in our classroom. We may therefore need either to choose books that are within the pupil's experience or to give them the experience they need to understand the book. The experiences may be first hand experiences such as using real objects in the class, demonstrations, going out on visits, etc. Alternatively the experiences may be second hand including videos, slides, pictures, mimes or simpler stories, etc.
This is not to say that we should not present materials that encourage imagination but we should be aware that pupils who are still learning English as an additional language may not have the linguistic resources to interpret things completely beyond their experience.
2. Sentence patterns
Most early reading books have a controlled introduction of vocabulary and short, fairly simple sentences; but beyond this there is no control of sentence patterns. Verb tenses are introduced haphazardly, the books assume that all the pronouns are known and prepositions are seen as no difficulty at all. As well as having a jumble of various sentence patterns, these books tend to ensure a repetition of new vocabulary but very little repetition of new sentence patterns. For example, in one book the word `have' is repeated but on one page it means `to possess', for example, `Peter and Jane have some sweets' and on another it means `must' and is followed by an infinitive not a noun, for example, `We have to go home' later on it is used in the sentence `We have fun in the water', an idiom that may or may not perplex the English speaking pupil but one that will certainly cause problems for many pupils learning English.
3. Vocabulary level
Because many reading schemes make great claims regarding their vocabulary control, it may appear that obtaining with suitable vocabulary control would be no problem. This is not the case. In reading schemes, vocabulary is often chosen because it can be sounded out easily (cat, mat, sat, fat, etc.). Unfortunately this often means that words or unusual sentences are used. I came across a passage in one book about pirates. I can't now remember the exact wording but it was something like:
`The pirates set the sail, set sail and sailed into the setting sun'.
Only a few words are used and these are repeated which appears to be good - unfortunately, the two main words - set and sail - are both used with three separate meanings, something that could prove totally baffling to a pupil learning English as a second language.
4. Presentation
All teachers judge reading books by their presentation but this is particularly important for the learner of English as an additional language. Good pictures can give important clues to the meaning of words and can set a scene to help the pupil to predict. However, we need to check that the pictures are actually relevant to the text; sometimes pictures are included to make the page look attractive and have little reference to the text. Sometimes the picture leads us to expect more language than is in the text. Thirty years ago, my son (then aged five) looked at a picture in Ladybird Reader 1a and said, `Peter's got a model excavator', the text was `Peter has a toy'. When I told him what the text actually said, he was so disappointed that he threw the book on the floor!
5. Use of natural language
The example given above (`Peter's got a model excavator' v. `Peter has a toy') also shows clearly one other criterion for judging reading books - the use of natural language. That book and many others use the word `has' on its own, which, although comprehensible to the average English speaking pupil, is hardly ever used by children of infant school age. They invariably say `she's got/they've got' etc. Written language is of course different from spoken language in many ways and it has its own conventions that pupils have to learn, but when they are learning to read initially it helps their prediction if the language they read is as close as possible to the spoken forms with which they are already familiar. Again this is doubly important for pupils learning English as an additional language, who lack the breadth of experience of English language that the native speaker has.
One example of the `unnatural' language that reading books use has already been given, others include:
The use of the historic present, for example `John runs round the table and falls down' rather than the more natural past tense `John ran round the table and fell down'.
The use of language forms such as `cannot' and `will not' which are met only as `can't' and `won't' in speech.
The use of inversion, for example `…and in came the princess'.
The use of idiomatic phrases, for example `…whoever wins shall have the hand of my daughter in marriage' and `the girl burst into tears'.
6. Age and interest level
This criterion is an obvious one, already universally accepted by teachers. However, for those teaching secondary aged pupils who are not yet literate in Roman script this is a difficult criterion. There is an increasing number of excellent books written for use with slower readers in secondary schools. There are, however, several problems regarding these books. They have the problem mentioned above of uncontrolled sentence patterns etc. in common with other reading books. They also tend to deal with `typical teenage' problems and use `typical teenage' jargon. Few teenagers, who are newly arrived in Britain, are faced with `typical' problems and most are unfamiliar with the jargon used in the books. There are some books that describe the lives of ethnic minority heritage families, but pupils need a reading age of at least seven years to read them. There are very few books for the beginner.
7. Reflection of a multicultural environment
We need to provide books for our pupils that:
Reflect their families' cultural environment.
Reflect the multicultural society in which they live.
Avoid racism.
This is so important that I have written a separate document about it.
Racing to English
© Gordon Ward 2010. Photocopiable only for use in the purchasing institution. Advice for Staff: Reading in a Second Language