John Bald/language and literacy

Geometry - learning from worked examples, a window on the mind.

At school, geometry caused me severe distress, untold hours of wasted time and migraines. I did not know how to do it. Give me a protractor to measure an angle, or a pair compasses to bisect it, and I was fine. Give me a problem to solve that some people could do in two minutes, and I was up until eleven at night, having started at 5.30 or 6, and completely, hopelessly, despairingly confused. I did not know what constituted a proof, or how to apply whatever theorems we'd been shown. The misery caused by having to do something, and not being able to do it, has, I'm told, given me some understanding of how people feel when they can't read or write properly, but that, at the time, was a long way off. All I knew was that geometry homework gave me serious grief, and I dreaded Thursday nights.

My school's solution at the time was to introduce a new option at GCSE, statistics, which amounted to illustrated arithmetic, that I enjoyed and could do.  I learned the principles of geometric (Euclidian) proof twenty years later through Davis and Hersh's The Mathematical Experience, but that was too late to do anything about the initial problem. I couldn't do geometry, and, like many others, concluded that I was useless at maths.

Sahar Bokosmaty's thesis, open access here, shows how giving students worked examples before expecting them to solve problems on their own, helps free them from their own instinctive approach to problem solving - my protractor - and enables them to understand the principles of mathematical thinking. Part of the process involves reducing the load on working memory by building up longer term knowledge and understanding. This is important work, and has been published in article form here, though unfortunately only the abstract is available freely on the internet. I suggest that people interested read it via a copyright library, as I have thanks to the excellent service at Cambridge University Department of Education Library.

Ophthalmic Abnormalities and Reading Impairment: A Review.

Ophthalmic Abnormalities and Reading Impairment:  Alexandra L. Creavin, MBChBa, Raghu Lingam, MBChB, MRCPH, PhDb, Colin Steer, PhDa, Cathy Williams, MBBS, FRCOphth, PhDa  Pediatrics, Vol 135,6, 2015

This study was based on a survey of nearly six thousand children taking part in the Bristol "Children of the Nineties" study.  It defined severe reading impairment as more than two standard deviations below the mean on the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Second Revised British Edition) and achieving below the expected L4 in the UK's national SAT test for 11 year olds. 3 per cent of the sample met these criteria.  A further 8 per cent were 1 standard deviation below the mean.  Children with IQ below 70 and those who were blind were excluded.  The study involved "secondary analysis of previously collected data".

The authors note in the first paragraph that 

Specific learning disorder with reading impairment (dyslexia) affects 3% to 20% of school-aged children (∼375 000 UK children1) depending on the definition used.

The problem, however, is that they have no evidence that these weak readers were dyslexic. All they know is that they had low test scores and did not have severely impaired intelligence. They say that  

The strong consensus of the scientific community is that reading problems, including dyslexia, are not caused by vision abnormalities.This consensus has not yet been tested in a large population cohort.

There are two problems here. The first is that, while we need to be able to see in order to read, no one I know thinks that reading problems are caused by vision abnormalities, at least as their primary cause. In the very early stages, though, the time at which vision problems are detected by normal eye testing may be an issue, and one that is not investigated here. Reading places new demands on the vision system of four and five year olds, and it may be some time before glasses are prescribed - it's difficult to carry out a sight test with people who have not yet learned the alphabet.

The second is that the authors can't identify the pupils with severe or moderate reading impairment as dyslexic, because they have not looked at individual cases at all. There can be many sources of reading problems, including limited early language development, interruptions to hearing in early childhood, and teaching that is not matched closely enough to learning needs.  Neither have the researchers even looked at whether the children had been assessed for any benefit from tinting. This leaves them in the position of making critical comments on a phemonemon that they have not even investigated.

