Table of Contents

Course Team .......................................................................................................................................ii

Copyright............................................................................................................................................iii

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................iv

Foreword.............................................................................................................................................v

About this Literacy & Language Education Module...............................................................................v

Unit 1 – Communications and Study Skills............................................................................................1

Unit 2 – Language Awareness...............................................................................................................6

Unit 3 – Language and Cross-cutting Issues ........................................................................................13

Unit 4 – Language Learning and the Child...........................................................................................18

Unit 5 – Language and Special Education Needs..................................................................................23

Unit 6 – Teaching Listening and Speaking...........................................................................................23

Unit 7 – Approaches, Methods & Techniques of Language Teaching...................................................35

Unit 8 – The Structure of Language ....................................................................................................40

Unit 9 – Teaching Literacy 1................................................................................................................47

Unit 10 – Teaching Literacy 2.............................................................................................................57

Unit 11 – Teaching Literacy 3 .............................................................................................................64

Unit 12 – Introduction to Linguistics...................................................................................................68

Unit 13 – Morphology........................................................................................................................80

Unit 14 – Syntax ................................................................................................................................88

Unit 15 – Teaching Reading and Writing.............................................................................................94

Unit 16 – Introduction to Literature .................................................................................................102

Unit 17 – Planning for Teaching and Record Keeping ........................................................................108

 Unit 1 – Communication and Study Skills
1.1 Introduction
You are welcome to Unit 1 of the Literacy and Language Education Study Area. In this unit, you
will discover most interesting issues that will be beneficial in your day to day communication
and in the study of your modules. Listening and speaking are the skills you use in your everyday
communication with your colleagues. Besides, you need to improve on your reading and writing
skills to facilitate your study of this course.
Carefully study the outcomes listed below to make yourself familiar with what you are expected
to learn at the end of this unit. Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Use effective listening and speaking skills for

the purpose of communication.
 Practise the reading and writing skills
Outcomes effectively.
 Employ the use of reference skills correctly.
 Demonstrate appropriate usage of academic
writing skills.

Skimming: Reading quickly to get general

information about a text.

Terminology
Scanning: Reading quickly to get specific
information.

Note taking: Writing notes from a spoken

source.

Note-making: Writing notes from a written

source.

Bibliography: A list of books and articles that

have been used in writing a text
and arranged alphabetically.

Reference: A list of books and articles with

related information as that used
in the text.

2
1.2 Listening and Speaking
You must be aware by now that you always say something you think about to someone and that
you also hear someone speak to you and eventually engage in a conversation. You always have a
reason for speaking to someone. Now, what would you say listening is? Find out below.
Listening is paying attention to what is being said in order to get the meaning. It involves
selection of relevant sounds from the surroundings which is followed by the process of decoding,
i.e. interpreting this sound into meaning.
In speaking we normally start by generating or formulating an idea or thought. This idea or
thought has to be organised and put into speech to give the intended meaning.
Since you now have an idea about what listening and speaking involve, attempt the activity
below before proceeding.

Activity
1.1 Think of any conversation you have had in the last two days with your partner. What was
your purpose in that conversation? We hope your answers included making an invitation,
consolation, counselling, sharing a joke, to mention just a few.
1.2 Noise in the surrounding could prevent effective listening. Suggest at least five other factors
or barriers to effective listening.

1.3 Reading Skills

By now you must have been exposed to different types of written texts, for example, newspapers,
novels, text books, magazines, a passage for comprehension, and so on. Did you read each one of
them in the same way?
Let us now look at what reading is and what it involves.
 Reading, as a process, involves getting meaning from print or graphic
symbols on a surface of some kind.
 To read is to decode, decipher or identify meaning from written marks.
Reading is also the ability to articulate, speak or pronounce symbols written or printed on some
surface of some kind.

Discussion

3
Discuss the following ideas:
1. It is possible to read a text accurately without being able to speak the language in which
the text is written.
2. It is possible to read a text in a particular language without knowing how to write in that
language.
We hope your discussion has pointed out that it is not possible to read a text accurately
without being able to speak the language in which the text is written. Similarly it is not
possible to read a text in a particular language without knowing how to write in it.
1.4 Writing Skills
It is now time for us to move on and look at another way in which we normally share our
thoughts and ideas with others we wish to speak to. This is writing.
Writing refers to the act of forming or using graphic symbols (letters or combination of letters
which relate to the sounds we make when we speak) on a surface of some kind and arranged
according to conventions to form words, sentences, texts and so on.
Writing from a spoken source and a written source require great effort and determination on
your part as you study and in daily life. You will be required to listen attentively and at the same
time take down relevant or important points from the spoken source. Similarly, as you read
reference books you will be expected to extract the relevant information in note form. This
demands that you use appropriate writing skills: note taking and note making skills,
respectively. Now, what do you think is the main difference between note-taking and note-
making? Well the main difference is that in note-taking the source is spoken while in note-
making the source in written.

1.5 Research/Reference Skills

Let us now look at another equally important skill that you will need to develop. These are
research skills:
 Citation – This is the academic practice of acknowledging use of other people’s ideas,
for example in-text reference.
 Quotation – This is the use of the actual words used by an author or speaker. This must
be within opening and closing quotation marks.
 Paraphrase – This is when someone’s ideas are used in a written work without using
necessarily the exact words, but maintaining the meaning of the idea.
 Reference – This refers to sources of information with related information/material as
those quoted from the written work that have been used or quoted to support one’s
work.. Reference may also refer to books/articles that are suggested for further reading.
 Bibliography – This is a list of sources of information, for example, books/articles. This
comes at the end of the work and on a separate page. The order is as follows: surname
4
 followed by the first name or initials; year of publication in brackets; title of the book,
which must be underlined; the town/city and publishers. Below is an example:
Sesnan, B. (1997). How to Teach English. New York: Oxford University Press.
 Acknowledgement – This is a short text at the beginning of a book or any written work.
Here the writer lists names of people or institution/s that have helped him/her write the
book or article.

Activity

1.3 Now that we have looked at how bibliography is written, we are going to practise writing
it. The following references are jumbled up. Rewrite them correctly as a bibliography.
1. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman. (1994). Harlow. Harmer J
2. 1990. Longman. A. Afoloyan. Harlow. Longman. Teaching Primary English
3. Longman. Byrne, D. 1994. Teaching Oral Skills, Teaching Writing Skills. Harlow.

