From Story Reading to Creative Writing: Improving
Primary School Students’ Literacy Skills in English
By:
Luh
Putu Artini
tien_miasa@hotmail.com
Ganesha University of Education, Singaraja, Bali
Abstract
Teaching
English for Young Learners (TEYL) is a relatively new trend in the area of TEFL
in Indonesia. Theoretically, primary school-age children have capabilities to
acquire a new language, therefore, it is the right time to introduce a second
or foreign language at this age
One of the strategies that have been proven to meet
children characteristics is by learning through stories. This paper discusses
how stories could expand children language skills and improve their literacy
skills. Step by step classroom activities are presented to illustrate how
stories provide models for natural use of language and how these encourage
children creativity in writing.
Key
words: story reading, creative writing, literacy skills
Introduction
Language
learning theories postulates that at the early childhood stage of development
(age 2-6 years) children experience rapid language development (McDevitt &
Ormrod, 2004). At this age period, children go through a process of learning
about the world through direct interactions
with people surround them. Learning new vocabulary and appropriate use of
language in social contexts are noticeable during this period. The people whom
the children interact and learn the language from could be family members and
community, teachers and other children in their pre-school or kindergarten.
Children
do not realize that they are learning a language. Children gain competencies in the language by
‘acquiring it’ when they have direct exposure to the language. They listen to
how adult use the language and develop their own repertoire in the language and
use it to communicate with others. This natural process is amazingly very
effective for language learning among children. The most important aspect here
is the exposure to the language in real life settings.
In
the context of learning a new language (i.e. English as a foreign language) for
young learners, the natural process as mentioned above can be expected to be
effective. According to Nation (2003) children get a lot of natural reinforcement
of the language from their environment and bring this into the classroom.
However, as far as English as a foreign language is concerned, children may come
into the classroom with almost no repertoire of this language. And this is
probably the cause of the challenge for teaching English for young learners in
non English speaking countries.
The
biggest challenge for teaching English as a foreign language to children is to
decide on what and how to teach; the what
refers to appropriate teaching materials that suit children’s language
development, while the how refers to
teaching and learning strategies that suit the characteristics of a
children.
Children
have specific characteristics that differentiate them from adult learners.
First, children do not usually have long span of concentration like adult
learners do. With a relatively short ability to concentrate, learning would not
be effective if the teacher is not creative to design a variation of strategies
that can keep children enthusiasm to learn. Second, children like to learn in a
fun way through games, songs and stories. For this a teacher should like
children and enjoy doing activities that children like. She/he should be
imaginative and creative in planning class activities so that children learn
effectively. Third, children’ need for a language is limited in a way that they
only need language for everyday conversation and socialization. Therefore, a
teacher should understand children language development and expose them to the
natural language needed in their real life.
This paper discusses strategies to
improve primary school students’ competencies in reading and writing (i.e
literacy skills) in English with Indonesian school context in mind. The purpose
is to provide some ideas about the importance of presenting language in a
natural context as well as incorporating reading and writing to establish
strong ground of the foreign English so that young learners could keep their
interest, motivation and enthusiasm to learn English in the future.
Building Young Learners’ Literacy
Skills in English
Learning
to read and write characterizes the beginning of a formal learning in school
setting. Children are introduced to sounds and their symbols and they learn how
those sound produce words and language. Those sounds are printed and children
learn to tranfer what are written into speech. In this case, children start to
learn how to read. As a matter of fact, reading has long been believed as the
key factor for success in a learning process of a child.
Just
as children learn to speak through interacting with parents who teach, they
learn to read by interacting with books and teachers as these are organized in
the system called school. The earliest reading (grade 1-2) has three major
goals: (1) to keep children interested in learning to read, (2) to further
develop the oral language and the cognitive and motor skills children bring to
reading acquisition, and (3) to help children integrate several approaches to
identifying (or decoding) print words.
