Professional Development Programme:
Enriching and Extending Students’ Learning Experiences through Reading and Writing across the Curriculum at the Secondary Level
Session 1
Dr Simon Chan
Organised by the INSTEP, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong and commissioned by the Education Bureau, The Government of the HKSAR
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Warm-up self-reflection:
What challenges are your students facing?
Reading challenges Writing challenges
1.
2.
3.
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3.
Overview of the 6-hour programme
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The overall aims of the programme
Sessions 1 to 3 will focus on the following issues:
An overview of students’ development of reading and writing skills at Key Stage 3
The significance of Reading and Writing across the Curriculum (RWaC) in (i)
developing students’ reading and writing competence; (ii) developing their positive values and higher order thinking skills and creativity; and (iii) school-based MOI and LAC plans
Motivating students to engage in sustained reading and writing activities
Introduction to the roles fictional and non-fictional genres play in RWaC
Understanding the rhetorical structure of different genres
Selecting texts and genres for RWaC
Considerations in designing reading and writing tasks for RaC and WaC
Introducing the Reading-to-Write Cycle: how to connect reading to writing in the curriculum
Demonstrating the process of designing and implementing RWaC cycles
Modelling teacher talk in Reading-to-Write lessons – introducing strategies in unpacking and repacking difficult texts
Exploring ways to provide quality feedback to help students improve their written work and design follow-up activities to address the problems identified
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Professional Development Programme:
“Enriching and Extending Students’ Learning Experiences through Reading and Writing across the Curriculum”
Programme Content
Session Topic
Session 1 (1) Overview of the Programme
(2) Introduction to the significance of RWaC in the ELT secondary curriculum (3) Suggested framework for designing RWaC lessons
(4) Different RWaC genres and associated language functions Session 2 (1) Demonstration #1 (RWaC in Science subjects)
(2) Debriefing: reflection & discussion
Session 3 (1) Demonstration #2 ((RWaC in PSHE subjects) (2) Debriefing: reflection & discussion
Session 4 (1) Application: Preparing for the presentations (2) Mini presentations
(3) Summary of the programme
Facilitating professional dialogues and reflection in the programme
Examples and demonstrations
Discussions and reflections
Action plans
Let’s start with you…
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How do you teach reading / writing in your classroom?
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
Response from your students #1:
Is this English?
Response from your students #2:
Is it the nonsense poem
Discussion Task 1
How do you teach reading / writing in your classroom?
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Based on the challenges / problems we have identified
for students
for teachers
…
How would you describe:
your beliefs about reading / teaching reading?
your beliefs about writing / teaching writing?
your practice of teaching reading / writing skills?
Traditional Views of Reading and Writing
Reading Writing
-input
- receptive skills
- output
- productive skills
Connection between Reading and Writing
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Reading
Writing
The same pool of knowledge and skills connect reading and writing!
e.g. the use of grammar and
vocabulary clues
What do we read?
Pre-reading
Post-reading
While-reading
A summary of reading
strategies
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•Activating prior knowledge and making connections
•Creating concept maps
•Drawing attention to contextual clues (e.g., titles, visuals)
•Questioning
•Pre-teaching key vocabulary
•Predicting keywords/key content
•Reciprocal questioning
•Setting a purpose
•Skimming
•Checking comprehension
•Drawing attention to contextual clues
•Determining importance of a point
•Evaluating different points of view
•Finding and underlining key words/explaining key words
•Guessing meanings of words from context
•Highlighting the rhetorical organisation of the text
•Inferring the author’s point of view
•Paraphrasing a key point
•Questioning
•Reading aloud; Thinking aloud
•Reciprocal questioning
•Rereading; Scanning; Skimming
•Summarising; Synthesising; Surveying
•Visualising; Creating concept maps
•Checking comprehension
•Conducting picture walk
•Creating concept maps
•Drawing a conclusion
•Evaluating different points of view
•Highlighting the rhetorical organisation of the text
•Inferring the author’s point of view
•Paraphrasing a key point
•Reciprocal questioning
•Rereading, Summarising, Surveying, Synthesising
•Reading aloud
•Creating mental concept maps
•Questioning
•Reciprocal questioning
•Surveying
•Thinking aloud
What do we write?
Possible design principle of RWaC programmes:
Genre-based pedagogy
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A functional view of language in context (Rose, D. 2005)
CONTEXT
TEXT PARAGRAPHS
SENTENCE WORD GROUPS
WORD SYLLABLE LETTER PATTERN
patterns within the sentence
patterns within the text
patterns within the word
Top-down Bottom-up
Understanding the context,
curriculum and reading / writing
skills
Task 2
What are students learning (e.g. reading and writing) in KS2 and KS3?
In groups, can you list the subjects that your students were learning in KS2 (Primary 4-6) and the subjects that they are learning in KS3 (Secondary 1-3)?
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Upper Primary (KS2) Junior Secondary (KS3)
Chinese English Mathematics
Putonghua Music Visual Arts Physical Ed.
