Article

The effect of arising sociolinguistic awareness of the learners on speaking ability or communication

Sociolinguistics describes what is socially acceptable or typical to be spoken. Sociolinguistics can be very culture specific. In many cases sociolinguistics is very dependant on the gender, nationality, and dialect of those speaking. Many stereotype jokes actually derive from what are commonly accepted sociolinguistic tendencies of various regions, or nations

The fascination that the development of sociolinguistic competence holds for L2 researchers originates from the serious trouble to which the lack of this awareness may lead for learners. Often, mastery of linguistic forms combined with sociolinguistic confusion can make learners seem so improper as to cause misunderstandings or even offense when they can understand only the literal meaning of the words but do not know the sociolinguistic rules of use for interpreting those words. No wonder even advanced learners' communicative behavior would often deviate from L2 conventions so as to cause many cross-cultural misunderstandings. (Miny-chung yu's article)

Based on the result of the present study that poor sociolinguistic performance is likely to relate to the lack of teaching in class, this may be taken as suggestive of directions for future instruction in communicative language programs. Given that knowledge of the target sociocultural conventions governing linguistic behavior and underlying surface forms seems central to the acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness in L2 (Sifianou, 1992), the foreign language teacher, through a systematic teaching of sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic knowledge, can help learners express themselves more appropriately and prevent them from unintentionally causing offense or misunderstandings. In contrast, "a laissez-faire, or osmotic L2 teachers need to increase learners' sociolinguistic awareness involved in cultural norms in order to assist them in improving their L2 communicative performance

In the framework of Canale and Swain (1980), we can show graphically the abilities underlying speaking proficiency.

Grammatical competence Discourse competence Sociolinguistic competence.

Sociolinguistic competence: Knowledge of language alone does not adequately prepare learners for effective and appropriate use of the target language. Learners must have competence which involves knowing what is expected socially and culturally by users of the target language. Understanding the sociolinguistic side of language helps learners know what comments are appropriate, know how to ask questions during interaction, and know how to respond nonverbally according to the purpose of the talk. Therefore, "adult second language learners must acquire stylistic adaptability in order to be able to encode and decode the discourse around them correctly" (Brown 1994:238

Having good sociolinguistic competence means knowing how to "give every person his or her due." It means knowing when to be quiet, and when to talk, when to give compliments to others, and when to apologize. So, sociolinguistics has a very important role in speaking ability of learners. Improving sociolinguistic competence needs to be a part of the language learning process from the beginning. An assumption is often made that language learners will pick up sociolinguistic competence simply by being exposed to the culture

Refrences:

Book:

Richards,J.Renandya,W.2002.Methodology in language teaching.Newyork:Cambrige.

Internet Articles:

Chungyu,M.(2006) On the teaching and learning of L2 sociolinguistic competence in classroom setting.Retrieved from the web November,29.2009.

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com

Zhang,L.(2005) .Awareness-raising in the TEFL phonology classroom.Retrieved from the web November,29.2009.

http://www.eric.ed.gov

Shumin,K.(1997).Factors to consider:Developing EFL students speaking abilities.Retrieved from the web November,29.2009.

http://www.eca.state.gov/forum/vol35/no3/p8.html

Broersma,D.(2001).How do I learn sociolinguistic competence?.Retrieved from the web November,29.2009.

http://www.wheaton.edu

Article: Behaviorism

Behaviorism

Definition

Behaviorism is a theory of animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior.

Discussion

Experiments by behaviorists identify conditioning as a universal learning process. There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavioral pattern:

1. Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. The most popular example is Pavlov’s observation that dogs salivate when they eat or even see food. Essentially, animals and people are biologically “wired” so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific response.
2. Behavioral or operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning is a simple feedback system: If a reward or reinforcement follows the response to a stimulus, then the response becomes more probable in the future. For example, leading behaviorist B.F. Skinner used reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl a ball in a mini-alley.

There have been many criticisms of behaviorism, including the following:

1. Behaviorism does not account for all kinds of learning, since it disregards the activities of the mind.
2. Behaviorism does not explain some learning–such as the recognition of new language patterns by young children–for which there is no reinforcement mechanism.
3. Research has shown that animals adapt their reinforced patterns to new information. For instance, a rat can shift its behavior to respond to changes in the layout of a maze it had previously mastered through reinforcements.

How Behaviorism Impacts Learning

This theory is relatively simple to understand because it relies only on observable behavior and describes several universal laws of behavior. Its positive and negative reinforcement techniques can be very effective–both in animals, and in treatments for human disorders such as autism and antisocial behavior. Behaviorism often is used by teachers, who reward or punish student behaviors

www.fuunderstanding.com

Articles:The Relationship between Critical Period Hypothesis and Pidgin and Creole Languages

The Relationship between Critical Period Hypothesis and Pidgin and Creole Languages

Samaneh Akbari

2010

Abstract

Pidgin and creoles provide direct evidence for the critical period

hypothesis and that they can be explained on the basis of the critical

period hypothesis. The critical period hypothesis holds that there is a

biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired

more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to

acquire .This study is aimed at understanding the relationship between

critical period hypothesis and pidgin and Creole languages. The critical

period hypothesis seems to be the reason for the striking differences of

pidgin and creoles. The fact that creoles are developed by children who

are obviously still in their Critical period is a clear evidence for the

hypothesis.

The relationship between Critical period hypothesis and Pidgin and Carole languages

The critical period hypothesis is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age. The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal 'window' of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which this is no longer possible.

The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli. If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language — especially grammatical systems. The critical period hypothesis holds that there is “a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire” (Brown 1994, p. 52). For example there is a critical period in learning to really master some music instruments especially the violin and the piano. If one starts two late the complex and fast movements of the fingers will not be learned as good as by early starters. Already at the time of Mozart music education started in early childhood because this critical period was known. Another commonly known fact is that the general cognitive abilities decay with age and old people finds many memory tasks more difficult than young people.