Children’s
oral language reflects their experiences with objects, ideas, the relationship, and their interactions with
the world. In helping children to learn to read, teachers should help them
transfer the language background that they bring to school directly to their
reading and writing (Snow, Burns & Griffins, 1998, in Heilman et.al, 2002).
It is crucial that reading for children should be interesting and enjoyable.
The more time young learners spend reading, the more fluent they become.
Children who do not read for pleasure at young age may never become fluent
reader, and this may consequently contribute to failure as learners.
Before
children are formally exposed to the learning of how to read at school, it is
considered important to prepare their social, emotional, physical and mental
readiness (see for example, Morrow, 1997). Social and emotional readiness is
reflected in children ability to share and interact with others (teachers or
classmates) during the teaching and learning process in the classroom. Physical
readiness refers to children motoric abilities to coordinate more than one
activity at a time. For example, they can concentrate on listening to a story,
draw a picture and write the subtitle for the drawing. Mental readiness enables
children to concentrate to internalize meaning and they are able to recall the
new knowledge to answer teacher’s questions.
Primary
school children can be considered to have had, to some degree, the readiness as
mentioned above since they had been through pre-school or kindergarten period
where they learned about sharing, interacting and concentrating. On the first
grade in primary schools (age 6 to 7), children can be expected to struggle
with literacy skills in their first language therefore, it might be difficult
for them to gain literacy skills in a foreign language at the same time.
However, it does not mean that English as a Foreign language should not be
introduced to these young learners. As mentioned above, children have the
capability to acquire a language as long as there is an exposure to the
language in a natural setting.
Using Stories as a Natural Context
for TEYL
By
nature, children love to listen to a story. Research found that children who
are exposed to a story reading since the early age (infancy) will tremendously
affect the children literacy skills in a language later on. While listening to
a story they develop positive perceptions about books and build up the culture
of reading. Through stories children also ‘build on their fundamental knowledge
of the world’ (Cunningham & Shagoury, 2005:17). There are various ways that have been
introduced to parents as far as educating children through stories is
concerned. Ng (2007) for example, proposed the four phases as follows:
1.
Repeating
Parents
may read the same story again and again to their infants so that there is a
habit formation of listening with attention. Parents may use different
strategies with verbal language and variation of voices while showing the
pictures of the story to the children. This step is believed to build children
attention as well as interest to books and stories, and consequently accelerate
their language development.
2.
Making association
While
reading a story, parents may also help their children make association to what
they hear. For example when the story is about a cat, then the parents may
produce the sound of a cat so that the story may build a picture of the
association between an animal called ‘cat’ and its sound. This step is does not
only attract children attention to books and stories but also the knowledge
about the world surround them.
3.
Reinforcement
In
this step, the knowledge of the world that is learned through stories can be
reinforced through activities and experiences. These may involve activities
with parents and siblings, peers, and teachers. The examples of activities are playing
games, drawing, singing, writing, and the like.
4.
Learning from Model
Observing
and listening to a story read by an adult in their surrounding can be expected
to positively influence children learn from model. They learn the joy they can
get from a reading activity, they learn to use the language they read through
the story and also they learn to communicate about the story to the others.
From
those four phases as explained above, it is not difficult to imagine the
importance of stories to children. As a matter of fact, stories become the
basic of literacy skill for children since stories are mainly about language,
and language is the basis for the learning process.
Teaching
English in Primary School in Indonesia
The teaching of English
in primary school in Indonesia is quite a new trend. Paul (2003) explains that, as far as young learners
are concerned, the program should consider the characteristics of the learners
as beginner as well as young children learners. According to Paul, teachers
play very important role to the success of the program as s/he should become a
model for them. Teachers also should motivate and encourage learners to be
enthusiastic and have positive attitudes towards learning the foreign language.
The learning should be directed towards the gaining of competencies in simple
language use within the real life contexts.
There are some challenges reported in relation to
the teaching of English in Primary schools in Indonesia. Some of them are:
1)
Very limited
time allocated for English instruction
The impact of this condition is that it is not easy
for the children to maintain their motivation and enthusiasm.
