1. Literacy
Teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation 1 1

2. Aims
Aim
To consider effective strategies for teaching literacy to vulnerable learners and/or those on community orders/probation
Objectives
By the end of the session you will be able to:
identify some strategies used by effective literacy teachers
select activities appropriate for adult literacy learners who are vulnerable and/or those on community orders/probation
This session has been designed to help you consider a range of ways to assist learners in developing their literacy skills.
Although the suggestions and ideas we put forward in this session are aimed at vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation, they are good practice and appropriate for any literacy teaching. The ideas are based on a review of the available research evidence and on our own experience of teaching literacy.
During this session, we hope that you will be able to reflect on some strategies known to be used by effective literacy teachers and consider how and why they might be appropriate for the learners you work with.
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3. Activity 1: Who are your learners?
Take five minutes to discuss and record what you know about your learners. Think about:
What has been their previous experience of education?
What skills / attitudes do they come with?
What literacy skills do they need to or might want to develop?
What do you know about how they like to learn?
What might be the main barriers to learning they face?
Activity 1
The purpose of this activity is to consider who the learners are and what they bring with them. Learners are not empty vessels to be ‘filled up’ with knowledge and skills. They come with ideas, experiences and knowledge of language, texts and the world, all of which can be valuable in helping them improve their literacy. They will already be engaged in literacy practices (they will be doing some reading and writing in their lives) even if this is sporadic and unacknowledged.
They may well have had negative educational experiences in the past which will colour how they view returning to learning.
Teachers need to take into account any particular attitudes and experiences the learners bring and also try and focus on the positive- the reading and writing that learners want/ need to do so that teaching is relevant, interesting and stimulating for the learner.
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4. Who are your learners? Your learners will have:
Ideas, experiences, and knowledge of language, written materials, and the world
Prior experience of literacy, and of reading and writing, even if they do not acknowledge this
Potentially, bad experience of education in the past
Important to take these aspects of learners’ experience into account
Activity 1
The purpose of this activity is to consider who the learners are and what they bring with them. Learners are not empty vessels to be ‘filled up’ with knowledge and skills. They come with ideas, experiences and knowledge of language, texts and the world, all of which can be valuable in helping them improve their literacy. They will already be engaged in literacy practices (they will be doing some reading and writing in their lives) even if this is sporadic and unacknowledged.
They may well have had negative educational experiences in the past which will colour how they view returning to learning.
Teachers need to take into account any particular attitudes and experiences the learners bring and also try and focus on the positive- the reading and writing that learners want/ need to do so that teaching is relevant, interesting and stimulating for the learner.
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5. Adult Literacy Learners
There is an evidence base of teaching practices with proven effectiveness for adult literacy learners, developed by a critical review of the available research
Can you predict what might be in it?
Activity 2
We want to start straight away thinking about what is good practice so we are going to look at what the research tells us.
Incidentally, predicting before reading is one strategy that is often used in teaching reading. It helps to activate the learners’ schema (draws out what they already know about a subject) and gets them thinking about it before reading, so they can link what they read to what they already know.
Take a few minutes to share what you think might be seen as effective practices in teaching literacy.
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6. Enhancing literacy teaching for adults: the evidence base
Benseman, Sutton & Lander, 2005:
Explicit teaching by well-trained teachers in phonics, fluency, vocabulary building and comprehension
Ongoing assessment in reading and writing
Teaching directed by assessment
‘Authentic’ reading, writing and oral activities that relate to learners’ lives and experience
A variety of reading, writing and oral activities
Sufficient number of hours of tuition, possibly more than 100 hours
Further notes:
A useful review of practice has been conducted by Benseman, Sutton and Lander (2005): Working in the Light of the Evidence, as Well as Aspiration: A Literature Review of the Best Available Evidence about Effective Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Language Teaching. (See references at the end).
It is a summary of research and professional wisdom from practitioners. These are some of the important points that are made:
Explicit teaching
It is not enough to assume that learners know something or to hint at it. Teaching needs to be clear and explicit (and sometimes repetitive) so that learners know what is going on and are able to practise it
Well-trained teachers
Those who are teaching literacy need to understand how language works, how it is used and how it is learned. There are books and courses to support with this.
Phonics, fluency, vocabulary building and comprehension were seen as the four key elements of reading instruction by the US National Reading Panel, published in 2000 and very influential in defining what needs to be taught under the heading of literacy.
Ongoing assessment is important so both the learner and the teacher can see what progress is being made.
Teaching needs to be directed by the results of diagnostic assessment , so that teachers can build on what they know to be the learner’s strengths and can target specific areas for development.
Authentic tasks mean that learners can see that reading and writing can have value in their own lives and is not merely something that has to be done to please the teacher.
A variety of activities keeps learners engaged and motivated. If one type of activity doesn’t work for them, then they will have other opportunities to learn by using different types of tasks and resources.
Learning can be slow and difficult; no-one learns to read and write in a week or two. All learners need sufficient hours of tuition to be able to master a skill and build enough confidence to use it.
