Phonological Awareness Development

This entry discusses Chapter 3 of Phonological Awareness by Gillon (2004), entitled Phonological Awareness Development.

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Children learning English as their second language are able to demonstrate phonological awareness skills in English after a relatively short period of study (Chiappe & Siegel, 1999), suggesting that the development of phonological awareness skills in one alphabetic language transfer to understanding phonological awareness in a second alphabetic language (pg 40).

Language experience can influence
1) performance on specific phonological awareness tasks;
2) the rate at which phonological awareness increases;
3) the use of phonological awareness knowledge in the reading and spelling process.

The researchers suggested that adequate exposure to an alphabetic scripts appears necessary for the use of phonological knowledge.

Variables Contributing to the Development of PA
1) Influence of Reading and Spelling Experiences
A reciprocal relationship exists between PA and litearcy development. Exposure to formal reading and spelling instruction seems to more fully develop phoneme awareness knowledge (Perfetti et al., 1987). Cognitive maturation alone cannot easily account for later developing competency at phoneme level.

2) Alphabet Knowledge
Learning the names of the alphabetic letters and their associated common phonemes may help children understand the sound structure of words. Studies demonstrated stronger effects on enhancing reading when PA training is combined with letter-sound knowledge training.

Personally, I think that the most important section of PA is that we make prints availabe for the students. This is related to what Krashen mentioned (as in my arlier entries). At the very basic level, it is important to introduce the sound of each alphabet to the students. I remember when I was in Year One, our tasks was to write the letters over and again, and to say it in the class. When we have finished the letters book, we would proceed to the next book- words book. Our teacher would write words in the book, and we need to copy the words like 30 times each. That was the way I learn my vocabs. Now I can say I am proud of my vocabs, though it may not covers engineering fields, or medicine, but at least I know that my vocabs are more than sufficient for my daily conversations, and to deliver my ideas across.

Regarding what Krashen mentioned in one of his writtings, we must make prints available for the students. But not just available, but interesting prints. Library should be equipped with interesting books, suitable for the students' levels. It is important to make the students interested in reading first, before we can make them read the boring History texts, or the complicated Biology notes.

How would this help in my research proposal?
As I have mentioned in my earlier entry on the revised proposal outline, phonological awareness would come in in the Literature Review. It is important to define the elements in MBI as to understand what's happening in the classroom. Are the teachers teaches all these? Or at least include parts of it? Do they take these into consideration when they plan their lessons?

Yes, I can deny that there is less connection of PA development for SBPs students, as many of them have no problem in decoding the prints, but again, how about their BICS? PA is somewhat important in ensuring the development of BICS.

Phonological Awareness

Gillon, G.T. (2004) Phonological Awareness. NY: The Guilford Press.

The book opens with the definition of the terms used in the field. According to Gillon (2004), phonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness of the sound structure, or the phonological structure, of a spoken word (pg 2).

It is important to gain a perspective of phonological awareness within the broader context of phonology abd linguistics theory. Long before children become explicitly aware of the phonological structure of words, they have developed implict phonological knowledge that allows them to gain mastery of speaking and listening to their native language. Implicit phonological knowledge for example, enables children to make judgment about whether a word is part of their  native language, allows for the self-correction of speech errors, and enables children to discriminate betwee acceptable and unacceptable variations of a spoken  word (Yavas, 1998).

Phonology is the area of linguistics that focuses on understanding the speech-sound system and the sound patterns of spoken language.

Explicit awareness of the phonological structure of a word helps children draw connections between the spoken form of a word and its written representation.

Before I go deep into this book, I guess it is not wrong for me to say that the government decision to introduce MBMMBI, and specifically Phonics into MBI, is indeed a very wise one. Children who comes to school has the knowledge of the language at home. But what they maybe lacking of is the connection between the sound, and its written form.

The issue that has been brought up by some concern citizens regarding Phonics teaching in schools is- are we teaching our children to speak like matsalleh? This issue is related to the fact that the MoE is bringing in some language experts from the UK. But what these concern citizens failed to realise is that these experts are for for teaching the children in schools, but to equipped teacher trainees to teach phonics when they go to school.

