This weeks readings
consisted of chapters 2 and 6 from;
Winch, G., Ross Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L. & Holliday,
M. 2010, Literacy: Reading, Writing &
Children’s Literature, 4th edn, Oxford University Press,
Melbourne, Australia.
Before the workshop we were required to use the ‘Chapter
Highlights’ to organise our notes for each chapter by using these as
headings. A brief summary is demonstrated below:
Chapter 2 –
Towards a Model of Reading
The Context and Purpose:
- Texts are constructed within a social and cultural context.
- We read to serve a purpose and to get things done.
- We use our reading skills differently with different types of text.
Selecting Texts:
- Effective readers select the right text.
- We know that texts are different depending on the purpose they are
designed to fulfil.
- The text-types we know and use today evolved to meet the social purposes
we wanted these texts to perform.
The Reading Cues and Systems or
Sources of Information:
- Cue systems supply the reader with information to construct meaning.
- We use information from four different sources to construct meaning from
the text we are reading.
- Cue systems – semantic information (meaning is in the text and the mind
of the reader), grammatical information (allows the reader to predict what word
might come next), phonological-graphological information (describes links
between sounds and letters) and visual/pictorial information (combine meaning
from both visual and print elements to construct meaning).
Literacy Practices:
- The skills include; code breaking practices, text-participant practices,
text user practices and text-analyst practices.
The Basic Strategies of Reading:
- Effective readers know and use effective processing strategies.
- Metacognitive strategies include; skimming, scanning, sampling,
predicting, confirming, understanding and correcting errors.
Effective Reading:
- Effective reading is a complex thinking activity.
- Interactive cognitive task.
- Readers work to solve a text and construct meaning using a range of
different but interlinked reading practices.
Chapter 6 –
The Reader and the Text
Different types of text:
- Texts can be classified in two broad categories; literary or factual.
- Literary text types include stories, poetry, plays, films, and TV
dramas.
- Factual text types include textbooks, newspaper, TV news bulletins,
recipe books.
- Some texts include elements of both text types.
- Knowing about different types of texts helps us read.
Concepts about print:
- Readers need to know the conventions the govern how text is presented.
- When we read we participate in a process of decoding the print into
language and ideas we can understand.
- Understanding the conventions (English reading left to right).
Text and the locus of meaning:
- We bring our own understanding and world knowledge to the task of
constructing meaning from a text.
- Whenever we read we interact with ideas and information in a text that
has been written for a specific purpose within a particular social context.
Context and text:
- Texts are embedded in contexts in which they ‘do their work’.
- One useful way of considering the impact of the type of text on a
reader’s construction of meaning is to look at how texts function within
different cultural and situational contexts.
Reading literary texts:
- Literary texts are an important part of an effective reading program.
- Literary texts engage us in the pleasure and excitement of entering ‘the
world of the book’.
Reading factual text:
- Factual texts sometimes present challenges for readers.
- Purpose; tell facts, instruct, argue, compare views, recount.
- Analysing factual texts will identify what features need to be taught to
students.
Selecting texts for the reading
program:
- The selection of texts for each part of the reading program plays an
important role in a students reading success.
- Must include; literary, factual, everyday and digital.
- Shared reading (discussion), guided reading (instructional), independent
(enjoyment).
Matching text to students needs:
- Texts must match students needs, challenge them, educate them, interest
them.
- The texts must match the context in which the students are using them.
Discussion Summary:
Throughout the workshop our group discussed these chapters and the key ideas that were presented. We concluded that throughout these chapters Winch et al. (2010) highlights and emphasises the importance of recognising and understanding the context and purpose of a text, the cueing systems, effective reading, the different types of text and how to select and match texts to students. We all agreed that these chapters played a crucial role in the development of our conceptual understanding of reading and texts, as it provided an in depth look at the concepts, provided examples and related the ideas to students and classroom practices. This allowed us to relate the concept of reading to real life experiences and encouraged us to consider the crucial role reading and texts will play in our own classrooms in the future.
These chapters were very helpful for us as pre-service teachers because they break down the different types of texts, the benefits of using them with students, and the importance of using an array of text types in the curriculum. Chapter two helped me to understand the myriad of strategies that early readers use to improve their skills as an effective reader. Chapter six outlined the importance of matching texts to students needs in providing adequate challenge to promote new learning. This topic was continued in our workshop discussion where we practised using a running record, an accurate measure to determine a students reading level. This was great experience for me as I had not attempted a running record before and it was assuring to see how simple they are to conduct.
ReplyDeleteI agree Sophie, the running record which we were able to be involved in through both the lecture and the workshop were really helpful as they allowed us to understand how the concepts we are learning through the readings relate to the classroom and their practical applications. By developing our skills and understanding in these areas we are becoming more confident and knowledgeable on language and literacy which allows us to become successful teachers in this learning area.
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