Evidence for existence of critical period

The best evidence for the existence of a critical period would be of course an experiment like the Egyptian king Psammetichus conducted. But luckily this is not possible due to moral conventions of the society. Unfortunately there are sometimes cases where children were deprived from linguistic input for various reasons. Theses cases are then particular interesting for linguistic research. We presented three cases of such cases, Isabelle, Genie and Chelsea. Isabelle was raised by a speechless mother and had not learned any language when she was found at the age of six. Within only one year Isabelle learned to speak at the level of her 7 year old peers. As Isabelle was still within the time window of the critical period her quick language acquisition is exactly what was expected by the hypothesis. The second child, Genie, was found at the age of 13. Genie was kept by her parents in the attic and beaten constantly. She grew up totally isolated in her room and was never spoken to. When she was found there were great attempts to teach her language. Genie made great process but never managed to acquire normal language abilities. Her development suggest that there are some aspects of language which can be learned after the critical period but also some which must be learned during the critical period. One of the things Genie mastered was the basic word order. But Genie performed only very poorly on performs movement rules, passive constructions, noun verb agreements, auxiliary structures and reflexives. She also never used functional category words. The study of Genies development is also particular interesting as one can compare her use of language with the grammatical structure of so called pidgin languages. The most astonishing finding is that pidgin languages typically lack the same structures as Genie does. I will discuss this topic later in more detail. Besides from the fact that Genie did not develop normal language abilities she was also abnormally slow at language learning. This might suggest that she could be retarded or have some serious damages from her childhood. But this was not the case, on the contrary in tests which rely entirely on the right hemisphere Genie scored higher than normally intelligent persons. This suggest that Genie most of the time uses her fight hemisphere to solve cognitive task and also for language processing. S. Curtiss who did most of the studies with Genie concluded that "the cortical tissue normally committed to language and related abilities my functionally atrophy" if language is not acquired at the appropriate time.

But this also changes the view on the critical period. Now we should see the critical period not as a period for language acquisition but as a period for functional development of the left hemisphere. The left hemisphere seems to be more specialized for language learning and some other tasks while the right hemisphere seems to be more flexible in taking on various tasks but performs them not as good as the left hemisphere.

The third and last case we discussed was a woman, Chelsea, at the age of 31. Chelsea was deaf but mistakenly diagnosed by doctors as retarded. When her deafness was recognized at the age of 31 she had not learned any language. She acquired a sizeable vocabulary and produced multiword utterances but her sentences do not even have the rudimentary grammatical structure of Genie's. As Chelsea was already way beyond the critical period this was exactly what the hypothesis would predict.

Pidgin

Pidgin is a language with a very limited vocabulary and a simplified grammar. Pidgins usually arise to permit communication between groups with no language in common; if a pidgin becomes established as the native language of a group, it is known as a Creole. Pidgins such as Chinese Pidgin English and Melanesian Pidgin English arose through contact between English-speaking traders and inhabitants of East Asia and the Pacific islands. Other pidgins appeared with the slave trade in Africa and with the importation of West African slaves to Caribbean plantations. Pidgin has these features:

• No native speakers. Pidgins are intermediate communications systems between two or more languages. Usually begin in maritime environments.
• A marginal or mixed communication system that takes linguistic elements from several different languages.
• Limited vocabulary
• Reduced grammatical structure
• Narrow range of linguistic functions
• Creative and remarkably adaptive

The earliest documented pidgin is the Lingua Franca (or Sabir) that developed among merchants and traders in the Mediterranean in the middle Ages; it remained in use through the 19th cent. Other known pidgins have been employed in different regions since the 17th cent. An example is the variety of Pidgin English that resulted from contacts between English traders and the Chinese in Chinese ports. In fact, the word pidgin supposedly is a Chinese (Cantonese) corruption of the English word business. Another well-known form of Pidgin English is the Beach-la-Mar (or Bêche-de-Mer) of the South Seas. The different kinds of pidgin English have preserved the basic grammatical features of English, at the same time incorporating a number of non-English syntactical characteristics. The great majority of words in pidgin English are of English origin, but there are also Malay, Chinese, and Portuguese elements. As a result of European settlers bringing to the Caribbean area large numbers of slaves from West Africa who spoke different languages, other pidgins evolved in that region that were based on English, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and Spanish. Examples of pidgins based on non-European languages are Chinook, once used by Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, and Lingua Gêral, based on a Native American language and used in Brazil. The Krio language of Sierra Leone and Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea are examples of creoles, pidgins that have acquired native speakers.

Because of their limited function, pidgin languages usually do not last for very long —sometimes for only a few years, and rarely for more than a century. They die when the original reason for communication diminishes or disappears, as communities move apart, or one community learns the language of another. (Alternatively, the pidgin may develop into a Creole.)For example, the pidgin French which was used in Vietnam all but disappear when the French left; similarly, the pidgin English which appeared during the American Vietnam campaign virtually disappeared as soon as the war was over.

Creole

A Creole usually arises when speakers of one language become economically or politically dominant over speakers of another. A simplified or modified form of the dominant group's language (pidgin), used for communication between the two groups, may eventually become the native language of the less-powerful community. Examples include Gullah (derived from English), spoken in the Sea Islands of the southeastern U.S.; Haitian Creole (derived from French), spoken in Haiti; and Papiamentu (derived from Spanish and Portuguese), spoken in Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire. Creole Occurs over several generations:

1) Lose native language;

2) Only use pidgin that will contain elements of the original language;

3) Eventually expanded into a fully developed language.

From pidgin to Creole

The switch from pidgin to Creole involves a major expansion in the structural linguistic resources available– especially in vocabulary, grammar, and style, which have to cope with the everyday demands made upon a mother tongue by its speakers.

The reasons for this are : Pidgins are by their nature auxiliary languages, learned alongside vernacular languages which are much more developed in structure and use. Creoles, by contrast, are vernaculars in their own right.

Grammar and Innateness

Grammar is seen when pidgins evolve into creoles. Usually the children who are raised speaking with the pidgins will get together and agree upon a structure of words for the pidgin, this applies grammar to their system of communication to create the Creole. The Creole is usually formed without adult influence, brings in the question of innateness. The fact that these children form grammar together, from a system of words, without adult help, is evidence for the fact that applying structure to language, and forming grammar is innate. These children have no models to work by, there is nothing about structure that they have already learned, thus, grammar formation appears to be a unique and innate characteristic of human beings.