1.6 Academic Writing

As a student you will be required to know how to present your work in a particular manner. This
includes the following:
 It should be impersonal – the use of personal pronouns is discouraged.
 It should be objective – it should not reflect personal feelings.
 It should be formal – the use of informal language such as short forms, slang, idioms,
proverbs and so on, should be avoided.
 References – academic writing should have supporting evidence from reliable sources.
 Layout/format – this refers to the general appearance of the written work. For instance,
you will be required to leave reasonable margins of about 3cm on the left and top side of
the paper and about 2cm on the right and bottom side, for the marker’s use.
 Paragraphs – your work should be in paragraph form with a clear introduction,
development and conclusion.

5
1.7 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned about listening, speaking, reading and writing as essential
communication and study skills. The unit has also covered research and academic skills. It is
hoped that you should develop these skills because they will assist to excel in your academic
paper presentations.

1.8 Assessment

Assessment

1. Suggest occasions when you can use the following skills of reading:
 Scanning
 Skimming
2. What differentiates speaking from writing? Suggest as many reasons as possible.

6
Unit 2 – Language Awareness

2.1 Introduction
Here is another interesting unit to take you further into the study of language. In this unit, you
will explore what language is, what it does, what makes up language, the language learning
processes and how language changes.

 Demonstrate knowledge of the

nature of language.
 Examine the features of language.
Outcomes
 Demonstrate understanding of the
functions of language.
 Explain the history of language policy
in schools in Zambia.
 Show understanding of the
distribution of language in Zambia.
 Demonstrate appreciation of the
relationship of language and culture,
and language and gender.

Language: a tool for communication

Terminology Dynamism: the feature of language that makes it change in space and time
Language policy: guidelines on the use of language in specified domains
Bilingiualism: the use of two languages
Multilingualism: the use of more than two languages
Polyglot: a person who speaks several languages
Endoglossic: a state that chosen an indigenous language as its official language
Exoglossic: a state that has chosen a foreign language as its official language
Ethnic group: a group of people sharing the origin and same cultural values

7
2.2 What is Language?
By now you must be very familiar with the concept of language. The various definitions of
language one may come across seem to be based on how the author perceives what language is,
what constitutes language and of what use language is.

Group Activity

Without referring to any textbook or dictionary, come up with possible definitions of language.
You are free to discuss with others. Write them down and explain why you think each definition
is appropriate.

One true fact is that language is the basis of human communication, and there are various forms
of language through which communication can be achieved. General interpretations of the
definitions of language reveal important facts about language that:
 Spoken language (speech) is the true form of language; it is primary and precedes the
written form. “The written form of language is artificial.” (Chishimba, C.P., 2010:2)
 Language is systematic and generative. It has a system of rules which bring about
creativity in its usage.
 Language is a set of arbitrary symbols. Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also
be visual.
 Those symbols have conventionalized meanings to which they refer.
 Language is used for communication.
 Language operates in a speech community or culture.
 Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.
 Language is acquired by people in much the same way – both language and language
learning have universal characteristics. (Brown, D.H., 1987:4-5)

Apart from using vocal symbols, in what other ways do human beings communicate? Human
beings can communicate using verbal signs. This is the type of communication that takes place
when we talk to each other.
Human beings can also communicate using non-verbal forms. In this type of communication,
there is no need for words, for your body movements are sufficient to get the message across.
For example, a teacher can indicate disapproval for the wrong answer or unacceptable behaviour
by shaking the head sideward.
Sign language is also used as a means of communication by generally deaf people and some
mentally-disadvantaged people. (Muijs and Reynolds 2007: 162)
8
2.3 Design Features of Language
You have observed that communication is not a human attribute alone. Animals also do
communicate. The question is: do animals communicate using language? Try to discuss this
question with your colleague.
We are sure in your discussion; you will discover that human language performs certain
functions due to its design features which include:

Design Feature Description

1 Articulated It is made of speech sounds produced by the articulatory system and is

transmitted/heard as sound.

2 Interchangeability This means that anyone who knows a language can both transmit a message
and receive a message in that language.

3 Semanticity This refers to the existence of ties between elements in the linguistic system
and things or situations in the environment. In other words, speech sounds can
be linked to specific meanings.

4 Arbitrariness There is no intrinsic/natural relationship between words and their referents.

5 Discreteness This means that the basic units of speech can be categorised as belonging to
distinct/separate elements which are put together when speaking or writing

6 Displacement This is ability to talk about things that are not physically present, either in
space or time. Thus displacement can either be Temporal or Spatial.

7 Specialisation This means that the organs used for producing speech are specially adapted to
that task

8 Productivity/Creativity This is the ability to create an infinite number of utterances from a finite
number of elements. A human being is able to produce sentences never heard
or produced before. Yet others will still be able to understand such a novel
sentence.

9 Duality of patterning This means that the human speech can be organised at two levels:
meaningless signs/parts (sounds, syllables, letters) and meaningful signs
(words).

10 Cultural transmission This refers to the transmission of human language from one generation to the
next.

2.4 Distribution of Language in Zambia

9
A study of this topic will equip you with knowledge about the number of local languages
distributed and spoken across Zambia. You will find out in which regions these languages are
widely spoken. You will also appreciate the fact that Zambia is a multilingual state with a
number of dialects; giving the country a regional language grouping situation.

Activity

Study at the map of Zambia. Indicate the areas where the seven Regional Official Languages and
their dialects are found:

Language and Dialect

10
What is the difference between a language and a dialect? A language is what an ethnic group uses for
verbal communication. However, dialects are the types or varieties of a particular language. For example
Ila, Lenje, Soli, Valley Tonga, Toka- Leya are dialects of Chitonga language.

