Hi, Rebecca! I stumbled upon your site from Victoria and Lou! I absolutely love this post because it made me reflect on my own teaching background.
As an EFL educator in Japan, my students (4th through 6th grades, low-beginner levels) lack phonemic awareness as well and since I rotate around schools in my city every year, I find it really tough to create something sustainable for them! I feel like I overcompensate by pointing out the differences in the phonetic system and syllable structures whenever I can. I feel that explicitly teach students about different sounds and their distinctions could help improve their awareness. As for implicit teaching, I try to use songs, rhymes, and chants to encourage playful interaction with the language while focusing on pronunciation accuracy. Other than that, I'm stumped! Is there anything you'd do differently?
Hi Shea, thanks for your comment!! Teaching pronunciation/phonemic awareness does feel quite different in an EFL context but it sounds to me like you're on the right track (combination of explicit & implicit instruction is great).
Just a few ideas for you (many of which I'm sure you're already doing)--
- Pushing explicit instruction to the end of the task/activity, to give students more chances to learn implicitly first, participate in consciousness-raising (creating their own rules & noticing patterns first)
- Creating more space for peer feedback before providing corrective feedback yourself
- Games and activities involving minimal pairs
Generally speaking, even though you aren't at schools for long, I'm sure that you're planting useful nuggets of information in their minds that they will carry with them far into the future!! Hope these were helpful at all & feel free to bounce any more ideas or activities off me :)
(also, I just subscribed to your newsletter, which looks great!)
Hi, Rebecca! Hi there! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your valuable advice and insights. I’ll definitely try to create more space for peer feedback before corrective feedback. Lately, it's been the other way around! Your support means a lot, and I’m grateful for your willingness to exchange ideas and experiences. Also, thanks for subscribing to the newsletter - I hope you enjoy it!
Congratulations on your MA! I'd love to read more of your insights on how to combine implicit and explicit learning when teaching. 😊
A couple of words haven't made it in this sentence: "there are approximately 773 [millions] illiterate adults [in the world]". Thankfully you shared your source!
Haha, I can't believe I missed the crucial "millions" word!! Thanks for the catch. & will be planning an article on explicit vs. implicit teaching soon! :)
There's so many different parts of your post that I'd like to address haha!
I've worked with kids for so many years and literacy/reading has always been an interest of mine. For my research paper in grad school I wrote about how reading is depicted in children's picture books. That was the first time I learned about different perspectivies on literacy from various scholars. Learning about all the perspectives was very confusing because it was new to me but I learned a lot. I'm sure I didn't take it all in but reading your posts reminds me of all the little things I learned while writing my paper.
I do think we share similar views to literacy/reading development in children. Thanks for sharing!
Would love to hear some more of your insights into the reading wars now!! I feel like it's been interesting seeing how the general public is now pushing more for phonics & "science of reading," but I feel like there's been some institutional pushback from teachers and admins who think that a mixed approach is better.
As a high school English teacher who has increasingly watched students struggle with the very act of reading, I completely agree. My kids learned to read with a combination of both methods, although it was definitely phonics heavy. They are both excellent and avid readers as a result. (And having two parents who are also avid readers helps.) We need to turn this around because literacy matters for the good of our country. We need people who can read and think for themselves because they are able to read and understand information from multiple sources.
Hi, Rebecca! I stumbled upon your site from Victoria and Lou! I absolutely love this post because it made me reflect on my own teaching background.
As an EFL educator in Japan, my students (4th through 6th grades, low-beginner levels) lack phonemic awareness as well and since I rotate around schools in my city every year, I find it really tough to create something sustainable for them! I feel like I overcompensate by pointing out the differences in the phonetic system and syllable structures whenever I can. I feel that explicitly teach students about different sounds and their distinctions could help improve their awareness. As for implicit teaching, I try to use songs, rhymes, and chants to encourage playful interaction with the language while focusing on pronunciation accuracy. Other than that, I'm stumped! Is there anything you'd do differently?
Hi Shea, thanks for your comment!! Teaching pronunciation/phonemic awareness does feel quite different in an EFL context but it sounds to me like you're on the right track (combination of explicit & implicit instruction is great).
Just a few ideas for you (many of which I'm sure you're already doing)--
- Pushing explicit instruction to the end of the task/activity, to give students more chances to learn implicitly first, participate in consciousness-raising (creating their own rules & noticing patterns first)
- Creating more space for peer feedback before providing corrective feedback yourself
- Games and activities involving minimal pairs
Generally speaking, even though you aren't at schools for long, I'm sure that you're planting useful nuggets of information in their minds that they will carry with them far into the future!! Hope these were helpful at all & feel free to bounce any more ideas or activities off me :)
(also, I just subscribed to your newsletter, which looks great!)
Hi, Rebecca! Hi there! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your valuable advice and insights. I’ll definitely try to create more space for peer feedback before corrective feedback. Lately, it's been the other way around! Your support means a lot, and I’m grateful for your willingness to exchange ideas and experiences. Also, thanks for subscribing to the newsletter - I hope you enjoy it!
Congratulations on your MA! I'd love to read more of your insights on how to combine implicit and explicit learning when teaching. 😊
A couple of words haven't made it in this sentence: "there are approximately 773 [millions] illiterate adults [in the world]". Thankfully you shared your source!
Haha, I can't believe I missed the crucial "millions" word!! Thanks for the catch. & will be planning an article on explicit vs. implicit teaching soon! :)
There's so many different parts of your post that I'd like to address haha!
I've worked with kids for so many years and literacy/reading has always been an interest of mine. For my research paper in grad school I wrote about how reading is depicted in children's picture books. That was the first time I learned about different perspectivies on literacy from various scholars. Learning about all the perspectives was very confusing because it was new to me but I learned a lot. I'm sure I didn't take it all in but reading your posts reminds me of all the little things I learned while writing my paper.
I do think we share similar views to literacy/reading development in children. Thanks for sharing!
Would love to hear some more of your insights into the reading wars now!! I feel like it's been interesting seeing how the general public is now pushing more for phonics & "science of reading," but I feel like there's been some institutional pushback from teachers and admins who think that a mixed approach is better.
As a high school English teacher who has increasingly watched students struggle with the very act of reading, I completely agree. My kids learned to read with a combination of both methods, although it was definitely phonics heavy. They are both excellent and avid readers as a result. (And having two parents who are also avid readers helps.) We need to turn this around because literacy matters for the good of our country. We need people who can read and think for themselves because they are able to read and understand information from multiple sources.
Absolutely, Sarah!! It’s so mind-boggling that kids are having dramatically different experiences with learning such a foundational skill.