Some structural differences between Pidgin and Creole

It is often said that Creole drive from Pidgins become Creole languages (having different properties) once learnt by children, or used in the full range of speech situations. It may well be reasonable to hypothesize a pidgin origin for Creole language. The problem is that we don’t have any historical evidence for any Caribbean Creole language or Indian Ocean Creole being preceded by a pidgin.

It is true that every sources of Jamaican, Guyanese or Sranan show pidgin-like traits such as the absences of TMA making (Arends 1989), but whether this is a reflection of an earlier pidgin stages, or just a case of poor observation is not clear.

It appears that pidgins and Creoles have few structural traits in common. Some of the most important structural differences are summarized here:

- Whereas all Creole languages have SVO word order, Pidgins can have any conceivable word order, including variable order.

- TMA is expressed by adverbs, if at all , in pidgins but mostly by preverbal elements in Creoles.

- Reduplication is a common, almost universal process in Creole languages, but it is rarely in Pidgins, through common in extended pidgins.

Reasons for the development of Pidgins

In the nineteenth century, when slaves from Africa were brought over to North America to work on the plantations, they were separated from the people of their community and mixed with people of various other communities, therefore they were unable to communicate with each other. The strategy behind this was so they couldn't come up with a plot to escape back to their land. Therefore, in order to finally communicate with their peers on the plantations, and with their bosses, they needed to form a language in which they could communicate. Pidgins also arose because of colonization. Prominent languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch were the languages of the coloni zers. They traveled, and set up ports in coastal towns where shipping and trading routes were accessible.

There is always a dominant language which contributes most of the vocabulary of the Pidgin; this is called the superstrate language. The superstrate language from the Papua New Guinea Creole example above is English. The other minority languages that contribute to the Pidgin are called the substrate languages.

Values of pidgins and Creoles

Today, the study of Creole languages, and of the pidgins which give rise to them, attracts considerable interest among linguists and social historians. To the former, the cycle of linguistic reduction and expansion which they demonstrate, within such a short time-scale, provides fascinating evidence of the nature of language change.

To the latter, their development is seen to reflect the process of exploration, trade, and conquest which has played such a major part in European history over the past 400 yeas

The critical period hypothesis and Pidgin and Creole languages

The form and structure of pidgin languages are very simple. Upon further analysis one can discover that their grammar and usage resembles very much the language used by Genie or Chelsea and the errors performed by late learners also seem to be a present feature of pidgin languages.

Pidgin languages are generally learned by adults therefore. It is no big surprise that the adults who “invent” the pidgin invent it by incorporating the late first and second language learners usually make. Also a striking feature of the Pidgin languages is that they show a highly variable use of grammar, exactly what has been found in the error patterns of late learners in the studies by Newport (1990) presented by us. This suggests that the poor grammatical structure of Pidgin languages is mainly due to the fact that the "learners" of the Pidgin are adults who are beyond their critical period for language acquisition. In this sense a Pidgin has a very high similarity to a learned second language spoken by some poorly performing adult. If you encounter a German in France who learned French very poorly and late in life the structure of his sentences should resemble a Pidgin with French as superstrate and German as substrate language, as much French vocabulary as possible but used with a rather German grammar. At least this is what I would assume.

But when children learn the Pidgin language as their native language they start to change it. On the basis of the critical period hypothesis this occurs because the children are still able to fully grasp the complexity of a natural language. The start the process of creolization and learn a complex Creole language with an uniform grammar across its speakers. This is also what was found out by Newport (1990) , early learners showed a highly consistent use of their grammar and rather made componential and omission errors. This similarity suggests that children are solely responsible for this regularization process of the Pidgin grammar.

Conclusion

As outlined above the critical period hypothesis is at least partially able to explain the existence and structure of Pidgin and Creole languages. These two phenomenons, the invention of Pidgins and their evolution to Creoles, are exactly what one would expect if the critical period hypothesis is correct. Therefore these two topics of language acquisition are very strongly related and should always be considered together. It cannot be by pure accident that adults are worse at language learning and that Pidgins are produced or "invented" by adults. And it is also not an accident that children who learn a language that easily start the process of creolization.

We can Therefore conclude that the critical period seems to be a feature of humans which ultimately leads to Pidgin creation and Creole creation. By this mechanism nature manages to produce an elaborate language system with complex grammatical features which might need to evolve over some generations but is finally a much regularized system with clear cut rules.

References

Books:

-Brown, D.H.2007. Principles of language learning and teaching. New York, Pearson Education. Inc.

-Schmitt, N.2002.An introduction to applied linguistics. New York: Oxford university press, Inc.

-Stedt, N.2002.The critical period hypothesis supported by Genie’s case. Germany

-Lefebvre, C.2004.Issue in the study of pidgin and Creole languages. Library of congress

-Holm, J.1994.Pidgin and Creoles. New York: Cambridge university press

-Arends, J.Muysken, P.Smith, N.1994.Pidgin and creoles. Library of congress

-Yule, G.1999. The study of language. UK.cambridge.

Internet:

- Hakuta, K.Bialystock, E.Wiley, E. (2003).Critical period evidence. Retrieved from the web November 18, 2009.

http://www.jstor.org

-David, C. (2009).Critical period hypothesis. Retrieved from the web November 17, 2009.

http://www.eltworld.net

-Baky, D.(2002).The critical period hypothesis: Is younger really better?. Retrieved from the web November 17, 2009.

http://www. lib.nagaokaut.ac.jp/kiyou/data/language/g11/G11_7.pdf

- Tichacek, K, K. (2002).Critical period hypothesis and pidgin and Creole languages. Retrieved from the web February 10, 2010.

http://www.duke.edu/~kl41/DATA/CriticalPeriod.pdf

-Briney, A.(2009).Lingua franca. Retrieved from the web February 10,2010.

http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/linguafranca.htm

Article: reading problems

JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 117AN INITIAL STUDY OF READING

PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIES:A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE Sharmini

GhanaguruNg Hee LiangNg Lee KitJabatan Bahasa InggerisInstitut

Perguruan Bahasa-Bahasa Antara bangsa

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to find out what one experienced teacher thinks

are the main reading problems among her primary school pupils and

how she helps them cope with their reading problems. It is an initial

study to find out whether the in-service teacher is aware of the types

of reading strategies she can use to resolve her pupils’ reading

problems and the reasons why she employs certain approaches and

strategies to tackle the problems she has identified. There appears to

be a link between one’s background (both academic and social)and

the strategies employed to teach and handle reading in the

classroom.The conclusion is based on one case study and it is

far-fetched to make any generalizations about reading problems and

associated strategies for other teachers. Nevertheless the initial

findings might still be useful for both teacher trainers and curriculum

designers in order to maximize the potential of teacher training for

ELT in teacher training institutions.INTRODUCTION The work of the

teacher is context specific and constantly revolving (Shulman1992).