As stated above, phonological awareness is crucial in teaching reading. Students need to know the connection between the written form and its sound. I have to admit here that it is not easy to teach English, even to smart kids. There are so much rules to remember, yet so much exceptions to it. And the influence of the mother tongue as well- not that the kids speak like Makcik Minah from Felda New Zealand (no offence to any Makcik Minah from Felda NZ!), but the simplest things such as mud /mAd/ becomes /mUd/. They say it as it's spelled. This actually reminds me of some bus conductors in Bus Terminal in Jalan Hang Tuah in Melaka when I was in school. All of them would shout "Melaka Pa-ra-dey!! Adik, naik..gi Pa-ra-dey". English is not Malay, and most of the words are not spelled as its said.

If the utterance is a problem at the beginning of a student's learning, how would he/she learn more complex words?    

If you remember my entry related to BICS/CALP by Cummins, I think that our students are (almost) perfect in writng form. They can replicate and produce a good essay, so much so from the novels they read, but when we ask them to speak (even just to read), they  stuttering and mumbling. Are we producing mute English speakers?  

So I guess there is nothing wrong in teaching the students phonics, where at the end, we can correct the simplest utterance mistakes they (and perhaps us, too) always do.

Personally, I think it is a huge mistake to Malaynised English technical terms. Why can't we just teach the students the terms in English, because at the end, when they go to university (hopefully!!), they will have to learn it in English. What's the point of changing carbon dioxide to karbon dioksida? My students over and again would pronunce the word as karbon dioksida, though its spelled carbon dioxide in the English workbook!! Its /kArbern/ for God's sake! And please, its /Kenneck/ not /konek/ though its spelled with an O in the middle.

Phonics in Proper Perspective

Heilman, A.W. (2006) Phonics in Proper Perspective. NJ: Pearson- Merill-Prentice Hall.

Phonics instruction is concerned with teaching letter-sound relationship only as the child relate to learning to read. A guideline for the instruction is that the optimum amount of it a child should be exposed to is the minimum the child needs to become an independent reader. 

Definiton of key terms:
Phonemic Awareness- refers to the knowledge or understanding that speech consists of a series of sounds and that individual words can be divided into phonemes.

Phonics Instruction- a facet of reading instruction that (1) leads the child to understand that printed letters in printed words represent the speech sound heard when words are pronounced; and (2) involves the actual teaching of which sound is associated with a particular letter or combination of letters.

In order to larn to read the printed code, they must become proficient in segmenting syllables into their constituent phonemes. This ability has been found to be an accurate predictor of success in early reading achievement.

The case for expanding sight vocabulary
Measuring sight vocabulary is the first meaningful teast of reading achievement. expansion of sight vocabulary is the skill that best illustrates the developmental nature of reading. Whenever children are making adequate progress in reading, their stock of sight words is increasing.

Next entry- Phonological Awareness by Gail T. Gillon (2004) NY: The Guilford Press.

The New Direction

I was talking to Illani on the phone in the afternoon when she asked me about my research proposal. She mentioned that she read this blog, and she can't really see my direction in doing the research. The conversation makes me realise that I haven't done much into what I am really doing. I guess that is why I dont know what I'm looking for in the Language Policy and Planning books.

So while I was having Nasi Goreng ChiangMai and Nescafe O-Ais for dinner, I ran through all the information that I have read/gathered. I made some-sort of a flowchart of what my research will be. So, here we are:

First of all, I need to redefine my research title-

The Implementation of MBMMBI in Four SBPs in Pahang:

What are the English Teachers do in their classrooms?

I know this sounds different from my previous entry. There is a need to define who is my respondents for this research. I know I was kinda ambitious earlier that I said I wanna do the whole Malaysia. But I guess it's not really do-able.

Nevertheless, the new title somehow gives sufficient information on what the research is all about, where, and who involved in this research.

Why four SBPs? This is related to the fact that I can get access to four SBPs in Pekan and Kuantan- SBPI Pekan, SMS Sultan Ahmad Shah Pekan (SHAH), SBPI Kuantan and SMS Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Kuantan (SEMSAS). My population is the teachers that teach English in these schools. They are nonrandom samples- anyone who teaches English subject in these school will be asked to asnwer my survey forms. As there is English for Science and Technology subject, teachers who teach this subject will be included in this study as well.

