Teaching reading to the bilingual child

              PHOENIX, ARIZONA
to
1963
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
1tRlZONA" DOCUMENTS CO[[ E" e1' fOfl
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
TEACHING READING
DIVISION OF INDIAN EDUCATION
THE BILINGUAL CHILD
ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF
STATE HOUSE
PI 2.2: R 31
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CORRECtiONS
Uncler State Board of Education, read
Honorable Waldo M. Dicus instead of Discus.
Page 13 - Sixth line from bottom, read
re8~ 5: l!. l! x •
Page 24 - Rule 51 read - word instead of sentence.
Page 36 - Last line, read peaceable.
Page 39 - Line 5, read - excel for excel I.
Page 44 - Line 21, delete !!! 9rket •
TEACHING READING
to
THE BILINGUAL CHILD
Edited by: Mamie Sizemore
W. W. " SKIPPER" nICK
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
1963
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Honorable Paul Fannin t Governor of Arizona
Chairman of the Board •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Phoenix
_ Honorable W. W. " Skipper" Dick
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Secretary of the Board.......................................... Phoenix
Dr. Richard A. Harvill t President t The University of Arizona
Ex- Officio Member _ _• •.••• •'............ • ,. •••• • •• • .. • Tucson
Dr. Lawrence J. WalkuPt President t Arizona State College
Ex- Officio Member..................................................... Flagstaff
Dr. G. Homer Durhamt President t Arizona State University
Ex- Officio Member .••••••• 0- "- Ill •• • - ••• •••• 0 ••.••••• , •• '•••• 0; .
MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR
Tempe
Honorable Charles Burton
Principal t North Phoenix High School •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Phoenix
Honorable Sarah Folsom
Superintendent t Yavapai County Schools •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Prescott
Honorable Waldo M. Discus
Superintendent t Ajo Public Schools •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Ajo
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
A WORD TO TEACHERS
t. SCOPE OF PROBLEM -. -•._ . 1
Effects of Childhood Bilingualism•••••••••••••••• u ••••••••••• 1
Biculturism••••••••••••• 9....•..•..•.....•....•..••.•..•• 0.... 2
Teachers' Understanding of the Bilingual Child's Background... 2
Language Handicaps............................................ 3
II. PRI" 1A. RY READING ••••••• •_ '• ••• •_•••••••••••• _.......... •••••• _ . 3
The Nature of the Reading Process............................. 4
Linguistics and the Teaching of Reading....................... 4
III. THE BILINGUAL STUDENTS AND THE TEACHING OF PHONICS................ 7
De£ inition of Terms •••••••••••.•••••• ,. '.. 7
English Sounds '. >$ .. $ .-. -••- •• ••••• -•••••••• '•• ....... •.'. .. • • • • • .. • •• • •• • • 7
Relations Between Language and Wri, ting........................ 8
IV. READINESS ................. ••_ ;* • • • • • • • • • • • 9
V. THE USE OF BASIC READERS •••••••••,. ... • •• • • • •• ••• •• • • • • • •• • • • • • •• • • • 11
VI. THE BILINGUAL CHILD AND HIS READING VOCABULARy •••••••••••••••••••• 13
VII. PHONIC GENERALIZATIONS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l6a
Consonants __ ..... •. _••••••.•• -••••••••••• , .
Voiced and Voiceless Consonants ••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Double Consonants _, ,•••••••••
Vowel Sounds ••••••••••• '•••••••' '.••_••_•••••• a ••• •••• • _••
Short Vowels •••••••••••••••••••••• ~.~ •••••••••••• o •••••••
Long Vowels ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Functioning of Y as a Vowel ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Schwa Sound of the Vowel •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Generalizations About Exceptions ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Vowel- Consonant Combinations •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Diphthongs •••• '•••••••• _••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••,••••••
Vowel Sounds Not Governed by Generalizations .
Consonant Combinations ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Consonant Digraphs •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Consonant Blends ••••. § - _ e- _ •••• _••••_•• ..._•• -•• e, ••
Spellings Standing for Consonants ••••••••••••••••••••••••
l6a
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Syllabification ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 29
Vowel in Each Syllable ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 29
Double Consonants........................................ 29
Division Bet'Vleen VO'tvel and Consonants............ •••••••• 30
Consonant Digraphs and Blends •••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Single Consonant Preceded by Vowel ••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Division of Two Vowels ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Letter x ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Words Ending With le ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Prefixes and Suffixes 30
The Suffix ed ••••••• , ••••••••••••••••••• A~ ••••••••••••••• 30
Compound Words ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 30
Contractions ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•• 30
Syllables Ending in Vowels............................... 3l
Principles of Accent •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31
Syllables With Special Sounds 32
Prefixes and Suffixes ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33
Generalization About the Uses and Sounds of Suffixes •••••••••• 35
Generalization About Changes in Root Words Before Suffixes are
Added ••• • '• ., ..... '. '.... e,".......,..... ••• , • tt •••••' ••• '•• ................ '. 36
1. Words of One Syllable Ending With a Vowel •••••••••••• 36
2. Words Ending With i or ~•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 36
3. Accented Syllables ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 36
4. Words Ending With Silent ~••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 36
5. One Syllable Words Ending With ~ Before £ or £ •..•..• 36
6. Words Ending With Two Vowels ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 37
7. Words Ending With y. Preceded by a Consonant •••••••••• 37
8. Adding Suffix Beginning With f....................... 37
VIII. YOUR UPPER GRADE BILINGUAL STUDENT •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 38
Lang'llage Performance •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• '. • • •• •• • • • • • 40
Reading Skills 0: ••••• • ' • ....... ,.. • • • • • •• • • • •• • • • • • 42
Guided Silent Reading ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 45
Factual Questions •••••••••••••••• ~.~ ••••• ~.~ ••••••••••••• 46
Inference Questions •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 46
Vocabulary Questi · ,) us ••• t................................. 46
Organizational Qu'~ stions................................. 46
Sequence Questions ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 47
Understanding Main Ideas ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 48
Understanding Fig~ rative Language •••••••••••••••••••••••• 48
Appreciating Good Description•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 48
Understanding an Author's Purpose and Attitude ••••••••••• 48
Sounds in English ••••••••• o ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 49
Consonant Blends,. o~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• _. 49
Vowel Sounds •• « ~ •• it & •••••• It •••••••••••, ••••' • • • • • 50
Word Analysis .................................... •.••• •••••• •-. •• •• SO
Rules for Syllabication•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 50
1. Between Double Consonants....................... 50
2. Vowel Followed by Double Consonant •••••••••••••• 50
3. Consonant Blends •••••••••••••• '" '" •.• • • • •• 51
4. Words Ending in le.............................. 51
5. Words With Roots Added •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 51
Use of Dictionary••••••••••••••••• ~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 51
Different Types of Reading Materials •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 52
Short Stories -.. • • •• • . • • • • • •. • • .. • • . • • • • 52
Non- fiction •••••••• '" •.••••••••• '" •• '" •••• '" • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • $ 3
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BIBLIOGM. PHY••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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FOREWORD
It gives me great pleasure to offer the following comments on the improvement
of reading to those who will open this bulletin, Teaching Reading to the Bilingual
Child. You certainly are involved in one of the most important tasks of today ­teaching
bilingual children to read.
Every child, regardless of race, color, creed, has the right to be taught
correctly the mastery of reading. Reading, the foundation which underlies know­ledge,
should have first importance in our schools. If a child does not read with
good comprehension and with some rapidity - by the time he or she enters the fourth
~ r fifth grade, that student suffers as though he or she were mentally handicapped.
The mastery of geography, history, arithmetic as well as other subjects is im­possible
unless the child is able to read. Also the personality of the student is
adversely affected When he is unable to read.
The constant~ v changing scope and changing nature of the problems which face
citizens today and in the future, plus the mounting responsibility of individuals
in political and social affairs necessitate the finest type of quality education
for American students. Solid courses, subject matter, the " Three Rls" must be
strengthened. In addition, understanding our fellow man, has never been more im­portant.
Thomas Jefferson once said, " A nat; ion which expects to be ignorant and
free expects what has never been and what can never be. A constitutional Republic
cannot exist without a citizenry ' t17hich can read. n
In the light of the above statements the ability to read - with facility,
clarity, precision, and understanding assumes greater importance than ever before
in the history of man- kind.
Today, technology promises a world without disease, without poverty, without
ignorance. Industry, in an ever increasing degree, is educating her workers; how­ever,
this development does not lessen the great role of our schools. Our schools
cannot begin to educate in detail, even the interested students in one - much less
- several of these technological areas; however, our schools can and must produce
good readers.
In closing I would like to express my appreciation for the long dedicated
years Mrs. Sizemore has devoted to the teaching of reading. This bulletin should
be a tribute to her and those who follow her footsteps, - those tireless workers
who ever seek to better the process of teaching children to read should receive
much praise and gratitude.
HON. SARAH FOLSOM
Member of the Arizona State Board of Education
A WORD TO TEACHERS
TEACHING READING TO THE : BILINGUAL CHILD was written in an effort to share with
the teachers of Arizona some of the newer approaches in second language learning as
applied to reading instruction. There is a trend in our state for entire schools
as well as individual teachers to experiment with less traditional methods of organ­ization
and materials in the teaching of reading to bilingual students. Through
experience it has been found that administrators and teachers alike need guidance
in trying these newer approaches.
Bilingual students are found in large public school systems) where they may be
a minority of the student population. Then there are public schools where more
than ninety percent of the school population comes from homes where English is not
the native language. In addition there are Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, and
Mission Schools where all of the students are American Indians. It is felt by the
Arizona Division of Indian Education that they are fortunate in having the oppor­tunity
to work with such a wide range of students learning to read English as a
second language.
The problems of introducing new programs cannot be minimized; nor on the other
hand, that change presents too many difficulties to be practical. New instructional
approaches have been stimulated by new scientific advances and new approaches to old
problems. More demanding standards and added content in our fast moving Space Age,
have made it more necessary for teachers and students alike to be provided with the
skills needed in order to achieve.
It takes more than gathering materials to write a ~ lletin on reading. It is)
in a way, a culmination of many individuals' professional experiences. In prepar­ing
a publication) such as this, thanks and acknowledgement must go not only to the
many teachers who have contributed to the content of t~ e book, but also to those who
have shared their knowledge and experience in the field of bilingual education.
In considering any of the approaches offered in this bulletin, remember,
that suggested techniques and organizations, like sample lesson plans, are merely
structures from ~ hich to deviate. Each reader should look at the suggestions and
say) " How can I adapt~. not adopt, this to best meet the needs of my students?"
Change is disturbing to many teachers. Even with the best of intent and pre­paration
it is difficult to effect change. The purpose of this bulletin is to help
teachers to evaluate their present reading programs and to introduce newer approach~
to second language learning, always) with the reservation that little is entirely
new. Also what works for some may not work for others, and that many times a gener­ation
may pass before a program can truly be evaluated with our Mexican- American
and American- Indian students.
MAMIE S'IZEMORE
CLASSROOM SPEC'! AL] ST
DI: Vts! ON OF! NDlAN EDUCATION
STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBL? ICINSTRUCTI~ N
TEACHING READING TO THE BILINGUAL CHILD
I SCOPE OF PROBLEM
It has been estimated that twenty- five percent of the school population of
the United States is bilingual. The five southwestern states of Texas) New Mexico)
Arizona) Colorado, and California were reported to have over 3,000) 000 Spanish­speaking
people in 1960. In addition here in the state of Arizona we have almost
100,000 American Indians. The melting pot of the United States indeed possesses
many children entering school with little or no knowledge of English. These are
the children who will be referred to in this bulletin as bi. lingual.
Effects of Childhood Bilingualism
Is this phenomenon of bilingualism a curse or a blessing? The question has
captured the attention of governmental officials) school administrators, teachers)
educational psychologists, anthropologists) sociologists, political scientists,
linguists) speech correctionists, and personnel studying child development.