Growing research on explaining teachers’ subject matter, knowledge

in teaching and beliefs about learning and pedagogy helps reflect the

reality of teaching.Several studies reveal that teachers’ beliefs about

control, management and motivation consistently relate important

teacher behaviours such as lesson presentation and classroom

management behaviours (Saklofske, MichaylukJURNAL IPBA JILID

3: BIL. 118and Randhawa 1998). Teachers’ belief systems are

founded on the goals,values and beliefs they hold in relation to the

content and process of teaching and their understanding of the

systems in which they work and their roles in it(Richards 1998: 51).

Their beliefs relate to the application of the four macro skills of

language teaching: reading, writing, listening and speaking. How

a teacher deals with the reading needs of her students is of particular

interest in this study.How a teacher identifies the reading problems

of her students and the strategies used provide a clear understanding

of what she needs to know about the reading process and the

teaching of reading skills if she is to cope with students’ reading

problems. How does the teacher cope with the reading class?Does

her understanding and beliefs about the range of alternatives for

teaching a particular skill to particular students influence his/her

behaviors and decisions? The teacher plays an instrumental role in

determining the teaching and learning outcomes. ESL teachers, in

particular, should serve as effective language role models to their

students. To ensure a successful reading class,the teacher must

play an effective role and be able to identify and solvestudents’

reading problems.PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study aims to

explore a primary English language teacher’s perspective of the

reading problems faced by young ESL learners and the strategies

she used to overcome these problems. What is the teacher’s role in

teaching reading and solving her students’ problems? Is there a

tendency to use certain strategies to solve the reading problems

identified? The findings can help provide insights into the types of

strategies the teacher used to solve what she perceives are

her students’ reading problems.RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study

seeks to answer the following research questions:1. What reading

problems does an in-service English language teacher perceive her

students face in the classroom?JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 1192.

How does an in-service English Language teacher help her

student scope with reading problems?REVIEW OF RELATED

LITERATURE Definition of Reading Reading cannot be regarded

simply as a set of mechanical skills to be learned once and for all but

rather as a complex process of making meaning from text for a

variety of purposes and in a wider range of contexts.What research

tells us about the reading process is that sounding out words

is necessary but not sufficient to the task. The reading process is

really meaning driven. It is important to understand that unlocking

the code and reading words is only a part of the complex process of

reading (Adams 1990). In other words,there is a distinction between

reading aloud and reading for meaning.Does learning to read mean

learning to pronounce words?According to Weaver (1994), the first

definition of reading is being able to pronounce the words. Phonemic

awareness is the ability to segment, delete,and combine speech

sounds into abstract units. While students will be able to hear

phonemes, they may not be able to conceptualize them as units.

Phonemic awareness must be based upon a growing understanding

of the alphabetic principle of English; there is sufficient evidence

that many children basically understand this before they have

mastered the set of letter to sound correspondences (Adams 1990).

This definition supports the bottom-up theory of reading where the

reader decodes the text by referring to the smallest unit(letters to

words to phrases and to sentences).Studies examining how children

with training in phonemic awareness and phonics knowledge fare in

comparison to children receiving “whole language”instruction have

been conducted. Preliminary findings indicate a positive impact on

decoding of training in phonemic awareness. However, children

in“whole language ” classrooms fare better on comprehension

tests.JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 120The importance of the early

development of phonemic awareness is evident asa number of

studies (Carnine and Grossen 1993; Juel 1991; Pearson

1993;Stanovich, 1986) point to phonemic awareness as a predictor

of early readingsuccess. However, it is but one factor important to

the development ofeffective reading strategies.Phonemic awareness

promotes learning to read in the initial stages, but itcannot be used

as a tool or device once the reader is able to read. In otherwords, a

reading approach using the phonemic based awareness is suitable

forbeginner or elementary readers.Does learning to read mean

learning to identify words and get theirmeaning?The second

definition on reading by Weaver (1994) pertains to the ability

toidentify words and extract meanings from words. Knowledge of

phonics orbasic letter-sound relationship is necessary but not

sufficient when reading toextract meaning from a text. Fundamental

questions remain about how much,how, when, and under what

circumstances knowledge of phonics should beincluded in

instruction. Just teaching the letter and the associated sound

doesnot develop good readers. The teaching of phonics should be

contextualizedand the students’ learning ability needs to be taken

into consideration.Does learning to read mean learning to bring

meaning to a text in order toget meaning from it?The third

definition on reading as posited by Weaver (1994), supports

theinteractive model of reading. In the interactive reading model,

the readerinteracts with the text. The level of depth of text

processing depends on thereader’s background knowledge, language

proficiency level, motivation,strategy used and culturally shaped

beliefs about reading (Aebersold and Field1997).The ultimate goal

of reading will be to enable the readers to understand whatthey

have read. Good comprehenders have good vocabularies. They are

able tounderstand and describe words. They use the word in the

text to unravel itsmeaning. They ask questions, predict and extract

main ideas. They are alsoJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 121facile in

employing sentence structures within the text to enhance

theircomprehension.Therefore, one can conclude that the three

definitions of reading by Weaver(1994) encompass three elements:

the ability to recognize and pronouncewords, the ability to extract

meaning and to interact with the text. The threedefinitions of

reading by Weaver (1994) are illustrated in the

followingdiagram:Figure 1: The Three Definitions of Reading by

Weaver (1994)LEARNING TOPRONOUNCETHE WORDSLEARNING

TOIDENTIFY WORDSAND GET THEIRMEANINGLEARNING

TOBRINGMEANING TO ATEXT INORDER TO GETMEANINGFROM

ITJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 122Reading ProblemsA review of

literature on second language learning emphasizes motivation asan

important affective variable. Collins (1996) identifies other causes

forincomprehension besides poor motivation to a lack of experience

or inadequateprior knowledge and a limited or subjective view of

what is read. Studentsexperience low motivation in reading when

they are unable to use the languagein meaningful situations. Only

widespread involvement in language can solvethe problem of poor

motivation. Communicative-based activities such as oraland recorded

readings, asking questions, dictating stories and working in

smallgroups will also facilitate learning as well as increase students’

motivation forreading (Carr 1995). Commitment to read and invest

interest in reading iscrucial in order for instruction in learning

strategies to be effective.Another reading problem is the lack of

prior knowledge to help students makeconnections to text. As a

result, under confident students revert to lower levelreading

processes such as word level literal comprehension. Support

materialssuch as television and films can help enlarge experience

and supply thenecessary vocabulary to aid comprehension. Many

struggling readers lackconfidence in their own ability to learn

unfamiliar words or phrases found in atext. This can sometimes

impede the reading process when students assumethat the text is

far more difficult than it actually is. Moreover, if the readerchooses

to disregard portions of a text deemed unimportant or make

irrelevantassociations, then the actual meaning of the text can be

misconstrued. Toeradicate this reading problem, the reader needs to

be exposed to otherviewpoints of the text. Reading and discussing

about the text will helpindividual readers gain different perspectives

on issues in the text. Hence, thiswill enable the reader to realize that

his interpretation of the text is limited byhis subjective

view.According to the Centre for Teaching and Learning, University

of Alabama,bad reading habits come in the form of vocalizing,

reading everything at thesame speed, regression and reading one

word at a time. Vocalizing impedes thereading process as it slows

the reading rate. As a result, processing theinformation in a text will

not be carried out efficiently. A good reader adjuststhe reading

speed according to the level of difficulty of the text. If the text

isdeemed difficult, the reading rate becomes slower. If one reads a

text at theJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 123same speed, there is a

tendency that pertinent information in the text will beignored or

unnecessary portions in the text be given more emphasis.When

words in a text “are efficiently decoded into their spoken forms

withoutcomprehension of the passage taking place” (Stanovich

1986: 372) wordcalling occurs. This idea of word callers has gained

popularity despite a lackof evidence that applies “to an appreciable

number of poor readers” (Stanovich1986: 372). On the other hand,

Stanovich defines “gap fillers” as readers withlow accuracy and high

comprehension. These readers are able to usecontextual clues to

decode the text. They are able to extract meaning from thetext

using their knowledge, experience and intellectual abilities. They are

nottext bound and are able to read beyond the words to achieve a

more globalunderstanding of the text.Reading StrategiesAccording

to Kellerman (1977), a strategy is a well-organized approach to

aproblem. Jordens (1977) asserts that strategies can only be applied

whensomething is acknowledged as problematic. In terms of reading

Carrell (1993)uses the term "strategies" deliberately rather than the

term "skills" because thefocus is on the actions that readers actively

select and control to achievedesired goals or objectives, although

there are different claims in the literatureas to how much conscious

deliberation is involved in these actions. Paris,Wasik and Turner

(1991: 611) define "strategies" and "skills" accordingly:Skills refer to

information-processing techniques that areautomatic, whether at the

level of recognizing graphemephonemecorrespondence or

summarizing a story. Skills areapplied to a text unconsciously for

many reasons includingexpertise, repeated practice, compliance with

directions, luck,and naive use. In contrast strategies are actions

selecteddeliberately to achieve particular goals. An emerging skill

canbecome a strategy when it is used intentionally. Likewise,

astrategy can "go underground" [in the sense used by

Vygotsky,1978] and become a skill. Indeed strategies are more

efficientand developmentally advanced when they become

generatedand applied automatically as skills. Thus, strategies are

"skillsunder consideration."JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 124Therefore

one can say that reading strategies are applied in the readingprocess

to attain comprehension as well as to overcome problems during

thecomprehension process.Each reader possesses individual reading

strategies. However, a good reader isone who is able to achieve a

balance between comprehension (ends) and thereading process

(means) via a vast repertoire of strategies. She understands

thealphabetic system of English to identify printed words; have and

usebackground knowledge and strategies to obtain meaning from

print and readfluently (Snow, Burns and Griffin 1998 cited in Lee

2002: 39 - 40).A weak or poor reader may need to adjust his

comprehension to the text. If thereader decides to adjust his

reading only to the text, he is text bound (Carrell1993). Within the

text, if the reader is faced with textual comprehensionproblems, he

may be forced to adjust his reading by reducing comprehensioneven

more than before. The reduction will lead to word by word

processingand difficulties in sound-to-sound correspondence.A

range of strategies are necessary to develop students’ interest and

pleasure inreading as well as their reading skills to help them

overcome the ir readingproblems. The English teacher should be

skilled and knowledgeable enough toselect those strategies most

appropriate to the needs of her students. This isbecause ESL

learners need to efficiently recognise and at the same

timeunderstand the meaning of the words automatically (Lee 2002:

65).Building Students’ Background or Prior KnowledgeReaders rely

on their prior knowledge and world knowledge to make sense

ofwhat they read. They need to be exposed to content to give them

the contextfor understanding what they read. Working with students

before they beginreading a text helps them to get more involved.

First, students learnbackground information to activate useful

schemata (Johnson and Pearson1982). They then recognize textual

landmarks as they meet them. Confidentstudents are more likely to

take risks in guessing word meanings andanticipating text content.