Given the fact that these teachers might not be the optionist, this is where the varying attributes come in. This sort of elements will be asked in the demographic section of my survey form. Among other varying attributes that will be included in this study is the teachers' teaching English experience and gender.

So what is this research all about? As the title suggests, it will look into what these English teachers are doing in their English lessons.

What is my literature review will be all about? As I mentioned in the previous entry entitled MBMMBI: Tawaran Baru Sistem Pendidikan Malaysia, there are a few elements of this new policy that teachers in school have to adhere to.  Among others are teaching of phonics, stress on the Grammar in the lessons and inclusion of science and teachnology elements in their lesson plannings. So the literature review will look into these matter- what are the benefits of these, and how best to apply it in the classroom.

Furthermore, I will look into two others elements emphasise in this new policy- the use of computer softwares in teaching and learning process, and the existance of English Language Lab in their school. How would these help in better teaching of English?

Nonetheless, I will discuss a bit about English Language Teaching Methodologies such as Direct Grammar Translation, Total Physical Response and Communicative Language Teaching.

As it is reviewed, the questions will be based on these issues. A survey form will be developed based on these elements. I am thinking to use Likert scale for this survey. I will also include an open ended question for the teachers to comment on the topic. A pilot study will be carried out in ensuring that the survey questions are valid.

Now I can see where I am heading in this research.

Teaching for Cross-Language Transfer in Dual Language Education: Possibilities and Pitfalls

This paper was presented by Jim Cummins at the TESOL Symposium on Dual Language Education: Teaching and Learning Two Languages in the EFL Setting at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey on September 23, 2005. This paper can be retrived from http://www.achievementseminars.com/seminar_series_2005_2006/readings/tesol.turkey.pdf
*note that most of the examples in this paper are those in Turkey/Turkish.
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There are a few intresting points I gathered from this paper. I can summarise how this paper actually opposing the Communicative Language Teachng, CLT. Why so? Let's take a look into this matter.

Cummins starts this paper by throwing two questions-
1) How can we explain the fact that in well-implemented bilingual programs the foreign or minority language (e.g. English in Turkey) can be used as a medium of instruction at minimal or no cost to students' proficiency in the majority language (e.g. Turkish)?
2) What forms of program organization and instructional strategies are most effective in promoting students’ proficiency in both languages (L1 and L2)? 

I am more interested in the first question, as it is somehow related to the situation in Malaysian classrooms. 

Cummins mentions that conceptual knowledge in L1 and L2 is interdependent, as concepts, academic content and learning strategies transfer across languages. He then further discusses his very own The Interdependence Hypothesis (Cummins, 1981);

To the extent that instruction in Lx is effective in promoting proficiency in Lx, transfer of this proficiency to Ly will occur provided there is adequate exposure to Ly and adequate motivation to learn Ly.  

Really, I don't understand this at first. What is Lx? What is Ly? Cummins the explains;

In concrete terms, what this principle means is that in, for example, a Turkish-English bilingual program intended for native speakers of Turkish, English instruction that develops Englishreading and writing skills is not just developing English skills, it is also developing a deeper conceptual and linguistic proficiency that is strongly related to the development of literacy in the majority language (Turkish). In other words, although the surface aspects (e.g. pronunciation, fluency, etc.) of different languages are clearly separate, there is an underlying cognitive/academic proficiency that is common across languages. This common underlying proficiency makes possible the transfer of cognitive/academic or literacy-related proficiency from one language to another.

Cummins then summarises the transfer that possible:

• Transfer of conceptual elements (e.g. understanding the concept of photosynthesis);

• Transfer of metacognitive and metalinguistic strategies (e.g. strategies of visualizing, use of graphic organizers, mnemonic devices, vocabulary acquisition strategies, etc.);
• Transfer of pragmatic aspects of language use (willingness to take risks in communication through L2, ability to use paralinguistic features such as gestures to aid communication, etc.);
• Transfer of specific linguistic elements (knowledge of the meaning of photo in photosynthesis);
• Transfer of phonological awareness- knowledge that words are composed of distinct sounds.