They note "a lack of robust epidemiological evidence to suggest that these (tinting) therapies are effective in improving outcomes for those with dyslexia". This is based on an editorial - not a research article - in the British Medical Journal. The editorial is a review of previous studies, all of which had flaws that might well have invalidated them individually. The biggest flaw in any investigation of tinting is that you can't carry out a blind trial on a tint. A partially sighted trial is not scientific, and the method of using two tints, the preferred one and one close enough to it that differences are not immediately obvious, does not test the benefit of tinting in itself. Screening tests very often show a benefit from several tints, but more from one than any other.  So, the observed phenomenon of improvements in reading from tinting can't be investigated using the same means as, say, a new drug.  The only solution is to return to case study evidence, based on direct observation, and this is as valid now as it was for Joseph Lister. Professor Arnold Wilkins' reply to the BMJ editorial, citing further case study evidence that is ignored for no reason, is here. 

This article is very close to an abuse of academic authority. The BBC, to its credit, interviewed the lead author alongside a parent whose child's reading speed had more than doubled as a result of tinting. It is far too simple for people to put such direct evidence into a dustbin labelled "placebo" simply because they refuse to investigate it. 

One finding from this study that confirms current experience is that children with severe reading impairment are a little more likely to have problems with their eyes working together - stereoscopy - than others. This reinforces the idea that children with reading problems need to have their eyes tested. An eye test will not necessarily reveal sensitivity to light, however, because it does not last long enough, and does not test the use of the eyes in the context of reading text. Visual stress is not a matter that can be investigated by established ophthalmic techniques, and it certainly can cause reading difficulties, by making the task very uncomfortable, causing headaches or worse. These factors are similar to those associated with dyslexia, though that is a topic in its own right.  I know of no teachers or optometrists who see dyslexia and visual stress as the same thing, and it is wrong to suggest otherwise.

 

 

 

 

The Key and how to turn it, 2. Building speed by going slowly.

This follows posting 1, here

Barry comes in giggling. I quietly ask him to stop, and he comes and sits down at the table, in his usual position at right-angles to me and on my left, with his mother sitting beside him. I have three main ideas in mind - I want him to distinguish short vowel sounds accurately, to combine/blend consonants at the beginning of words, and to read b and d accurately. Beyond this, I want to engage in conversation on the topic that interests him - bones - and introduce some longer words.

The first ditty we work on contains the words drip and drop. He misreads drip, so I go back to the previous word, rip, then pip, then lip. He does not pronounce the short i sound as clearly as I'd like - it has some e in it, which I've seen before. We practise saying the word, and Barry reads the ditty, hesitantly, but more accurately.  

In lesson 2, I'd used the technique adapted from the Portsmouth Sarah Duffen project (now Down Syndrome Educational Trust) of writing some words on cards, saying them, and having Barry give me the word I say. The words are drip, drop, dress and drink. Barry gives me drop when I ask for drip. I put the card back and ask him for drip, which he provides. He gets the others right. This shows that his knowledge of these letters is still developing, but improving. We return to the ditty, which he reads with some hesitation, but accurately. We have to work hard on drink, which I reinforce by reference to pink, link, and sink.

I notice that he only misreads b and d around once in three words, and then always at the beginning of a word. Perhaps not surprising, as b at the end of a word is less frequent than d. I don't offer him b and d together to discriminate, but, as above, reinforce his perceptions and understanding through a series of similar words, which build a neural network and memory.

Barry misreads "sock" as soak once again, and I have to return to lock, tick tock to demonstrate the correct reading. I explain how vowel letters work, and that the word comes from an old French word for voice (Voix, vouielle, modern voyelle, our vowel). For teaching purposes, I call them voice letters, which means exactly the same thing. I write them in this way 

a	e	i	o	u
		y		w

I explain that we have 25 or so voice sounds, but only these letters to write them with, so that each one of them can give us more than one sound. This is the main reason why reading in English is difficult - we need to know what the letter is telling us in a particular word, and that has to be learned. I write sky, which he reads accurately, and explain the use of y -  we don't  like to have words ending in i, and the downstroke on y helps reinforce the fact that the word is ending. Y near the beginning of the word is usually Greek.  Back to sock, which Barry reads accurately.

