TEACHING AND LEARNING LANGUAGES AND MULTILITERACIES: Responding to the MTB-MLE

Challenge

8. Grammar Awareness
This refers to both the language we use and the description of language as a system.
It is the ability to understand the rules of how words are linked together to convey meanings.
From birth, children acquire their home language by their exposure to family conversations and daily activities. They
learn the words their family members use and form their own grammar rules in putting words together to express their
ideas, reactions, opinions. According to research, by age 4 most children have grasped the grammar rules of their
home language and increasingly use language for many functions. As such in the early stage, grammar is not given
much emphasis but as learners move up the grades, explicit instruction in grammar is provided to enable them to
accurately and quickly understand messages expressed orally or in written form.
Teachers should purposely teach children about language and how to effectively develop listening, speaking,
reading, writing and viewing skills, and strategies.
In learning mother tongue using the two-track method, meaning precedes accuracy. Here children learn about the
language in meaningful contents by listening to stories, rhyme, chants, poems, and other test types through read
aloud, substantive conversations, total physical response (TPR): body, positive, object, story.
Chapter 3: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Framework: Its Implementation in the Basic Education
Curriculum "Refer to the Code Book Legend of the Curriculum Guide for Mother Tongue for the full term

9. Fluency
This refers to the fluidity of utterances (oral fluency) or the oral reading of texts smoothly (reading fluency), not
hindered by word-by-word reading and other word recognition problems that might adversely affect comprehension. It
is also writing without thinking about how to form a letter before writing (writing fluency)
(Crystal, 1994)
In the DepEd MTB-MLE Curriculum Guide the notion of fluency seems confined only to reading fluency.
Reading fluency has three elements, namely:
a. Automaticity: The ability to recognize words quickly and without much conscious attention.
b. Accuracy: The ability to recognize words correctly. It reflects two important concepts: knowledge of the print-sound
relationship and an understanding of meaning.
c. Prosody or Proper Expression: The ability to read aloud with appropriate intonations and pauses indicating that the
learners understand the meaning of the text.

10. Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is a constructive, interactive process involving three factors - the readers, the texts, and the context
in which the text is read (Gunning, 2010).
This literacy domain gives prime importance to the ultimate goal of reading which is to understand the meaning of
written languages.
Unpacking the text is a complex task that employs a variety of skills and strategies. Learners must draw on what they
already know about the topic and all the words that convey it to be able to make sense of what the author means.
To gain some insights into the process of comprehension, one needs to know some elements that influence it.
This domain refers to the process of constructing and negotiating meaning from print (Gunning, 2003).
The ultimate goal of reading is understanding the meaning of written language. Unpacking the text is a complex task
that needs a variety of skills and strategies. Learners must draw on what they already know about the topic and the
words that convey it to be able to make sense of what the author means to say.
a. Schema. This is the organized knowledge that an individual has about people, places, things and events
(Rumihart, 1984 in Gunning, 2003) that are triggered when constructing and negotiating meaning from print.
Chapter 3: Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Framework: Its Implementation in the Basic Education
Curriculum "Refer to the Code Book Legend of the Curriculum Guide for Mother Tongue for the full term
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
b. Activating prior knowledge. According to Cameron (2009) individual learner brings to the reading experience. It is
prior knowledge is the unique set of knowledge each a combination of the learners' attitudes, experience and
knowledge.
Cameron, (2009) explains that by knowledge we mean:
● what the learner already knows about the reading process
● topic knowledge
● concept knowledge
● vocabulary knowledge
● text types or genres and their language features
How does activating prior knowledge support reading comprehension?
The same author stresses that by activating prior knowledge learners' prior knowledge; they are able to make
connections between what they already know and what new knowledge is given in the text. By linking the two,
children are given a "head start" to comprehending the text.
Children with wide and rich background knowledge may share it with those with limited experiences, eventually
leading to gaining a common knowledge that makes the learners feel as one community of leaners, growing and
learning together, enriching each other's lives.
c. Comprehension Strategies
In the DepEd MTB-MLE Curriculum Guide, 2014, comprehension strategies include preparing, organizing,
elaborating, releasing and monitoring the reading process.
In Reading and Writing Grade by Grade, published by Primary Standards for kindergarten through Third Grade, the
1999 National Center on Educational and the Economy and the University of Pittsburg, USA, there are three factors
that influence learners that influence learners' ability to understand texts such as:
The complexity of words and sentences, including comprehending informational or factual texts
These types of texts use top 3 levels of information: topic, main idea, and supporting details (Aguirre, 2005). These
texts present information and ideas and aim to show, tell or persuade the audience, which include advertisements,
amusements, Internet, web sites, current affairs, debates, recipes, reports and instructions (Anderson and Anderson,
1997)