By demanding the use of the English language, as the medium of instruction,
American elementary schools force upon a large number of children the problem of
bilingualism. Many observers and investigators conclude that childhood bilingual­ism,
forced or voluntary, results in many disadvantages. Handicaps may accrue to
the individual in his:
a. speech development
b. overall language development
c. intellectual and educational progress
d. emotional stability
( This is not a bulletin on language teaching but is specifically written to
deal with the teaching of reading to the bilingual child. However, no dis­cussion
of reading can eliminate the other communication skills and their
se~ uenti¥ l ~ eve[ opment.)
Faulty articulati, on and inappropriate pronunciation may be developed in sec­ond
language learning. Numerous substitutions will be made of English sounds
which other languages do not have, or vice versa. The child tends to carryover
habits from his mother tongue. Many times these variations do not tend to decrease
with age or skill, for the early influence of the student's native language is too
strong.
Much literature, and some educators, assert that the bilingual will encounter
numerous problems in language development. This is not only in the foreign lan­guage
being learned, in this case English, but also in his native language. ( For
a more complete discussion on secohd language learning see: A N~ w Appro? sh to
Second Language Learning: Arizona State Dept. of Public Instruction, 1~ 62.)
A number of authors assert that the bilingual child may become handicapped in
his intellectual development ~ Tending to think in Qne language and speak in an­other,
he may become mentally uncertain and confused. However, on the other hand
bilinguals may develop more flexibi. 1ity in thinking. They generally switch from
one language to another sometimes trying to solve a problem while thinking in one
language and then) when blocked) switching to the other. Thi. s habit might make
1
them in thinking, as a whole, more prone to drop one hypothesis or concept and try
another. Monolinguals might be more rigid in this respect.
One of the greatest disadvantages of childhood bilingualism, of interest to
teachers, is that the child will suffer retardation in his education progress. He
may become handicapped in reading and studying in general, and in specific sub­jects.
His interest, initiative, and responsiveness in class may decline, and he
may develop an inadequate adjustment to school and education in general, which in
turn may result in his prematurely dropping out of school.
It is well for teachers to realize that the bilingual child may develop ser­ious
emot: i. onal instability and social maladjustment. His frustrations arising
from his ineffectiveness as a communicator, and ridicule and teasing which society
may direct at him may be very damaging to him, particularly if he is a weak person­ality
to begin with. Losing his self- confidence and sense of security, he may de­velop
extreme introversion and shyness, or he may become very aggressive and anti­social.
Much of the emotional stress and tension will center in the family. After
being exposed to a second language in school, the child may develop a sense of
shame and guilt regarding the language of his family and may direct this into a
feeling of arrogance, contempt, hatred, rejection, and avoidance toward his parents.
The mother, who usually retains the native tongue longer than the father, loses the
ability to communicate easily with the children, and may lose the enjoyment of hav­ing
children. When a younster is forced to use a second language and forget his
mother tongue, it is tearing up his emotional roots and disrupting his innermost
stability.
The mother tongue is so intricately connected to the child's first impres­sions
of his world that it presumably never entirely vanishes from the unconscious.
In this area of emotional adjustme11t, as in the areas of speech and language de­velopment,
and intellectual and educational progress, the evidence, with exceptions,
suggests that boys suffer more than girls.
Certainly we expect Indian and Mexican- American children in Arizona schools to
learn to speak, read and write the English language. Yet, if this is made too im­portant
a goal per se, an objective to be obtained at the price of a violent break
with everything in the past, the result is bound to be disruptive, since the need­ful
continuity of life and its relationships will have been destroyed.
Biculturism
It has been found Indian Americans frequently acquire our technology, including
our verbiage, without having either absorbed or even become aware of our values,
which put curbs upon our love of g$. dgets, our " materialism." ( While such generali..
zations apply to Indian Americans as a whole, there are cultural differences within
each tribe of which account needs be taken.) Their own cultures having been largely
demolished, however, they do not integrate themselves with ours save on the most
mechanistic levels. They gain fro: l1 us only the externals, the " objective" parts of
our culture, without its total fabrIc. Hence, in effect, they have for a time at
least no culture at all. And a pe0ple without a culture is in the same desperately
isolated straits as an individual who has lost his memory.
Teachers t Understanding of the Bilingual flli1d I S Background
Competent educators know that most intelligence and achievement tests, if not
all, are unfair to bilingual students. Such children have had little opportunity to
become familiar with the topics dealt with on these tests. Their parents many times
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do not speak English in the home. Although the child may have a rich background
of experience in his own culture, he may still be handicapped in solving the aca­demic
problems that compose most standardized tests.
If we accept this viewpoint, that the student's limitations relate to cultural
and language rather than to intelligence, we will realize that the responsibility
of the school is increased for these children. The school must not only bear the
responsibility of academic instruction, but also must assume the role of prOViding
certain experiences that the home normally bears.
The problem of assuring a successful school career for our bilingual students
becomes one of designing more effective school programs to meet their unique needs.
Most teachers, of our Indian and Mexican- American children, have experiential
backgrounds quite different from their pupils. Often the teacher must modify his
ideas before he can help these children. Much useful knowledge can be gained from
the fields of linguistics, sociology, anthropology, and child psychology.
It has often been stated that the child who speaks a foreign language in the
home and community is at a distinct disadvantage when he enters school and must
learn to read and to speak English. It is both easy and dangerous to generalize
, from this statement. Obviously, the child is at a disadvantage when he is compared
to children who have spoken English and have no other language. But the greatest
handicap which the child faces is not the foreign language itself, but the level of
that language as it is spoken in the home. If the parents are educated and com­municative,
the foreign language may give the child a distinct advantage in learn­ing
to acquire word meanings in English. In fact, this child may experience less
difficulty than the English- speaking child who comes from a language- impoverished
home and community.
II PRIMARY READING
Learning to read one's own native language and learning to read English as a
foreign language are very different matters. In teaching students to read their
own native language, one assumes that the student already can speak and understand
their language. They have already learned to produce and to respond to the signals
of their language as these signals come to them through the ear. For them to learn
to read, it is simply necessary for them to learn to respond to the signals that
formerly came to them through sound. The language signals themselves are the same
for both talking and reading. It is the medium through which the signals come that
is different. !!!! is accomplished by patterns of sound symbols through the ear;
reading is accomplished by patterns of written symbols through the eye. To learn
to read one's native language, it is the process of reading itself that must be
. learned, not the language. A person who cannot produce these sounds cannot get the
message of a piece of alphabetic writing. If the bilingual child has not learned
to utter the speech sounds of English, the only sensible course is to postpone
reading until he has learned to speak the language well enough to handle the
written material presented. Trying to teach reading of the secopd language before
learning to speak it is, to say the least, putting the cart before the horse.
To the linguist there is only one language, and that is the spoken and heard
language. The basic building block in the structure of language is called the
PHONEME-- a single speech sound. A phoneme is a significant speech sound which
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makes a difference in meaning. For example, the English words rip and lli are
distinguished only by the first consonant which we must recognize in order to
obtain meaning. What the phoneme is to the spoken language, the GRAPHEME is to
writing. A grapheme is the " a" in " mate." The " a" in " father" would be a dif­ferent
phoneme, as would be the " a" in " hat." But all would be represented by the
grapheme " a."
The basic sound- signalling system of English consists of forty- five units
called phonemes: nine vowels, three semi- vowels ( y, h, w,) twenty- one consonants,
four degrees of pitch, four degrees of loudness or stress, and four kinds of
juncture. In any utterance, the pattern consists in the arrangements of these
meaningless building blocks in combinations that have meaning. The phonemes are
the minimal sound units which occur in the language and make differences in mean­ing.
They appear in speech as parts of larger organizati. ons. Phonemes are put
together into morphemes, and morphemes into patterns of syntax.
All linguists emphasize the fact that speech is the primary form of language
and underlies all writing. It is generally conceded that the development of com­petence
in spoken language should run ahead of the development of competence in
reading and writing at the primary level. At least in the primary grades, language
patterns should be learned in the spoken language before they are introduced in the
pri. nted form. ( An hypothesiS which is as yet untested i. s in a sense the reverse
of this; when chi. ldren have mastered certai. n language patterns in their speaking,
these patterns can begin to appear in the materials designed for teaching them to
read.) In the discussion of the nature of the reading process, you will see why
teachers of students learning English as a second language must tie all reading
and writing to oral speech.
The Nature of the Reading Process
To learn to read one's native language, it is the process of the reading it­self
that must be learned, not the language. Bilingual students need to respond
to the new language signals of English as these signals come to them through the
ear. In addition they must learn to respond to the written sllapes of the language.
We must remember that the signals that constitute a language are, first of al~
patterns of vocal sounds. These patterns of vocal sounds are primary. For readin&
man has invented various types of graphic representations of these patterns of
vocal sounds. The patterns of graphic ( written) representation are secondary.
These secondary representatiQns used for reading contain less of tqe language sig­nals
than do the primary repr8sentations-- the vocal sounds. In grapllic representa­tions
there are left out such language signals as intonation and stress, and pause.
A large part of learning to read is to supply rapidly and automatically the por­tions
of the sound system that are not represented in the graphic signs.
Linggistics and the Teaching of Reading
Space does not allow more than a brief discussion of the importance of certain
aspects of linguistics in the field of beginning reading. As time goes on it may
well be that the contributions of linguistics to the reading program will become
as valuable as they have to the teaching of a second language. It may help us to
achieve our goal of the prevention rather than the remediati. on of reading problems
with the bilingual child as well as with the English speaking child. As we go into
this discussion of the relationship of linguistics to reading, we must realize that
meaning is not derived directly from the printed symbol ( or word) but rather from
the printed symbol put back into speech, either vocal or sub- vocal.
4
Linguists would advocate, that the Mexican- Americ~ nor Indian child co~ ing to
school. not speaking English, must have mastered certaLn language patterns Ln
their ~ peaking of English before these patterns can appear in their reading ma­terial.
You will see the importance of this statement as you read through the
nature of the reading process in a first language.
Linguists do not quarrel with the assertions given by reading experts con­cerning
the need to make careful provisions for " the cultivation of a whole array
of techniques involved in understanding, thinking, reflecting, imagining, judging,
evaluating, analyzing, reasoning, and in making emotional and social judgements."
These techniques of thinking, and evaluating do not constitute the reading process.
The abilities enumerated above are all abilities that are and must be developed
through the uses of language. Everyone of the abilities could be developed and
has been achieved by persons who could not read. They are all matters of the uses
of language and are not limited to the use of reading. For the sake of simplicity,
linguists many times use such technical language that we are lost after the first
three sentences; we will assume that the first grade student has learned enough
English so that he can report satisfactorily, ask questions, and make requests
within the range of his social- cultural experiences. ~ fuat precisely must such a
child learn, in addition to his understanding and producing " talk" in order to
" read" materials taat also lie within the range of his second language learning,
and social- cultural experiences?
Simply responding to graphic ( written) signs by uttering certain sounds is not
" reading." You cannot say a child is talking when he repeats after you the sound
patterns in da- dy or ba- by. " To talk" the sound patterns must have all the features
of " some language signal working through a language code to elicit a meaningful
response." " Reading" is the response to graphic signals and must have all the
features of some language signal operating in a language code, eliciting a meaning­ful
response. IIWord- calling" ( word pronouncing) without the meaningful responses
of the patterns that make the language signals of a code is neither reading nor
talking. This view is in opposition to that expressed in Why Johnnx Can't Read,
and What You Can Do About It, by Rudolf Flesch:
" Many years ago, when I 1' 1aS about fifteen, I took a semester's
course in Czech; I have since forgotten everything about the
language itself, but I still remember how the letters are pro­nounced,
plus the simple rule that all words have the accent
on the first syllable. Armed with this knowledge, I once sur­prised
a native of Prague by reading aloud from a Czech news­paper.
1I0h, you know Czech?" he asked. IINo, I don't under­stand
a word of it," I answered. III can only read it."
To learn to read a language, that you can speak, you must transfer auditory
signals for language, to the new signs for the same language. During the " transfer
stage" of learning to read, the materials used should be based on the child's
speaking vocabulary. This is not the time to push the development of additional
language mastery as far as the written material is concerned. This stage of the
reading process can become very confusing if the body of language meanings and
language signals used is not limited to those already within the linguistic experi­ence
of the child.