Activity
Complete the varieties of the following languages (language groups and dialects)
Main language Dialects
Chitonga Ila, we
Icibemba Aushi
Chinyanja Chewa,
Silozi Kwandi,
Lunda Ndembu
Luvale Luchazi,
Tumbuka Henga
Mambwe/Namwanga Lambya
Kaonde Lamba
2.5 Language and Culture
Let us now turn to another yet important aspect of language in connection to culture. What
would you say is the relationship between language and culture? Just like there is
interdependence between language and thought, there is a strong belief that there is also
interdependence between language and culture. Consider the following views:
 Like language, culture is more concerned with man’s soul and mind. Culture is the
development of the human mind (reasoning) and personality. A nation’s culture and
language, for example, are taken to be distinctive manifestations of national spirit or
mind. (Lyons, 1981:302)
 There is no doubt that one’s knowledge of his or her native language is culturally
transmitted; it is acquired by virtue of one’s membership of a particular society. Further,
we can say that “our” languages are acquired through the process of cultural
transmission. Meaning that language is supplied to the child by the society in which the
child is growing.
 Language and culture are interdependent. Like language, culture gives identity to a social
grouping. Values of a society have an effect on language. For example, cultural
behaviour restricts the way we use language and vice versa, in such areas as sex, religion,
witchcraft (taboos of a society), and so on.
 There are also linguistic variations because of the existence of different cultures. This
also entails that language reflects culture.

11
Discussion

2.2 How is ethnicity different from language? Discuss with your colleague.

2.6 Language Policy

As a student of language, you need to know that the choice of English as Zambia’s official
language has its historical origin in the colonial era. The British administration used English in
the Northern Rhodesia Protectorate, now Zambia, for administrative purposes.
All countries in the world have chosen one language or the other for official use or
administration. Perhaps you might be wondering as to what Zambia’s official language is. This
is at two levels: Firstly, we have what is called a National Official Language. The English
language is Zambia’s National Official Language.
Secondly, Zambia has what are called the Regional Official Language. Zambia is a multilingual
society with more than seventy languages, but for teaching purposes, the government selected
seven (7) Regional Official Languages, namely: Lunda, Luvale, Kikaonde, Icibemba, Chinyanja,
Silozi and Chitonga.
These Languages perform certain official functions such as broadcasting, literacy campaigns,
dissemination of official information in newspapers and so on.
Since June 1965, Zambia’s policy on language has been that the English Language be used as
the only medium of instruction throughout a child’s education (besides being a school subject),
while the seven Regional Official Zambian languages would be taught as school subjects in the
prescribed regions of the country. However, the slight changes to the policy show that Initial
Literacy shall be taught in the child’s local familiar language, especially for Grades 1 to 4.

Discussion

2.3 Discuss and bring out reasons why Zambia, despite being a multilingual state, does not have
one indigenous language acceptable to all as a national language.

12
2.7 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned about the nature and form of language, design feathers of language,
distribution of language in Zambia, language and culture and language policy. You have noticed
how language performs different tasks in different situations. Truly, culture and language are
interdependent. You also learnt of reasons why Zambia, despite numerous indigenous languages,
cannot pick on any, to become a national language.

2.8 Assessment

Assessment

1. Explain what is meant by an official language. What is Zambia’s national official

language?
2. Why is it argued by some linguists that Zambia has no national language?
.

13
 Unit 3 – Language and Cross-cutting Issues

3.1 Introduction
Welcome to this unit that deals with issues that are not necessarily about language-learning but
affect everyone. Although these issues are not language issues, there is a way in which they
relate to language. Further, these issues are important because they relate to real life and so can
help to link what is learnt in the classroom with what goes on outside. In this unit we shall
explore two issues, HIV/AIDS and Language and gender.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Demonstrate knowledge of cross-cutting issues

 Demonstrate knowledge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic
in terms of
Outcomes  Contraction and prevention of the
disease.
 Stigmatization of the infected.
 Attitudes and behavioural change.
 Voluntary Counselling and Testing
 Care-giving and positive living
 Practise the reading and writing skills effectively.
 Apply various approaches and methods to the teaching
of cross-cutting issues to various grade levels
 Demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between
language and gender
 Identify gender-biased language
 Use gender-neutral language

Terminology

14
Discriminate: to treat someone differently especially in an unfair manner on the basis of colour,
religion, sex, physical condition, etc
Pandemic: a disease or condition that is widespread or exists in almost all areas.
Stigma: Shame or embarrassment attached to something regarded as socially
unacceptable.
Stigmatise: To treat someone as socially unacceptable.
Therapy: treatment
ARV: Abbreviation for anti-retroviral; drugs used to treat HIV patients
Misconception: A mistaken belief or idea about something.
Unprotected sex: Having sex without using a condom
Sexist: Anything that tends to show that women are less able than men or that refers to
women in a negative way. Anything that tends to show that women are less able
than men or that refers to women in a negative way.
Gender-bias: Unfair treatment of people because of their sex.
Stereotype: A fixed and oversimplified idea of what something is like. For example, to say
women cannot be good leaders is a gender stereotype.

3.2 Language and HIV/AIDS Education

By now you should be aware of the existence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. AIDS was first
identified in1981 among homosexual men in the United States of America. Since then, cases of
HIV and AIDS infection have been reported in every nation of the world, although it affects
some nations more than others.
The media of HIV transmission are well-documented by scientists, but some people have a lot of
unfounded fears and beliefs about the pandemic. Such wrong beliefs about the pandemic are
misconceptions.

15
Activity

1. List down at least four ways in which the HIV can be transmitted.
2. List at least five misconceptions about HIV infection which some people may still have.
From the early days of the identification of AIDS, the disease has been powerfully linked to
behaviours that are illegal (such as drug abuse) or are considered immoral by many people (such
as promiscuity and homosexuality). Consequently, to be found with HIV/AIDS was a stigma. As
the extent of the epidemic unfolded, misinformation about AIDS and how it is transmitted
triggered widespread fear of contracting the disease. In the United States, a Florida family with
three HIV-positive sons who had become infected from blood transfusions were driven from
their home when it was torched by an arsonist in 1987. In other communities, parents protested
when HIV-infected children attended school.
In many areas of the world, women in particular may face consequences if their HIV status is
discovered. Reports indicate that many HIV-infected women are subject to domestic violence at
the hands of their husbands—even if the husbands themselves are the source of infection. As a
result, some women in developing nations fear being tested for HIV infection and cut themselves
off from medical care and counselling.

Discussion

Discuss with your colleagues the concepts of stigma and discrimination in light of HIV/AIDS.
What causes stigma and how can we as society fight it? After this write a two-page essay based
on your discussions.

