Learning View vs. Acquisition View

Entry #6

After reading chapter 2 of the Freeman text I sorted the activities from the end of the chapter under either the learning/word recognition or acquisition headings.  Here is what I decided upon.

Learning/Word Recognition

Students

·         look up words in the dictionary to write definitions

·         read in round-robin fashion

·         practice sounding out words

·         correct peers when they make a mistake during reading time

·         identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound

·         group cards with classmates’ names by a criterion on such as first or last letter

·         divide words into syllables

·         on a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound

·         make alphabet books on different topics

Teachers

·         preteaches vocabulary

·         makes sure that students only read books that fit their level

·         has students segment words into phonemes

·         asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter

·         uses decodable text

·         teaches Latin and Greek roots

·         conducts phonic drills

·         uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills

I chose the above activities to go under this heading because they are associated with explicit teaching and learning of the skills for reading and writing.  Teachers who believe in the word recognition view of learning, focus primarily on systematically teaching phonics, sight words and the structural analysis of words, so that students can recode writing.  Many of the above activities focus on practice with identifying letters and sounds, blending and segmenting sounds.  The use of decodable texts also helps to practice phonics skills.  Reading focuses on reading accurately, and errors are corrected.  New vocabulary words are pretaught so that students will recognize the words when they come to them.  According to Freeman & Freeman (2004) teachers with the word recognition view of reading have the goal of helping students to identify words.  I see activities like phonics as the building bricks of language that students need to be taught to be able to recode writing.

Acquisition

Students

·         make a Venn diagram to compare two stories

·         write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spelling for the same sound

·         ask the teacher how to spell any word they don’t know

·         read a language experience story they have created with the teacher

·         work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences

Teachers

·         does a shared reading with a big book

·         writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with the spelling of difficult words

·         sets aside time for SSR (sustained silent reading) each day

·         has students meet in literature circles

·         chooses predictable texts

·         teaches students different comprehension strategies

·         does a picture walk of a new book

These activities belong with the acquisition view because they all focus around the goal of making meaning from text.  Many of these activities involve discussion with either the teacher or other students, which is an important part of learning and making meaning.  Entering information on the Venn diagram creates a lot of discussion about stories, and arranging words into a sentence is problem solving to make meaning.  Literature circles will bring together different student ideas about a text, which creates a deeper understanding of text through the discussions.

The teacher does not inhibit student writing just because they don’t yet have all the skills to be accurate.  Rather the focus is on writing for a purpose, such as writing about an experience with the teacher, or writing the rhyming poem and looking at the way sounds are represented afterwards.  Freeman & Freeman (2004) explain the theory of acquisition as readers acquire literacy by focusing on meaning.  By giving students time to do sustained daily reading, readers pick up new meanings for words and learn new ways that language is used.  The acquisition view teaches other ways to make meaning, not just relying on decoding skills.  By choosing predictable texts, for instance, students will use their background knowledge to make predictions.  By doing a picture walk students will make inferences about what is happening, as well as using background knowledge.  I see the acquisition view as the mortar that makes the meaning stick.

I don’t know for sure if each one is in absolutely the correct place, so feel free to ask me about one if you have a different opinion, or if I need to be clearer.

Reference

Freeman D.E. & Freeman Y.S. (2004).  Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, grammar.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.