Planning for Literacy within a Multidisciplinary Unit Plan

 My reflection in this blog is about how we can make sure a language is fully taught to diverse learners.

  • The process and purpose of reading 

Reading is defined as the cognitive process of decoding symbols to determine a text's meaning. The symbols are the text itself, and the process of decoding requires that the reader quickly match a symbol or combination of symbols (letter(s)) to a sound, and then recognize the patterns of sounds that create words. These words then convey meaning to the reader. Reading is an active process that requires both simple and complex components. The reader must have a basic knowledge of the symbols that create the language, as well as a vocabulary in that language, and an understanding of the grammar rules. In addition, the reader will use higher-level processing to determine the meaning of the text and author purpose, among other things. These components can be categorized into three processes of reading:

  • Word recognition: The ability to see a word and recognize its pronunciation and meaning without deliberate effort/thinking.

  • Comprehension: The act of constructing meaning from the overall text.

  • Fluency: The ability to read a text quickly and accurately, as though it were spoken.

Defined as such, we can find out that reading aims at being able to decode a written message to understand it. The purpose of reading is diverse. For example reading can: 

  • Enhance vocabulary 

  • Boost communication

  • Enhance creativity

  • Improve mental health 

  • Improve reading comprehension 

  • Stimulate imagination 

  • Entertain the reader

  • Increase knowledge 

  • Develop empathy 

  • Improve writing skills

  • Assist cognitive development 

  • Improve analytical thinking 

  • Lower stress 

  • Exercise one’s brain. 

From these purposes, we can then say there is no free reading; it should have a purpose. So a purposeful reading is an activity that involves a person that tries to find out something in a written message. 

    

  • The role morphology and contextual analysis have on vocabulary development

Morphology is defined as the way words appear under their written form. Going deeper, we can have a close look at how a word is written, and its different parts. These can be the affixes such as any word that is connected to base and affects its meaning. For example the prefix -un (which means not) can help us understand that unhappy means not happy. Morphology in general plays a great role in vocabulary development in the sense that a clear understanding of it can lead to generating words. For example with the prefix above, a student can try to use it with some familiar words to have the opposite meaning. fortunate/unfortunate. 

Contextual analysis is the process of breaking down a complex issue or problem in order to better understand it. That means not all the words can be used together as a message has a topic and a content. We talk about something, and we use appropriate words to talk about it. In a novel for example, knowing the relationship between some characters can enable the reader to understand the novel and talk about it using his own words for example. That can positively impact vocabulary development. 

  • Evidence-based practices for teaching phonemic awareness to English learners

EBP is a strategy that is used in education to help students master learning contents. There are a lot of them but I’ll focus on just one: spaced repetition. That strategy can help English learners to master the sound patterns of the English language such as  the consonants, digraphs, diphthongs, vowels and r-controlled vowels. 

  • How an English Learner’s home language be utilized to support and strengthen the development of foundational phonics in English

The English home language is very important as it is his/her language of reference. The English learner can use it as a ladder to reach the new only if that language of reference is valued. In case both languages are the same alphabet like English and most of the Latin languages, that becomes easier. For example we had a linguist called Michael Thomas whose language learning methods are purely based on similarities. The English Learner home language is a tool of communication as the English language. 

  • The necessary components to achieve effective comprehension, including well-developed language, multiple higher-order thinking processes, and self-correction

As I used to tell some of my students, it doesn’t just happen, we have to make it happen. Literacy development is very challenging and requires a lot of effort combined with effective strategies. The different components to that it involves can be the following: 

  • Intensive, explicit and persistent instruction. That involves comprehension strategies , modeling and self-monitoring 

  • Awareness of text organization. Texts are differently organized depending on the genre and the purpose. For example a narrative text is not organized as an expository text. Students need to be aware of that so that when reading a text, the way it is structured can help them understand it. 

  • How evidence-based best practices can be utilized to improve comprehension in English learners, including those with reading difficulties and dyslexia.

As mentioned above, EBP is a set of strategies that aim at making students understand a concept of a lesson. For example the flash card effect can make them actively recall a word. In addition, reading aloud to students and allowing them to read aloud to themselves helps get them to lead a reading session while enabling a fluent reader to correct others or even imitating the teacher.  


In a classroom setting, all these strategies are applied in diverse ways. That depends on the students’ literacy level and the lesson objectives and standards. Reading is very important as it is the key to learning at school. That is applicable to all the learners. Those with visual impairments have their own way of reading a text and so on. 


References: 

  1. (What Is the Purpose of Reading - Google Search, n.d.) 

  2. Word morphology. (n.d.). Education. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocuswordmorph.aspx#:~:text=Page%20Content,as%20in%20vocabulary%20and%20comprehension. 

  3. Suski, J., & Suski, J. (2024, January 5). Context analysis: Everything you need to know [2024] | Brand24. Brand24 Blog. https://brand24.com/blog/context-analysis/#:~:text=Contextual%20analysis%20is%20the%20process,how%20they%20all%20fit%20together. 

  4. (Sound Paterns of English - Google Search, n.d.) 

  5. (What Is Effective Comprehension Instruction? | Reading Rockets, n.d.) 

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