We move to the next ditty, which causes fewer problems, and I take the pressure off with some conversation, though it's linked to the vowel issue.  I tap the top of my head, and announce that the bone I'm tapping is the cranium. I ask him to tap the top of his head, which, fortunately enough, is covered with hair. What's the word?   Cranium, he says, and his mum explains that it's part of the skull. He's allowed to laugh at my cranium being more visible than his, but not for too long. Does he like football? A little, but he doesn't really understand a lot about it. I give him stadium, underneath cranium, for the longer a sound, and the group of letters ium. 

Having had his attention well and truly diverted, Barry returns to the first ditty we read, and reads it fluently and accurately. Result.

 

 

Assessment without NC levels: Dr Rachel Hawkes

Dr Rachel Hawkes has produced a framework of ten steps to language learning that teachers may find invaluable in meeting the demands of senior management for evidence of progress. The ten steps have important features, such as writing words and phrases from memory rather than copying, that are consistent with the approach to languages set out on this site, and can easily be adapted to meet individual interests and requirements, as, like most of the materials on Rachel's site, they are free to download. This may well have save a lot of teachers a great deal of work and stress.

The one element that I would personally change is in the degree of accuracy required in writing in the initial stages. The approach on this site is based on the idea that children learning a new language need to adjust their thinking so that they can use new structures, and part of this is understanding the different relations of letters to sounds. Having them practise single words and then sentences, using tracing on the sleeve and mini boards, so that children only write in a book what they know they will get right, builds confidence more effectively than simply accepting errors. Children also make fewer errors when they fully understand what they are trying to do, and why. A little practice in the early stages saves a great deal of frustration later on.

Peter Gross, Inspirational Mathematics Teacher, Enfield.

This article and video from the Enfield Independent shows the work of Peter Gross, who has just received an inspirational teacher award for maths teaching. We now need to know more about how he does it.

The Key, and how to turn it. "Amazing" (parent) progress from an eight year old non reader - and how to bring it about.

JR, the parent of a ten year old who had not learned to read, observed a lesson with his daughter and described the result as "like turning a key".  She graduated with a good degree from a Russell Group university some years ago. This posting and updates shows hot to find the key, after which turning it is as easy as the metaphor suggests. In the case of reading, it involves a move from the spontaneity of spoken language to getting and giving meaning by means of marks on paper, a process first described by Vygotsky in Ch. 6 of his great work, Thought and Language.

Barry, as we will call him, is eight, and his mother emailed me because he could not read and had delayed language development. He does not concentrate well, and tends to prolonged artificial laughter. An initial reading test, which Barry willingly undertook to give me an idea of what I need to teach him, is abandoned as he struggles with every word. It is not that people have not been trying to teach Barry. He tries to sound words out, suggesting that the teaching has involved some form of phonics. It simply hasn't worked. 

Lesson 1.

As usual with a non-reader of this age, I start with the Ditties from Read, Write Inc. These are mildly amusing series of linked short phrases, each painting a picture or containing a mini-story such as dogs digging, yapping and ripping, with no irregular words at all in the first few. This presents a very clear series of tasks, allowing children to learn to use the information contained in letters, and to blend this into words, without having to try to puzzle out words where this is impossible. I explain to Barry that letters give us information that will usually help us to read each word, and that we need to use all of the information in the letters in order to read, and not to guess.