The follOWing statement made by a weLL Known linguist will come as a surprise
to ~ any primary teach: rs: " The teaching of beginning reading must not be conceived
of Ln terms of impartLng knowledge. but in terms of_ opportunities for practice." We,
as adult reader, respond unconsciously to graphic features. This did not come about
by " nature" and had to be " learned." These habits of unconscious response have been
5
achieved by thousands of hours of practice or use.
In view of these facts, we do not hesitate to say that the rewards of the
first steps in reading should not be impressive growth in English vocabulary.
There are rewards, however, of many types. There is the great satisfaction of mas­tering
a skill in an orderly fashion. If an analogy will help here, we might say
the first steps in reading are like first steps in learning to drive an automobile.
Both skills have enormous attractions to the eager learner, for they are gateways
to many joys. The learning car- driver has these rewards in mind, but at the start
he is totally engrossed simply in the activity of learning to drive. At this stage
he has no thought of going anywhere. Learning to operate the automobile is inter­est
enough in itself, and so with reading. The reward of emulating the grownup,
for whom reading is obviously very important, is the long- range goal; but the skill
itself is reward and delight enough for the beginner.
Dr. Charles Carpenter Fries summarizes the above very concisely, in Linguis­tics
and ReadinB ( Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1963) page 132.
The first stage in learning the reading process is the
" transfer" stage. It is the period during which the
child is learning to transfer from auditory signs for
language si. gnals, which he has already learned, to a
set of visual signs for the same signals. This process
of transfer is not the learning of the language code or
of a new language code; it is not the learning of a new
or different set of language signals. It i. s not the
learning of new " words", or of new grammatical structures,
or of new meanings. These are all matters of the language
signals which he has on the whole already learned so well
that he is not conscious of their use. The first stage
is complete when within his narrow linguistic experience
the child can respond rapidly and accurately to the visual
patterns that represent the language signals, in this
limited field, as he does to the auditory patterns that
they replace.
The second stage covers the period during which the re­sponses
to the visual patterns become habits so auto­matic
that the graphic shapes themselves sink below the
threshold of attention, and the cumulative comprehension
of the meanings si. gnalled enable the reader to supply
those portions of the si. gnals which are not in the graphic
representation themselves.
The third stage begins when the reading process itself is
so automatic that the reading is used equally with or even
more than live language in the acquiring and developing of
experience-- when reading stimulates the vivid imaginative
realization of vicarious experience.
6
THE BILINGUAL STUDENT AND THE TEACHING OF PHONICS
Definition of Terms
Before starting this discussion it might be well to clarify the use of terms
many times erroneously used when talking and writing about the use of phonics in
the teaching of reading.
Phonics is used by teachers as one of the methods of helping students to
solve the problems presented by " newfl words by " sounding" the letters. It consists
primarily in attempting to match the individual letters by which a word is spelled
with the specific " sounds" " lhich letters " say."
Phonetics is a branch of physics that studies the native speech sounds and a
way in which they are produced by the vocal apparatus and received by the ear.
Phonetics is not concerned with the ways in which words are spelled ip English by
the traditional alphabet.
Phonemics is a set of techniques by which to
pecially in terms of distribution, the bundles of
the structural units that mark the word patterns.
language that alphabetic writing represents.
identify and to describe, es­sound
contrasts that constitute
It is the phonemes of the
An alphabet is a set of graphic shapes that can represent the separate vowel
and consonant phonemes of the language. All alphabets are phonemically based, and
the procedures of teaching the process of reading alphabetic writing must take into
consideration the essential fact of the structural base of alphabetic writing.
Reading is first of all, the mechanical skill of decoding, of turning the
printed symbols into the sounds which are language. Of course the reason we turn
the print into sound ( that is, ~) is to get at the meaning. We decode the
printed symbols in order to hear what they " say."
I Linguistics is not a teaching method, but a growing body of knowledge and
theory based on the scientific study of language.
English Sounds
First, the child learning English as a second language needs to learn to utter
English sound orally. He needs to learn to hear accurately and produce clearly the
vowel sounds that distinguish ~ from 1£, ~ from let, ~ from ~, . h!?! from
hat, ! 22! from iE.!!, ~ from caught, caught from~, and so on.
He needs also to learn to hear accurately and to pronounce clearly the con­sonant
sounds that distinguish pig from big, pig from pick, thank from sank, ~
from~, ~ from thing, place from plays-- these consonant sound distinctions,
and many more.
He needs to learn how to produce orally the diphthongs, as in fu, or !&' boy
or voice, now or sound. He needs to learn the consonant cluster, like the !!
cluster in~ ts, or the ~ cluster in speak, or the ~ cluster as the last sound
in helped. -
Most of all, the bilingual student needs to be helped to form habits of using
these sounds orally before being exposed to them in writing. He needs to make
their use automatic, so that he will never have to stop and think how they should
be pronounced.
7
Relation Between Language and Writing
From an extensive review of teachers' manuals for primary reading series, it
appears that a considerable amount of time and effort is expended in teaching chil­dren
to distinguish different sounds, meanings and grammatical forms. This seems
111, e a needless diversion from the central goal of teaching beginning reading to
the child that has an oral mastery of the materials being presented in written
form. The most reasonable thing would be to pr~ ceed directly to the essential mat­ter
of associating sequences of letters ' tnth sequences of sounds • This will be a
much slower process with the child that does not have adequate control of the sound
system and the grammatical structure of English. So you can'see, as stated above,
that you must postpone reading until your Indian and Mexican- American students have
mastered certain language patterns in speaking. Then these same patterns can
appear in the materials designed for teaching them to read.
After the " transfer" stage of learning to read, of course children lolill en­rich
their know'ledge of the language by enlarging their spoken and ' writing vocab­ularies.
The English speaking student ' tnll learn hundreds of new words and idioms
through their reading both in school and out. ( This is not always true ' tnth your
bilingual students where few have traveled Widely for pleasure and education,
fewer have reading materials at home, fewer have access to radio and television
programs, and many live in homes where very little English is spoken. It then
becomes necessary for the school to provide as many of these experiences as pos­sible.)
In the early stages of learning to read the purpose is not to add to the
child's stock of words. In fact, most preprimers and primers expressly avoid words
that are likely to be unfamiliar. This is in accord with the primary goal of
simply learning to read words that the student has in his speech.
In view of this it seems rather ' t'lasteful to spend time and effort " clarifying
the meanings" of words like, ~, that, g, he t ~, theY t ~, .! 2t !!, ~, etc.
The meanings of such words must be firmly and permanently established in the
child's mind and should be constantly reinforced by dozens of repetitions, in oral
English, every day.
Another activity that is important in teaching the child, whose native lan­guage
is not English, is the training given in " auditory perception." Teachers
should not confuse this activity with the process of learning to read. ( See the
comments of Dr. Fries above.)
Teachers must keep in mind at all times that ear training is extremely im­portant
in the teaching of any foreign language. Drill on proper articulation of
sounds is necessary, but ear training is even more fundamental. A student must
first hear a sound clearly before he can produce it. Concepts of quality, pitch,
and volume- originate in the hearing area of the brain. The tonal image is heard
mentally bafore it is actually produced by the voice. If this image is not exact,
the production of the sound will not be accurate.
It takes a much longer time than most teachers realize for a student to dis­tinguish
clearly the various sounds in a foreign language-- particularly if such
sounds do not exist in his o'tvu native language or are produced in a different way
from comparable sounds in his own language. For example, a beginning student of
English, whose native language is Spanish, is completely " deaf" to the difference
between the English vowel sounds in such words as bit and beat. The difference is
so clear to the English ear that it is hard to realize that anyone, regardless of
8
language background, should have difficulty in hearing it. Yet to the Spanish
speaking student £!! and ~ sound exactly alike. It will take this student
several months to hear any difference between the two words. After this, it will
take additional month~ before he can approximate the difference in his own speech.
Finally, if he is not checked continuously, he will slip back later and just not
bother to differentiate between the two sounds. Then when he starts reading this
will be an additional handicap to overcome.
You would, I am certain, agree that learning to read is more than just learn­ing
to tell " a" from lib" or learning what sound goes with what letter. Connecting
" squigglesll on paper with speech sounds is hard enough for the native speaker of
English. But now consider a student learning English as a second language, to
whom we hope the same " squiggles" will come to mean exactly what they would to a
good native reader. To summarize we can say, briefly, that experience and research
tell us that phonics ( as defined above) is effective with the student learning
English as a second language when it is taught functionally and related to oral
speech.
It seems probable that no one theory is adequate to explain all the learning
that takes place in the acquisition of skills and habits involved in the complex
process of learning to read. Accordingly, successful teachers no longer rely on
one specific method of teaching. Rather, the skilled teacher combines aspects from
a number of systems for learning to read, varying the method in relation to the
specific purpose back of the learning.
IV READINESS
An extensive review of books ( 1957- 1963) prepared for teachers wishing to
acquaint themselves with the modern phi10sphy and practices in the teaching of
reading was made by the staff of the Division of Indian Education of the Arizona
State Department of Public Instruction. The survey showed an almost 100 percent
disregard for techniques to be used in teaching the bilingual child to read. The
following is a quote from Fundamentals of Basic Reading Instruction, by Mildred A.
Dawson and Henry A. Bamman published by David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1963.
A child's language development does much to determine his
initial readiness for reading. How can he read sentences
if his spoken sentences are fragmentary or incorrectly
phrased? How can he follow the s~ quence of events in a
story if he cannot tell an experience of his Olin in good
sequence? How can he read English if he hears and speaks
a foreign language at home? It is important that a child's
spoken language be far advanced if he i$ going to be able to
read printed language. The so- called prerequisites for
learning to read involve the following aspects of l. anguages:
A wide listening and speaking vocabulary
Ability to speak in complete sentences
Ability to pronounce and enunciate words correctly
Ability to hear the differences and likenesses in
the sounds that make up spoken words
( M vs. n; d vs. t)
Ability to follow the sequence of ideas in a story
9
So you can see Why the immediate goal of instruction in the first grade, for
bilingual children, is to develop understanding and automatic control of oral
English. These children, of course, must ultimately gain proficiency in reading
and writing. The teacher should therefore make every effort to provide them, when
they are ready, with appropriate reading and lv. riting experiences.
They need a program of instruction in English as a second language that en­ables
them quickly to function adequately in the classroom with their peers and
that provides the foundation for further grovTth in the English language. The ex­periences
that are used for helping the child acquire this basic foundation should
be keyed to the regular classroom program.
The teacher will find that she cannot go far beyond the present in time, lo­cation,
or in her daily work with the children. If language is to be meaningful,
she must deal with what can be seen, touched, smelled," and tasted.
The period between hearing and speaking appears to be an important learning
stage and one not always appreciated as such. MUch language learning will have
actually taken place before newly learned ' tvords are spoken.
The commonly referred to " developmental feature" of readiness appears es­pecially
worth considering in relation to children's other language learning. It
is known, of course, that language content, however wisely selected and tactfully
presented, cannot go beyond the child's 0' t. J'n mental and emotional set. But because
it is not easy to know when the child is ready, there often appears to be a tend­ency
on the part of adults to carry this concept too far and to stand by for in­determinate
periods waiting for the child to speak. Often, all the child needs is
a little aid or encouragement. The teacher should be alert to the signals of the
child's readiness to try to speak, should be ready to help him with the best aids
and procedures at her command.
Second language learning is clearly allied with the child's total development.
There is evidence to support an emerging picture of young bilinguals, especially
our Indian students, as shy, unaggressive and unassertive. These characteristics
are not conducive to learning, and much less to expression in a new language. To
learn a second language one must have the capacity to take chances, be unafraid of
making mistakes, and find satisfaction in an expressive activity. The teacher
must incorporate ways of meeting such considerations in her basic planning.
There is considerable agreement that the child in his early school years is at
a favorable stage physiologically as well as emotionally for learning a second lan­guage.
Recognition of this fact should prompt the primary grade teacher to do not
less but more in her efforts to further language learning. First of all, and be­cause
of her greater freedom, she will maintain an all- encompassing approach to the
child who is a " learner" not only in language but in a whole cultural milieu.
From this basis she will purposely and thoughtfully make use of the language aids
that are proffered to her by the latest research in second language learning.