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7. Explicit teaching by well-trained teachers: Core dimensions of reading
Text level
Comprehension (explicit and implicit)
Reading fluency
Types of reading (skimming, scanning, detailed reading)
Sentence level
Use of implicit knowledge of grammar and punctuation to aid understanding
Word level
Decoding (phonics)
Vocabulary building
Further notes:
Enhancing literacy learning for adults involves ‘Explicit teaching by well-trained teachers in phonics, fluency, vocabulary building and comprehension’
The next three slides give an overview of what teachers need to know about these topics. The adult literacy core curriculum which gives more detail about them ( has a framework which differentiates between three dimensions of reading and writing. This model recognises that reading and writing are complex processes and that fluent readers and writers operate on different levels.
Text focus- addresses the overall meaning of the text, the ability to read critically and flexibly and write in different styles and forms
Sentence focus- deals with grammar and sentence structure
Word focus- looks at individual words, their structure, spelling and meanings
This slide shows how those key components of phonics, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary building, identified by the National Reading Panel, fit into this framework.
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8. Core dimensions of writing
Text level
Composition
Planning and drafting
Sentence level
Grammar
Punctuation
Word level
Spelling
Handwriting
In terms of writing, the core dimensions also fit into the text, sentence and word level model. It is important to work on all dimensions concurrently; too much focus on, for example, word level activities, leaves the learner without the complete picture about the purpose and audience they are writing for.
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9. Core dimensions of speaking and listening
Speak to communicate clearly and appropriately
Support opinions with arguments and evidence
Listening
Listen for gist
Listen for detail
Respond appropriately
Discussion
Engage in discussion
Additional notes:
Speaking and listening skills are also important and need to be integrated with reading and writing, even though they don’t fit the same text, sentence, word model. It is often noted that oral communication is a significant concern for those serving sentences. It is often assumed that that learners already have these skills, but having a clear understanding of what is being said to you and being able to give voice to your own opinions and enable them to be heard can be particularly important for vulnerable learners.
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10. Activity 3 Which methods work best for literacy teaching?
Take into account :
what you know about your learners
the evidence base of effective teaching practices
the core dimensions of literacy that learners need
Refer to the Literacy Activities – Activity 3, and complete the exercise.
Activity 3
This activity is designed to help you to think about what methods might work best for literacy teaching and learning. The methods that work best are likely to be those that will engage, empower and motivate learners.
Think about:
what you know about your learners
the evidence base of effective teaching practices
the core dimensions of literacy that learners need
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11. Activity 4: Andragogy – how adults learn
Malcolm Knowles' theory of Andragogy (1980s) has six assumptions:
Need to Know: adults need to know the reason for learning something
Experience: experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities
Self-concept: adults need to be responsible for decisions on their education
Relevance: adults are most interested in learning subjects which are relevant to their work and/or personal lives
Motivation: adults respond better to internal rather than external motivators
Orientation: adult learning is problem-centred rather than content-oriented
Activity 4
Andragogy is a learning theory about how adults learn (as opposed to pedagogy- the education of children). Developed by Malcolm Knowles in the 1980s, the theory of andragogy is built around some crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child learners on which traditional pedagogy is based. Andragogy argues that adults need a different type of teaching because of their greater experience of life.
This activity will help to explore this theory in more detail. How might these assumptions be relevant for literacy teaching? What might they mean in practice? What particular approaches or methods might be involved?
Work in pairs or small groups. Each pair should take one of these 6 assumptions and discuss how it might translate into literacy teaching.
Make notes on any planning, teaching or assessment methods it implies. Be prepared to report back on your discussion to the whole group.
The trainer will want to take feedback from each pair or small group first, but might then use the following six slides to reinforce what the groups feed back and to add any points they may have missed.
Knowles, M. et al (1984) Andragogy in Action. Applying modern principles of adult education, San Francisco: Jossey Bass. A collection of chapters examining different aspects of Knowles' formulation.
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12. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Involve learners in planning the curriculum
Share aims and objectives with learners
Be clear about the purpose for all activities
Explain how any activity will relate to real-life skills or tasks
1. Need to know
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13. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Find out what skills, abilities and experiences the learners bring with them
Encourage them to talk about their experiences and respond to each other
Use their experience as a basis for writing (language experience approach; blogging)
Find interesting and relevant texts to read that they will understand and want to respond to
2. Experience
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14. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Involve learners in the planning and assessment of their learning
Encourage them to talk about what they want to learn and why
Negotiate the curriculum
Involve them in the choice of resources
Agree targets and support them to achieve
3. Self-concept
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15. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Ensure that whole and meaningful texts are the basis of instruction
Embed speaking, listening, reading and writing tasks within authentic communicative activities
Negotiate topics that are relevant in a domain of their lives (work, home, leisure)
4. Relevance
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16. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Involving learners in decisions about their education is motivating and empowering
They can be involved in:
Devising the curriculum
Selecting the resources
Choosing the teaching methods
Deciding how they want to be assessed
5. Motivation
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17. How might this translate into literacy teaching?