Let's take a look at more graphic explanation:

The Dual-Iceberg Representation of Bilingual Proficiency.

From this figure, we can see that there are so much similarities between two languages, thus the elements mentioned above can be transfered. Cummins et al. (1984) found that there is minimal relationship in term of grammatical knowledge, but significance relationship is observed for literacy-related knowledge (reading comprehension, vocabulary, etc.) and pragmatic dimension of oral language, or communicative style.

Verhoeven (1994) reports stronger cross-lingual relationships for literacy and pragmatic language skills than for lexical knowledge. Phonology (as measured by phoneme discrimination tests) was also significantly related across languages which Verhoeven interprets as reflecting the influence of metalinguistic factors on phonological performance in both languages.

McLaughlin (1986) reports on a second study carried out by German linguist Jochen Rehbein (1984). This research found that:
the ability of Turkish children to deal with complex texts in German was affected by their ability to understand these texts in their first language. Rehbein's investigations suggest that there is a strong developmental interrelationship between the bilingual child's two languages and that conceptual information and discourse strategies acquired in the first language transfer to the second(McLaughlin, 1986, p. 34-35).

Implications of the Interdependence Hypothesis for Pedagogy in Bilingual/Immersion Programs
Clearly, one of the implications is how we look into teaching English in our classrooms. Many teachers of second languages (e.g. French in the Canadian context) believe that instruction should be delivered exclusively through the target language. They interpret communicative language teaching as a form of the direct method that mandates exclusive instructional use of the target language and discourages students from any use of their L1. Any use of the L1 by teachers or students is viewed as a regression to the grammar-translation method that has fallen into disrepute.

The dominant monolingual instructional orientation is evident in the following three inter-related sets of assumptions, none of which is empirically supported:


• Instruction should be carried out exclusively in the target language without recourse to students’ L1. Bilingual dictionary use is discouraged (= direct method assumption);

• Translation between L1 and L2 has no place in the teaching of language or literacy. Encouragement of translation in L2 teaching is viewed as a regression to the discredited grammar/translation method; or in bilingual/immersion programs, use of translation is equated with the discredited concurrent translation method in which teachers switch constantly between languages translating all relevant instructional content;
• Within immersion and bilingual programs, the two languages should be kept rigidly separate (= two solitudes assumption). 

Cummins then further suggests two means to promote cross-language transfer;
1) creation of dual language multimedia books (sounds familiar, especially during the reign of PPSMI);
2) Sister class exchange- students from another country to share experience in the target language, as well as using the L1.

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DISCUSSION POINT

I talked to a senior teacher in March when I was in Temerloh for Hari Kecemerlangan SBP Zon Timur. She asked me, given the fact that I graduated from overseas, what is the best methodology in teaching English. Well, of course I gave the textbook answer- CLT. But, in reality, is it so? That teacher actually has a different opinion on the matter. She claimed that Grammar Direct Translation is the best method given the fact that students need a good grasp of Grammar, before they can communicate effectively in the language. Somehow, what she said is supported by this paper by Cummins.

In my opinion, it depends on the students' language proficiency. I'm now teaching in an SBP, where most of my students can comprehend English relatively good, although some of them would reply in Bahasa. In this case, I would use CLT. In fact, earlier this year when the new Form One came in, I made compulsory to buy English-English dictionary and I made it very clear- I dont want to see any English-BM dictionary used in my class. And in the classroom, I would ranting non stop in English.

But it is different in my lessons in the tuition centre not too far from my school. In this tuition class, most of the kids are from daily schools around here. Their English is relatively low, compared to my students. So I change my strategy- I use Grammar Direct Translation. I translate almost everything- I give the equivelant in BM. Verb=Kata Kerja. Adjective=Kata Sifat, and so forth. I believe that I need to build their vocab first before I can get them to speak the language.

I wonder what was wrong in the previous curriculum, the one I was in, that they urgently need to change it. I am a living product of that curriculum. Am I not successful?

