La Lengua Extranjera Escrita: Aproximación, Maduración y Perfeccionamiento

TEMARIO DE OPOSICIONES INGLÉS - PRIMARIA

TEMA 8: La Lengua Extranjera Escrita

LA LENGUA EXTRANJERA ESCRITA. APROXIMACIÓN, MADURACIÓN Y PERFECCIONAMIENTO DEL PROCESO LECTOESCRITOR. LA COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA: TÉCNICAS DE COMPRENSIÓN GLOBAL Y ESPECÍFICA DE TEXTOS. LA EXPRESIÓN ESCRITA: DE LA INTERPRETACIÓN A LA PRODUCCIÓN DE TEXTOS. E OS PREI NES DE CANARIAS preparacionoposiciones.com preparacion.oposicionesTEMA 8. LA LENGUA EXTRANJERA ESCRITA. APROXIMACIÓN, MADURACIÓN Y PERFECCIONAMIENTO DEL PROCESO LECTO-ESCRITOR. LA COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA: TÉCNICAS DE COMPRENSIÓN GLOBAL Y ESPECÍFICA DE TEXTOS. LA EXPRESIÓN ESCRITA: DE LA INTERPRETACIÓN A LA PRODUCCIÓN DE TEXTOS.

TOPIC 8. THE WRITTEN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TOPIC 8. THE WRITTEN FOREIGN LANGUAGE. APPROXIMATION, MATURING AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE READING-WRITING PROCESS. READING COMPREHENSION: TECHNIQUES FOR GLOBAL AND SPECIFIC COMPREHENSION. WRITTEN EXPRESSION: FROM THE INTERPRETATION TO THE PRODUCTION OF THE TEXT.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE WRITTEN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
3. APPROXIMATION, MATURING AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE READING WRITING PROCESS.
1. TEACHING LITERACY
2. LEARNING TO READ
3. LEARNING TO WRITE
4. READING COMPREHENSION: TECHNIQUES FOR GLOBAL AND SPECIFIC COMPREHENSION OF TEXTS
1. STRATEGIES FOR READING
2. DEVELOPING READING TASKS AND ASSESSING
3. THE READING PLAN IN ANDALUSIA
5. WRITTEN EXPRESSION: FROM THE INTERPRETATION TO THE PRODUCT OF TEXTS
1. STRATEGIES FOR WRITING
2. DEVELOPING WRITING TASKS
3. THE ASSESSMENT OF THE WRITTEN SKILLS
6. CONCLUSION
7. DOCUMENTAL REFERENCES

preparacionoposiciones.com 11. INTRODUCTION

THE WRITTEN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Learning a Foreign Language in Primary Education has a practical goal: to be able to communicate, and in order to use a language effectively, we need to combine the different abilities or skills (Brewster et al, 1992). Moreover, we should always base the teaching process in those methodologies such as Communicative Approach, Natural Approach, among others, that focus on communication (block A of the basic knowledge of Decree 211/2022, November 10th), in order to foster the acquisition of both oral and written language. Written language is the written form of communication which includes both reading and writing. The main characteristics of written language may be summarised as following:

• It lacks immediate feedback.
• It does not reflect supra-segmental elements (stress, rhythm and intonation).
• It demands a higher level of correction, and it is not an everyday activity.
• It lacks paralinguistic features like gestures or body language and does not count on situational context either.
• Finally, written language tends to be more formal than spoken language and its unique graphic features, spelling and punctuation help to convey meaning.

In a written activity, we may also find some form of interaction between the writer and the reader. It's important to highlight the concepts of 'Interaction' and 'Mediation' from Decree 211/2022. 'Interaction,' as outlined in Specific Competence 3, involves two or more participants in the construction of discourse and the exchange of information. 'Mediation,' as defined in Specific Competence 4, refers to the language activity of explaining and facilitating the understanding of messages or texts.

APROXIMACIÓN, MADURACIÓN Y PERFECCIONAMIENTO DEL PROCESO LECTOESCRITOR

A second language (L2) can be introduced in Primary Education in Spain from the beginning of their scholarship, as children have reached a degree of physiological and phycological maturity and are able to carry out the tasks involved in the complex processes of understanding, interpreting and then, producing written texts.

ENSEÑANZA DE LA ALFABETIZACIÓN

Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write. In English, achieving literacy presents particular challenges due to the complex and often inconsistent relationship between the written representation of words and their corresponding sounds. preparacionoposiciones.com 2There are several key methods and approaches used in the teaching of reading and writing:

1. Synthetic Method (Phonics Approach): This method emphasizes the smallest units of sound (phonemes) and their corresponding written symbols (graphemes). Learners are taught to decode words by blending individual sounds to form words, gradually building up their phonetic awareness and ability to read fluently. This approach emphasizes the systematic instruction of sound-letter relationships and helps students decode unfamiliar words through phonemic rules. While this method focuses on phonological skills, it may initially place less emphasis on word meaning (Lloyd, S. & Wernham, S., 1992).
2. Global Method (Whole-Word or Look and Say Method): This approach involves recognizing words as whole units without breaking them down into individual sounds or letters. It relies on visual memory and the recognition of common words through repeated exposure. Flashcards with individual words often accompanied by pictures are a common tool in this method. The goal is to enable rapid recognition of words in context, fostering fluency but sometimes at the expense of phonetic decoding skills.
3. Balanced Approach: In response to the limitations of strictly synthetic or whole-word methodologies, many educators have adopted a balanced approach that integrates explicit phonics instruction with whole language methods. This approach blends phonemic awareness, decoding skills, vocabulary building, reading comprehension strategies, and written expression in a coherent manner. The goal is to provide students with a comprehensive literacy toolkit that addresses both the mechanics of reading and writing, as well as the broader cognitive skills required for comprehension and communication.

