In the Gibbons chapter, Reading in a Second Language I found a few very powerful quotes that seemed to link together. The first was on page 78, “When you are unable to bring personal knowledge and understanding of a topic to a test, you are effectively robbed of the ability to make use of a key resource for reading”. The quote is so true. If you cannot tap into a prior knowledge or experience related to the topic you are being deprived of a normally easily accessible resource. For the student who has been immersed in the main culture/language of the classroom, tapping into this resource is easy but if a student isn’t familiar with the dominant cultural forms, they would have a very difficult time using experiences to their benefit. This is yet another edge the English as a main language students have over ELL students; an edge that we as educators need to be aware of and do everything we can do overcome. Another quote, similar to the first is, “As a text participant, the reader connects the text with his or her own background knowledge—including knowledge of the world, cultural knowledge, and knowledge of the generic structure” (81). This quote again emphasizes how important the student’s background is to their education and if that background doesn’t coincide smoothly with the culture of the classroom and/or the material, the student will have a difficult time.
The rest of the chapter went on to give a number of different activities that can be used for all students before, during and after reading. I thought all of these were useful, creative activities that could be applied to any classroom and to any student.
The Tompkins readings made me think of something I just did today with my dad! It’s interesting to me that some people, ELL students especially, are not familiar with certain terms, cultural stories and grammar tricks that I have become so familiar with over the years. From slang terms to the standard fairy tale to tricks like the magic/bossy E, some individuals have not been through experiences with these things. Take my dad for example; he is a terrible speller. He was never taught phonics or tricks like the Bossy E. Today I was talking with him about these readings (random I know!) and he was telling me how he feels like an outsider in his own community/culture sometimes because he was never exposed to these types of LA concepts. When I told him about the Boss E and how it makes the vowel in a word say it’s name he was amazed. You would have thought that I was teaching English to an ELL student! It really was strange to see. What we may see as standard could be the exact opposite for someone who is ELL or who, like my Dad, was simply never exposed to such issues.
1 comment:
After reading your post, I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'm not exactly sure what the Bossy E is either! Could you enlighten me?
It's really funny that you mention this because I've had many similuar experiences with my parents, especially my father too! My dad is the SLOWEST reader in the entire world ( i swear) and as we're doing all of these readings on assessment and comprehension I'm beginning to think that I need to have some one-on-one lesson time with my dad to help him! What's funny is that my Mom says that he's always been that way and I know for a fact that when my Dad reads something...he does not forget it. On the other hand, my mom speed reads and usually forgets what she read within 24 hours. I wonder if there is a "target" fluency rate for students? Isn't the whole idea just to make sure they comprehend what they read? Why does it matter how fast/slow they read as long as they know what they're talking about?
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