3.3 Language and Gender

We have just looked at the first cross-cutting issue in this unit. Now we shall turn to the issue of
language and gender so that we can establish the relationship between language and gender. It is
16
also important to distinguish between sex and gender. Sex refers to the biological characteristics
of man and woman. Gender relates to male and female, and their roles.
Let us bear in mind that the study of language and gender falls under the field of study called
sociolinguistics, which is the study of language in the social context. Now observe that an
individual will speak differently in different social contexts. This is called stylistic variation.
Further individuals who differ from each other in terms of age, sex, social class, ethnicity, etc
will also differ from each other in their speech even in the same social context. This is social
variation.
In terms of linguistic variation, it has been established that men and women differ in their use of
language. Consider the following issues:
 Turn-taking in conversation: A turn is what a speaker accomplishes in their role as
speaker. In turn-taking two differences in terms of gender can be noted: overlaps and
interruptions. An overlap is an instance where the next speaker begins to speak at the
very end of the current speaker’s turn, overlapping the last word or part of it.
Interruptions are violations of turn-taking roles; they prevent the speakers from finishing
their role. Do men interrupt one another in their conversations? What about when men
are talking to women? Do women interrupt men in conversations?
 Volume of speech: What are society’s expectations of male and female speakers? Is it
true that women talk more than men? Men have the right to talk while women are
expected to remain silent. Talking at length on the part of women is regarded as
talkativeness.
 Use of question tags: Research by Lackoff (1975) suggests that women tend to be
tentative (speak carefully and in an uncertain way), while men tend to be assertive
(confident and sure) in their speech. One way of being tentative is using question tags.
What is your observation about this?
 Swearing and taboo language: Swearing could be the use of rude and offensive
language; taboo language is using words or expressions that are forbidden to be used or
mentioned. What are your observations about men and women swearing or using taboo
language?
 Politeness: Politeness is defined in terms of face, which is showing consideration for
others. Is it true that women use more polite language than men?

In the past decade, English word usage has changed dramatically in the area of gender-biased
language. Readers have become far more sensitive to words and phrases that are biased against
women or reinforce offensive male and female stereotypes.
The guidelines below can help ensure that your writing is free of gender bias. An even more
basic step you can take, however, is to become accustomed to thinking carefully about your
choice of language as you write. Always ask yourself whether the words you use could be seen
as offensive to either gender; if you suspect they could be, take the time to rethink and rewrite.

17
  Identifying gender: Before identifying a person’s gender, determine whether it is
essential that your readers know this information. If it is not, leave the identification out.
Biased: The office of the woman doctor is next door.
Better: The office of the doctor is next door.

 Words and expressions including man: Whenever possible, find substitutes for words
and expressions that include the word man but are applied to people of both genders.
Also, use expressions that contain other gender-specific words with caution.
Biased: Mankind is faced with a lot of challenges.
Better: Humanity is faced with a lot of challenges.
 Nouns with feminine endings: Avoid describing a woman with a feminine version of a
noun, especially a word formed with one the following endings:
-ette (usherette); -enne (comedienne); -ess (actress)
Instead use a general term that can be applied to everyone, for example author instead of
authoress.

Activity

3.2 Write down ten terms that can be regarded as gender-biased.

3.4 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned about cross-cutting issues, namely HIV/AIDS and Language and Gender.
We hope you will use this knowledge to help in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is
also hoped that your knowledge about language and gender will enable you to help pupils to
avoid gender-biased language.

3.5 Assessment

Assessment

Each of the following sentences contains gender-biased expressions. Identify them and then re-
write the sentences so that they are gender neutral.
18
 1. Mrs. Phiri is the ZANACO manageress.
2. In the advertising section, I work with one girl and two men.
3. The priest pronounced them man and wife.
4. If anyone reports today, ask him to see me tomorrow.
5. The headmaster asked all monitors and monitoresses to meet him at 1400 hours.

Unit 4 – Language Learning and the Child

4.1 Introduction
We have dwelt so much on language as a way of realising how important this tool is to a human
being. Because of the purposes it serves to various groups of people, it has earned itself a lot of
definitions. You must have observed how parents get concerned when they observe that their
offspring is not learning the language fast enough. The common speech serves as a potent
symbol of social solidarity of those who use the same language.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Differentiate language acquisition from

language learning
Outcomes  Categorise factors affecting language
acquisition and language learning.
 Analyse theories of language learning.
 List stages of child language development.

Acquisition: Getting and learning the first

language that we come into
contact with from the time we
Terminology are born.

Factors: Elements that promote/hinder

language acquisition and
language learning

Theory: A way of establishing the

truth of how something
happens the way it does.

19
 LAD: Language acquisition device;
an inborn capacity that
enables a child to acquire
language.

4.2 Language Acquisition and Language learning

Did you know that a lot of work has been done concerning language? It would be interesting to
know that psychologists, linguists and other scholars have for a long time been interested in
investigating the way by which individuals (children in particular) obtain the language. Despite
all these efforts, it’s still not clearly stated how human beings learn languages. However, one
thing which is clear is that language can be obtained in two ways, i.e. by acquiring or learning it.

Reflection

Think back and reflect on how your younger brothers and sisters or small children in the
neighbourhood began uttering their first words. List down the words as they were being uttered.
Who were responsible in correcting these young ones? How did they do it? Explain in detail.

4.3 Theories of Language Learning

As you have already been introduced to, linguistic scholars have been, for a long time,
investigating the way by which children acquire or obtain language. However, certain theories
have been established and have had an effect on language learning. You need to know that
among the theories that have been established, behaviourism and mentalism/cognitivism have
closely been linked to language acquisition and language learning.
Some of the basic differences between behaviourism and mentalism as theories of language are
as follows:

Behaviourism Mentalism

 The main proponent is  Noam Chomsky is the main proponent

20
 B. F. Skinner

 Emphasises importance  Emphasises importance of the LAD, inborn

of nurture/environment ability to acquire/learn a language

 Language learning is a  Language learning is a rule based system

form of habit formation

 Seeks perfection  Mistakes are considered as part of language

learning

4.4 Factors Affecting Language Acquisition and Language Learning

Let us now look at some elements that can influence language acquisition and language learning.
Consider how the following factors can influence language learning/acquisition:
 Biological factors/Heredity
 Environmental factors
 Social context
 Innateness
 Cognition
 Attitude
 Motivation.

