Answer to Question #321117 in English for Peh-gee

Question

Discuss these standards:1. Graduate teachers have knowledge of language and literacy and how to teach learnersto read and write.

2.Graduate teachers can organise systematic language and literacy instruction with a

focus on reading and writing, guided by the requirements of the curriculum.

3.Graduate teachers demonstrate that they understand the knowledge, skills and

processes required to teach English as a First Additional Language”.

Answer 1

1) Our notion of standards

• Their purpose is to make something else happen that is children learning to read and write (that children create meaning using texts).

• Teacher knowledge and practice standards are statements that describe what a teacher needs

to know and be able to do to carry out their core function professionally and effectively.

2) Systematically employ a range of teaching methods, materials and classroom tasks

matched to the needs of the specific children they are teaching.

These include:

The deliberate, systematic and highly structured teaching of the codes of written

language, i.e. planned rather than simply ad hoc in relation to textual features at word,

sentence and text levels and include;

sound-symbol correspondences, e.g. the most usual pronunciations of letters

and letter groupings, letter recognition,

word features and their structures, for example, syllables, prefixes, suffixes,

inflections,

Spelling patterns, e.g. ight, ei (as in weir, their, weigh),

vocabulary and word study, e.g. looking at synonyms, exploring word origins, vocabulary

Broadening

Punctuation, e.g. the effects of punctuation signs such as commas and question marks on text meaning

Grammatical constructions, e.g. subject-verb agreement, conjunctions

Text structures, e.g. narrative elements such as plot, setting, character,

expository text

Features such as argument structure

Learners need to understand the functions of what they are learning in literacy. The creation of a literate environment which enhances children’s understandings of the functions of literacy and gives them opportunities for regular and sustained practice of literacy.

The modelling of effective literacy practices by the teacher, from materials and from the

children’s own successful literacy outcomes, including the use of texts which the teacher

and children either read or write together.

Provision of focussed tasks and the systematic and continuous monitoring and assessment of children’s progress. Well developed subject knowledge about the nature and learning of literacy and its pedagogical principles which underpins their selection of teaching approaches.

3) The CAPS curriculum for EFAL FET phase also emphasises that teachers should use the writing process to develop the learners' writing skills. In particular, the curriculum emphasises that teachers should teach learners strategies of brainstorming before they write. The new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Foundation Phase (HL) proposes the following categories: (1) Listening and Speaking, (2) Reading and Phonics, (3) Handwriting, and (4) Writing. When learners use their home language to learn another language, their understanding and performance is likely to improve. Being able to move between two languages lessens the cognitive load (the brain having to do too many tasks at once) and lets learners explain what they know and can do.