Literacy-Based Approach

A Key to the Implementation of the 2004 English

Curriculum

CompetenceDiscourse

Competence

Linguistic Comp.. Actional Comp.

Socio –Cultural Comp.Strategic Competence

Discourse Competence

• Communicative Competence

• The ability to participate in the creation of texts in different contexts.

• Text: language used in context (spoken and written)

To comprehend communicative

competenceOne needs to understand• What discourse is• How discourse works • How English texts work• That communicative competence

is discourse competence

Why English Texts?We speak English to those who: • do not share our language• do not share our way of thinking• do not structure the texts (spoken

and written) the way we do.• create texts the English way.

To communicate in English

•means to create English texts: spoken and written;

•we need English oracy and literacy.

Being Literate• Being able to participate in modern

societies (Hammond et al. 1992)• To participate, one needs

language, spoken and written, in different contexts.

• To participate, one needs to communicate, or to create texts / discourse

Literacy-based approach

•Collaborative efforts•Encourages learners to be

involved in texts•Raises metalinguistic and

metacommunicative awareness

The key words…

Learning Experiences

Literacy principles1.Interpretatio

n2.Collaboration3.Convention4.Cultural

knowledge

5. Problem solving6. Reflection and self-reflection7. Language use

InterpretationLearners:• interpret reality, then• ‘transform’ reality into

language.• Interpret somebody else’s

interpretation.•Constantly construe

experiences

Collaboration

• Learners speak and write for an audience.

• Learners listen and read by using their pre-existing knowledge.

• Learners collaborate in literacy events by taking different roles.

Convention• Sentence patterns, stress,

intonation, punctuation

• English genres: communicative purpose, text structure, linguistic features

Cultural Knowledge• Learners reflect on values and

tradition about how to approach a text.

• Learners learn new ways of thinking, e.g. we encourage learners to write in analytic and speculative mode, not only reproductive mode.

Problem solving

* Learners are constantly involved infiguring out the relationships betweentext and context.

• Given a situation, learners decide: a. the genreb. language choice as text unfolds.

Reflection• Literacy is in principle metalinguistic

activity; it turns language into a object of awareness.

• In foreign language context, this is vital.• It encourages critical ‘reading’: who

writes the text, what power is being exercised etc.

• Empowerment (life skills) as the ultimate goal of literacy.

Language use• Literacy requires knowledge of how

language is used in spoken and written context to create discourse (Kern 2000:17)

• Learners need declarative and procedural knowledge.

• Teachers need to do scaffolding talks.

Structural emphasis

Communicative emphasis

Literacy emphasis

Knowing Doing Doing and reflecting on doing in terms of knowing

Usage Use Usage/use relations

Language forms Language functions

Form-functions relationship

Achievement (i.e. display of knowledge)

Functional ability to communicate

Communicative appropriateness informed by metacommunicative awareness

Learning circle• Two Cycles: spoken and written• Four stages:

a. building knowledge of the fieldb. modelling of textsc. joint constructiond. independent construction

RelatingLiteracy principles

andLearning cycles and stages

Building Knowledge of the Field

Experiences:

ObservationDiscussionExercisesHands on

activitiesEtc.

Principles:• Conventions:

grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, etc.

• Cultural Knowledge

• Collaboration• Language Use

Modelling of TextsExperiences:

Listening (spoken cycle)Reading (written cycle)

Principles:

• Interpreting• Problem solving• Convention• Reflection• Language use,

etc.

Joint ConstructionExperiences:• Speaking (spoken cycle)• Writing (written cycle)

Principles:• Collaboration• Problem Solving• Reflection• Convention• Cultural

Knowledge• Language use

Independent Construction

Experiences:• Choosing topics• Communicative

purpose• Text structure• Drafting• Editing

Principles:• Problem solving• Convention• Cultural

Knowledge• Reflection• Collaboration• Language Use

Checking Achievement of Competence

Standards• Do learners comprehend passages,

their communicative purposes, and structures?

• Do learners write short functional texts, and the expected genres?

• Do learners perform interactions?• Do learners perform monologues?

Who needs to attend to the model?

•Teachers•Syllabus Writers

•Book Writers•Curriculum Users

Things to remember• One circle lasts approximately 8 X

90 minutes, but It may vary.• By focusing on one genre at a

time, we integrate the development of the four skills.

• Learners should speak and read what they have heard, and write what they have read.

Good Luck!hagustien@yahoo.com