Activity
Now analyse the following situations. Write what would happen in each case. What you write
should relate to language acquisition and language learning.
In your analysis of the situations below, try to list down possible ways that would enhance
language learning in a child.
-A child is deaf and dumb
-A child lives only with his/her parents and does not mix with other people
-A child whose parents are either intelligent or dull
-No one takes interest in what the child does

21
4.5 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned the importance of language to us as human beings. You have also learned
how children acquire/learn a language and factors that influence the acquisition/learning of
language. Theories of language learning have also been covered.

4.6 Assessment

Assessment

Complete the table below to show the stages of child language development according to Stork
and Hartman.

Stage Period Description

Babbling 3-6 months

Lallation Child responds through

production of repetitive sounds
e.g. tata

Around 12 mths

Around 15 mths

Loquacity

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 Unit 5 – Language and Special Education Needs

5.1 Introduction
Welcome to another exciting and interesting unit which will help you discover how to handle
learners with special education needs. Some learners have special needs arising from speech,
hearing or intellectual disorders. Apart from physical disabilities, there are also emotional or
social needs.

 Identify learners with special needs.

 Assess learners with special needs
 Assist learners with special needs
Outcomes

SEN: Abbreviation for Special

Education Needs. These are
learning difficulties that
Terminology affect a learner.

Disability: Restricted capacity to

perform a particular
activity.

Challenge: A situation that tests

someone’s ability.

Intervention: A deliberate entry into a

situation in order to prevent
undesirable consequences.

Mainstream: View or ideas widely

accepted by society;
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 something that is common
or regular.

5.2 Languages and Language Development

Language is the foundation of learning. Therefore, if children with special educational needs are
to be successfully mainstreamed, their disabilities in language must be addressed. Consequently,
it remains the duty of the teacher to be aware of the signs indicating special educational needs,
and where possible, refer such learners to specialists for further investigations and follow-ups. It
is also the responsibility of each and every teacher to adopt appropriate teaching methods in
order to suit learners’ strengths and weaknesses.

Case study

Think of a learner in your class who has a specific problem with literacy. Design an observation
sheet and use it to record your findings as you monitor the case.

5.3 Special Education Language Programmes

Some learners might learn best in SEN units. These are specially tailored classrooms for the
blind, profoundly hearing impaired, have multiple disabilities and severe mental disabilities.
Other learners might learn best in the mainstream or regular classroom. Learners like these
would have specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, disgraphia and language
disorders.
Others might be slow learners, have organisational difficulties, attention deficit, visual problems,
or be hard of hearing. The regular classroom teacher should be knowledgeable about and skilled
in assisting these learners.

Discussion
24
What language problems do you think a teacher handling a mixed class would face? Suggest
how one should help such learners. Discuss with your colleagues.

5.4 Identification and Assessment of Children with Language Difficulties

Upon your completion of your course, you will be expected to be able to help children with a
variety of disabilities and needs in your normal teaching. However, some children have special
needs which you may not be able to cater for in isolation as they may need inter-professional
collaboration.
Our national problem is illiteracy: our learners cannot read, write, spell and have problems in
number work. These needs should be catered for.
In view of what has been mentioned above, it is therefore, necessary for you to know what
special needs in education is and be able to help learners and other teachers who choose special
needs education as their area of curriculum strength. You should also understand that when
gender is an issue to them, it is perceived as a special education need that requires special needs
education.
The following are some disabilities/challenges that could negatively affect language learning,
and suggestions on what can be done about them:

Challenges Interventions

Poor eye sight  Place learners with poor eye sight at the front of the class so
that they can clearly see the board.
 Write words/sentences in large hand writing for them to copy.
 Refer to eye specialist.

Poor hearing  Face the learner with poor hearing when you speak.
 Pair the learner with another learner who has good hearing.
 Speak loud enough for everyone to get you.
 Advice the learner to seek specialist attention.

Stammering  Be patient.
 Allow enough time for the learner to talk.
 You can engage the learner in tongue twister-activities.
 A learner with such a problem should not be forced to respond
when he/she is not ready.
 Encourage other learners in the class to be supportive.

Learning problems such as dyslexia  Take note of their specific problems.

(inability to recognise and reproduce
 Give individual attention.
letters and words – word blindness)
 Be patient.

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Emotional and social needs  Be patient.
 Be sensitive to their needs.
 Provide the extra support that they need in the classroom.
 Be empathetic.

Backward learner  Be patient.

 Provide remedial work.
 Provide individual attention.

Case Study

Mr. Bwalya, a teacher at Nsakaluba Basic School in Mwense district faces a lot of problems of
containing the unbelievable temper of one of his learners, Jacob Mwansa, in class. Every time he
tries to control him, the boy’s temper flayers up. The boy normally storms out of class in fury
only to return to class after a week or so.
What advice would you give Mr. Bwalya on how to handle Jacob?

5.5 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned about of learner disabilities which can affect language development. You
have also learned of special education language programmes where you identify learners with
special needs that may affect language learning in the classroom.
Suggested interventions for various disabilities or challenges have been provided for your
attention. It is hoped that these interventions will help you to deal effectively with situations as
the need arises.
5.6 Assessment

Assessment

1. How would you assess a learner who:

a) Is hard of hearing
b) Is hard of learning

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 c) Has poor memory
d) Has an auditory discrimination problem
2. What remedial help would you provide to respective learners?

Unit 6 – Teaching Listening and Speaking

6.1 Introduction
Welcome to the Unit where you are expected to develop listening and speaking skills in your
learners. Listening and speaking are the two skills your learners will need to sharpen for them to
competently engage in oral communication. In this Unit you will explore listening and speaking
skills and apply some strategies in the teaching of the same. Upon completion of this unit, you
will be expected to:

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  Integrate listening and speaking activities in the same language
lesson
 Use listening and speaking activities to teach listening and speaking skills.
Outcomes
 Explain the listening and speaking processes.
 Discuss the barriers to listening and speaking and give necessary remedies.

Oral: Refers to speaking- putting

into speech an organised
idea or thought in order to
Terminology give an intended meaning.

Aural: Refers to listening- paying

attention to what is being
said in order to get the
meaning.

Oral A two way process

communication: between speaker and
listener

6.2 What is Listening and Speaking?

Listening and speaking will enable you to engage in oral communication. For oral
communication to be complete, both the speaker and the listener have a positive function to
perform. In this complex interaction process, the speaker has to encode the message he or she
wishes to convey in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode or interpret the
message.

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 ORAL SKILLS

Listening Speaking

Reading Writing

LITERACY SKILLS
Adapted from Byrne, 1992:8

Discussion

With colleagues, discuss the differences between listening and hearing.