They will be better strategy users while they read.According to

Tierney and Pearson (1985 cited in Devine 1987:186), theteacher ne

eds to be sure of the students’ prior knowledge of the topic and

thegenre of the text before actually implementing the reading

lesson. IntelligentJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 125selection and

preparation before reading can also make the students’ readingmore

efficient and enjoyable.Activating relevant, prior knowledge before,

during and after reading textsenhances comprehension. ESL reading

teachers can select or assist studentsselect texts that they are

interested in and familiar with and of a linguistic leveljust beyond

their students’ current level of reading competence. Hence,

readingmaterials used in the reading class should also possess

content matter that isfamiliar so that students can relate and make

associations using their acquiredas well as new knowledge.De-

emphasizing Oral ReadingOne major difference in the theory and

practice of first language (L1) andsecond language (L2) reading

concerns reading aloud and the relationship ofpronunciation and

comprehension in the teaching of reading. The ability topronounce

words correctly often seem to be a pre-determinant in

assessingstudents’ reading competency. Unless the L2 reader is

already orally proficientin the target language, the ability to sound

out words correctly is not especiallyhelpful in the comprehension

process. For example, students asked to readaloud during

introductory stages of a reading lesson concentrate on sounds tothe

detriment of meaning.Brenhardt’s (1983) study indicates that

comprehension of passages readsilently is higher than that of

passage read aloud. Several other studies alsoargue that students

taught to read using an audio- lingual, decoding-to-soundmethod

do not outperform those who learn to read without active

oralparticipation on their part.Hence, reading aloud can be

considered one of the reading skills that helpstudents read fluently

and gain confidence in the language. It cannot, however,solely be

assumed as an indicator of reading success.Using Cloze to Teach

ReadingUsing cloze to teach reading gives students practice in the

essential skill ofguessing from context, congruous with Smith’s

(1978 in Barnett 1988)JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL.

126psycholinguistic theory of reading in which the development of

the ability toguess meaning from context is seen as the key to

successful reading. Thiscontext includes not only the words on the

page, but also the reader’sknowledge of the language of the subject

matter of the text being read. Bydeleting words from a passage on a


regular basis, cloze brings out into the openstudents’ guessing

strategies, thus allowing learners, then teachers, and theirpeers a

chance to help learners increase their guessing ability. This

increasedability may lead to greater comprehension and also faster

reading speed as thetime needed to decode each word is reduced

and reading is more efficient.Teaching the skill of contextual

guessing may improve reading comprehensionand speed (Van

Parreren and Schouten-Van Parreren 1981 cited in Barnett1989).

However, this method may be effectively used by advanced

readers,but not necessarily appropriate for beginning L2 readers

(Jarvis 1979 cited inBarnett 1989).In L2 reading, readers are not

penalized for making errors. They areencouraged to use contextual

clues and employ reading strategies that willenable them to grasp

the meaning of a text without resorting to word by worddecoding.

This will help the readers to be more independent in their

readingand to gain greater confidence in seeking information from

the text. They willnot be afraid of unfamiliar or difficult words and

use effective readingstrategies (guessing skills) to unravel the

meaning of the text.Other strategies to help problem readers include

generating visual images ofwhat is read, getting them to react or

respond to the content of the text picturesas well as text features

(e.g. headings) and text structures (e.g.

narrative).METHODParticipantsThis is a qualitative based study

where responses from a participant is analysed.The participant is in

service teacher. The respondent had taught in differentprimary

schools mainly in rural areas for sixteen years. She taught for

twoJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 127years at a lower primary level.

She enjoys teaching reading especially at lowerprimary. However,

her preference is teaching listening and speaking skillsbecause she

can evaluate students in the two skills there and then. According

tothe respondent, her parents first started reading to her bedtime

stories both inBahasa Malaysia and English. They used pictures and

books to help herrecognize and/ or read the names of animals,

objects or colours when she wasfour years old. She did not attend

kindergarten but at seven years, she waslearning to recognize words

in the newspapers and using the dictionary to lookup meanings of

difficult words.At school, she had easy access to storybooks made

available by the Englishlanguage teacher. The emphasis was on

grammar rules and sentencestructures. Text length and word

difficulty increased with age and by Year 4,she was more confident

and could read aloud fluently although she still mademistakes in

answering comprehension questions.It was her father’s wish for her

to be a teacher. After completing a three-yearbasic certificate course

in English language teaching, the respondent taughtEnglish for five

years in a primary school in Kelantan. Her students weremostly the

children of farmers. Later, she taught in a FELDA school inPahang. It

was here that she initiated the first English language camp in

thestate. It was the “best school” compared to more urban schools

that she was toteach in later (in Johore and Wilayah Persekutuan

Kuala Lumpur). Herstudents, from different states, showed much

interest and cooperation.The respondent attended a one-year

Diploma in TESL at the UniversitiMalaya. She also received training

in the Malaysian Trainer DevelopmentProgramme (MTDP) for three

weeks, and attended a three-day Newspaper InEducation workshop

and a two-week Big Book Project at state level. Otherrelated

experiences include her involvement in judging story telling and

publicspeaking competitions at zonal level.InstrumentsA fact sheet

was used to obtain the respondents’ background

information,training/involvement and experiences in reading. A

semi-structured interviewJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 128consisting

of open ended questions were asked to enable the respondent

toelaborate and clarify her explanations .Data AnalysisThe

semi-structured interviews aimed to capture the respondents’ ideas

andconcerns regarding young ESL readers’ problems as well as their

reflections onthe types of strategies employed to solve the

problems. The interviews wereaudio-taped and the data obtained

transcribed to allow the researchers to offertheir insights

accordingly. The data were interpreted and categorized accordingto

types of reading problems and strategies. These were then

discussed in ananalytical manner. The categories of problems and

strategies were not based ona priori categories where a framework

with predetermined domains is used tocategorize the data. Rather

the analysis is based on the respondent’s accountand reflection as

there was no observation of actual classroom practice.FINDINGS

AND DISCUSSIONSRespondent’s Definition of ReadingThe

respondent identifies two different schools of thought on teaching

reading– “read aloud the words, pronounce the words correctly”

(Interview, circa June2002: line 347) and “meaning-making process”

(Interview, circa June 2002:line 348). To the respondent, “Reading

is looking at words. OK and thenpronouncing it” (Interview, circa

June 2002: line 98). This definition affectshow the respondent

approaches and teaches young ESL learners reading.Reading is

primarily about reading aloud as “… they pronounce their

wordscorrectly while reading something. The pronunciation is the

most importantthing, right? So I think we should stress more on

reading” (Interview, circaJune 2002: lines 28 – 30).Assessing

reading ability, to the respondent, means “reading aloud ...