Progress in lesson 1 is very slow, as Barry tends to substitute a word that would make sense (looking at me in search of confirmation of his guess each time) rather than reading the word that is actually on the page. Having him pay attention to the letters and to get the meaning from them, rather than make it up, requires a big change in his thinking, and it takes us the whole lesson (30mins or so) to read the first two ditties. Barry finds it hard to distinguish the short voice (vowel) sounds i and e.  When he misreads a word I use the technique of teaching him another one with the same pattern of letters at the end (eg, to teach red, I go to bed, fed, led etc) and then returning to the word after he has successfully read several others with the same pattern. I usually use plastic letters for this, but, as Barry is inclined to fidget with them, I jot the words down on paper instead, drawing attention to similarities at the end of words.

Technique. Mike Burton, my mentor at Beaufoy School in Lambeth, would follow a child's reading by running a pencil above the line being read (obviously taking care not to touch the page!)  If the child misreads a word, simply stopping the pencil redirects his or her attention to it, so that they know they need to think about it. This is easier if you sit at right angles to the learner, and on their right. With a bit of practice, you can learn to read a text at right angles, and this makes it easy for the person to make eye contact with you - they have to turn their head 45% and not 90%, as they would if they were sitting beside you. Much more comfortable all round.

By the end of the lesson, Barry has successfully read the first two ditties, and then surprises me. He tells me he can read the word "skeleton".  So, we talk about skeletons, bones, what they do, and how they prevent us from falling in a heap. Barry is interested and I make a mental note to use the Dorling Kindersley book of the human body at some point soon. This is an area on which Michael Rosen and I agree - conversation, and, as between adults, conversation works when we discuss shared interests.

Lesson 2.

Barry re-read the two ditties that had occupied the whole of the first lesson, without mistakes. He had not been able to practise them during the week as his mother did not have a copy of the text, and carefully read each word, so that it was clear that he had not simply remembered the ditties as a whole.The key had been turned. 

Every weak reader I've ever met has had problems with using his or her memory. The used and development of memory has only recently begun to be properly researched, and the idea of "working memory" has developed as a result. Working memory needs to be considered in the context of the work. It does not operate in reading in the same way as in arithmetic, as the  patterns in meaning are much more varied. A range of techniques are available to build up pupils' memory, and teachers need to know all of them.

 Progress in lesson 2 was rapid - Barry successfully read the next ten ditties, five times as many as in the first lesson. When he misread a word, I used the same technique of moving to a word that with the same letters at the end (eg dress - mess, less etc), practising this and returning to the text. I would also change the subject, for example by returning to his interest in bones and bodies, before flashing straight back to the word he'd just learned, so as to speed up his identification of it. Professor Usha Goswami's work in the early nineties had shown that weak readers found it easier to recognise shared patterns at the ends (rimes) of words than at the beginning, and this finding allows us to integrate phonic work with the development of memory in a way that builds up what the beginning reader knows, and shows how it can be applied to other words with the same pattern.  It takes time to construct a word from its letters, and fluent readers don't need to do this any more, because, having done the work, they store it in their memories and can then apply it. Getting a weak reader across this barrier is a key element in turning the key.

Barry continued to have problems discriminating between short vowel sounds, and we worked on these by using series of similar words as above. Putting consonants together at the beginning of words was harder, and "dress" held us up. I used the technique, derived from Professor Sue Buckley's work with children with Down Syndrome, of writing words on slips of paper, and having Barry hand them to me as I called them out. After we'd done this a couple of times, Barry was able to read the word. "It's so easy," said his mum. I risked a fit of giggles from Barry by asking him if he'd wear a dress, and was duly punished. Who would wear a dress? "Mum," he replied. I simply wanted him to use the word some more. Sip and shop caused problems. We talked about ships, and I brought out a large illustrated book, which we discussed. Barry's vocabulary is very limited, and the book provided a focal point for developing it through conversation.

It was after this lesson, which lasted around 35 minutes, that Barry's mother phoned me and kept repeating the word "amazing".

Lesson 3 - Barry remembers what he has learned, corrects his own error, and more on "twin-tracking".

