現代教育通訊 73期:The backwash effects of BCA: Guiding principles in the teaching of reading and writing in the primary school
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The
backwash effects of BCA: Guiding principles in the
teaching of reading and writing in the primary school |
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Dr
Ina Yuen-mei Siu, Lecturer
Department of English,
Hong Kong Institute of Education |
Dr. Siu in the MERS Teachers' Training Workshop
for Yaumati Catholic Primary School (28/06/04)
The Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) launched
in 2004 aims at giving schools a picture on their students' performance
in the four English language skills and thereby provides useful
feedback to the teaching and learning of English in schools. The
sample items published in the government website give teachers some
ideas about the format of the papers, the skills being tested and
the marking schemes. This article focuses on discussing the reading
and writing papers of the BCA and sheds light on how teachers may,
through effective teaching methods, prepare students for the assessment.
Characteristics
of the items on reading and writing and the corresponding teaching
approaches
1. |
A large number of text types are included. In the lower primary
reading and writing paper, there are riddles, poems, letters,
order forms, book covers and contents pages. Students are
asked to read and then make appropriate responses to the above
text types. In the upper primary paper, similarly a large
number of text types are included. They encompass stories,
advertisements, poems, riddles, short plays, letters and instructions.
A
variety of reading materials with different text types
is essential in teaching and learning English
Therefore, in the teaching of reading, exposure to a variety
of reading materials is essential and students' attention
should be drawn to the features of the different text types
so that appropriate responses could be made. For example,
in responding to riddles and poems, students' active imagination
is involved. Answers to questions on riddles and poems may
require not only factual information based on the text, but
also the use of background and general knowledge related to
the theme of the text. Similarly, writings related to story
endings, poems and other literary types also demand creativity
and imagination. However, in responding to book covers, contents
pages, order forms and instructions, usually exact information
needs to be extracted. Therefore, in discussing riddles, poems
and other creative texts, teachers should encourage and allow
creative responses. On the other hand, it should be made clear
to students that accurate responses based on the reading materials
are required when reading instructions and order forms. Students
should understand different responses are expected and different
skills are used when the text types vary.
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2. |
Non-verbal responses
to reading texts are required especially in the lower primary
papers. Reading involves an active collaboration between the
reader and writer in creating the world established through
the written symbols. It is, therefore, appropriate to ask
young learners to express their understanding of the written
symbols through choosing appropriate pictures. Benton and
Fox (1985, p.18) argue that 'reading a story is an imaginative
collaboration between reader and author from which a secondary
world is created?
In this regard,
the shared reading approach using big picture books is conducive
to helping young learners to decode the meaning of written
symbols and develop 'visual literacy'. Teachers should employ
the shared reading approach where appropriate to support the
English curriculum and help students enrich their responses
to texts through responding to pictures or creating pictures
based on the texts. |
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3. |
Information transfer
is practiced. After reading a text, the response could be transferring
the information into a flow chart, a picture, or a schedule
(Sample 7 of the lower primary reading and writing paper). These
tasks model what happens in real life after reading and we typically
do not answer reading comprehension questions after that! In
real life, after we read instructions on how to apply for the
passport, we would fill in a form, and after reading a long
reference book, we would jot down the main ideas in point form.
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4. |
The ability of 'reading
between the lines' is tested. In traditional reading comprehension
papers, the main type of questions asked is factual questions.
Veteran examination candidates learn to pass the paper through
matching words that appear in the questions with those in the
text and checking out the correct answers with only minimal
understanding of the actual meaning of the text. However, with
the new examination format, students are required to infer the
meaning from the text and the information required in the answer
may not appear in the same format in the text. For example,
in Sample 3 of the lower primary papers, it is stated in the
text that 'We'll [i.e., the Chan family] be in the zoo from
1pm to 4 pm.' The question asked is 'How long will the Chan
family stay in the zoo' In this way, students cannot find the
exact answer from the text and have to do a simple calculation
to supply the answer that the Chan family will stay in the zoo
for three hours.
The skill of inferring is one of the critical reading skills.
Other critical reading skills include evaluating the intention
of the writer, distinguishing between fact and fantasy, arriving
at personal evaluation of the text read, etc. Inferring is best
taught through the supported reading approach, where the teacher
reads an extended text with the students, stops at appropriate
points, checks understanding and then continues reading with
the students. Reading activities, like analysing the characters
of the story read and giving adjectives to describe the characters,
are useful activities to develop inferring skills. Through these
activities, students have to collect evidence from the text
to support their conclusions on the nature of the story or the
characters. Inferring is thus practiced. |
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5. |
Sample
5 of the upper primary paper on reading and writing demonstrates
the use of the supported reading approach. A parallel
lower primary paper is Sample 7 of the lower primary paper.
The supported reading approach is found on the philosophy
of teaching and not for testing reading. In supported
'reading, an extended text is divided into parts and students'
reading and comprehension of each part are guided by the
teacher, asking important comprehension questions after
reading each part. In this way, students' understanding
of the passage is assured. This approach can be used in
the teaching of long texts and together with the teacher,
students will find out where and how the correct answers
can be found. Comprehension is taught and not tested.
Similarly, meaningful tasks can be worked out after each
session and by checking the progress of students in each
task, the teacher can also help them in understanding
the text when needed. |
Reading helps students develop
their intergrated language skills,
thinking skills and critical literacy. |
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6. |
Teaching of reading
and writing should be integrated. The writing tasks in the BCA
papers typically involves reading a text and then supplying
an ending; reading a letter and then replying; studing some
pictures and then translating the information in the pictures
into instructions. This approach should provide positive backwash
effects on the teaching and learning of writing in schools.
Instead of having writing lessons, students?writing is based
on the texts they have read. This ensures that students have
adequate language input and some background exposure to the
topic through reading before they attempt the writing task.
In this way, reading will prepared them for writing and this
also saves them a lot of useful time for other learning activities.
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7. |
In the lower primary
marking scheme on writing, students are not penalized for spelling
or grammatical mistakes that do not interfere with communication
of ideas. However, the upper primary writing marking scheme
demands a fair degree of accuracy to get a good mark. This reflects
a reasonable demand on students' grammatical accuracy in writing
as their proficiency improves. This demand can be addressed
through the process approach of teaching writing in the upper
primary classes. In process writing, through the process of
discussing common errors, revising and
editing ones' work, students' awareness of grammatical accuracy
is enhanced. |
In a gist, the writer believes that BCA will
provide some positive backwash effects on the teaching and learning
of English reading and writing. Teachers should examine their English
curriculum and ensure that they have done the following:
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Include a variety
of text types in the teaching of reading; |
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Employ the shared
reading approach in lower primary and help develop the visual
literacy of students by helping them to understand pictures
and respond to texts through pictures; |
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Design information
transfer activities for post- reading where appropriate; |
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Teach critical reading
skills, e.g. inferring; |
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Employ the supported
reading approach in the teaching of extended texts; |
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Integrate the teaching
of reading and writing; |
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Emphasize the development
of grammatical accuracy in upper primary through the process
writing approach. |
Bibliography
Benton,
M. & Fox, G. 1985. Teaching Literature: Nine to Fourteen.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
Fredericks,
A.D., Blake-Kline, B. & Kristo, J. (1997). Teaching
Integrated Language Arts: Process and Practice. New York:
Addison and Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc. |
Curriculum
Development Council. (2004). English Language Curriculum
Guide. Hong Kong: Government Logistics Department. |
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