Teacher Awareness Series II: Article Four – Words, Phrases and Sentences

by Jean Schedler, Ph.D. Educational Consultant

Welcome to the fourth of six articles in Teacher Awareness Series II. The two primary objectives of the Teacher Awareness Series are (1) to review positive teaching behaviours and (2) to alert teachers to the scope of student abilities in underlying reading skills.

This week’s article is an extension of several previous articles from Teacher Awareness Series I and II. Three components of oral language have been addressed.  (1) Ability to recognise and generate rhyme.  (2) Word awareness or awareness of word boundaries.  (3) The ability to clearly and accurately articulate individual sounds of language.

Through the tasks assigned in each article, it is hoped that we, as teachers, have become better role models (i.e. teachers are improving in their own speech articulation, enunciation, and therefore doing a better job of providing accurate and solid phonological representations for spoken language).

It is also hoped that we, the teachers, have become more diagnostic when listening to our students’ production of language.

This week’s task requires combining teachers as role models and student awareness of his/her own oral language production.  The new variable to the tasks is auditory memory. The purpose of the task is to answer the question: How large of a unit of oral language can a student hear and then accurately repeat?

“Accuracy” is two-pronged.  Is the student able to repeat the correct word or words in the correct sequence? Are the sounds within the word pronounced accurately? Pay special attention to ending sounds and consonant digraphs (ex. Sh, th, wh, qu).

This week’s task:  Have student listen to and then repeat words, phrases and sentences, one item/probe at a time.  Use single words, phrases and sentences found in classroom print material.

Tasks       Beginning  Level                    Advanced  Level

Words        Repeat one syllable words         Repeat two-syllable words

Phrases      Repeat two word phrases           Repeat three word phrases

Sentences    Repeat 3-5 word sentences      Repeat 5-7 word sentences

• Reminder:  These are oral language (auditory) tasks – the student sees NO PRINT!
   
• Be sure to LOOK at the student and have the student LOOK at you, when you provide the auditory word, phrase or sentence.
   
• Be sure to LOOK at the student and have the student LOOK at you, when the student responds.
   
• The purpose of the tasks is for the teacher to gain a better understanding of the range of skills of his/her students, in regard to readiness for reading.  Those students who easily handle the advanced level of tasks, may find learning to read easier than those students who struggle with these tasks.  Students who struggle with these tasks may need more interaction with oral language accuracy prior to and during reading instruction.

Students need to be relatively successful with hearing and repeating units of oral language if they are to be successful with decoding and recalling units of printed language.

To learn more about Dr Schedler’s March 2010 Workshops and Training in Reading Intervention materials (Sonday System) contact Read Auckland at info@readauckland.co.nz or call 09-529 1381.