Even children learning to read in their native language may have difficulties
in the area of auditory discrimination ( the ability to hear the differences and
similarities in the sounds of various words) and may need supplementary experiences
after they enter first grade. Hearing and saying nursery rhymes and other simple
poems can be so guided that the pupils ~~ 11 begin to note both the alliteration
and the rhyming words in " Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater" and " Sing a Song of Sixpence."
Listening to rhymes and word sounds is not enough; the children should also have
many opportunities to enunciate them. It is as a child deliberately gets his
tongue and lips into position for making a desired sound that he becomes truly
10
aware of the sounds that constitute any particular word.
Introductory reading readiness books for the pupils' use abound in interesting
exercises that will help children become alert to the sounds that make up spoken
words. Teachers' manuals that acccmpany sets of readers give careful guidance in
the materials and methods that will best cultivate auditory discrimination in
children. Every teacher should avai. l herself of the helps that such manuals pro­vide.
Since many teachers, of bilingual children, do not fully understand auditory
discrimination and lvays to develop it;~ they must use manuals for this very funda­mental
aspect of reading skills.
Another important element in reading readiness is ~ aldis2~ Iim\ n~ tion, or
the ability to see the differences and likenesses in words. Many reading readiness
books have exercises in which a row of five objects has four that are just alike,
and one that is a little bigger or that faces the opposite way or that has a part
missing. The child then selects the one that is not like the other. Other be­ginning
workbooks have similar exercises that involve only letters or words, the
principle being that children should learn the kind of di, scrimination that reading
actually calls for. Here, too, teachers' manuals give helpful suggestions for
teaching children to develop visual discrimination.
For the child who has had meager contacts with readi. ng in his home, the
teacher should provide a rich readi, ng environment: a corner ' t'lith many intriguing
picture books; a bulletin board with announcements, posters and captioned pictures
that will arouse curiosity; a chalk- board that daily features committee listings
and plans, news stories dictated by the pupils, and other current notices. There
should be daily periods when she reads to the children. Here the teacher must pro­vide
abundantly what the home has failed to give.
Readiness for reading is an important factor not only at the first- grade level
but throughout all the grades. Just as children mayor may not be ready for read­ing
a pre- primer or primer, so they may, or may not be ready for a fourth or seventh
reader. The readiness of every student at each successive stage must be diagnosed,
and, if found wanting, must be carefully developed. As they advance through the
school program, children meet new words, encounter widened concepts of old words,
cope with more complex organization of materials, and develop new needs or purposes
in reading. Thus, in a very real sense, the child is always be~ inning and, there­fore,
always in need of readiness.
V THE USE OF BASIC READERS
In an Associated Press release in May 1963, Indian Commissioner Philteo Nash
made the following comments about educational materials provided for Indi~ n chil­dren
in our schools:
Nash has been critical of the " Dick and Jane" textbooks as educational
material for Indian children. He says these are oriented toward the
middle- class, suburban family accustomed to havi. ng a nice car. a nice
home, and living in a community with uniformed policemen and firemen...
can
" Indian reservation life is about as far from suburbia as one
on the average reservation," Nash sa. id in a. n interview.
The name Jane seldom is found on an Indian reservation. There
are some named Dick. But these Indian children, and 80 percent of those
11
in our Indian schools come from non- English speaking homes, need
materials related to their own daily occurrences.
" They are not accustomed to nice books, nice pictures, nice
homes and the tribal policemen do not wear nice uniforms.
" There are many wonderful Indian values, such as sharing,
that they should have available in material growing out of their
own experiences. They should have materials dealing with their
background, their traditions, and their heroes."
There is truth in Dr. Nash's comments. Too often, English has been taught
through readers which were imitation of those used in English speaking countries
to teach beginning English speaking children five or six years of age. Such
readers were socially and intellectually much too immature for non- English speak­ing
students by the time they knew enough of the new language to be ready for for­mal
reading. At the same time these readers were linguistically much too hard for
non- English speaking pupils who knew no English when they started to school~
English speaking six- year- old children have at that age already learned to use the
basic structural signals of the English language, and practically all of them have
used, for at least two or three years, only English for all their language needs.
These children do not need to have the basic English structures carefully arranged
for step to step learning.
lHth the growing national and international interest in the teaching of English
as a second language, publishers will be creating more material for the teaching of
English as a second language. In the meantime teachers will continue to use text­books
provided for all children in our schools. There are advantages and disad­vantages
to this procedure.
Children need the stimulation, support, and organized approach of a compre­hensive
and thorough reading program. Actual specific procedures for handling
materials in order to build up recognition responses to printed materials as repre­senting
the spoken words the children already have in their oral vocabulary, should
be the function of any set of basic readers.
Basal reading series offer teachers a planned and co- ordinated reading pro­gram.
It is not a hit and miss affair, Thus a basal reading program does not in­troduce
a skill and drop it. Rather, a good series, provides over the years for
gradual and continuous development of important readi. ng ski. lIs. The thing to re­member
is that you caD. n. ot fl.".: the child to the prognnn, but must fit the program to
the child.. Because all children grow at different rates, and are ready for par­ticular
learnings at different times, a well- planned program offers opportunities
for such learning on different occasions and in different settings.
Though basic readers have an important place in the reading program of a
modern school, they do not constitute all of the materials used in a full- scale
plan for reading activities, but Wust be supplemented by ma.~ y different materials.
Basal readers become, in most sch0~ ls, the course of studyiag in reading skills
for most grades-- but this should ce for the average student only. Slower learners
and faster learners must be provided with supplementary materials. A few examples
are given below of materials that will contribute to the developmental, recrea­tional)
and enrichment facets of a geed reading program:
12
Supplementary readers
The children's own wri. tings or dictated stories
Charts of various types
Newspapers and magazines
Picture dictionaries, dictionaries, and encyclopedias
Captions on film strips
A basic reading program must deal ~ nth both horizontal and vertical aspects
of child growth in the development of reading abilities. You may describe a basic
reading program horizontally in terms of activities planned for the first or the
fourth grade, but it must also be planned in terms of sequential, vertical organi­zation
for all grades.
THE BILINGUAL CHILD AND HIS READING VOCABULARY
By: Dr. L. S. Tireman
( From L. S. Tireman, " The Bilingual Child and His Reading Vocabulary," Elementary
English XXXII, No. 1 January 1955, 33- 35. This was reprinted in Readings on Read­ing
Instruction. Edited by Albert J. Harris-- David HcKay Company, Inc. New York
1963-- by permission of Mrs. L. S. Tireman and the National Council of Teachers of
English.)
Introduction
There is no magic formula to solve all the reading problems of non- English­speaking
children. They must master the same reading skills as the English- speak­ing
children master. The difference is that they must do so while learning a new
language. Almost anything that can be said about the reading habits of one group
applies also to the other. The principles of learning seem to be the same, but
they vary in the degree of application. Success for the teacher of these pupils
is compounded of an appreciation of their difficulties, a knOWledge of the lan­guage
and reading skills to be mastered, a vast amount of patience, and a real
liking for children.
The reading problems of most bilingual children arise, generally, from the
home situation. The economic status, the education of the parents, the general
cultural level, the emotional pattern, the health standards, mobility, rural or
urban reSidence, and the atti. tude toward the English language are interlocking
factors. The product of these factors is the child with whom we work.
A foreign culture background does not mean inferiority; it means difference;
in attitude of the parents toward the significance and value of education; in the
extent of personal sacrifices needed to send children to school; in willingness to
deprive oneself of the income he might receive if the child left school and went to
work. These items bear directly on the matter of reularity of attendance and the
age of dropping out of school and consequently on the child's reading ability.
Another difference is in the language of the home. The mother tongue-- the language
of the hearth-- is a dear possession. It carries tvith it intimate and cherished
memories and is the vehicle of customary communication. Consequently parents make
a real sacrifice when they give it up for another language in which they are less
13
comfortable and less secure. Indeed they will not relinquish the mother tongue
unless they are convinced that their children will profit from the increased oppor­tunity
to think and speak in the new language.
The economic status of the parents affects the reading situation of their
child, English- speaking or non- English- epeaking. It so happens that a large pro­portion
of the non- English- speaki~ gparents will fall in the low- income bracket
with a resulting meager environment. This situation affects directly the number
and kind of experiences the children have, the amount and kind of available read­ing
material, and the number of years the children can remain in school.
Because of the considerations mentioned, the average non- English- speaking
child will not perfect reading skills as quickly as the English- speaking child.
His difficulties will persist for many years both in easily recognized forms as
well as the more subtle ones. One of the most fundamental problems relates to the
matter of vocabulary. In its most readily recognized aspects this appears as a
lack of English words. In its more subtle aspects, it refers to the inability to
distinguish between shades of meaning as expressed by words. As is well known, we
do not get meaning from the printed word, we put meaning into the printed symbols.
The odd little characters, d- o- g, mean nothing at first. But through many and
varied experiences, both joyous and sad, the word becomes meaningful.
In any case, vocabulary growth is dependent upon experiences, real and syn­thetic.
If the home environment of the bilingual child provided only meager ex­periences,
the school must compensate by a rich and satisfying program. The col­lecting
and care of a science corner will make some words meaningful but otherwise
are empty. Anyone can learn the word ~, but meaning comes through observing
and studying them. The word Korea does not mean the same to me as it does to a
man who fought in Korea. -
The non- English- speaking child lives in a strange world where many words are
vague, indistinct, foggy, cloudy, and obscure. Is it any wonder that he is frus­trated
and emotionally disturbed? Here are samples:
blot -- IIWhere blood comell ( clot)
spool
habit
" A place where there is water" ( pool)
" We habit be quietll ( had better)
rack -- " When they go fast you rack ( wreck) the car"
won -- " The Indians have a wig- won"
task -- " They cut the tasks of the elephant"
bushel -- liThe name of a big bush"
climate -- " The natives climate ( climbed up) trees to get coconuts"
oyster -- IIA kind of bird in the zoo" ( ostrich)
run on the bank, run in a stocking, a home run, run a race, a run for your
money.
The cross- eyed bear ( the cross ltd bear)
14
If one examines these misconceptions, he finds many that are logical. You and
I make the same type of error when we speak in a foreign language. Example: That
famous salutation of one of our leading American politicians when he addressed an
audience south of the border " Senoras y caballos" ( The salutation " Senoras y
cala1leros" meaning " Ladies and gentlemen." The speaker confused the second word
which means horses.)
These are only the overt signs. The tragedy of the situation is that for
' every misconception we note there are dozens, and probably hundreds, that occur to
confuse the reader and we are not aware of them. We only know that the child fails
to comprehend and are irritated or sympathetic depending upon our own understanding
of the problem.
A teacher of bilingual- speaking children will find much meat in an experimental
study by Gray and Holmes. ( William S. Gray and Eleanor Holmes, The Development of
Meaning Vocabularies in Readi~ g, University of Chicago, 1938). Miss Holmes pre­sents
experimental evidence which shows conclusively that " specific guidance is of
relatively more value to pupils of limited initial achievement" than an indirect
method. By specific vocabulary instruction, Miss Holmes means ( 1) to form clear,
vivid associations between word meanings and their oral and written symbols;
( 2) to promote the meanings of words and phrases; and ( 3) to prOVide opportunity
for pupils to use the new words appropriately in either oral or written form.
Experienced teachers find some of the follOWing techniques to be especially
helpful:
1. tape recording
2. vocabulary notebooks in which all new words are listed, with
synonyms or definitions and sentences.
3. exercises in selecting accurate words to express meaning
4. listing words often confused
5. listing words with similar words to show differences in meaning
6. listing words with antonyms
7. listing descriptive words
8. dramatization with specific attention to choice of words
9. oral exercises with the specific intention of using the new
words to be studied
10. habitual use of the dictionary
This program takes much time. The teacher must decide which is more important
for the child-- to learn to pronounce mechanically a large number of meaningless
words or to use a smaller number with understanding. Many a social science lesson
in the upper grades is sterile because the teacher has followed the former practi, ce.
In the schools of Europe where bilin5ualism exists, it is a common custom to use the
content subjects for language instruction. For example: a history lesson may pro­vide
something to talk about in the language that is being learned. They feel that
it is rather purposeless to try to talk unless one has something to say.
