Writing and Spelling

To set Literacy and Numeracy in context: socially and economically.

A look at how literacy and numeracy fit into the School Effectiveness Framework

To develop an understanding and awareness of approaches to reading and writing

To identify spelling strategies

People are better off, healthier and happier when they have a job (WAG, 2008).

To get work, and for Wales to keep up with a world of rapid economic and technological change, we have to have the right skills.

Lord Leitch’s review of skills argued that the UK must urgently improve its skills base at all levels in order to deliver economic growth and social justice (Leitch, 2006).

Skills are also essential for social inclusion, and ‘the cohesion and regeneration of our communities’ (WAG; 2008 p. 7).

Young people with a lack of basic skills leave education early, and have a ‘patchy labour market’ experience with ‘frequent stretches of unemployment’ (Bynner, 2008, cited in Sabates, 2008).

Learning can create aspiration in disadvantaged communities and it enables people to take part in economic, civic and community life. (WAG, 2008)

Information comes from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA profiles countries/economies by key indicators in:

• Reading

• Mathematics

• Science

In 2009, Wales had a mean score of 476 in reading. This was below and significantly different from OECD countries whose average was 493.

• 3 processes analysed. Scores suggested where there was a biggest problem.

- Access and retrieve information (472)

- Integrate and interpret information (472)

- Reflect and evaluate form, features and purpose (483)

In practical terms this means:

780,000 children, young people and adults in Wales have literacy and numeracy problems.

The implications of this:

- they are up to 5x more likely to be unemployed;

- they are over-represented in prisons and young offenders institutions;

- they are more likely to have children who also struggle with basic skills.

‘These results cannot be argued away or excused. We need to face up to the hard truth: the education system in Wales is not delivering the outcomes that our young people need and deserve… PISA I’m afraid, is a wake-up call to a complacent system. There are no alibis or excuses. It is evidence of systematic failure. But, as I always say, never waste a crisis.’ The Minister for Children, Education Lifelong learning and skills December 7th. 2010

First officially entered English language as an important element in the Crowther Report (DES, 1959)

Broad meaning of ‘scientific literacy’ but by 1976 was understood to mean the ability to employ number skills and concepts in real-life contexts (Callaghan, 1987).

More recently the National Numeracy Strategy (DfEE, 1998) has used it to emphasise competence at abstract number skills and relations, but also broadened it to include data handling and measurement.

Although the government has since dismantled the strategies, numeracy is still a major issue in schools.

Numeracy is now defined in terms of its purpose or function; numeracy skills are those you need to do a job and to be an engaged citizen in the modern world. (Peterson, Stringer,& Vernon, 2010)

Poor numeracy is associated with poor outcomes for many people as well as having an impact on the economy and society as a whole.

Poor numeracy skills can affect self-esteem. It may impact on financial management.

People with poor numeracy skills are twice as likely to be unemployed as those who are competent.

People with poor numeracy skills but competent literacy skills are just as likely to have left school as those with poor numeracy and literacy skills. 21

Numeracy problems also associated with: Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (Gross, Hudson and Price,

2009) School exclusions (Gross, Hudson and Price, 2009) Truancy (Brookes, Goodall and Heady, 2007) Crime (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002)

When we talk about literacy we are talking about four strands of language: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

• Speaking and listening underpin all learning and are the start of all other literacy. “With few exceptions the more parents talked to their children, the faster the children’s vocabularies were growing and the higher the IQ test scores at age three and later.” (Hart & Risely, 1995)

Research highlights that poverty puts children at risk for cognitive, academic and social problems (Mortimore and Whitty, 1997; Croll, 2002, Machin and McNally, 2006).

Children with special speech, language and communication needs not supported enough by services. (Bercow 2010)

Poor literacy skills as a child can be a predictor of adult exclusions (Parsons and Bynner, 2002).

Forty years ago the Coleman Report stated that the most powerful impact on achievement was home and not school (Avech et al, 1972, Coleman et al, 1966; Jencks et al, 1972).

However since then, research has established that schools do in fact make a substantial difference(Stringfield & Herman, 1996).

For schools to achieve there has to be considered and consistent relationship between instrumental activities (learning) and expressive activities (school wellbeing).

School Effectiveness Framework is based on drive for improvement (WAG, 2010). The learner must always be at the heart of the process so at the heart of SEF is ‘learning’ and ‘wellbeing’.

Skills – particularly literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening) is crucial to addressing key issues of raising standards and tackling inequalities.