General Studies
Science
Technology Education (e.g. design &
technology etc.) PSHE (e.g. Chinese
History, Geography.
History, Life and Society, Religious
Education etc.)
Look at the following extracts of texts. They are all texts from local textbooks.
Can you identify the genre / text type and subject area of each?
Can you also determine whether each belongs to KS2 or KS3?
Are there any similarities or differences among these
Task 3*
What kinds of texts are students
reading/writing in KS2 and KS3?
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Text Genre/ Text type Subject Area Key
Stage 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Text Genre/ Text type Subject Area Key Stage 1
2 3
4 5 6 7
Explanation + instruction Computer Literacy KS3 KS3 KS3
KS3
KS3 KS2 Personal recount English (textbook)
Report
(classifying report) Geography
Poem English (reader)
Report
(classifying report) Science Historical recount History
Discussion
Are there any similarities or differences among these texts?
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Similarities: Differences:
For example:
- text types - subject areas - topics
For example:
- complexity of language - complexity of ideas presented
- cognitive demands
Discussion
What kinds of skills or strategies do students need in order to read/write these texts?
Reading/writing skills or strategies For example:
• understanding the connection between ideas
• using connectives to connect ideas
• identifying pronoun reference
• guessing meaning of unfamiliar words from context
• using a variety of vocabulary and sentence patterns
• using headings and pictorial cues to predict text content
Discussion
Are there any missing links between primary and junior secondary years?
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Some possibilities on enhancing students’ language proficiency to meet the language demands in secondary years:
For example:
• exposure to a wider variety of text-types
• exposure to a wider range of topics (fiction / non-fiction)
• exposure to both English for everyday use and Academic English
• strengthening vocabulary building strategies
Reading/Writing skills for Hong Kong students
Appendix 5: Language Skills and
Language Development Strategies for Key Stages 1 — 4 (P1 — S6), P. A37
What is a genre-based approach to reading and writing?
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- In very simple terms, this approach emphasises genres (i.e.
“text types”) and the importance explicit instruction on reading and writing strategies to help students
deconstruct and reconstruct various types of texts, with extensive demonstration, scaffolding and explanation on the process of making sense of meanings of those texts.
- Talking about meaning, if we guide the students to go
beyond understanding and expressing superficial meanings in texts, we may promote the development of higher
order thinking skills and positive values, e.g….
(Text 9)
How would you answer these three questions? Do the
sentences and pictures
presented provide enough information?
Would you challenge such information by relating to
concepts like economic wealth, composition of the population, fairness and (in)equality etc.?
Why/why not?
Genre-based approach to reading and writing
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What is a genre?
A genre is more dynamic than a text type and is always changing and evolving
What is genre?
“All the language events , both spoken and written, that we participate in as members of our particular society and culture” (Gibbons, 2009, p. 108).
• Each genre has a specific social purpose, and is used to get something done through language.
• Each genre has a particular structure or overall organisation.
• Each genre has language features (i.e. grammar and vocabulary) that are typical of that genre.
(adapted from Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work. Australia: Primary English Teaching Association.)
Then… what constitutes a genre?
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(Adapted from Rose, D. (2010). Reading to learn: Teacher resource books, book 1, p. 8 . From http://www.readingtolearn.com.au/)
Curriculum Context
e.g. Science, Geography, Economics, English language arts
Text Type
e.g. Procedurals, Information reports, Short stories
Paragraph / Sentences
Grammar & Rhetorical functions:
e.g., Compare & Contrast;
Defining
Words
Lexical Phrases
Task 4
patterns within the sentence / paragraph
patterns within the text
patterns within the word
Top-down
Bottom-up
A Functional View of Language in Context (Rose, 2005)
Advantages of a genre-based approach to teaching reading and writing:
It offers us a systematic and meaningful way to teach reading and/or writing.
In particular, we can highlight:
What is the subject matter/curriculum context?
For example, “water cycle” in science,
A fable in English language arts
Who are the target readers?
For example, an expert informing an expert-to-be
about a science concept (in textbooks)
Task 5*
Let’s try what we have learnt so far with the following text
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Mini-teaching demo
Energy Crisis
Humans are like all other animals in that they need the
energy from food to stay alive, to function in their environment and to reproduce. For these basics we have about the same
personal energy requirements as other mammals of about the same size. Unlike animals, however, humans expect much more out of life than just survival. These expectations have a cost.
People have come to expect all kinds of luxuries. We want heating and cooling, computers, cars, planes etc. A lot of
energy is used in the initial production of these items and they use a lot of energy to run. They have caused an energy crisis.
Task 5 Genre-based approach:
“Energy Crisis ”
Curriculum Context
Text type
Text structure
Sentence patterns
Energy (Science/PSHE), Purpose: explain the concept energy crisis
Explanation
Descriptive sentences / sentences for
Genre-based pedagogy would mean providing support at these various levels of language to facilitate the students’ reading process
General Specific (“energy” “energy crisis”)
Task 5 Genre-based approach:
“Energy Crisis ”
Any ideas on using this text to promote higher order thinking skills and positive values?