15
The writer finds phonics and structural analysis useful for the English speak­ing
child who has an adequate oral vocabulary. For, as he analyzes the word, he
has the possibility of recognizing it through the ear. However, for the non- English
speaking child who has a limited oral vocabulary, these tools are less helpful. l
Accordingly, we recommend for the bilingual child the introduction of many ex­periences
to increase his meaningful vocabulary and in addition, a direct attack on
these words to fix them in his vocabulary.
In summary:
1. Meaning is attached to words by numerous and varied experiences.
2. If the home environment is meager, the school must compensate.
3. Experimental evidence supports the direct attack on vocabulary.
4. StIch a program should receive major attention in all subjects and in
all grades throughout the elementary school and probably in the secondary
school.
1. The author of this bulletin does not agree with this statement of Dr. Tireman's.
See comments on teaching of phonics above.
16
VII PHONIC GENERALIZATIONS
This section of the bulletin will review in detail the content of phonics, as
used in the teaching of reading. The resume; is presented in compact form so
teachers may use it as a quick reference. You will find many of the generaliza­tions
of limited value. Of course you should give careful attention to the many
exceptions to most of the generalizations. This resume' does not attempt to
answer the question of which generalizations primary children can apply in working
out the pronunciation of unknown words. The answer to this question will come
only through experimentation in your own classroom.
While not directly related to the teaching of reading to bilingual
students, the following review was made by Dr. Theodore Clymer, Professor
of Education at the University of Minnesota. He made a study of the
phonic generalizations taught in the primary grades in four widely used
sets of basic readers.
Five general types of generalizations emerged from the study of the
teachers' manuals. These types dealt With:
( 1) vowels
( 2) consonants
( 3) endings
( 4) syllabication
( 5) miscellaneous relationships
Arbitrary decisions were made in assigning some generalizations to one or
more of the five types. ( This you will find the case in the following outline of
the content of phonics.)
After elimination was made of the miscellaneous types of generalizations, a
total of one hundred twenty- one statements were located. Note was made of the wide
variations of grade level of introduction, emphasis, and phrasing of the generali­zations.
Of the fifty different vowel generalizations, only eleven were common to
all four series. None of these eleven was presented initially at the same half­year
grade level in all four series. Some series gave a much greater emphasis to
the generalizations than did other series. One series introduced only thirty- three
of the one hundred twenty- one generalizations, While another presented sixty- eight.
These comments were not made to detract from the usefulness of basic materials,
but simply to point out their differen~. These differences call for careful ad­justment
in the classroom when pupils are moved from one set of materials to an­other.
Teachers who change from Series A to Series B may need to make some im­portant
revisions in their word recognition programs.
CONSONANTS
The simplest way to identify the consonants is to state that they are all the
letters in the alphabet with the exception of the vowels. Consonants are relatively
consistent in the sounds they produce as compared with vowels. You will find this
is true of b, d, f, h, j, k, 1, m, n, p, r, t, v, w, yand z, which nearly always
records the sounds heard in the initial sound of the following words:
16- A
be
do
* four
home
jam
kite
late
man
not
pay
room
** time
very
we
yes
*
In 2£, f has the sound of v.
** The consonant! usually has the sound of £ h ( tsh) when it comes before ~
as in picture.
*** The consonant ~ may also have the sound of s or ! h in words like waltz and
azure.
B
1. When Efollows min the same syllable it is silent:
climb dumb
2. When k comes before! in a syllable it is silent:
debt
H
doubt
1. Sometimes h is silent at the first of a word:
heir hour
( One authority states: If a word starting with h was absorbed from the
Latin, the h is sounded; if from the Old French It is silent.)
2. When h is preceded by S at the beginning of a word it is silent:
ghost ghastly
3. When h is preceded by ~ at the beginning of a word it is silent:
khaki khan
4. When h is preceded by £ at the beginning of a word it is silent:
rhubarb
K
rhyme
1. If ~ is the initial letter in a word and followed by ~ the ~ is silent:
knife
17
know
2. In some words the silent ~ helps to distinguish between homonyms:
nit - knit night - knight not - knot
L
nap - knap new - knew
1. You will find that! is sometimes silent when it precedes another
consonant in the same syllable:
Psalm
N
folk
1. When n follows m in the same syllable it is silent:
column condemn
2. In words of more than one syllable, the consonant n at the end of a
syllable often has the sound of ~ when it comes just before ~ or ~:
finger
P
wrinkle
1. If £ is the initial letter in a word and is followed by ~ it is silent:
psychic
T
psalm
1. When! precedes ch in a syllable it is silent:
match ditch
2. The letter! is sometimes silent when it follows ~:
glisten
w
listen
1. ~ is a tricky letter in that it is sometimes silent when in a syllable
with Eo.
show bowl
( Context clues and word meaning can be used here.)
C
The consonant c has no real sound of i. ts own. Its two sounds are
associated with other letters.
1. One of the sounds is called the soft sound and is usually associated with
the letter ~.
When c is followed by!:., !,
center
or X it usually has the soft sound.
cider cymbal
18
2. When c is followed by letters other than e, i or X, or is the final
letter in a syllable, it usually has the hard sound:
cat pact
x
arc
Another letter that lacks a distinct sound of its own is ~
1. In technical words ~ sometimes records the sound associated with the
letter !:
xylophone xylidine
2. One of the commonly recorded sounds of ~ is represented by the letter
combination of ks:
fix ax
3. When ~ is followed by a vowel or a silent h, you will find it has the
sound represented by the letter combination~:
exercise
G
exhibtt
The letter g has a " soft" and hard sound. The following is usually true:
1. The sound of g is soft when it is followed in a syllable by ~, 1, or X:
gesture giant gym
2. If ~ is the final letter in a syllable or is followed in the syllable
by any other letter than ~, 1 or x, it has the " hard" sound.
gable ghost pig
3. The letter ~ can also be a Silent letter. The most common instance is
when g is followed by ~ in a syllable:
gnaw
D
reign
The letter ~ records three sounds:
1. Its usual sound is hard in words like:
doll do
2. When the consonant sound preceding d in a syllable is that of a voiceless
consonant ( s, k, t, p) the letter - d~ ounds like - t
helped missed
19
looked puffed
3. The ~ sometimes has the sound of i as in:
soldier
S
The letter s also has more than one sound:
1. The most common sound of s is found in see ( voiceless) when it is at
the beginning of a word or a syllable:
see insist
2. The consonant ~ usually has the sound of ~ in see ( voiceless) when it
is the first sound in a group of consonants. ( The digraph ! h is an
exception.)
rest mask
3. If the consonant s comes iust before ure in a word it may have the sound
of sh ( voiceless)- or zh (; oiced). ( It may also have the sound of sh or
! h in such words as sugar, usual, and tissue.)
Measure sure pleasure
4. The other sound of s is heard in such words as:
heads
Voiced and Voiceless Consonants
wags pads
In his technical analysis of sounds the phonetician refers to certain of the
consonants as being voiced; to others as being unvoiced or voiceless. Such a
classification is based on the state of the vocal cords when these consonants are
pronounced. When the voiced consonants are sounded, the vocal cords are drawn to­gether
and they vibrate ( d, z, g, v, and b). On the other hand, when the voiceless
consonants are sounded ( s, k, f and p) the vocal cords remain open and are silent.
Double Consonants
When words contain a double consonant, only one of the letters is sounded, the
other is silent. ( In multisyllable words the consonant sounded is usually the one
in the accented syllable as in com/- mu - nist.)
Short Vowels
v V Y v u
a, e, 1, 0, u.
stiff stress
VOWL somms
hopping
The following generalizations are based on the syllable as the unit of pro­nunciation
20
1. If there is only one vowel in a syllable, and it does not came at the
end of the syllable, it is usually short.
cat pet pig mop nut
2. When a syllable ends in ~ or dge, the preceding vowel is usually short.
Another way of stating this in a more general way is to say that in words of
one syllable having vowels separated by more than two consonants the first
vowel is usually short:
badge fence fringe dodge fudge
3. l~ en a syllable ends in~, the ou assumes the sound of short ~_
jealous dangerous callous
4. When a comes after w in words of one syllable it usually has the sound
- ' oJ of short o. This is true unless 11 or r comes just after it:
wad was wand want
5. If the spelling ie ends words of more than one syllable, you usually
hear the sound of short i:
Long Vowels
a, e, i, 0, u.
prairie brownie cookie
The long vowel sounds are those heard in the initial part of age, eat, ice,
open and use. The following generalizations should be gi, ven special emphasis
in phonics instruction:
1. If there is only one vowel in a syllable, and it comes at the end of the
syllable, it is usually long. This is especially true of ~, 2, and 1-
she solo my
2. When words of one syllable contain two or more vowels the first vowel is
usually long. All other vowels are silent. The vowels may have one or
more consonants between them or they may be together. ( Note: You will
find that when u is the first of one or more vowels in a word it will
sometimes have Its long sound or the sound of 00 as in .2£.
( Example: d1,1e)
rain meat pie rope cube
3. In line with the above generalization some teachers like to develop an­other
generalization. This applies to words of one syllable containing
two vowels, the second of which is the final ~; the first vowel is usually
long and the final ~ is silent:
take Pete
21
pine pole tube
4. In words of one syllable when .2 comes before ld and !!!!! at the end of the
word, it usually has the long sound. ( In line with this when!!!!! is at the
end of words of one syllable, the ~ is silent):
mold told comb
5. ( a) At the end of a word when 0 comes before two consonants it usually
has the sound of .2 as in song.-
( b) However, it may also have the sound of .2 as in post and ~.
6. In a syllable where ld, nd, or gh is preceded by i it usually has the
long sound:
wild find sight
7. When the spelling ~ is found at the end of words of one syllable it
usually has the sound of long ~:
prey they whey
8. When ei appears together in a syllable and is not preceded by E, it
sometimes assumes the sound of long ~:
freight vein weight
9. If the letter combination ie is found within a syllable the i will some­times
be silent and the e will have a long sound:
field chief piece
10. When the spelling ! X comes at the end of a word or syllable it frequently
has the sound of long ~:
say saying pay payment may maybe
11. The long sounds of u or a are usually found for the spelling ~:
beau beautiful
12. One unusual sound in English is for the spelling of eigh. It is usually
heard as the sound of long ~.
eight
Functioning of Y as a Vowel
weight
The letter 1 records its consonant sound as heard in the initial part of
words like ~ and year. Teachers of reading also need to teach students that
: t. in many instances records sounds associated with the vowels.
1. If the spelling ~, ~, and yare found at the end of one syllable words
they usually have the sound of long i:
dye buy
22
try
2. When multisyllabic words end in ~ its sound usually approaches the
long sound of .!:
merry quietly heavy
( Many teachers' manuals for basal readers give this final sound as short !.
When used in sentences such as, " The baby bird could not fly," the final
sound is de- emphasized and is like the sound of short!. However, when
words such as merry or baby are pronounced alone their final sound approaches
the long sound of .!.) --
merry quietly heavy
3. In other instances ~ will assume the sound of short !:
myth
The Schwa Sound Of The Vowels
system lymph
The use of the schwa~ as a symbol for both the unstressed and stressed vowel
is rapidly increasing. Over time, the sounds of vowels in unaccented syllables
have been de- emphasized and in most instances, they have shifted to the schwa
sound. Probably the best way to describe the schwa sound is to say it is very much
like an unstressed short u sound, and it is heard in such words as:
about taken im.! tate button column
Occurring with less frequency is the shift of vowel sounds, again in unac­cented
syllables, to the sound of a short i ( debate, baggage). Although of less
importance, because it occurs less frequently,- this change too should be noted in
phonics instruction. Otherwise, when attention is not given to emphasized vowel
sounds, the pronunciation of words resulting from phonic analysis can be very arti­ficial.
In some instances, the pronunciation might be so sufficiently artifical
that the child fails to recognize the word as one that is already a part of his
listening or speaking vocabulary.
GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT EXCEPTIONS
Generalizations about vowel sounds do not always " workll in the analysis of an
unknown word.