Choose tasks that are challenging but achievable
Provide a mixture of proficiency and developmental tasks
Recognise that problem solving is best done collaboratively
Encourage learners to discuss issues and seek help from each other
6. Orientation
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18. Proficiency and developmental tasks
easy, typically involving only knowledge and comprehension
not dependent on prior learning
can be attained in short time
all students should be able to get them right
Proficiency tasks
dependent on prior learning
students will not get them all right
development is slow and requires effort
involve higher order skills like evaluation & synthesis
Developmental tasks
Additional notes:
Useful to look at how these tasks are applied in relation to Functional skills
Petty uses the terms mastery and developmental, instead of proficiency and developmental
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19. Examples of different types of tasks
Proficiency tasks
Developmental tasks
Complete a close exercise (gap fill) on a text to show understanding
Write a summary of a text to show understanding
Listen and respond to closed questions
Listen and respond to open questions
Read and follow a set of instructions
Read and respond to a short story
Write a personal statement by filling in a writing frame
Write a personal statement
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20. Participatory learning
Any teaching method can be participatory if the learner is involved in choosing it
Try choosing methods that involve learners making their own decisions and relying on each other rather than the teacher
Collaborative tasks build independence and empower learners
Beginning readers? Try Language Experience approach
More experienced readers? Try Reciprocal Reading
Writers (any level)? –Try Writing at the House
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21. Language Experience Approach
Two learners work together. Learner A is the catalyst; learner B is the writer
A has a discussion with B and writes down a small portion of what s/he says.
It is important to use B’s exact works (not to translate into Standard English)
A writes it out clearly for B, who reads it back.
When B can read it as a sentence (or two) A cuts it into chunks and then words for B to pick out individual sections or words and rearrange.
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22. Writing at the House 1 Autobiographical, reflective writing
Provides authentic writing task
Focuses on process not product of writing
Learners read relevant autobiographies as models and discuss themes
Brainstorm ideas and write (multiple) drafts
Consider audience, purpose and genre
Present work and get feedback from peers and tutors
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23. Writing at the House 2
The autobiographical nature of the writing ensures relevance to the learner and offers the teacher insights into the learner’s world.
Their learning is supported by the reading of relevant and engaging texts.
The techniques and strategies they learn in the workshop are integrated into every other course.
In the job skills class they use active voice, descriptive language, grammatical rules, etc in CVs and cover letters.
They apply the word processing skills learnt in the IT class in their writing in the workshop.
In the life skills class they record the minutes of each session, writing clearly, accurately and succinctly.
See Resources slide at the end.
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24. Reciprocal reading (1)
Also collaborative technique for developing comprehension from research by Anne-Marie Palincsar (1984, 1985)
Divides comprehension of text into 4 explicit stages
Why use it?
It makes explicit the different elements of comprehension
It divides these elements of comprehension between several people, making the task less onerous for each
It supports the process of comprehension
It allows all learners to contribute and learn from each other
predict
clarify
question
summarise
Further notes:
Predicting- Use of prior knowledge (of texts, subject, world) and on structure and content of text; encourages thoughtful, strategic reading
Clarifying – Deals with unfamilar vocabulary; unfamiliar structure; new or difficult concepts; meaning loss
Implement repair strategies (reread; context clues, grammar clues, dictionary or other reference materials)
Monitor own comprehension - identify when there has been a comprehension breakdown and take action to restore meaning
Questioning – Frame questions before, during and after reading, for self-checking. Question unclear parts, puzzling info, connections to other things, characters, and so on.
Offer solutions, find relevant information to answer questions, monitor own comprehension; help others
Generate own questions, think about what they don’t know and need or like to know, make personal meaning out of texts and engage in purposeful reading.
Summarising- Identify main ideas, integrate information
identify the most important info and communicate it clearly
Another order might be summarise; question; clarify; predict
Or question; summarise, clarify, predict
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25. Predict Clarify Question Summarise
What do you think will happen in the next section?
Clarify
Was there anything you didn’t understand?
How can we work out what it means?
Question
Think of a question you can ask the rest of the group about what you have read
Summarise
What happened in the section we just read?
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26. Activity 6: Reciprocal reading
Refer to the Activity Sheet and complete the exercise.
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27. In summary, when teaching literacy, think about ...
The learners and what they bring
What effective literacy teachers do: teach explicit literacy skills; inform teaching with on-going assessment; use a variety of literacy tasks which are authentic and related to learners’ experiences
How adults learn and how this impacts on their learning of literacy (andragogy)
How different types of teaching methods and learning activities can motivate and support learners
How to promote participatory learning activities
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28. Further resources
On the resource list you will find more references and resources, many of which can be downloaded, that you might want to look at. There are some general literacy resources, and some that are specific to the participatory methods we have been discussing today.
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29. Brian Creese (numeracy), Jay Derrick (assessment and embedding),
Materials in this CPD were devised by the following members of the Institute of Education:
Brian Creese (numeracy),
Jay Derrick (assessment and embedding),
Jane Hurry (motivation and exit strategies),
Maria Kambouri (ICT),
Irene Schwab (literacy) and
John Vorhaus (continuing professional development and learner contexts)
Helpful suggestions and comments were made by Joe Shamash and Olivia Varley-Winter at City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development.
If you would like to contact us please
Jane Hurry at
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30. The CPD Framework
An outline of the sessions
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