Readingand pronouncing the words” (Interview, circa June 2002:

line 351). However,answering comprehension questions is perceived

as an exam-oriented goal“...in terms of exams ... we teach them to

read to understand the text ... becauseJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL.

129they have to answer questions ...” (Interview, circa June 2002:

lines 351 –352).Respondent’s Perspective of Her Students’ Reading

ProblemsVarious reading problems were identified. One is “of

course, thepronunciation. Second is the stress, intonation and then

the exclamation marks,the full stops, commas ... intonation and

everything” (Interview, circa June2002: lines 446 – 447). Other

problems include linguistic deficiency, poorreading aloud skills, lack

of prior knowledge and interest in reading.Poor Reading Aloud

Skills The respondent considers reading aloud of major importance in

the macro skill of reading. Testing students’ reading ability seems to

be via “reading aloud …Reading and pronouncing the words”

(Interview, circa June 2002: line 351). Italso includes stress and

intonation. To the respondent, not being able to readmeans not

being able to read aloud. A text is considered difficult if, forinstance,

the students could not pronounce the words. However, in terms

ofexams, promotion becomes secondary, the respondent did not

indicate teachingof phonics or pronunciation skills in her reading

lesson although instruction indecoding “could be a useful


intervention” (Lee 2002: 130).Linguistic DeficiencyStudents often do

not comprehend a text simply because of their linguisticdeficiency in

the target language. “… they have problems in understanding

...Because they’ve what you call ... their knowledge of the language

is not goodenough” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 37, 39).

According to therespondent, students need to understand a passage

“in terms of exams”(Interview, circa June 2002: line 351). Many

face vocabulary problems andcannot understand what is told. When

they come across difficult words in apassage, they “don’t

understand the meaning” (Interview, circa June 2002: line47). The

ability to answer comprehension questions is particularly critical

inYears 5 and 6 in view of the national examination – the Primary

SchoolAssessment Test or “Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah” (UPSR).

When askedquestions about a reading text, her students respond in

the mother tongue,JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 130which in this

case is the Malay language. They also resort to the Malaylanguage if

they do not know the meanings of words. Some students in Years4,

5 and 6 do not want to read because they actually “can’t read”.

They areafraid to “expose their weaknesses” (Interview, circa June

2002: line 278) asweak students are required to attend remedial

classes where different levels ofmaterials are used, such as “short

sentences” and filling in the blanks. “Theydon’t really recognize the

word” (Interview, circa June 2002: line 283). For thepurpose of

answering comprehension questions, sub-skills such as scanningand

skimming are given particular emphasis by the respondent as

students needto look for main ideas and supporting details.Lack of

Prior KnowledgeThe respondent finds that her students lack prior

knowledge especially in thepre reading stage in understanding

interesting texts with foreign content. Forexample, the lack of

background knowledge and information about the natureand uses of

buildings in Indonesia such as the Borobudur can make

reading difficult. In this case, the respondent created her own story

about the places shewent to and the things she saw there to explain

about the buildings.Lack of Interest / Motivation in ReadingStudents

who lack interest in the reading lesson are also unwilling

oruncooperative learners. These are mainly weak students who often

do notvoluntarily get involved or participate in classroom
activities.Some are weak in reading. What prevents them from

attempting to read inclass is their lack of confidence and fear of

being embarrassed by otherstudents. These are the shy ones who

are quiet and afraid of making mistakesshould they be called upon

to read aloud. “You have to take them to the library… guide them’

(Interview, circa June 2002: lines 487 – 488).Respondent’s

Teaching of Reading StrategiesThe process of learning to read

involves decoding and comprehension. Therespondent points out

that she helps to increase her students’ understanding ofJURNAL

IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 131meaning of words, phrases, sentences and

text mainly through explanation,visuals, read-alouds, questions and

summary writing.Explanation of Meaning and ContentThe

respondent usually explains difficult words or the meaning of a text

firstbefore directing the students to read the passage aloud. During

the pre-readingstage, the respondent often explains unfamiliar

content to the students or tells astory, real or otherwise, to arouse

interest and make reading easier. Forexample, in a typical reading

lesson on “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, therespondent starts off

with a recording of the sounds of bears and a briefexplanation

about bears and difficult vocabulary, followed by questionsstudents

need to answer to show their understanding of the text. To make

thereading lesson meaningful to her students, the respondent tries

to contextualisewith examples or illustrations and explanations of

difficult words: “I’ve torelate the text in the way they can

understand it” (Interview, circa June 2002:line 413).Students are

encouraged to use the dictionary to search for difficult words

thatthey encounter in their reading. They copy down any difficult

words they comeacross into a small note book and write down the

dictionary meanings.Visual SupportThe respondent particularly liked

using texts with lots of visuals such aspictures in Big Books and

video tapes. Her students find that pictures andactions of characters

aid their understanding. She thinks “the most relevantway of

teaching (certain topics in the syllabus) is through video tape.

Theseyoung ESL learners tend to enjoy looking at pictures and at

the same timelistening to stories too. Pictures can also focus

students’ attention on importantinformation as they read. As the

respondent reads, the students follow thestoryline with the help of

pictures.Based on the pictures, various questions could be asked to

help students thinkaloud what they see and describe their reactions

to the picture(s). The pupilsalso try to follow the words in the

sentences. Weaker students enjoy looking atpictures and “are more

eager ... to see the actions” (Interview, circa June 2002:JURNAL

IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 132line 392) on a video tape. The respondent