1. If a comes before 11 or lk in a word, it will, most of the time, have the - '" -- sound of 0 as in !!!.
walk talk ball fall
2. Usually the spellings ~ and ~ have the sound of S as in caught and ~.
sauce
Vowel- Consonant Combinations
caw pauper awful
As mentioned in the generalizations above, there are some consonants that
affect the sound of vowels. They are !., ~ and 1.
23
1. Usually the spelling ., 2£ has the sound of the ~ as in for. The excep ·
tions to this are when it has ~ just before it or the letter ~ right after
it.
nor cork corner doctor
2. If or is preceded by ~ it usually has the sound of the ur as in~:
work word worm worship
3. The student will have to use word meaning and content clues for deciding
which vowel sound to use when the spelling .2! has ~ after it at the end
of a word or syllable.
a. The spelling or followed by e at the end of word or
syllable has the sound of ir- as in ~:
Examples: store, core
b. The same spelling ( or) also has the sound of or as in porch
and ~:
4. If the spelling ar is not preceded by ~ it usually has the sound of the
ar as in~: -
far darn bark harm
5. The spelling!! when it comes just before e at the end of a sentence has
the sound of !! as in..£!!!::
wares mares bare
6. Usually the spellings er, ir and ~ have the sound of ~ as in~:
merge mirth churn
7. If the spelling!! precedes ~ at the end of a word or a syllable it
usually has the sound of the 1£ in spire:
hire mire tire fire
8. If the spelling ur precedes e at the end of a word, it usually has the
sound as in the following words:
sure pure endure
9. In multisyllable words ending in the spellings !,!, ., 2£, !! or ~ they
usually have the sound of !,! in better:
scholar distemper reflector murmur
10. The spelling ~ may have one of three sounds:
cl!.!! bear
24
earthen
11. Usually the spelling!!! has the sound of ar as in rare:
lair flair
12. If you find the spelling ar, er, ir and or followed by another £ the
preceding vowel will usually have- rts short sound:
Diphthongs
sparrow derrick
For phonics, the most useful definition of a diphthong is that it refers to
the sound of a vowel combination, which is unlike the sound of either of the indi­vidual
vowels. Attention to diphthongs is important not only because of their par­ticular
sounds but because they function as a single vowel when phonic generali­zations
are being applied. For example: if two unfamiliar words were noise and
choice, the oi combination in each would function as a single vowel. As a result,
the £! would1have its diphthong sound, and the final ~ would be silent.
Another authority states this generalization as: A diphthong is a vowel, or a
group of vowels, that stands for two speech sounds in a one syllable word or in a
syllable:
1. oi - ( oil)
2. oy - ( toy)
3. ey - ( they)
4. ou - ( out)
5. ow - ( cow)
6. ew - ( few)
( In 5 and 6 of the above the w functions as a vowel. The spellings ~ and ow
may also have the sound of long ( 0) as in pour and know.)
VOWEL SOUNDS NOT GOVERNED BY GENERALIZATIONS
As stated before in the pronunciation of the vowel, or group of vowels, the
spelling cannot be covered by rules. The reader will have to use word meaning and
context clues to decide which vowel sound to use in certain words. ( This is very
difficult for the student learning English as a second language. This is why it is
so important for the student to have the word in his speaking vocabulary before
being exposed to it in print.)
1. In addition to the sounds of 0 as described above, it also may have the
sound of 00 as in do or the sound of u as in ~:
do 00 ­some
u
2. This is also true of the letter ~ which may sometimes have the sound of e
as in ! EX.
any -- many
3. In words ending in such endings as ~ and ice and the syllable is accented,
the vowel.! may have the sound of long ~:
ice police
ine Pauline
25
- ~ 4. The vowel .!! as has been explained above may have the sounds of: U, 00 t u.
Sometimes it will also be heard as 00 as in ~ ull •
full
...-
00
S. The spelling .22. usually will have the 00 sound as in pool or 00 in look.
In addition, the vowels .22. may have the sound of 0 as in ~ or of u as
in blo2&.
floor
flood
· · 0
-.. •• u
6. The spelling .2.!:! may have the sound as in shout. It also may have the
following sounds:
four
you
- o
/\ thought 0
cough
Tough
.&. o
....
u
7. The spelling ow may have the sound of .2!! as in cow; in addition it may
have the soundof ' 0 as in ! h2!: -
how · · ou
slow · · 0
8. Following the generalization that when two vowels come together in a one
syllable word, the first vowel is long and the other vowels are silent.
Example: £~. In addition the spelling ~ may have the sound of:
great
bread
• a
....,
.. e
9. The same applies to the spelling.!!. It may have the sound governed by
the basic rule as in seize. In addition the spelling !! may have the
following sounds:
veil
heifer
foreign
- e -- i
10. The spelling ~ may have two sounds as heard in:
pew • u
flew • - 00
26
11. The spelling ~ may have the following sounds:
die
friend
chief
cookie
i
... • e
- e
i ( When word is pronounced in isolation.)
CONSONANT COMBINATIONS
The teacher of reading will need to teach students two types of consonant
combinations. These are called consonant digraphs and consonant blends.
Consonant pigraphs
A digraEh according to the phonetician, is a combination of two letters that
has a sound unlike that of either of the individual letters. For the teacher of
reading, however, a better definition would be:
A consonant. digraEh is a group of two consonants forming a single speech sound
in a word or in a syllable:
sh ( she) ch ( chap)*
th ( thin) wh ( what)**
qu ( quiet) gh ( rough)
ck ( sack) gu ( guess)***
ng ( sing) ph ( phone)
* ch sometimes has the sound of ~ as in chord, or of .! h as in machine.
** ~ usually has the sound of h when E comes just after it, as in
~ and whole.
*** The digraph ~ may also have the sound of 2, as in ~.
Consonant Bl. en. ds
Other combinations of consonants appear in our language so frequently that,
even though the sound of each consonant is maintained, they are usually emphasized
together in the blending of two sounds and in a couple of instances three sounds.
They are thus referred to as consonant blends, and include:
bl . black 8m · smart
br - brought sn snail
cl - clue sp · as in spoon and wasp
cr cream st • as in stay and mist
27
dr .. dream sw - swing
dw .. dwarf tr ... tree
fl flee tw ... tweet
fr ... from sch ... like~. in school
gl glee scr - scratch
gr - grow spl - splash
pI - play spr - spring
pr - pray squ - squash
sc like s, as in str - string
scene
sc like sk, as in tch - watch
scalp
sk - as in skate and thr - three
task
sl slip
SEellings Standing for Consonants
In some words spellings stand for consonant sounds:
a. dse and . a! ( at end of word) have the sound of 1:
ledge budge
b. .!!:- when a word begins with this spelling, the w is silent and
the first sound in the word is the sound of E:-
write wrong wrap
c. ~ - .&! -- when a word begins with these spellings the .! and .&
are silent and the first sound in the word is the sound of ~:
knife gnaw
d. se - when a word ends with this spelling the ~ is silent and the
~ has the sound of either ~ or ;:
.! as in.!!! ; as in~.
e. uk - when a word ends in the spelling .!!! it will have the sound
- ik as in - bank:
think
28
spank
SYLlABIFICATION
Phonetic analysis of a totally unfamiliar word may begin by a division of the
word into syllables. ( A syllable is a single letter or a group of letters pro­nounced
as part of a word or it may be a whole word: hop, i- rate, tom- a- hawk.)
Once the division is made, each syllable may be analyzed, and then the syllable can
be blended into the word itself.
With a child learning English as a second language, generalizations about
sounds and about syllabification are most productive if the child has the word in
his spoken vocabulary. For example, if the child had the word tomahawk in his oral
vocabulary, then his skill in phonetic analysis, combined with his knowing the word
in its spoken form, would be sufficient to help him identify the word the first
time he encountered it in written form.
In the beginning the teacher will use monosyllabic words to illustrate various
points of phonic analysis. ( There are many words with only one syllable that the
child will encounter in reading.) However, with monosyllabic words you are unable
to demonstrate an essential characteristic of letter- sound generalizations about
the English language. For example, the three letter spelling combination of .!' .!,
and e usually Bounds as it does in care when these three letters are in the same
syllable of a word, but each has it~ Wn sound when they appear in different syl­lables
( a - re - na). Another example would be the letter combination!!. It has
a particular sound when it appears together ( aw - full, but each letter has its
own sound when appearing in separate syllables ( a - wake).
Vowel sounds in words are sometimes affected by the stress, or lack of stress,
placed on the syllable when it is pronounced. In words of two or more syllables,
one of them is usually accented. ( There will be a complete section on the use of
accent in this bulletin.)
How is the division of words made? Within the written form of words there are
certain visual clues that suggest correct syllabification. Statements about these
clues are generalizations that are very important for the teaching of the communi­cation
skills of listen1: ng, talking, reading and writing. These generalizations are
listed as follows:
1. Each syllable must have a sounded vowel; this may come from the spelling
combination of one or more vowels:
brisk
2. Double Consonants:
fee' ble chick en
a. If two consonants are found between two vowels, a syllable may
be made between the two consonants:
scar let ig" no rant
b. Words may be divided between double consonants. Usually only
one of the consonants is sounded and it is the one in the
accented syllable:
run' ner
3. Each syllable must have a vowel sound, so words may be divided between a
vowel and a consonant in order to place a vowel in each syllable. Usually
when dividing between a vowel and a consonant each new syllable will be­gin
with a consonant:
ba by sta ble elect
4. When consonant digraphs or consonant blends are found between two vowels
they usually are not divided, but remain in the same syllable:
a shamed ma chine se cret
5. If a single consonant is preceded and followed by vowels, the consonant
sound usually goes with the vowel following it:
elect be gin unite
6. Two vowels may be divided if they do not form one speech sound or a
diphthong:
( oi, oy, ey, ou, ow, ew):
su et ra di 0 di e tar y
7. When the letter x is preceded and followed by vowels, its sound usually
is in the same syllable as the preceding vowel:
tax i ox en ex it
8. If a word ends with Ie and is preceded by a consonant, that consonant
usually forms a syllable with the Ie:
ta ble crip pIe gar gle
9. You will find prefixes and suffixes generally form separate syllables;
un tie shoe less re do ing
10. The suffix~ needs a special generalization:
a. If preceded by ~ or ! it forms a separate syllable:
want ed cord ed
b. When ~ is not preceded by ~ or ! it does not form a separate
syllable:
worked banged
11. In pronouncing compound words ( playground) divide the word into syllables.
Then blend the sounds of the syllables together as you would in any word
of more than one syllable.
12. In pronouncing contractions ( don't, can't, etc.), look for a whole word
first, sound it and blend the sound, or sounds, of other letters in the
word.
30
13. When a syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel is usually long1 ba con.
( This is called an open syllable.) When the syllable ends in a consonant,
the vowel is usually short: af ter. ( This is called a closed syllable.)
PRINCIPLES OF ACCENT
Locating the syllables in a word that get special stress ( accent) is part of
the job involved in arriving at the correct pronunciation of the word. ( This is
especially important for the child learning to read English as a foreign language.)
Unfortunately this is a difficult task as the stress patterns of American English
words show as many variations as do the sounds of the letters. One authority
states, " There are even some words, such as detail and address, for which a pattern
has not yet been definitely established." In spite of these kinds of irregulari­ties,
the following generalizations regarding the location of accents are offered.
( Some knowledge of generalizations about accents can be helpful to the bilingual
in his reading. These are not infallible rules.)
1. When two like consonants follow the first vowel, it usually means an ac­cented
first syllable, and a short vowel in that syllable.
Example: bon' net
2. When there are two like consonants before an ending or a suffix, there is
usually an accented final syllable of the root word, and there is a short
vowel sound in that syllable.
Example: 0 mit' ted
3. When there are two vowels in the last syllable of a word, usually the ac­cent
is on the final syllable and a long sound is in that syllable.
Example: a maze'"
4. In a word where there is a single consonant before an ending or a suffix,
the vowel usually has a schwa sound, in an unaccented final syllable, or
a long vowel sound and a dropped final " e" in an accented final syllable.
Example: or' bit ing in vi~ ed
.5. In the English language, words of three or more syllables usually are ac­cented
on one of the first two syllables.