Without functional reading and writing skills, learners cannot access the breadth of education oportunities available to them and this has a negative effect on their life chances.

Literacy and numeracy have priority in the SEF. Literacy will be a line of enquiry in every school inspection.

Better learning outcome and wellbeing for all children and young people, regardless of their socio-economic background.

Reducing the variation in learning outcomes between classrooms, schools and local authorities.

Three National Priorities: Improved literacy Improved numeracy Reducing the impact of poverty on

attainment.

Improved basic, key and core skills in literacy. Continual development and improvement of

provision Focus on pupils who may be disadvantaged

because of poverty. Targeted intervention programmes. Oracy – drama, philosophy for Children,

exploring of moving and still image. Curriculum mapping of literacy skills across

the curriculum Effective use of rich whole texts Writing and spelling skills.

Knowing how children learn Effective training of staff Having effective interventions when

needed Building parents’ skills Out-of-hours literacy support Motivating disaffected young people

Direct, and explicit, differentiated teaching, (Edward-Groves, 2003)

Increasing literacy focuses not just on reading skills but also on effective, higher order thinking skills.

A programme that allows frequent opportunities to use language for varied and authentic purpose.

To be literate with technological tools: ‘To become fully literate in today’s world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of information and communication technologies. Therefore literacy educators have a responsibility to effectively integrate these technologies into the literacy curriculum.’ (IRA, 2001)

Children become literate by:• Being immersed in a ‘print rich’ environment

in which print is used in a variety of ways.• Observing demonstrations of reading and

writing in action• Interacting with teachers and each other

around texts that are meaningful• Being exposed to a variety of resources and

having access to a range of resources• Ensuring a range of scaffolds are provided –

a combination of explicit teaching with more challenging texts and independent reading of ‘easy’ texts

• Working in a variety of groups• Engaging in a variety of learning

opportunities within a predictable and stable learning environment.

Reading Writing

Language

Modelled Reading

Modelled Writing Speakin

g Visual

Experience

Shared Reading

Shared/interactive writing

&Listening

Literacy

Guided Reading

Guided Writing

Independent reading

Independent writing

Reflection

Opportunities for children to get their ideas together through talk – the importance of oral language in the acquisition of language cannot be underestimated

Development of the specialised knowledge and language needed for reading texts

Help for children to learn writing skills within the context of their own writing

Support for children to make links between first-hand experience, oral language and books.

Oracy Writing Reading Spelling

“Between the ages of four and nine, your child will have to master some 100 phonic rules, learn to recognise 3,000 words with just a glance and develop a comfortable reading speed approaching 100 words a minute. He must learn to combine words on the page with a half-dozen squiggles called punctuation into something – a voice or image in his mind that gives back meaning.”

Kropp (1996)

Children first learn to listen and to speak. They use these and other skills to

explore reading and writing. Like child development, language

development is interrelated. Children who can put their ideas in

writing become better readers. Children who are read to often learn to

love reading and become better listeners, speakers and writers.

This is the gradual, ongoing process of learning to understand and use language that begins at birth and continues through the early childhood years (i.e., through age eight). During this period children first learn to use oral forms of language - listening and speaking - and then begin to explore and make sense of written forms -reading and writing.

Most children who have been surrounded by language from birth are fluent speakers by age three, regardless of intelligence, and without conscious effort.

Each of the 6,000 languages in the world uses a different assortment of phonemes - the distinctive sounds used to form words. When adults hear another language, they may not notice the differences in phonemes not used in their own language.

Babies are born with the ability to distinguish these differences. Their babbles include many more sounds than those used in their home language. At about 6 to 10 months, babies begin to ignore the phonemes not used in their home language. They babble only the sounds made by the people who talk with them most often.

At about 18 months, children add new words to their vocabulary at the astounding rate of one every 2 hours.

By age 2, most children have 1 to 2,000 words and combine two words to form simple sentences "Go out." "All gone.”

Between 24 to 30 months, children speak in longer sentences.

From 30 to 36 months children begin following the rules for expressing tense and number and use words such as "some," "would," and "who.”

Language skills are primary avenues for cognitive development because they allow children to talk about their experiences and discoveries. Children learn the words used to describe concepts such as up and down, and words that let them talk about past and future events

“Reading is the gateway to learning; without it, children cannot access a broad and balanced curriculum. Dyslexic difficulties are associated with negative educational, employment and economic outcomes.”

