Page 94 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Developing Literacy

for making meanings (Mickan, 2011). And if we want YLs to produce different
types of texts, we need to work on them systematically.
In order to use the text-based approach effectively, it is useful to follow a
set of steps (Halbach, 2018). The teacher first selects a spoken or a written
text of a given genre, one they know their learners would find interesting
andwouldberelevant to them.Thesecan rangefromshort,simplemessages
or texts, such as party invitations or Christmas cards, to more complex ones,
such as letters or stories. The learners read or listen to the text and afterwards
work on its structure, purpose, grammar and lexis. The emphasis is on work-
ing on specific features of a certain genre or text (e.g. in writing a recipe, we
useimperativesandaction verbs).Learnerspractisethesethrough observing
and analysing the text and through guided tasks (e.g. ordering parts of the
text, creating word banks, correcting mistakes, etc.). At the final stage, they
produce their own text of the same genre. This can be done individually or
as collaborative work. Again, this text can be written or spoken, and its com-
plexity can be adapted to different levels. Halbach (2018) gives an example
of reading The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, working on the features of the
text (e.g. body descriptions of the Gruffalo), acting out the story, discussing
its plot and as the final product drawing monsters and describing them in a
few short sentences. Richards (n.d.) points out that this procedure may be-
come tedious if it is always used in the same way and he proposes flexibility
in applying this approach in teaching literacy.

Combining Different Approaches
So how does a teacher go about choosing the best approach? The best way
to deal with L2 literacy development is to combine different approaches, fo-
cusing on all four language skills. On the one hand, by exposing learners to a
variety of interesting texts and meaningful activities from a holistic perspec-
tive, we can motivate them to read and write (i.e. top-down approach), on
the other, we can enhance their reading and writing skills by explicitly fo-
cusing on letter-sound correspondences and sound patterns (i.e. bottom-up
approach).

Reflection Point
1. What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of different literacy ap-
proaches (emergent literacy, language experience approach, whole-word
approach, phonics and genre approach)? At which age would you intro-
duce these approaches to YLs?
2. Analyse various course books for YLs (grades 1–5). Which literacy ap-
proaches are present and which are not used?

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