TEACHING AND LEARNING LANGUAGES AND MULTILITERACIES:

Responding to the MTB-MLE Challenge
● Conceptual complexity
The simplicity and complexity of the information in the text affects comprehension. Conceptual
density, or the number of ideas packed into a few words, and the accessibility of the conceptual
reference also impact comprehension.
● Learners' background knowledge about the topic.
The knowledge and experience children bring to their reading affects comprehension
 The richer the background knowledge the easier for the learners to transact the meaning of the text.
Otherwise, children will find difficulty in understanding the reading material.
d. Text Types
● Narrative Texts
This type tells a story. Its purpose is to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the reader or
listener. Some example of narrative text types are:
● stories
● fantasy novels
● bedtime stories (spoken)
● historical fiction
● Information Text
Also known as factorial text
This type uses top-3 levels of information: topic, main idea, and supporting details (Aguirre, 2005). It presents
informative and ideas that aim to show, tell or persuade the audience which include advertisements, internet, web
sites, current affairs news, talk shows, debates, recipes, reports, and instructions.
(Anderson, 1997)
Listening Comprehension
At the kindergarten level, children are engaged in listening activities where the teacher reads aloud stories to them.
So the focus at this stage is on listening comprehension.

11. Writing and Composing

This is the process of using the writing system or orthography in the conduct of people's lives and in the
transmission of their culture to the next generation.
It also refers to the process or result of recording language graphically by hand or by other means as by
letters, logograms, and other symbols.
In the MTB MLE Curriculum Guide, composing refers to the ability to formulate ideas into sentences, or
longer texts and represent them in the conventional or non-conventional orthographic patterns of written
language.
As the performance standards for the third grade level point, learners are expected to express their ideas
effectively in formal and informal composition to fulfill their own purposes for writing.
Many authors have stressed the idea that the secret to good writing in the primary grades is a rich literacy
program that requires learners to read, read, and read, and to write, write, and write. They need to learn
about a variety of appealing, stimulating, and meaningful literacy materials of different genres.
12. Handwriting
In the MTB-MLE Curriculum Guide of DepEd, this domain refers to the ability to form letters through
manuscript and cursive styles.
Performance standards by the end of the third grade is writing legibly in cursive style.
13. Attitude towards Language, Literacy, and Literature
This domain refers to the process of reflecting ethical consideration on the use of ideas and information;
the use of language in appreciating contexts and situations considering the culture of the audience
(Language Arts and Multiliteracies Curriculum, DepEd K to 12 Curriculum, 2011 Draft) It refers to the
ability to make choices on the texts to read coming from a wide range of genres that serve the purpose for
reading: reading for enjoyment, or reading for learning.
How the teacher provides the key to the door of discovery of these new worlds is a tremendous
challenge. This starts from how the teacher models being a good reader herself/himself and
demonstrates being a good language and literacy mentor.
14. Study Strategies
These are deliberate, planned procedures designed to help a learner reach a goal. These include the use
of graphic organizers, marginal notes, research, etc. (Gunning, 2003).
They also refer to techniques and strategies that help an individual effectively learn for a specific purpose.

Questions:
1. It gives prime importance to the ultimate goal of reading which is to
understand the meaning of written languages.
2. Its purpose is to present a view of the world that entertains or informs the
reader or listener.
3. Give atleast 3 examples of narrative text types.
4. This is the process of using the writing system or orthography in the conduct of
people's lives and in the transmission of their culture to the next generation.

5-10 (11 PTS. Essay)

Why is it important to value the fourteen domains of literacy in the context of the
MTB MLE framework?