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 2009

By the time children enter KS1 (or during this stage) children will naturally have the following skills: Know that print carries meaning Know what written language looks like Can identify and name letters of the alphabet Know that letters are associated with sounds Know the sounds that letters make Know that words can serve various purposes Know how books work

By the time children have completed KS2 they will: Improve their comprehension while reading

a variety of simple texts by relating it to what they already know

Apply word-analysis skills while reading – using phonics to figure out unknown words

Understand elements of literature – recognise title, author etc

Understand characteristics of various simple genres – eg fairy stories, folk tales, fiction, non-fiction

Use correct and appropriate conventions of language when responding to a written text – spell common high-frequency words correctly, use capital letters and full stops.

The goal of reading is to extract meaning. It needs two necessary skills:

Decoding – converting printed words into spoken words

Linguistic comprehension – understanding the meaning carried by spoken language.

Government statistics in 2008 showed that 16% of children failed achieve expected reading levels by age of 7, 13% by the age of 11 and 31% by the age of 14. ( www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/ )

Reasons for this may include dyslexia (affecting and estimated 3-6% of children) and reading comprehension impairment (affecting an estimated 10% of children).

Comprehensions – understanding the meaning of words, sentences, and integrating this across texts and making inferences beyond printed words.

Fluency – reading accurately with sufficient speed

Phonics – linking sounds to letters and using these correspondences to read words

Phonological awareness – awareness and manipulation of the sound structure of speech

Spelling and writing Vocabulary

NLS, part of the NPS, introduced in 1998 – introduced the literacy hour.

Encouraged the use of a number of strategies to help children to read, including phonics, recognising word shapes and inferring meaning from context.

Current recommendations confirmed the best practice in teaching children was the use of phonics as the main approach in learning to read. (DfCSF, 2009)

High quality systematic phonics should be taught as the main approach in learning to read and spell.

Phonic work should start at the age of 5 and should include: Teaching letter-sound correspondences in a

clearly defined, incremental sequence Applying these correspondences throughout a

written word to derive its constituent sounds ( c-a-t, sh-i-p etc), then blending these together to produce the spoken word.

Applying the process in reverse to move from a spoken to a written word for spelling.

Phonic work should occur within a broad and rich language curriculum that takes account of developing the four inter-dependent strands of language: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

While the teaching of phonics is quite explicit, the teaching of comprehension is as important. DCSF produced guidelines on how to do this (based on US research.) comprehension monitoring – using self-

monitoring techniques to assess understanding of text;

co-operative learning – working with peers to support one another’s understanding and use of strategies;

graphic and semantic organisers – using diagrams to represent meanings and relationships of ideas in texts;

story structure – focusing in on the plot, characters and events in stories;

questions – posing and answering questions during reading to monitor comprehension of a text and integrate meaning (such as, What does that mean? What is the evidence for that?);

summarisation – identifying and integrating the most important points to create a coherent and succinct summary of a text.

Early graphics● Most children are surrounded by the 26 letters which make up

the English alphabet – on signs, posters, food packaging, computer keyboard, labels and so on.

● Children pick out what is significant to them, particularly when their attention is drawn to it, for example their own name, others’ names and certain prominent labels.

● Children will put a lot of effort into reproducing their own names and will voluntarily trace around the letters on the street signs on housing estates, which are just at their height, often saying the name in a protracted manner as they do it.

● Children will give names to letters in any way suggested by an adult – letter name, letter sound or suggestive character, eg Sammy Snake.

● Children can play games to facilitate the movements underpinning handwriting.

Composition:● Planning: What am I writing about and

who is it for? This focuses on content, purpose and context and text and audience

● Composing: How do I say it in writing? Consideration of word choice, sentence grammar and text organisation

Transcription:● How do I write it down? Phonics - spelling

and handwriting

TALK FOR WRITING Too often, children are expected to write without

being clear about what they are trying to say. Writing should start from talking – discussion which

helps to capture content and purpose. This needs to go well beyond simply providing

stimulating ideas and should help children to capture the content, sequence and style of what they are about to write.

Children should know, and have rehearsed, what they are trying to write and not be left to make it up as they go along.

Talking for Writing provides a supportive framework.

