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Learning of Early Language and Literacy in Nali -Kali Classrooms

Learning of Early Language and Literacy in Nali -Kali Classrooms. National Conference on Early Learning, New Delhi Shailaja Menon Sep 25, 2013. Focus: Language teaching and learning (Grades 1-3).

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Learning of Early Language and Literacy in Nali -Kali Classrooms

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  1. Learning of Early Language and Literacy in Nali-Kali Classrooms National Conference on Early Learning, New Delhi ShailajaMenon Sep 25, 2013

  2. Focus: Language teaching and learning (Grades 1-3). • Work conducted as a part of a 2-year pilot for a larger project, Literacy Research in Indian Languages (LiRIL). • LiRIL project: • Longitudinal; multiple levels of analyses; mixed-methods. • Multi-site/language: Sonale (Maharashtra) and Yadgir(Karnataka).

  3. What Do We Know About Early Language Learning? • Not an autonomous set of skills, but a socioculturally situated practice. • Language acquisition best supported by rich, stimulating environments. • The communicative function is a driving force of language learning for the child(Tomasello, 2003). • Language use in homes and schools may or may not over-lap. • First-generation literates may come from homes with low exposure to print and with discourses that are different school-based discourses. [Heath (1982), Purcell-Gates (1997), Moll, et al. (1992), Gee (2001), etc.]

  4. This presentation, will focus on data from Yadgir, Karnataka. • Yadgir: 44% BPL; • Half the population, small or marginal farmers, another 28% landless. • Northern dialect of Kannada is spoken by over 90% of the population; Telegu & Urdu are other significant languages. • 70% of the 6-14 year olds are in schools; of these, 88% attend government schools.

  5. Karnataka’s instantiation of the Multi-Grade Multi-Level (MGML) Curriculum: Nali Kali. • MGML curricula now in approximately 15 states across the country. • One of the fastest spreading early language/literacy interventions. • Self-paced, “joyful”, “child-centered”.

  6. The Nali Kali Curriculum • Learning Ladder • Milestone • Step/Activity • Phases/Groups

  7. Sources of Data • Desk review of Nali Kali curricular materials – teacher manuals, activity cards, readers - 3 milestones per grade X 3 grades = 9 milestones reviewed. • 9 days of observation X 2 classrooms = 18 days. • Student Assessments – 125 students (Grades 1-5). • Selective presentation of results.

  8. Key Finding • A curriculum that is tightly organized around the sequential introduction of letters. • All other goals of language and literacy learning appear to be subordinated to this primary goal. • First decoding, then comprehension. • Elaborations of this finding will be presented.

  9. Elaboration 1: Oral Language? • Severely restricted and repetitive oral conversations. • Oral Language typically appears in the “Whole Class” activity at the start of each session. • Typically includes action songs – a few cards may be repeated throughout the 3 years of N-K instruction. • We did not observe opportunities within the curriculum for children to engage in extended/meaningful conversations with each other or the teacher. • No spaces for children to bring in stories from own lives outside school.

  10. Elaboration 2: Disconnect with Children’s Lived Words/Worlds Gara-Gara, Garagasa, Garagasada • “Content” of curriculum determined by sequence of letters being learnt. • Common words from children’s spoken vocabulary avoided (Beginning of Grade 1), since they either include vowel sounds (gunitas), or have conjunct consonants (vattaksharas). • Logic of moving from known to new is reversed. • More common words appear in Grades 2 and 3, than in Grade 1.

  11. Example: Aane? Salaga? Disconnect with Children’s Lived Words/Worlds: Picture card shows a picture of an elephant Teacher A: Asks child to say what she sees in the picture Child: “aane” Teacher A : Looks very puzzled because she realises that “aane” is correct and does not fit the milestone alphabets. She then reads the word in the card and says yes “Aane” is correct but there is another word and it is called “salaga” Child: Does not respond Teacher A: Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again. Child: “aane”. Teacher A : Yes correct but I said “salaga” is another word. Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again. Child: “aane”. Teacher : I said say “salaga” (impatiently). Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again. Child: I don't know Teacher A Moves on to the next student.

  12. “…I have always insisted that words used in organizing a literacy program come from what I call the “word universe” of people who are learning, expressing their actual language, their anxieties, fears, demands, and dreams. Words should be laden with the meaning of the people’s existential experience, and not of the teacher’s experience” (Freire & Macdeo, 1987). * Picture showed sun rising

  13. Progression in Word Familiarity Across First Grade Key Unlikely to be in Oral Vocabulary of Child Likely to be in Oral Vocabulary of Child * Total Number of Words Analyzed = 58 (First Grade) + 81 (Second Grade) = 139

  14. Elaboration 3: Bottom-Up Model of Literacy Acquisition

  15. Example: Emphasis on Lower-Order Skills Teacher: Asks child to read a passage. Child: Reads slowly and correctly, some words are decoded akshara by akshara, others are read as whole words. Teacher:Makes whole words out of the words child cannot blend together. Interrupts 2 times and asks the class to be quiet. Child: Completes book. Teacher B: Asks child to read it again and then copy in notebook. Child Is done with the task in 10 minutes and spends rest of class time sitting quietly.

  16. Given this Emphasis on Decoding, it’s Fair to Ask: Are Children Learning to Decode in These Classrooms?

  17. Akshara & Matraa Recognition Mean No. of Akshara/Matraas Recognized at Each Grade Level Grade Level

  18. Word-Lists % Students reading at Different Levels of the Word Lists Grades

  19. Passages % Students reading at Different Levels of the Passages Grades

  20. Sizeable proportion of students struggling with decoding-level tasks. Unsurprisingly, they were also struggling with comprehension and free-writing. Problems in comprehension are related to at least 4 issues that we were able to identify: Simple decoding problems - to such children, we read out the passages and tested their listening comprehension; Explicit questions were easier than implicit. Even with explicit questions, narrating story events, sequencing, etc. were challenging. Inferential questions were very difficult. Vocabulary was an area of concern for many of the students. Discourse-related issues (oral vs. written discourse) seen in some students – need to probe further.

  21. Conclusions

  22. Discussion • Need to evaluate the language components of early learning programmes in terms of what is known to be facilitative of children’s early language and literacy acquisition. • Need more content-specificity in identifying programmes that work; general pedagogical principles may be good, but not good enough. • Learners who rely exclusively on schools to provide them with a context for acquiring early literacy are likely to suffer the most. • Bernsten (2003): “Collapse at the Foundation.”

  23. Thank You!

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