1. Pedagogy of Teaching Reading
Mechanisms & Sub-skills of Reading
- Phonemic Awareness & Decoding: Recognizing individual speech sounds (phonemes) and converting written letters (graphemes) into corresponding sounds.
- Skimming: Reading rapidly over a text to gain the general idea, main points, or gist without focusing on details.
- Scanning: Looking quickly through a text to locate a specific piece of information, date, name, or fact.
- Intensive Reading: Close, detailed reading of shorter texts to extract specific information, analyze syntax, or comprehend complex concepts.
- Extensive Reading: Reading longer texts for pleasure and general understanding, building vocabulary and reading fluency naturally.
Reading Comprehension Models
- Bottom-Up Model: Text-driven processing starting from small linguistic units (letters $\rightarrow$ words $\rightarrow$ sentences $\rightarrow$ meaning).
- Top-Down Model: Reader-driven processing utilizing prior knowledge (Schema Theory), background context, and predictions to infer meaning.
- Interactive Model: A balanced model combining both Bottom-Up decoding and Top-Down schema activation simultaneously.
2. Pedagogy of Teaching Writing
The Process Approach to Writing
Modern English pedagogy treats writing as a recursive process rather than a static single-step product:
- 1. Pre-writing: Brainstorming, mind-mapping, outlining, and gathering ideas.
- 2. Drafting: Translating thoughts into continuous text without worrying about perfection.
- 3. Revising: Reorganizing content, refining clarity, adjusting tone, and improving logical flow.
- 4. Editing / Proofreading: Correcting mechanics, grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
- 5. Publishing: Sharing the finalized written piece with an audience.
3. Key Pedagogical Approaches Compared
| Skill Area | Approach / Method | Core Pedagogical Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | Phonics Approach | Explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondences and sound blending. |
| Reading | Whole Language Approach | Emphasis on reading meaningful texts naturally rather than isolated phonics drills. |
| Reading | Language Experience Approach (LEA) | Students dictate stories based on personal experiences; teacher writes them down for reading practice. |
| Writing | Product Approach | Focuses on mimicking model texts, grammatical accuracy, and the final output. |
| Writing | Process Approach | Focuses on the recursive stages of writing (brainstorming, drafting, revising). |
Set 0 - Study Summary