APRENDIZAJE DE LA LECTURA

Effective reading instruction must also prioritise comprehension. Techniques for global comprehension include strategies such as predicting, summarising, and skimming texts to capture overall meaning. For specific comprehension, learners may engage in activities like scanning for details, questioning, and making inferences. Teaching these skills ensures that students not only decode text but understand and interpret it meaningfully. In the process of reading, Chall (1983) proposes the following model of stages of reading development.

• Stage 0. Pre-reading, from birth to the age of six. The learner gains familiarity with the language and its sounds. Children understands print has meaning, pretends to read, retells stories when looking at pages and recognises signs. preparacionoposiciones.com 3
• Stage 1. Initial reading or decoding stage at ages 6-7. Students become aware of the relationship between sounds and letters. The child is able to read simple texts containing high frequency words.
• Stage 2. Confirmation and fluency at ages 7-8. Children will understand that texts have meaning, use illustration as part of self-monitoring, and understand how to tell a story.
• Stage 3. Reading for learning the new at ages 8-14. Reading is used to learn new ideas, to gain new knowledge and feelings.
• Stage 4. Multiple viewpoints at ages 14-18. The reader begins dealing with learning from various view-points and reacts critically to the text through high quality texts and popular literature, newspapers and magazines.
• Stage 5. Construction and reconstruction (age 18 and above). Students read certain books and articles for one's needs and purposes.

APRENDIZAJE DE LA ESCRITURA

The development of writing skills moves from the interpretation of existing texts to the production of original written work. Students begin by analysing and understanding textual structures and move toward crafting their own texts, focusing on coherence, grammar, syntax, and stylistic elements. This process helps them develop a strong connection between reading comprehension and written production, promoting both creativity and clarity in their writing. In the development of the writing skill, Kroll (1981) identifies four stages:

1. Preparatory stage (up to 6 years): when basic motor skills are developed and the spelling system is acquired.
2. Consolidation stage (around the 7th year): when children begin to use the writing system to express what they can already say in speech.
3. Differentiation stage (around the 9th year), in which writing begins to diverge from speech and develops its own pattern and organisation.
4. Integration stage (mid teens): when writers have a good command of language, being able to vary their stylistic choices and personal styles.

COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA: TÉCNICAS DE COMPRENSIÓN GLOBAL Y ESPECÍFICA DE TEXTOS

Reading is understood as an interactive process between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. According to the Canarian mentioned decree, Specific Competence 1, related to 'Comprehension,' involves receiving and processing information, which enriches the individual's linguistic repertoire.

ESTRATEGIAS DE LECTURA

For FL learners to become efficient readers, we need to teach them reading strategies; which are tools to solve comprehension problems that they shall find in texts. Munby (1978) stated some strategies to reach "fluent reading", which are previewing, predicting, skimming to get preparacionoposiciones.com 4the general idea, scanning to extract specific information, guessing from context and paraphrasing. Additionally, Zimmerman and Hutchins (2018) identify several reading comprehension strategies: activating or building background knowledge, using sensory images, making predictions and inferences or determining main ideas. In more practical terms, word-learning strategies are more effective when they are applied within a context previously presented. Some of them are:

• Pre-teaching vocabulary can be done to enhance knowledge before reading the text.
• Word walls and labelling contribute to a print rich environment in English.
• Repetitions in an enjoyable and contextualised way (memory cards or lyrics).
• Dictionaries: must be introduced once they are able to use them in the L1 classroom.
• Inferring: hypothesising about what is coming next, understanding cause-effect relationships or guessing the meanings of unknown phrases.
• Graphic organisers like semantic maps. For this purpose, we can use some online tools like Mentimeter.

DESARROLLO Y EVALUACIÓN DE TAREAS DE LECTURA

In relation to reading didactic application, many reading sequences move from overview to details or "top-down" reading. Scrivener (2005) explained the following sequence:

• Pre-reading activities, where pupils prepare themselves for the task and familiarise themselves with the topic or the reading exercise. Its main aim is to develop the ability of predicting, as well as to motivate and assess students. Some examples of activities at this stage are, describing the picture that goes with the text, having a conversation about the topic and so on.
• While-reading activities, whose main aim is to develop the skill of skimming and scanning. Examples of activities to develop skimming skill are suggesting a title or matching titles to short texts. Scanning activities include answering questions, identifying mistakes, completing songs, or making lists.
• Post-reading activities intend to enable pupils to internalise and acquire the language of the text. Some examples might be writing a similar text, answering comprehension questions, looking up words in the dictionary or making a crossword based on the text.

EXPRESIÓN ESCRITA: DE LA INTERPRETACIÓN A LA PRODUCCIÓN DE TEXTOS

Writing is a productive skill, which implies children who are coping with several features of the written process: handwriting. spelling, punctuation, and the selection of the night vocabulary and grammas, as well as, organising ideas. When addressing this skill, we should consider Specific Competence 2, 'Production,' as referenced in the mentioned decree. According to Matthews (1991), there are some features that should be taken into account:

1. Graphic skills: include writing graphemes, spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and format. preparacionoposiciones.com 5