Example: per' son al
6. In the inflected ( prefixes or suffixes) or derived forms, the primary
accent usually falls on or within the root word.
Example: rea" son able
7• In compound words, a common pattern of accent is a primary accent on or
within the first syllable and a secondS!! accent on or within the second
part.
Example: base" balr'
31
8. The grammatical function affects the pronunciation of certain words which
accounts for further variability in accented syllables.
a. He ~ 7as thought to be a rebel, but lvhen the time came he did not
rebel.
b. The £ 2ntent of the book was so interesting it left her feeling
content.
9. In words that end in . tion, xion, sion, the accent usually comes on the
next to the lant syllable.
Example: re jec~ tion su per vi" sion com pIex ' ion
SYLLABLES WITH SPECIAL SOUNDS
1. Special Sounds for ~.
a. The spelling lli. n usually has the sound ~ unless it follows the
sound of s in a word:
at ten tion dic tion ary
b. If the spelling tion comes after the sound of s in a word it
usually will have- t'he sound of chun.
di ges tion ques tion
2. When words have final syllables of ble, cle, kIa, tIe, you will find the
- e silent and the - 1 is the last sound in the word:
ta ble cy cle eack Ie bat tIe
3. In spellings such as: tial, tiou~, !!!£, tient, cious, eiate and cial, the
letters!! and £! usually have the sound of sh:
in i tial
ap pre ciate
am bi tious Ti tian
spe cial
pa tient con scious
4. In the spelling tain the ai usually has the sound of long a if the
syllable is accented. If~ he syllable is unaccented the spelling ai
will have a sound almost like that of short E, or the letters are silent:
re tain~ cur~ tain
s. When the accent falls on the syllable ~ it usually has the sound of its
own name~ ks ( x):
ex/ cavate ex" ecute
6. When the syllable ex is unaccented and precedes a consonant it usually
has the sound of ekS or iks:
ex pect'; ex crete"
32
ex hale"
7. ' When the syllable!! is the unaccented syllable just before a vowel it
usually has the sound of egz or isz.
ex act' ex empt/
PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
ex ert;'
Until students develop considerable skill in using the dictionary, the base
words used in teaching the addition of prefixes and suffixes should be familiar
ones.
Root words are words from which other words are formed and to which a suffix
or a prefix may be adde~. To a root word more than one prefix or a suffix may
be added, or a prefix- suffix may be added.
tract
tract
lock
tractor
extract
unlock
tractors
extraction
unlocked
In pronouncing a word that has a suffix or a prefix, first find the root word,
decide which prefix or suffix has been added, then blend the whole word
smoothly.
Common Prefixes
A prefix is placed before a root word to make a new word, thus changing its
meaning. The prefix may be in the form of a single vowel or a syllable placed
before the root word. Usually a prefix forms a syllable:
a !:!: wake in inhuman
ab absent ir .!! responsible
ad admit mid midnight
be ~ side mis mistake
co .,£ 2exist non nonsense
com ~ ingle pre precede
con .£ 2!!: text pro proceed
cor EE£ relate re return
de ~ lay, depart sub subway
dis llilike un unhappy
en ~ joy
ex - extend
fore ~ noon
33
i1
im
C01' Ilfl1On. Suffixes
- illiterate
~ ersona1
A suffix is placed at the end of a root word to change its meaning and to
form a new word. After listing the most common groups of letters used as
suffixes, a list of generalizations will be given governing their pronuncia..
tion.
able lov- able
age bondage
al music.!!
an Europe!!!
ance allow~
ancy abundancy
dam kingdom
ed 100k.! 2, call~,
want.! 2
eer auction~
en bro~
ence depend- ence
ency emergency
ent excellent
er iiarm- eE'
ery hatch. ery
es dishes
ess princ~
est loud.!,!!
ful thank.&:!!
ible terr! E.!!
ic hero!£
ier cash~
: tng running
ish girl.!!!!
less care.!!!!
ly portlY
ment amaze~
n knoW,!!
ness black~
or tail. 2!
ous fam~
s cat.!, cabs
sion ten.!!:: 2!!
teen six~
th groW! h
tion adoption
ty sevenE, y
xion comple~
y soap};:
In teaching such structural elements as root, prefix, suffix, it is important
past the primary level to explain to the children the meanings of these words:
34
prefix ( to fix before)
suffix ( to attach to)
root ( the body of the word)
Do not underestimate or insult the intelligence of your students by describing
these elements as " little parts," or " little words before and after.:"
Gen~ ralizations About the Uses and Sounds of Suffixes
The suffix ~:
When added to certain words it shows past time. It may have three sounds:
( 1) When added to words ending in any voiceless consonant except !,
( voiceless consonants p, k. f, s, h) ~ has the sound of 1.
winked dished tipped puffed hissed
( 2) When added to words ending in any voiced consonant except ~ or a
vowel sound, ( voiced consonants b, g, v, z, m, n, 1, r, w, j) ~
has the sound of ~.
begged spilled
An easy way to train oneself to recognize the difference from
voicelessness and voicing is to cover the ears tightly with the
hands and say aloud, a pair of words like pack: bag. A strong
buzz is audible throughout the word bag, but only for the vowel
in pack. ( All vowels are voiced.) Or the vibration can be felt
by pressing them gently against the " Adams Apple. lI
( 3) When ~ follows the consonants ~ or ! it adds another syllable.
The Suffix .!:
sanded wanted
When added to certain words to make a new word it may have two sounds:
( 1) After voiceless consonants ( p, t, k, f, s, h) it has the sound
of s as in !!.!!:
tops staffs stacks
The Suffix !.!!:
( 2) After voiced consonants ( b, d, g, v, z, m, n, 1, r, w, j) or
vowels ( all vowels are voiced) it has the sound of =:
clues suns kegs toes
The suffix !.!! is usually added instead of ~ to root words ending with
spirants ( letters with hissing sounds) or with sounds that do not blend
well with the sound of~. ( voiceless f, th, s, sh) or ( voiced v, th, z)
( also z as in azure). Also!.!! is added to many words ending in e, fe, ch,
or z.
35
( 1) Meaning more than one:
wishes ditches
( 2) " Qhen added to acti. on words it tells that he, she, or it, does
what the root word shows:
she runs he runs it falls
( 3) It has the sound of ex or iz when it is added to words ending
with a spirant ( letters with hissing sounds):
hushes patches glasses
( 4) It has the sound of s as in sin when added to words ending with
a voiceless consonant sound other than the sound of the spirant:
pops mates cakes
( 5) It has the sound of !. when added to a word ending with a voiced
consonant sound or a vowel sound:
slides pies toes
Generalizations About Changes in Root Words Before Suffixes are Added:
1. Words of one syllable having a single vowel just before the last conson­ant
usually doubles the consonant before adding a suffix beginning with
a vowel:
hop hopping hopped
2. Words ending in f or fe usually change these endings to v before adding
the suffix~: -
half - halves wife - wives
3. If a wordls last syllable is accented and ends with a single consonant
having a single vowel before it, the final consonant is usually doubled
before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel:
submit/ - submitted regret/ - regretting
4. If a word ends in a silent e the e is usually dropped before a suffix be­ginning
with a vowel:
rope
nudge
roping
nudging
roped
nudged
5. One syllable words with a long vowel sound and ending wi, th ~ just after £'
or ~, the e is usually kept when the suffix begins with 2, ~, or a conson~
ant:
strange
peace ...
strangely
peacable
36
6. If a word ends in e having any vowel except e just before the final e, e
is usually dropped- before adding a suffix beginning with a consonant~
true truly
7. In words ending in X, preceded bya consonant, the X is changed to i
before adding a suffix:
fry fries
cry cried
8. If a word ends in X, the . y is
with i:
usually kept with adding a suffix beginning
scurry
baby
cry
scurrying
babyish
crying
37
VIII YOUR UPPER GRADE BILINGUAL STUDENT
Your bilingual students, like other girls and boys in early adolescence,
have intense concerns. Many times at this age they differ from their English
speaking classmates in that their sphere of expanding interests are limited to
their culturally impoverished backgrounds. They have strongly emotional reactions
to everyday experiences. The nature of their physical growth creates problems for
them because they are usually one or two years retarded as to age grade placement.
Girls are conscious of their appearance. They may be aware for the first time that
their clothes are not just exactly like other girls of the dominant culture. Boys
are shy and very conscious about change of voice. Both strive to be accepted by
their peers and are very aware of each other. Each student thinks his problems
are unique in his youthful self- consciousness. Through reading, and understanding
what they read, they can find gratifying assurance that others of their age have
had the same covert uncertainties and aspirations.
Your Indian student may find the ideas of adults only half- way acceptable.
They are confused by the conflicting demands of teachers and parents. How can
they feel any degree of self~ confidence when the demands, commands and reprimands
of the grownups in his life are often inharmonious.
Different from your students from the dominant culture, your Indian adoles­cents
may not be curious about the world of work outside their own sphere of ex­perience.
Aspects of the worth of work and its service seldom loom large in their
thoughts. They speculate on immediate employment and immediate satisfaction of
desires rather than on how to prepare for future jobs.
They are curious about how the non- Indian lives and are interested in people
a little older, who live adventurously doing the things they dream of doing. They
admire the conquering hero -- and identify with him -- regardless of race or creed.
This is borne out by Indian students yelling for the cavalry as they chase the
marauding Apaches over the hill in a Western movie.
An Indian adolescent's sense of humor may differ from your other upper grade
readers. Don't be chagrined when he laughs at you, not with you. However, he en­joys
a misfit character in high misadventure. This is evident in their great love
for comic characters such as Popeye and Huckleberry Hound. A play on words many
times brings a favorable response which you will hear them repeating on the play­grounds.
Tall tales such as the adventures of characters similar to Pecos Bill are
usually popular reading for adolescent Indian boys and girls. They enjoy fantasy
as legends are such an important part of their own traditions.
Not all seventh and eighth grade students are Willing readers. Among bilin­gual
students this is often the case. In many of their homes there are few news­papers,
magaZines and books. A large percentage of the parents do not read English
-- or in fact any other language-- as the written Indian languages, with the exception
of Cherokee, are Whiteman made. These reluctant readers seek their satisifaction in
places other than the school library. Being linguistically handicapped, they become
limited learners. Much class discussion passes over their head and some become both
discouraged and discouraging. There is a hard core of resistance to the persistent
efforts of teachers to get them to read better, or to read at all. Comic books,
picture magaZines, television and movies vie with the printed page. The former
usually are the winners; the printed page comes in a bad second as to interest
catching.
3&
Although reluctant readers are alike in their resistance to reading instruc­tion~
each is unique from his fellow- resistor in one or more ways. There are
bright and dull bilingual students just as with your entire school population.
You find many reading below their ability levels. Because of shyness and fear of
ridicule ~ they are frequently poor classroom performers. Some excell in numbers ~
but are hard pressed to spell out the basic concepts of math in words. Artistic
and mechanical talents often compensate for defeat in communication skills. Re­sentment
is manifest in many different ways with these upper grade bilingual stu­dents
who are not up to grade- level. Their reading disability causes embarrass­ment
in school, and the constant pressure from teachers adds acid to the brew of
their acerbity. Self- confidence is lacking to a dangerous degree. More than your
native English speaking student, the bilingual child becomes failure- oriented when
it comes to wrestling significance from the printed page.
When you study the Indian student's reading disabilities~ you will find many
times he is not lacking in word attack skills but is woefully inexperienced in
reading for functional purposes. He sees no " realIf purpose for reading. To him ~
it is something that adults think he should do. He cannot visualize how the use
of words and control of ideas can help him achieve his self- set goals. These in­adequate
readers have pitiably limited vocabularies, both in English and their own
language~ and for them much supplementary assistance is needed. If they do not
have the basic skills, these must be taught systematically~ repetitiously and con­scientiously.
In cases where they have the basic skills but fail to use them ef­fectively~
help will be needed to assist them gain skill in applying their know­ledge
in order to develop independence and find pleasure and satisfaction in read­ing.