enjoys explaining about pictures anda great deal on visuals to foster

students’ interest in a text and aid theirunderstanding. “It’s of a

more friendly … they feel that you’re near to them so,in that way, I

think they’ll understand better than leaving them to do their work on

their own” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 83 – 86).Read-

alouds The importance accorded to reading aloud influences the

respondent’s classroom practice, that of getting individual students to read aloud. Theemphasis is on stress, intonation and pronunciation. Hence the respondentconsiders it imperative to ensure correct pronunciation as she believes that “thepronunciation is the most important thing, right?” (Interview, circa June 2002:line 29). However, pronouncing it right does not warrant that all studentsunderstand the meaning of words.The respondent subscribes to the idea that making mistakes is part and parcelof the process of learning especially in reading aloud. One way to promotereading is to be always patient and tolerant of errors made by other students.She is relatively tolerant of errors amo ng her students as she subscribes to theidea that errors are part of parcel of the learning process.Use of QuestionsQuestions are regularly used to assist students’ understanding of a text. Therespondent notes that “… we get the main ideas from the question itself, right?So, in the question itself it’s stated where they’re supposed to find the answer…” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 403 – 404). In this respect, focusing oncertain key words in a question is considered an important skill as “… the keyword from the question will be the answer” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines406 – 407). However, this is considered the “worst technique” (Interview, circaJune 2002: line 405) by the respondent. The use of questions is for the purposeof meaning- making and learning, though it is not regarded by the respondent asa skill of reading.JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 133Summary writingA common task given by the respondent is summary writing. This is to gaugewhether students understand the books they select in the library. In this task,individual students get to share their summary by reading them aloud whenthey are back in the classroom. The respondent felt that getting her students tofind “words that they don’t really understand and look up for the meaning”(Interview, circa June 2002: lines 66 – 67) and to write down a shortsummary work because she will “know if they understand the story or not”(Interview, circa June 2002: line 69).CONCLUSIONThe types of problems and strategies identified by the respondent are based onher experience and understanding of reading and reading problems. Thisunderstanding in turn affects her approaches in teaching reading. In her sixteenyears of teaching, the respondent enjoyed teaching at the lower primary levelwhere she taught for two to three years. Her definition and understanding ofreading is centred mainly on reading aloud to develop fluency. She believesthat pronunciation is important and becomes secondary only “in terms ofexamination” (Interview, circa June 2002: line 356). So her usual classroompractice of teaching reading is to get individual students to read aloudparagraphs of a text and correct any mispronunciation. This may embarrassstudents who make mistakes or encourage others to read or think aboutsomething else while others are reading aloud. No doubt mouthing out wordshelps young readers correct pronunciation but the respondent does notdemonstrate how read-alouds could be made more meaningful and enjoyable.There is also no mention of how classroom instruction and activities candevelop phonological awareness. This seems to be the respondent’sinterpretation of the sub-skills of reading specified in the primary Englishlanguage syllabus (Ministry of Education 1995):3.2 Acquire word recognition and word attack skills· recognise words on sight3.4 Read aloud expressively and fluently· observe intonation, stress, rhythm, pauseJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 134· in meaningful chunksAccording to the respondent ‘Reading is looking at words. OK and thenpronouncing it’ (Interview, circa June 2002: line 98). The focus is on wordlevel decoding and literal comprehension. However, reading is more thanfocusing on words, trying to say all the words. Silent reading also needs to beencouraged for faster reading and to facilitate comprehension. Improvingstudents’ comprehension abilities is essential to academic learning in allsubject areas as well. However, the goal of improving reading comprehension,to the respondent, seems to be preparing Years 5 and 6 students for UjianPenilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR). The concerns over examinations in theprimary schools have inevitably led to “teaching to the tests” (Nutall 1995).Hence, classroom practice focused on the attainment of examination results inUPSR as it reflected effective English language teaching in the primary school.The respondent mentions skimming and scanning for main ideas and details.Higher order reading skills, for example, making inferences are not mentioned.Perhaps, the respondent finds it more difficult to teach students to useinformation from various parts of a text to infer meanings that are notexplicitly stated. Other strategies used to monitor comprehension or meaningsuch as rereading or looking back to earlier parts of the text are also notmentioned by the respondent. Neither did she give explicit instructions on howto answer except for identifying the key word in a question which she thinks isthe worst technique. Student-generated questions could be encouraged to buildcomprehension as it requires readers to tie new information to priorknowledge. The quality of questions and feedback to reader response is alsocritical to good comprehension.To teach comprehension skills, students could paraphrase and summarizeworks. Summarizing requires readers to actively clarify meaning, condenseinformation, select what is important and combine selected ideas in a newform. The respondent does not elaborate how she teaches her students tointegrate ideas and generalize from information in the texts. There is nomention of structures for organising information that would make review,retelling or summary of a text read easier.Vocabulary plays a crucial role in reading. The respondent emphasizedunderstanding the meaning of difficult words in a passage and the use of aJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 135pocket chart as a ‘good way of letting them to know the words because …knowing the meanings of the words then they’ll understand the story or thesentences’ (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 89 - 90). She thinks her studentsneed to know the meaning of individual words first before guiding them ‘topronounce the words’ (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 93 - 94). Difficultwords are considered a pre-requisite to the comprehension of the overallmeaning of a text. Teaching vocabulary is one of the sub-skills in the primaryEnglish language syllabus (Ministry of Education 1995):3.5 Acquire a wide range of vocabulary· synonymsMany ESL readers encounter vocabulary problems. Their one constantresource is the dictionary to help improve their understand ing of the meaningsof individual words. However, using the dictionary while reading makes fluentreading difficult. The use of contextual clues, vocabulary puzzles, mnemonictechniques and the teaching of spelling rules help readers to effectively guessthe meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. However, the respondent believes herstudents should look up the dictionary for the meanings of difficult wordsperhaps because that was how she learnt difficult words under the guidance ofher father.The respondent also relies a lot on visual support to help aid comprehensionand motivate struggling or weak readers. She seems adept at using pictures tofoster students’ interest and response. For these readers with limitedknowledge of content, the respondent provides verbal explanation or createsstories which she sometimes makes up as she believes her students would notbe able to tell the difference. Instead of filling in blanks, the respondent couldgive her students story blanks to focus on important elements of a story andanticipate what might happen next. Moreover, she could use text features suchas headings and sub-headings to activate and build students’ prior knowledgeGraphic organizers such as story maps also help familiarize students with theuse of text structures, for example, a narrative or guidance in understandinghow a narrative text is structured to enable students to ask questions and makeconnections as they read