6.3 Listening and Speaking Processes

You may have experienced how difficult it is to know exactly how listening works or how
people listen and understand. We know what goes in and what comes out, but we can only
imagine what happens inside the head of the listener. It is important to note, however, that
listening effectively involves a multiplicity of skills and these are:
 The spoken signals have to be identified from the midst of surrounding sounds.
 The continuous streams of speech have to be segmented into units, which have to be
recognised as words.
 The syntax of the utterance has to be grasped and the speaker’s intended meaning has to
be understood.
 We also have to apply our linguistic knowledge of formulating a correct and appropriate
response to what has been said.
It must be understood that these listening skills are not deployed as separate steps, but are done
simultaneously.

Activity

Take time to listen to a speech. Write at least a paragraph explaining how you were able to
understand what you listened to.

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6.4 Teaching Listening and Speaking
You may have observed that in life we listen and speak to express our feelings, desires and
thoughts. Sometimes you listen to lectures, sermons at your local church or mosque. You will
realise that sometimes it is not easy to listen. In the process, if what you are listening to goes on
longer than expected, you might have dosed off. Does this sound familiar? In the same way your
learners will find difficult to listen unless they are trained to do so. You will need to teach your
learners listening and speaking skills through the use of many activities.

Purpose for listening

People have various reasons for listening. You too have your own reasons for listening, sometimes we
listen for pleasure, sometimes we listen for total comprehension and yet, other times we listen for
retention of main ideas or points. The different purposes help or determine the amount of concentration
required for a particular listening situation.

Complete the table below to illustrate the purpose of listening.

Situation Purpose

Foot ball commentaries

Speech by your local councillor

Oral comprehension passage

Sermon in the church

Giving directions

Football match

Narration of family story

Watching a video

Preparing Lessons for Listening and Speaking

In order to teach listening and speaking effectively, it is important to prepare materials that
are authentic and relevant. Authentic material refers to samples of real language bought into
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 the classroom but not specifically designed for the classroom. Examples are recordings from
the radio, stories, a speech, etc. some of the materials a teacher can use in class are:

 Inviting a guest speaker to give a talk

 Organising a discussion among people
 Telling a story
 Using songs
 Radio programme
An authentic listening situation is a situation in which real life language can be
experienced, for example listening to a speech by a political leader. Authentic listening
tasks are activities that learners are engaged in as they practise and develop listening skills.
Such tasks should aim to make listening an active process. Below are a few illustrations:
 Listening (Aural) Comprehension
 Storytelling
 Following directions (for example on the map)
 Following a process (How to make a kite)
 Picture dictation
 Predicting
Stages in a Listening Lesson
i) Pre-Listening Stage

This is the stage when the context of the listening is established, tasks are explained and help
offered where necessary. The idea is to help the learners to be tuned-in so that they know what to
expect. The learners should be helped to focus on what they are about to hear. Therefore, this
stage is a preparation for the next listening stage. Some examples of pre-listening activities are:

 The teacher giving background information

 Discussion of relevant experiences
 Question and answer session
 Following instructions for the while-listening activity
 Picture discussion
 Associating vocabulary with the topic
ii) While-Listening Stage
This is the stage when the learners listen to a text for which they have been prepared during the
pre-listening stage. The teacher should help the learners to understand the text rather than just
test their understanding the whole time. Some examples of while-listening activities are:

 Answering questions
 Completing a table
 Locating places on a map
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  Picture matching
 Arranging pictures on a picture strip
 Labelling
iii) Post-Listening Stage
This is the stage when the learners do any activity related to what they have listened to. The
stage also allows the learners to move easily from listening to another language skill. For
example they may practise speaking by engaging in role play or debate. Below are some
post-listening activities:

 Role playing a similar interaction

 Debate
 Writing a similar text
 Writing a brief report
 Relating similar experiences

Activity

Some of the activities that you might include to teach listening and speaking are:
1. Role play
2. ..........................
3. ...........................
4. ...........................
5. ...........................
6. ............................
7. ............................
8. ............................
9. ............................
10. ............................
Share your work with your colleagues.

6.5 Barriers and Remedies to Listening and Speaking

You may be aware by now that when listening and speaking, you can encounter ceratin barriers
and that you will need tom find rmedies to overcome them to enable you listen and speak
meaningfully. Consider the role play below and do the suggested activities.

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Role play
Organise your learners into groups of five.
Ask each group to imagine two brothers or sisters whose likes and dislikes are opposite.
Ask them to imagine a conflict between them.
Tell them to role play the conflict. Two members of the group will be the brothers or sisters. The
others could be the mother, father and grandparents.
First, they should role play the conflict and then ask each group to discuss how easy it was to
listen to the argument. What made it easy and what made it difficult for them to follow the
argument?
With the learners, list answers on the board and discuss the skills they need to listen well.
Finally, ask one or two groups to act out the role play to the class trying to use the listening
skills you have just talked about. This time, learners would find it easy to listen.

We believe some of the reasons your learners came up with for the difficulties in following the
argument include:
1. Lack of concentration
2. Negative attitude
3. ............................................
4. ............................................
5. ............................................
6. ............................................
7. ............................................
8. ..............................................

Suggest some remedies for each of these barriers to listening and speaking listed above.
Your list may have some of the following:
1. Face the speaker
2. Speaking naturally
3. Creating a calm environment
4. ................................................
5. ................................................
6. ................................................

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 7. ................................................
8. ................................................
9. ................................................
10. ................................................
Complete all the tasks and share with your colleagues.

Unlike listening, talking is something most people need little encouragement to do. But
promoting free speaking in our pupils in our classes and especially in the second language can be
difficult.

Purposes for speaking

We speak in order to:

 express personal feelings

 convey messages
 get things done
 persuading
 commanding
 instructing
 apologizing
 teaching
Effective speaking

What do we mean when we say Jane is a good speaker? A good speaker uses:

 appropriate words
 appropriate gestures
 good pronunciation, stress, intonation and pauses in order to get feedback
Communicative Activities

Take a minute or two to think about communicative activities. You often use communicative
activities in your class and in your teacher groups. Language teaching practice places
considerable emphasis on introducing communicative tasks or activities in the classroom in order
to promote language use.