2)
English learning
only occurs in the classroom
As a foreign language, children are mainly exposed
to the language in the classroom. This may affect the attainment of the
targeted competencies
3)
The teacher
becomes the major learning resource for the children
As a new trend, the teaching of English for Young
Learners (TEYL) in Indonesia is not yet supported by sufficient facilities and
equipment.
4)
Classroom
activities tend o be book-oriented
Lack of facilities as well as limited experience of the teacher results
in poor teaching and learning process in the classroom
The
four challenges above should not become the reason for not having quality
English instruction in English classes in primary schools in Indonesia. Careful
selection of learning materials and strategies for teaching are possible to be
done.
The Use of Stories in Teaching
English in Primary school in Indonesia
Teaching
English as a Foreign language through stories has been proven to be effective
in many countries. The language use in the story comes in children imaginable
contexts so that they can acquire the language instead of learning it.
Acquiring language here refers to subconncious process of attaining the
knowledge, skills and attitudes at the same time. Knowledge covers new
vocabulary and expressions in English; skills refer to abilities to listen,
speak, read and write in English; while attitude here means children positive
motivation to learn either under teacher’s supervision or autonomously. In
addition, children can be expected to develop their logical, critical as well
as creative thinking as stories give them freedom to imagine and draw mental
pictures of meaning and information or messages conveyed by the story. In other
words the advantages of using stories as a teaching strategies are as follows.
First, stories build the culture of reading in a
foreign language stories
read by parents and teachers improve children curiosity to do the reading and
find the excitement of reading by themselves. In this case, children build
their culture for reading. Second, stories develop comprehension skills and
creative thinking. Exposure
to a situation that requires concentration can develop children ability to
comprehend series of meaning or messages. This leads to creative thinking, that
is, an ability to develop cognitive skills to process information and develop
it beyond the input. Third, Children learn English language in a
natural context. Stories
consist of series of plots which make the story flows in natural context. This
makes children easy to understand the story as well as to learn the language
use. And finally, stories motivate children to use language
creatively Stories
encourage children to use their imagination. Exposures to various language
functions and vocabulary will affect their creative use of language as well,
either in speaking or writing
To assure the positive impacts of
stories in teaching English for Young Learners, the selection of stories should
be 1) interesting (the characters, the setting, the plots and the length of the
story should meet learners’ interest); 2) consider children language
development (taking children age and their language need into account), 3)
illustrative (has interesting and eye-catching pictures); and 4) model for
natural use of language (the language use is in real context with logical flow
of ideas and the meaning is easily comprehended).
From Story Reading to Creative
Writing
One
skill that can be accelerated through the use of stories as teaching strategy
is writing. So far, this skill has been considered as the most difficult skill
to improve and less practiced in the classroom, especially in English as a
Foreign language classes in primary school. The limited time and lack of
facilities and references seemed to make this strategy impossible to be
applied. However, the writer believes that stories can overcome all the
challenges as mentioned above. The four advantages of using stories as teaching
strategy as mentioned above could occur in Indonesian primary schools.
The
followings are the suggested steps that the teacher may follow.
1)
Plan the lesson
The
English instruction should of course, follow the curriculum. Make sure that the
teacher plan the lesson based on the curriculum. For example: after the teacher
and learning process, learners are expected to be able mention clothes and
colors in English
2)
Decide on a story that is compatible to
the learning objectives
In
this case, the teacher can find stories in the internet, manipulate a story or
even write up a simple story that meet the requirement of the objectives
3)
Prepare appropriate teaching aids/media.
For
the story about clothes and colors, teacher can provide pictures of a girls and
all different clothes in different colors
4)
Do logical step by step classroom
activities and read the story interestingly and carefully when it is time for
the story reading. When reading the story, the teacher can choose one of the
five on reading strategies as advised by Teale (1987). The five reading strategies consist of reading
aloud (teacher read the story aloud and the students listen
to it), shared reading (the teacher
use big book or LCD screen to show the story so the teacher and students can
read together), paired reading
(students get into pairs and read the story together, this is done after the
teacher finish modeling), reader theatre
(the class read together, but each line is read by one student. The reading
should be adjusted to the feeling the expression or sentence carries), reading log (the student write their
impression about the story they read in a reading journal)
5)
Lead class discussion that aims to set
comprehension to the story.