We begin, as (nearly) always, by re-reading the texts from the last lesson, though this time just the last two, as they contain the key problems of misreading short vowels, and combining consonants at the start beginning of words. Barry has to work on drip and drop, but gets them right quickly. He then reads socks as soaks. The pencil stops, and after a long pause, he reads the word correctly, without a prompt. Next time we return to the dittie, he quickly corrects himself without much thought. He takes a long time over "dress" but reads it correctly. Giving him time to think has been a key factor. 

We digress. Digression is important, to relieve pressure and extend understanding and vocabulary. I've started playing a game, and write it down. Golf. I get out a couple of clubs to show him, including my mighty driver and a putter. Underneath golf, I write gulf. Barry puts the letters together, and reads the word accurately. As we converse, I write down things that either of us says, and show him how the letters convey the sounds of the word, as well as pointing out anomalies and irregularities, to reinforce his understanding of the idea that we use what the letters tell us, without believing that they tell us everything.

I show Barry my putter, and explain how the lines on the top help me to line up the shot. He has a try, and picks up the club left-handed. Is he left-handed? Sometimes. Uncertainty as to which hand to use is a very common characteristic of people assessed as dyslexic. Barry's mother tells me he has problems with b and d reversal. We are tackling this by reinforcing the correct reading whenever he makes a mistake over one, without drawing attention to it, other than through praise, when he gets one right, which is much more often than not.

Barry's good retention of his previous work, his correction of his own error, his quicker learning of new material and his understanding of things we discuss make me think that his difficulties represent language delay rather than some form of disability. His mother is of course very pleased with this, as her hopes are pinned on it, so I think carefully before saying so. However, I think the evidence from these first three lessons is clear enough.

 

 

Dyslexia and Foreign Language Learning: Futurelearn, Lancaster University.

This course makes balanced and innovative use of the internet to present teachers with a balanced and challenging introduction to a field that is almost wholly neglected. Most children who are assessed as dyslexic are either withdrawn from most of their lessons, or given no chance at all to learn a language. Others are placed in mixed ability classes with no special help, in the sure and certain knowledge that they will fail. Participants on this course are not expected to agree with every word of it, and are given opportunities to comment, argue and interact with instructors and other course members at every stage, using the comments board. There are video demonstrations, research references - on which I'll post separately - recommended reading, and assignments.  A certificate of participation is available for £39, though this is not a strong point, as participants to not need to complete the course in order to receive it. Otherwise the course is free.

Participants are invited to submit a lesson plan for discussion by their fellow-students. Mine was a little too long to post on the site, so here it is:

Spanish, Lesson 1.

From experience and observation, failure in language learning often begins in the first lesson, where pupils are not expected fully to understand the language they are given. My approach ensures complete success in this first lesson and begins the process of adjusting the learner's thinking so that they can say what they want to say in their new language. An outline of the whole approach, and its consistency with the emerging evidence from neuroscience, is on my site johnbald.typepad.com, beginning with the ppt downloadable from http://johnbald.typepad.com/language/eliminating-failure-in-language-learning.

This assignment demonstrates a multisensory approach to a first lesson in Spanish for speakers of English. I vary the content of the lesson according to the needs of the class or student, but I introduce colours at an early stage, using the ppt at this

http://johnbald.typepad.com/language/2013/06/new-national-curriculum-first-steps-in-spanish-free-toolkit-for-primary-schools.html

Many of the features of Spanish pronunciation that are new to English speakers can be learned and explained in this first lesson.   One way to start is to write rojo on the board, and go round the room pointing at red things and having children repeat the word. Then have them study the word. What letter is not giving us the same sound as in English? They will notice j. Then look away from the board and trace rojo on their sleeve with their finger. Who got it nearly right? Who got it completely right? Who remembered j?  They will probably all have got it right first time, as there is only one new thing to remember. Once they've done this with finger tracing, they can write on a miniboard or in a notebook. I repeat with these further colours, unpacking the new feature, explaining and practising until the pupils have it completely right, and have the satisfaction of knowing that they can write it as well as say it.