Good practice involves the child learning to plan and demonstrate that they understand what and why they are writing;

• They know how the writing should be laid out on the page.• Able to choose a genre type for a story.• Able to develop a theme as well as a plot.• Can use paragraphs correctly.• Understands how to use metaphors, similes and imagery.• Can use different and interesting story openings and endings,

introductions and conclusions.• Can interweave speech, actions and description in stories.• Can describe the thoughts and feelings of characters.• can start sentences in interesting and varied ways.• Can use simple and complex sentences to create effects.• The vocabulary chosen is for effect.• Knows who they are writing for and sometimes ‘talk to them’.• Able to use a greater range of punctuation and correctly use it in

writing (commas for clauses and brackets for aside comments).

Able to use complex and sophisticated sentences;

“In spring the downs are heady with gorse, the golden glow of which is broken by white flowers of blackthorn.”

Exploring the complexities of writing in a chosen genre (such as fable, horror story or press report)

Pupils are taught how to construct a coherent narrative with clear distinctions between the beginning, the middle and the ending of a story;

Able to apply techniques for developing characterisation, such as through direct speech or actions.

Able to write in a variety of styles and for a variety of different purposes

A stimulating writing environment :

displayed and celebrated examples of children’s own writing

purposes and opportunities for writing linked to activities across the curriculum; frequent uses of writing to communicate, (notes, reminders, lists, etc)

frequent access to and encouragement to use writing materials at every opportunity

opportunities to use writing in play activities Adults to act as role models who use writing explicitly in

the classroom or setting for a variety of purposes and demonstrate to children what they are doing, eg writing notes, completing registers, making lists, completing forms, writing labels, directions, captions, responding to children’s work

DfEE, 2001

a wide experience of reading as the primary source of knowledge about how written language looks and sounds

● the systematic, regular and direct teaching of phonics● the direct teaching of handwriting with daily opportunity for

practice● rich oral experience of telling, retelling and refining texts as

a preparation for writing● regular shared writing to teach the skills of text composition

directly● opportunities for supported, independent writing linked to,

and developed from, shared writing● displays of word lists, notes and other formats for planning

which represent ‘work in progress’ and serve both to remind children of previous learning and to provide scaffolds, checklists and

support for independent writing.

Improves spelling performance Proof of learning leads to an improvement in self-

confidence Even though spelling errors may still be evident,

text becomes more readable The fluency of writing improves (able to focus on

comprehension rather than transcription) Improvement in overall quality of writing Identification of learning style Build up a picture of the ‘structure’ of language Proof reading can promote greater self-awareness Attention to language across the curriculum will

improve

Spelling is dependent on skills of recall – to remember words as a series of letters in a given sequence

The spelling of words in the English Language does not always correspond to the way they are spoken (only 85% phonetically correct)

A visual learner- someone who is able to look at a word rather than sound it out

Strategies need to be put in place for those who are not visual learners.

We all learn the same way: repetition of what we know, authentic practice, development.

Research on learning by psychologists has given us some useful information about how our memory works:

1. We remember things more easily if we organise them into groups, patterns, categories

2. We remember unusual things3. We only remember a few things at a time (7, plus or

minus 2 chunks)4. It is difficult to remember things if we don’t understand5. Our memory works by building links6. We remember things better if we know something about

them7. Learning is an active task Adapted from Buzan, T. (1974) Use Your Head. BBC

Publications

Phonemic knowledge – use of sound to distinguish meaning

Morphological knowledge – the shape of words/letters

Etymological knowledge – the origin of words – where they derive from

Word building, phonics yes- ter- day de-scribe Look, Cover, Write/Say, Check Combining spelling and handwriting/reading A multi-sensory approach b e d Mnemonics- big elephants can always use

soggy envelopes Memorable ways ‘I fri ed my fri end on Fri

day’ Odd one out -man, map, sam, sit, rat

Research recognises phonological and phonemic awareness as important cognitive skills underpinning literacy. Many schools already give attention to developing this awareness as important preparation for reading. In the most effective practice, pupils gain these skills as an integral part of the work they do within a rich language environment, which provides sound foundations for language and literacy learning. Estyn, 2007

Teachers want their pupils to become fluent and effective writers; accurate spelling is a means to that end. Competent spellers need to spend less time and energy in thinking about spelling to enable them to channel their time and energy into the skills of composition, sentence structure and precise word choice. DfCSF 2006

A good spelling programme gradually builds pupils’ spelling vocabulary by introducing patterns or conventions and continually practising those already introduced. Experience has confirmed that short, lively, focused sessions are more enjoyable and effective than an occasional skills session. DfCSF 2006