In
this step, the teacher can ask students questions that allow students to answer
with short or long answer. Expand the questions so that children employ they
creative thinking ability
6)
Assign a writing task that closely follows
the story.
The
first part of the story can be the actual words from the story, but then the
students are given freedom to continue the story.
Example of Story for Improving
Primary School Students’ Creative Writing
The
following is an example of story that can be used in grade five.
Story
1
The Title of the Story: The Color Girl
Language in Focus: Clothes and Colors
Grade: Five
Strategy: Paired Reading
Follow up activities (after reading the
story)
1) Continue the
story
2) Draw pictures
to go with the story
The Story
The
Color Girl
Jessica loves to wear different colors
every day.
On Monday, she wears
pink
dress
pink
hat
pink
shocks
and
pink shoes
On Tuesday, she wears
yellow
dress
yellow
hat
yellow
shocks
and
yellow shoes
On Wednesday, she wears
blue dress
blue hat
blue
shocks
and
blue shoes
Continue the story
On Thursday, she wears
……….
dress
………..hat
………..shocks
and
……….. shoes
On Friday, she wears
……………………….
……………………….
……………………….
……………………….
On
………………………….
………………………….
…………………………
…………………………
…………………………
The
story above is long and it can be developed into a longer one by the students.
The long story for sure will be easily understood as the words used are within
the coverage of the curriculum. The classroom activities are preceded by the
introduction to the vocabulary and the use of the story can strengthen as well
as enrich children language in an enjoyful and fun way.
The
students are not only challenged by the writing task but also by the drawing
activity. By working in pairs, they will be more motivated and develop their
English in a non threatening environment. The picture and the stories can be
publish in the classroom publication board afterwards so that every student can
appreciate everybody else work.
Story
2
The Title of the Story: The Teacher got
mad
Language in Focus: Simple Past Tense
Grade: Six
Strategy: Reading Aloud
Follow up activities (after reading the
story)
1) Writing Task:
Continue the story
The Story
Andy threw a pencil at
the window
and the teacher got mad
Winda ran around the
classroom
and the teacher got mad
Agus was fighting with
Toni
and the teacher got mad
……………………………………..
……………………………..
The
story above has the focus on grammar. By presenting the grammatical point in
the story and repeatedly, the children internalize the pattern without going
through a boring and confusing explanation. In fact, grammar is not recommended
to be taught explicitly to young learners as this will make them reluctant to
use the language.
Conclusion
The role of a teacher in the
teaching of English as a Foreign Language is very important, especially when
the learners are absolute beginner. The lack of learning facilities as well as
limited supporting environment does not mean that the learning is impossible.
The use of stories as a teaching strategy can help learning become more
meaningful to children. They can learn the four language skills integratively,
but most importantly they can improve their literacy level (reading and writing
abilities) in the foreign language in a natural, meaningful learning situation.
They do not only improve their language but also their creative thinking as
reflected in their creative use of language in the writing tasks.
References
Ng, A.L.O, 2004.
Teaching Children. Handling Study Stress. Translated version by Graciana, J
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Butler,
A. and J. Turbill. (1984). Towards a Reading-Writing Classroom. Rosebery, NSW:
Bridge Printery Pty.Ltd
Cunningham, A. & Shagoury, R. (2005). Starting with Comprehension. Reading strategies for the youngest learners.Boston: Stenhouse Publishers.
Heilman, A.W., Blair, T.R., & Rupley, W.H. (2002). Principles and practices of teaching reading
(10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
- McDevitt, T. M., Ormrod, J. E., & McDevitt, T. M. (2004). Child development: Educating and working with children and adolescents. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.
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