Some suggestions:
Discuss the following questions:
Are we being fair to the other animals by consuming their energy sources?
Can we go back to life without the ‘luxuries’ mentioned in the text?
What should we do when facing the energy crisis?
Possible integration with multimodal texts, e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OkBT9l6Lbs
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How useful is this
to our students' learning?
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Exposure Automaticity
‘massive amounts of repetitive experience’
develop automaticity
(Segalowitz, 1991, p. 23)
and systematic
^
The Genre-based Approach to
Reading and Writing Across the
Curriculum
How do we apply the genre-based approach in RWaC?
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“I’m just an ENGLISH teacher, I don’t know much about the
academic text types…”
“I know nothing about
Science / Maths. / History etc.”
“My students are not
in an EMI class…”
How do we apply the genre-based approach in RWaC?
We can start small, and with something that we are familiar with (or maybe are doing very well already!).
Can you guess?
How do we apply the genre-based approach in RWaC?
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•
To promote English reading/writing and across
different KLAs, information texts are very good resources.
•
We can make good use of this opportunity and
become more aware of the importance of teaching information texts with an explicit emphasis on
understanding the features of academic genres (or text types) and detailed reading strategies.
This could work in all school contexts, including those schools/
classes where content subjects are taught in Chinese
• Everyday English is different from academic English
– E.g., Everyday text-types are different from academic text- types
Reading for everyday life and reading for school subjects:
different kinds, different purposes, different ways
• Differences
– contexts
– text types
– academic functions
– sentence patterns &
• Similarity
– both are important to the language and
cognitive development of our students
Text types in language and content subjects
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RWaC Example 1: Look at the two pages. Identify the text types, the topics, the structures and language features.
Story (narrative) 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf
Description texts (info report) Animal homes
Text types in language and content subjects
THEME:
Text types in language subjects
Text types in content subjects
Another RWaC example…
Refer to the graphic organiser below, choose a theme, and think of some possible text types that you can use to teach the content.
Science: Electric current
Information report
(compositional) Autobiography
I am an electron. I have a negative charge. I am found whizzing around the nucleus of an atom. My path is relatively circular around the nucleus, but
Some common text types in language and content subjects
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Text types commonly found in language subjects
Text types commonly found in content subjects
•Poem
•Story
•News article
•Essay
•Recipe
•Argumentative essay
•Letter to the editor
•Advertisement
•Proposal
•Information report
•Laboratory report
•Essay
•Historical recount
•Manuals
•Explanations on sequence and process
•Explanations on cause and effect
•Discussion
•Argumentative essay
What does Detailed Reading do?
Supporting learners to read short paragraphs of text, sentence-by-sentence, by guiding them to identify groups of words in each sentence, and
discussing their meanings
Enabling learners to:
read challenging texts with detailed comprehension
recognise the language choices that writers make
use the content of factual texts to write texts of their own
use the language resources of accomplished writers in their own writing
Enabling teachers to:
Understanding “connecting reading and writing” through demos
2 demonstrations
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Demo #1 in session 2, focusing on RWaC with
science subjects
Demo #2 in
session 3, focusing
on RWaC with
humanities subjects
Let’s have a break!
We’ll move on to Session 2 when you return.
*Disclaimer
The material developer and facilitator does not own the copyrights of the text excerpts shown. The respective
copyrights are owned by the respective publishers credited in the materials.
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References:
Texts for Task 3
Text 1: “Inserting animation” in “Computer and Information Technology: Computer Literacy Course for Junior Secondary, Basic Modules, 2A” (pp. 182-183). Hong Kong: Longman Hong Kong Education. (2007)
Text 2: “Hello, Hong Kong!” in “Developing Skills Freeway, 1A” (p. 80). Hong Kong: Aristo Educational Press Ltd. (2007)
Text 3: “How is land used in the urban areas of Hong Kong?” in “Exploring Geography, 1A, Second Edition”
(pp. 40-41). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. (2007)
Text 4: “Five Little Chickens” in “Fancy Food Work”, My Pals are Here: Reading Ladder, Primary 5 (pp. 2-3).
Hong Kong: Educational Publishing House Ltd. (2005)
Text 5: “A New Life is Born” in Mastering Science, 1A (p. 134). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. (2010)
Text 6: “The Fertile Crescent” in World History Express, 1A, second edition (pp. 80-81). Hong Kong: Ling Kee Publishing Co. (2010)
Text 7: “Come to My Party” in My Pals are Here! English for Hong Kong, 4A (pp. 16-17). Hong Kong:
Educational Publishing House Ltd. (2005)
Text 8: “A murder mystery” in Thematic Anthology, Set A, Book 1 (pp. 132-133). Hong Kong: Oxford University Press (China) Ltd. (2009)
Text 9: “The Earth’s Climate and Environment” in Primary General Studies 4A (pp. 14-15). Hong Kong: New Asia Publishing House. (2010)