Only by knowing each reluctant reader in your class can you help him. The
bilingual student is no exception especially here in Arizona where we have Spanish­speaking,
as well as Indian students, from many different language groups. It is
well to take into account the native language of the student, being taught~ when
you diagnose his reading disabilities. Since your students vary so in cultural
background, native language and mores, thiS poses a different view on such student's
personality and mentality, and you as a teacher then have a special responsibility
to discover all you can about each individual student.
Your best source of information should be your cumulative records. You need
to know what to look for: Has he attended school regularly? If he is Indian, has
he moved often, from public to government schools and back again? Has the school­ing
been on or off reservation? Does he go with his parents when they take season­al
off reservation employment? What has been the philosophy of the schools that he
has attended? Have you checked his health record?
Frequent or long- term absences, and late enrollment play havoc with reading
achievement where no provision is made for make- up instruction. Check for hearing
and sight disabilities; these are major factors in failure to achieve basic reading
skills. Review closely results of standardized tests of readi, ng achievement he has
taken. What are his relative strengths and weaknesses as reported in these tests?
Does his learning profile show he is an underachiever? Has his progress been
steady or are there plateaus on the profile?
How does the Indian child in your classroom deal with his lessons and with
people? Are his work habits efficient or does he busy himself with many " little
things? 1l Observe his staying power and attention span. ( Indian children are great
weather forecasters and the spring of the year brings on much daydreaming.) Does
he have broad and deep concepts in English or are his understandings superficial?
39
How is he accepted by other students and what are his attitudes towards them? One
bilingual, who is not achieving in school may be bullying and disruptive, while
another may be timid and withdrawn. His contributions, and his lack of expression,
in group discussion are a good measure of his grasp of the communication skills in
English.
As your knowledge of each student grows so will your competency in ability to
give direction to the reading selections and activities you assign to assist your
bilingual student.
LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE
Appraisal of the bilingual's performance with words should be assessed in de~
tail just as your evaluation of his interests, anxieties, and emotional maturity.
It is well to remember that you, as an upper grade teacher, must continue to sus­tain,
and harmonize the learning of the four communication skills in their logical
order: hearing, speaking, reading and writing. The bilingual child will reveal the
stage of his vocabulary development in English as he reads aloud or talks. Be sure
to check his comprehension by use of purpose questions for silent reading of
sentences, paragraphs, and whole selections. Whatever his limitations in reading,
your student learning English as a second language gains much through listening.
One authority on second language learning suggests that at the upper grade level,
a student should spend at least twenty percent of his time in listening, twenty
percent in speaking, forty percent in reading orally and silently, and twenty per­cent
in writing. Indian students must be encouraged and many times almost pressured
to participate in group discussion. It is against many tribes' cultural patterns
to disagree orally with another person's opinion so be sure to study the thought
potential in critical response, if and when he makes them, to the response of
others.
The bilingual student, who is not reading up to his grade level, has word
trouble aplenty. By skipping over words he does not understand, he leaves gaps in
the sentence he is trying to understand. Words as such have little or no interest
to him. The glossary is many times useless to him even if he has the interest and
ability to use it. Think how confusing the use of the dictionary becomes when an
unknown word is defined in a number of words just as strange to the reader. He
can be very inept in locating an entry in the dictionary, understanding the sym­bols
and then ultimately arriving at the right definition. Context clues are al­most
as useless in arriving at the meaning of an unknown word, if he does not
understand the content. His general vocabulary is usually very meager. Even the
words he has in his spoken vocabulary he fails to recognize in print, if he has
been taught by the say- see method. This makes his stock of sight words lower than
his listening- speaking vocabulary. Another major problem is that he is apt to know
only one or two of the many meanings an English word may have.
If he has had a bad attendance record his word- attack skills may be limited
and uncertain. Above all if he was exposed to readi. ng before he spoke English
fluently, his auditory discrimination is often poor and his sound blending ability
worse. With this lack of skill he will be unable to analyze a word and draw mean­ing
from its parts: base, prefix or suffix. Compound words even when self- explana­tory
baffle him at times. You will find that frequently the bilingual reader's
syllable sense is very poorly developed. If he does not know the phonemes of the
English language, it is hard for him to hear parts of words clearly. Figurative
language loses much of its delights and subleties in translation. Biblical and
mythological allusions frequently mean nothing to him. How can he understand a
piece of writing when he has missed possibly the general interpretation, and cer­tainly
the overtones of satire, indirect implications, and connotations?
40
Directly related to his lack of comprehension of what he has read, is his
lack of ability to understand and participate in discussion about the reading ma­terial.
Hard as he may try the retarded bilingual student can at best learn super­ficially
such things as the names of characters, the plot of a short story or de­tails
of incidents from the story. Due to his lack of comprehension, his time
spent in passive listening to his instructors and classmates is frequently wasted.
He has to be exposed to a word orally and written in meaningful context a num­ber
of times before it becomes a part of his speaking vocabulary. Much more than
your native English speaking students, he must involve himself with your help, in
vocabulary building. In addition, he needs skillful coaching in acquiring inde­pendence
in word mastery~ When he cannot attack the word independently and in
addition does not know the meaning, his handica: p is twofold.
Where your student does not speak English fluently, he commonly fails to make
necessary connections in reading sentences. He does not mentally close the circuit
between a subject and its verb, he fi. nds no connection between a verb and its modi­fier.
Spanish- speaking and Navajo students, because of the patterns of their na­tive
language, find it difficult to tie the modifier up with the term it was meant
to modify. You can be sure if he has not grasped the melody of English in his
spoken language, he has never mastered the signal code of punctuation marks. With
long sentences, it is very difficult for him to derive the exact meaning set forth
by the writer.
The intent of a written sentence is many times lost on the second language
student. It is very difficult for him to distinguish between a statement of fact
and one of judgment. ( This is not unique with the bilingual student.) Sweeping
generalization will pass over his head like a gentle blowing breeze.
One of the major publishing companies of books for reluctant readers advises
teachers to assess the several abilities of their less able readers and to relate
parts of the whole selection, and reflect upon them. Consider his performance in
the following as you plan your developmental reading program:
1. Sensing relations between main topics and supporting details
2. Finding and reading aloud a passage to probe a point
3. Illustrating a generalization
4. Generalizing soundly from concrete illustrations
5. Following the order of the authorts'thinking
6. Visualizing a scene described
7. Sensing a characterization through action and speech
8. FollOWing clues to predict outcomes
9. Entering into the mood of a selection
10. Enjoying humor
11. Understanding the authorts purpose
12. Detecting illogical relationships.
41
The Indian student t or should I say the bilingual student t poses his own spe­cial
problems in your classroom. His problems are not the same as your Engli. sh­speaking
remedial students who are frequently either intellectually slow, or lazy
and unmotivated. This much is true. Experienced teachers fi. nd, however, of some
remedial and some Indian students: both may have serious emotional barriers to
self- expression. It will be found many have not mastered completely the sound
system of English t and frequently his English is unidt~ ttc. He may be fluent in
a rather slangy brand of English, so fluent in fact that his proficiency in the
substandard brand is a real barrier for him to overcome in speaking, reading and
writing in the upper grades.
Teachers must offer a diversity in learning activities to hold their interest
and give them real help to overcome their language problems. Their many weaknesses t
such as limited attention span, unwillingness to try because of repeated failures,
limited speaking vocabulary and word attack skills, these all suggest the need for
multiple approaches toward learning goals. Experienced teachers have found that
their classroom must become a reading laboratory where their linguistically handi­capped
adolescent receives systematic and continued help in acquiring the funda­mental
skills of reading if they have not been achieved in the lower grades. More
than native speaking children, they need real experiences for the purpose of ex­tending
their horizons of knowledge about the world in which we live. To learn to
read English you must speak the language. To build concepts and add to their un­derstanding
of what they read there, must be plentiful discussion in English. Only
through mastering the basic signals of the language most thoroughly can the bilin­gual
student really understand what he reads.
READING SKILLS
By Arizona state law, all elementary teachers in the state must have courses
in Language Arts. It is recognized that teachers will be familiar with the reading
skills to be taught at the upper- grade- level. Nevertheless, for the convenience of
quick reference the upper- grade- level reading skills are outlined below:
I. Use of baSic tools
A. Glossary and dictionary
B. Punctuation
C. Pictures, maps, graphs, charts
D. Reading, typographical devices
II. Comprehension and recall
A. Main ideas or themes
1. Topic
2. Key words
B. Important details
C. Setting
D. Sequence of events
E. Cause and effect
III. Appreciation and critical reading
A. Making inferences
B. Understanding character
42
C. Visualizing description
D. Grasping mood or tone
E. Understanding a point of view
F. Making judgements
G. Seeing relationships
IV. Vocabulary building
A. Analyzing words
1. Syllabication
2. Letter sounds
3. Roots and affixes
4. Inflected forms
B. Understanding word meaning
1. Word origins
2. Synonyms and antonyms
3. Context clues
4. Special vocabularies
No matter how sound your program of instruction is many of your upper.. grade
bilingual children will be unable to read successfully the average materials pro"
vided for these grades. Therefore, the basic material used is very important. In
choosing this material the following criteria should be kept in mind:
1. These children are not non.. readers. However, they do need specifically
prepared materials.
2. The material should have a planned program of reading instruction.
3. Your students cannot be taught with materials too intellectually and
socially immature for boys and girls of twelve to fifteen.
4. The material should include selections that will help build an interest
in reading.
S. Specific information for teaching upper- grade reading skills should be
included.
6. The material should provide a program flexible enough to be adapted to
the able pupil who is retarded in reading but likely to " take off like a
rocket" once his basic obstacles are overcome.
7. Materials must be chosen on the basis of the interest and appeal to early
adolescents.
8. There should be a variety of literary types.
9. Readability should be a major criterion. ( Some authors have substituted
words to lighten the vocabulary and shorten sentences to aid in general
comprehension without ruining the style, concept and purpose of each selec­tion.)
10. Be sure there is a well planned teachers manual, and DO NOT BE AFRAID TO
USE IT.
43
Sometimes teachers become so involved in testing to see if the students under­stand
what they read that they forget that reading is but one facet of the communi­cation
skills, and that all language arts are only agents for communication of a
thought. Encourage your students to pursue many kinds of activities growing out of
their reading experience. If your students are so disadvantaged in the use of
English that they cannot formulate their own questions to give a purpose to their
reading, then by all means, read orally and give emphasis to teacher made ques­tions.
Unlike the English speaking students, many bilingual students do not ap­proach
reading because of their impoverished experiential background, with a pur­pose
and with personal inquiries. You, the teacher, must supply this stimulus
where it is lacking.
Expanding this idea further, you must not only supply a purpose for reading,
but also you must vary your methods of motivation. Choral reading, dramatizing,
and use of diversified written activities all help to prevent monotony.
Your bilingual child needs a routine that offers securitx. This he has had in
the directed reading activities used by his lower- grade teachers. Your plan can be
equally effective if adapted to the grade level of your students. Indian students,
especially, need to have confidence in the competence of their teacher. They re­spect
a teacher who has well- defined purposes and technical profi. ciency. They are
more inclined to cooperate than students from the dominant culture, when they see
a clear market path marked for them-- with their responsibility made definite by the
teacher.
Your teacher's manual certainly will not hamper your creativity in working
with bilingual students. It is usually organized in terms of the steps of directed
reading activity. You, the teacher, are in the best position to key the suggestions
offered to the needs, interests and background of your class. Upper- grade and
secondary teachers who have not been as well trained in the teaching of reading as
they have in their own specialty will find the manual very beneficial in helping
them plan for sequential skills development in their reading program.
With the fear of being redundant perhaps we should touch briefly on the five
steps for teaching a good lesson offered in a manual planned to go with one of the
widely used basic readers. As you read through the steps notice how the sugges­tions
have been adapted to fit the needs of the bilingual students in the class.
These suggestions are offered to be used with material that has been selected using
the ten criteria listed earlier.
Your bilingual students may have faced failure so many times in the past that
they will not be willing to take up the struggle of wading through new material
without some assurance that the material can be read and will prove interesting and
worthwhile. The Readiness Step should have- a twofold purpose. First the student
must be motivated, but what is the use of motivating the students to read if you
have not anticipated their difficulties with concepts and vocabulary. You, as a
teacher, must motivate the student to read by your initial e