A communicative activity is a piece of work that involves learners in using language in order to
get something done.
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We need to call upon learners to:

 Gather information in English or Zambian language

 Exchange information
Work together in order to produce information in English or Zambian language

Activity 3

Study the following points and use them to design task-based activities.

 Let the activity be exciting, interesting and motivating for the learners.
 Let it provide a suitable challenge for the age group.
 Learners should focus on getting the task done rather than practicing a language item.
 Learners need to use both receptive and productive skills to complete the activity.
 The activity should be within the perceptual ability of the learners.
Examples of communicative activities

 information gap
 information transfer
 the jigsaw puzzle
 bus, train, earoplane, timetables

6.6 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit you learned about the nature of listening and speaking, the processes of listening and
speaking, the strategies/activities used to teach listening and speaking. You also identified some
barriers and remedies to listening and speaking.
Listening is a skill that we acquire first in childhood. We have also learnt that there are various
reasons why people listen and some these reasons are for pleasure, total comprehension and
retention of main ideas or points.

6.7 Assessment

Assessment
35
A listening lesson has the following stages:
 Pre-listening
 While-listening
 Post-listening
Develop a lesson outline using a poster as the main teaching and learning resource

Unit 7 – Approaches, Methods & Techniques of Language

Teaching
7.1 Introduction
In this very important Unit for the teacher of language, we try to look at basic meanings of
approaches, methods and techniques to teaching and learning language. Thereafter, you are
expected to demonstrate knowledge and application of the approaches and methods of language
teaching.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Demonstrate knowledge and appreciation of the various

approaches, methods and techniques of teaching language.
 Use appropriate approaches, methods and techniques of
Outcomes teaching language
 Select and use correct teaching and learning aids in teaching
language.

Approach: Implies that an idea or

theory is being applied.
Method: An overall plan for the
orderly presentation of
language items based on
selected approach.

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 Technique: Procedure to accomplish an
immediate objective. It is a
classroom based activity.

Eclecticism: The use of a variety of

approaches/methods in a
lesson.

Integrated:
Use of more than one
approach/method to teach
the four macro skills of
language.

Activity

A teacher asked his grade one learners to state two things they did before coming to school. He
wrote the appropriate two statements on the board in a familiar local language and read the
sentences with the learners. Later, together with the learners, he translated the two sentences in
English language. Finally, he allowed the learners to copy the statements in English language in
their exercise books.
Study the information given below in table form. After due consideration, choose the
approaches/methods used by the teacher in the activity above.

Approaches/methods Brief description Features

Grammar translation Translation of  Learning language through detailed

grammar rules from analysis of grammar rules
the language  Focuses on reading and writing
familiar to learners
to the target  Vocabulary selection is based on reading
language (or vice texts
versa)  Words are taught through dictionary
study, memorisation and bilingual lists
 Translation is a central technique

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Direct method Teaching directly in  Lesson begin with brief dialogue
the target language  No translation is used
through the use of
demonstration and  Exercises are given in the target language
visual aids  Grammar is taught inductively with rule
explanation at the end

Audio-lingual Stems from the fact  It involves habit formation through

that language repetition and memorisation in order to
learning is like any avoid errors at all costs
other learning. It  It gives learners numerous opportunities
emphasises to speak the target language
vocabulary
acquisition through  Provides opportunity for quick
exposure to its use in reinforcement
situations.  Attends to structure and form more than
meaning
 Native-speaker-like pronunciation is
sought
 Linguistic competence is the desired goal
 The teacher is expected to specify the
language that learners are to use

Cognitive code Stresses the learners  Refers to the mental processes

mastery of the rules  Emphasises linguistic competence and
of the target performance
language
 Speaker learns language through mastery
of its rules

Situational It is a method based  It uses real life situations to provide

on structural meaning
syllabus in which  Rule explanation is often given either at
language is taught the beginning or end
by association with
characteristics of  It involves visual or linguistic situation
surrounding
pictures, gestures
etc.

Communicative It means using  Meaning is paramount

procedures where
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 learners work in  Contextualisation is a basic premise
pairs or groups  Comprehension pronunciation is sought
employing language
resources in problem  Effective communication is sought
solving tasks  Teachers help learners in any way that
motivate them to work with the language
 Intrinsic motivation will spring from an
interest in what is being communicated
by the language

Note it!

It will not be surprising if your response to the activity above may include all of the approaches
and methods given in the table above.
In his lesson delivery, the teacher had consideration for language experience approach to
language learning by drawing on learners’ familiar language, and integration, for the activity
became both a reading and writing activity.

Perhaps, now you are thinking of what could be the best method of teaching language. Try to
share your thoughts with your colleagues.
Surely, there is no one better approach/method of teaching language. A good teacher will take
into consideration the various approaches/methods of teaching language and blend or adjust to
suit the prevailing situation. Given the circumstance, the teacher is said to be eclectic.

7.2 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit you learned about the different approaches, methods and techniques of language
teaching. A good teacher should take into consideration the ideas of integration and eclecticism.
In this way, your learners will benefit from the advantages of using more than one
approach/method of teaching language..
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7.3 Assessment

Assessment

Complete the table below:

SITUATION APPROACH/METHOD

Chorusing

Group work

Explanation of rules

Repetition/Drills

Real life

Linguistic competence

Intrinsic motivation

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Unit 8 – The Structure of Language

8.1 Introduction

Welcome to this unit in which we are going to explore the structure of language. You know by
now that language is an organised whole. This unit will afford you the opportunity to examine
some important parts that make up speech.
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Explain the term word class

Outcomes Differentiate between open and closed word class systems
Describe the various word classes

Word class: a category a word belongs to based on its function in a

sentence
Inflection: a change in the form of a word (boy – boys; jump –
jumping)

8.2 Word Classes

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 I want you to look at the following sentences. What function is the underlined word in each
sentence playing?

I will water the garden now.

Can you give me some water?

That is a water snail.

If you said the word water is giving us an action in the first sentence and giving us the name of a
substance in the second, while giving a description in the third, then you are very right. The
function a word plays in a sentence is what is called its word class or part of speech. Words in
the same class have the same grammatical properties. Traditionally words are grouped into eight
word classes namely verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and
interjections. However, other linguists treat articles as a separate word class while others may
also include determiners.

Now let us look at each of the eight word classes.

Verbs: This is a word that expresses action, state or mental process and perception.

Noun: This is a word class that denotes the name of a person, place, thing or idea.