The key features are:

• rojo   Stress on first syllable, j giving h sound.
• azul  Stress on second syllable, z giving th sound.
• amarillo,   stress on penultimate syllable, 11 giving  a distinctive, y sound.
• verde,  Spanish v sound, very light touch of the lips. Have pupils say very, and feel their top teeth touch their bottom lip. The teeth don't touch in Spanish, but the sound is not a hard plosive as in bad.
• marrón   Ask if children can see anything here they wouldn't see in an English word.  They might call the accent a line or something similar. Explain that the accent is our friend, and tells us what to stress

 Once something is learned, I use it as a starter in the next lesson. For colours, I might pick up three pencils of different colours. I'll say three colours, one or two of which will be wrong, before giving the right combination. At each stage, I'll ask if I've got it right. Children find this amusing, and soon recognise colours.

 At an early stage, and sometimes in the first lesson, I use the same approach to sentence building using tengo. I explain that Spanish people usually take a shortcut by not putting in the companion word (pronoun) that we need to use in English. I'll ask if they can see the two English words in tengo - ten and go - and they'll write it on their sleeve.  I'll then explain hermano and hermanas, pointing out the final letter as a useful guide - but not an infallible one - and they'll trace and write some sentences saying how many brothers and sisters they have. Finally, no tengo to indicate a negative.

Around half of the children can learn to write sentences in this way, without copying, from the age of seven, and I've had no failures from the age of eight onwards. Eliminating Failure Slide 33 shows the result from a pupil assessed as dyslexic, in an ordinary class, after one lesson.

 

Clare Balding: My Animals and Other Family.

 

I'm teaching a Bulgarian student English, and it is most instructive. As with all languages, there is a need to focus on vocabulary, grammar and usage, all of which are beautifully exemplified in Clare Balding's writing.  

Learners of English, however, also need to put stress and intonation in the right places, in words, phrases and sentences, and we have been practising this using Clare Balding's book. Clare's reading of it (Penguin, £20, but I found it for £10 on Ebay) is wonderful for this purpose. Clare reads rather more slowly than some, and the intonation is perhaps a little more stressed than in her tv commentating. This makes the phrasing and stress patterns crystal-clear to a person learning English who is no longer in the foothills.  Altogether admirable, and my student loves it. I mean, really loves it. Dancing with joy loves it.

Interlude: Car Insurance, H J Pook, Insurance Brokers

Car insurance is not the most glamorous subject, but I thought I'd mention the great deals and service I've had over 20 years from H J Pook of Great Totham, Essex, recommended to me by Val Hedge, former warden of Tiptree Family Centre. Their latest quote beat the AA by a clear £90, and I'd always give them a ring before accepting a policy with someone else. Their phone number is 01621 892121. Happy motoring. 

Knowledge frees the brain to think.

My 11 year old pupil, who began last summer not knowing the two times table, and reading at a level around that of an eight year old, has just got L5c in a maths practice test, and L4a in English. For readers outside the UK, the nationally expected standard is L4, or 4b to be sure of it. We still have a lot of work to do to build fluency and confidence in writing and spelling, but the improvement began with building up his knowledge of patterns and procedures in basic maths, and of English grammar. We did not accept approximations, but explained everything clearly to him first and then made him practise, even when this was not his idea of fun.

The result is that, faced with, say, calculating the perimeter of a shape, or its area, he knows how to do the additions and multiplications required without expending his mental energy on them, and can instead think about what the question is saying and how to answer it. He knows what verbs are, why simple grammatical terms are as they are, and how they function in writing. In other words, he can do his work with confidence, approach secondary school knowing that he is not set up to fail, and enjoy his football without thinking he should be doing more homework.

Perhaps most important, he now agrees with me that he is an intelligent boy - not necessarily the quickest, but intelligent - and no longer thinks he is stupid.