Bilingual Education Accelerates English Language Development

Krashen in this paper defined bilingual educaton as a means of using the child's first language to accelerate the acquisition of English. He stated that the primary goal of bilingual education is English language development.

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

1) Making English More Comprehensible.

By presenting the subject matter in the child's first language, the child will understand it even if it is presented in another language. Cummins (2005)* stated that this is the transfer of conceptual elements where the child learn, say photosynthesis in Malay, but be able to answer questions in English.

2) A Short Cut to English Literacy.

It is easier to learn to read in a language you already know, and once you can read, you can read. I guess this is related to the fact that you can transfer your linguistics skills in learning your L1 in learning L2. Cummins (2005) mentioned that there are five types of transfer, and I guess the ones that related to this point are

-transfer of metacognitive and metalinguistic strategies (visualising, mnemonic devices, etc)

-transfer of specific linguistics elements (such as the meaning of photo in photosynthesis)

-transfer of phonological awareness (how a letter sounds in a language) 

3) Early Exposure to Comprehensible English

Good bilingual programs provide exposure to comprehensible English from the very first day and introduce subject matter teaching in English as soon as it can be made comprehensible. My understanding of this is that once the child can understand basic English, teaching of subject matter in English should start. Somehow this is contradicting with his own paper entitled Dealing with English Fever. I have discussed this paper in my two previous entries English Fever? and Cures for English Fever. In that paper, Krashen mentioned that there is no need to start early. Starting early is only necessary to achieve native or near-native fluency.

4)Scientific Studies Support Bilingual Education

In this paper, Krashen presented a few researches done before. In these studies, students have shown the average 'effect size' about .26, which is about a quarter of a standard deviation above the average. I think this is related to the Bilingualism Theory where it says bilingual students process the same fact twice- in both language.

Krashen then give a recommendation- enrich the print environment. This can be done by having better-equipped library. I totally agree with this. Being a nerd myself when I was a child, the local library is a heaven for me. I would spend hours in the library in the afternoon after school, and more on the weekends. I read for hours each days. I finish reading a novel within a day. Even now, my favourite place is still library, and Borders and Kinokuniya. I can get lost there for a whole day- mesmerised with the rich world of knowledge.

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DISCUSSION POINT

I am very much interested with the point 3, Early Exposure to Comprehensible English. If we are to start as what Krashen suggests, we might as well to introduce the English for basic communication in primary education, and only to introduce the subject matters, be it Science, or Mathematics, or any other subjects, in English when the students have grasped the L2. Perhaps, it is best to introduce these subject matters in secondary school?..............................................................

This paper is written by Krashen, and can be retrived from http://sdkrashen.com/articles/krashen_intro.pdf

*Cummins(2005) Teaching For Cross-Language Transfer in Dual Language Education: Possibilities and Pitfalls. Retrived from http://www.achievementseminars.com/seminar_series_2005_2006/readings/tesol.turkey.pdf
I hope to discuss this research paper especially in the subject of language transfer soon.

Research Proposal Outline

INTRODUCTION

• Brief history of language policy in Malaysia
- PPSMI vs. MBMMBI
- why MBMMBI is introduced
 LITERATURE REVIEW
• SLA (BICS/CALP)
• Bilingual Education (contact hour)
• Language and National Identity (language policy and planning)

METHODOLOGY
• Design and Procedure
 - approach: Qualitative
 - design: Survey - to answer WHAT
 - varying attributes
    - students' proficiency
    - teachers' experience


• Subject
- English teachers of SBPs
- clustering method: SBPs all over Malaysia is divided into 5 zones- each zone will                   be represented by one school; there are about 5 English teachers each school, total sample is about 25.


• Instrumentation
- self-developed as there's no research has been done on the subject matter
- number of questions- around 30-40 (depending on the research areas/reseach questions


• Method of Analysis
- will use the online data analysis software

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• In what way would this research fill the void in the area?
- there is no research is done on this matter specifically, so there's a good chance to look into it.
• Should more research be done in the area?

REFERENCES

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I still think that there are some sort of researches that have been done that look into what happens in English lessons. I need to search for it and perhaps I can modifies the survey forms used to this research purpose.