Appendix A Foundational Literacy skills for English Learners

Appendix “A” Foundational Literacy skills for English Learners By, Shina Radmand

Appendix “A”: Oral Skills • Students need instruction in recognizing and distinguishing the sounds of English (vowels, consonant blends, syllable structures) • So that they can gain phonological awareness and demonstrate an understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds.

Appendix “A”: Oral Skills • Students need instruction in applying their knowledge of the English sound system to literacy foundational learning

Krashen’s Input Hypothesis • According to Krashen language acquisition takes place when a student is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' • It goes beyond the choice of words and involves presentation of context, explanation, rewording of unclear parts, the use of visual cues and meaning negotiation. The meaning successfully conveyed constitutes the learning experience.

Oral Skills & Scripts • One way to create “comprehensible Input” & “successfully convey meanings”, is through the use of Scripts. • Dialogues, scenes, and plays that approximate real communication , provide a dynamic format in which language skills can be introduced and reinforced.

Scripts in the Classroom • Scripts are used in ESL instruction because they permit students to actively acquire the vocabulary, idioms, grammar and syntax of English speech.

Oral Skills & Scripts • All dramatic works (dialogues, scenes, or plays)demonstrate both the cognitive principle that information is best assimilated through more than one sensory route, and the behavioral notion that repeated action imprints knowledge upon the mind.

Scripts & real Communication • Because they involve all aspects of language, scripts that are rehearsed in class can offer students a dynamic encounter with language that comes closest to real communication