Pronoun: This is a word used in place of a noun

Adjective: This is a word that modifies or qualifies a noun or pronoun. Adjectives usually answer the
questions “What kind of ” or “which?” Adjectives that occur before the nouns they qualify are called
pre-modifiers or attributive adjectives while those that occur after are post-modifiers.

Preposition: This is a word that shows the relationship between a noun and another word in a
sentence. Prepositions always combine with nouns to form prepositional phrases. Thus they are
always the first word in a prepositional phrase.

Adverb: This is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb or preposition.

Conjunction: These are joining words; the join words, phrases and clauses.

Interjections: These are words that express emotion or emphasis. They do not really function as
grammatical elements of a sentence.

Activity
42
Identify the word class to which the underlined belongs:

1. The dancing queens mesmerized the audience.

2. Fast foods are not good for one’s health.
3. He drove fast but was stopped by traffic police.
4. The tree lay across the road, blocking traffic and caused a terrible congestion.
5. My walking stick was imported for me by the chief to appreciate my services to the nation.
6. History repeats itself, so it is said. But are history lessons making that clear?
7. He behaves well when his parents are around. Today he has created a different impression.
8. After two rounds, we all got tired and opted to give up.

8.3 Open and Closed Word Class Systems

The word classes we have just discussed can be categorized into open and closed word classes.
What do you think the two terms refer to? An open class is a word class that accepts the addition
of new items, through processes such inflection, coining and borrowing. Typical open class
words in English are nouns, adjectives, main verbs, and adverbs. Thus the open class members
can easily be remembered by using the acronym NAVA.

Words in open class have the following characteristics:

 They are content /lexical words: they provide the semantic material or “content”
of an utterance; in other words they carry the primary communicative force of an
utterance.

 They are variable in form (can be inflected)

 They are highly productive: they can be changed, replaced or dropped from the
common lexicon. It is almost impossible to list all the members of an open class
system.

Closed-class words, on the other hand, are those that do not accept the addition of new items.
They include prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, articles and determiners and auxiliary
verbs. The following are their characteristics:

 They are function words: they provide the syntactic information.

 They are invariable in form (except demonstratives, modals and some pronouns)
43
  They are unproductive and always relatively few and resistant to change. Therefore,
it may be possible to list members of a closed class.

Now let us look at some of these word classes in detail.

8.3.1 Verbs

1. Mary and her sister buy flowers weekly 1. The baby can talk now.

2. Mary bought some flowers. 2. We have sold our house.

3. Mary buys flowers every week. 3. They were playing cards.

4. Mary is buying some flowers today. 4. He is watching television.

Compare the underlined verbs in column 1 and those in column 2. What differences have you
noticed? If you said the verbs in column 1 are carrying the main meaning in the sentence, you are
right. These verbs can also change form (inflections). Notice that it is the same action buy that
we are talking about except the verb is changing form (inflecting). These verbs in column 1 are
called Lexical or Main verbs. Main verbs in English have five forms:

 the root or infinitive form – this can inflect into other forms

 -s form (3rd Person Singular) – this is where-s is added such as -s, -ies or -es.

 -ing form (Present Participle) – this where -ing is added to form the progressive
aspect.

 Past Simple form (-ed1) – this is the form we have when we talk about a complete
action in the past.

 Past Participle (-ed2) – this one is formed when we use has/have/had with a verb

Lexical verbs can either be regular or irregular. Note that for regular verbs, the past simple and
past participle forms are the same.

Let us now look at the verbs in column 2. What did you notice about these verbs? I hope you
said that these verbs do not carry any meaning of their own but are helping another verb in the
sentence. That is why they are called auxiliary or helping verbs. Auxiliary verbs can be divided
into:

(i) Primary Auxiliary Verbs: These are auxiliaries that can sometimes work as main
verbs. They are only three namely be, have and do.
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  Jane is here. (main verb)

 Jane is going home.(auxiliary verb helping the verb going)

(ii) Modal Auxiliary Verbs: These help main verbs to express various moods such as
possibility, certainty and prohibition. Modal auxiliary verbs cannot carry the to-
infinitive or inflections such as -s, -ed and -ing. They include can, could, may,
might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, used to and dare.

Verbs can also be classified into Transitive and Intransitive Verbs. Transitive verbs take an
object while intransitive ones do not.

Activity

1. Change the following verbs into past simple and past participle forms: begin, drink, cast,
ride, cost, fall, lie, rise, learn, put, wear,

2. With clear examples, show how a primary verb can work both as a main verb and as a
helping verb.

8.3.2 Nouns
l
Let us now look at another type of word class. Can you remember how we explained a noun? Yes, a noun
is a name of a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns can be classified according to their type. Here is one
way in which you can classify them:

a) Common : refer to a name of ordinary things sharing common properties (boy, stone, chair)
b) Proper: specific name of a person, place or thing, always starts with a capital letter (Rupiah
Banda; the Victoria Falls)
c) Collective: a name given to a group of similar things (committee, herd, fleet)
d) Concrete: a name of a thing that you can see and touch.
e) Abstract; names of non-tangible things (love, courage, foolishness)

Nouns can also either be countable or uncountable. Now, how would you tell that a certain word is
functioning as a noun in a sentence? The following characteristics can help you to identify nouns:
 They typically inflect number (plural or singular).
 They can indicate possession.
 They can be modified by articles (a, an, the).
 They can be qualified by adjectives.
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  They can be subjects or objects of a verb.

Activity

1. Give the collective noun for each of the following (for example, people – crowd): buses,
flowers, elephants, lions, flats, puppies, fish, monkeys, bees, goats,

2. State whether each of these nouns is countable or uncountable: paper, equipment,

furniture, coin, rice, money, bread,

3. Identify nouns in the following sentences:

a) Adults say that wisdom comes with age.

b) Martin introduced me to his girlfriend yesterday.
c) He used a saying that angered his workmates.
d) Adolescence was the main issue at the conference.

8.3.3 Pronouns

Do you remember how we defined pronouns? Yes, we said it is a word that is used in place of a
noun. Often this is done to avoid repetition and in some cases to avoid awkward constructions.
Now look at the table below that shows you some types of pronouns:

TYPE EXAMPLES

Personal Subject I we You you he she it they

(sing.) (plural)

Object me us you You him her it them

Possessive mine ours yours yours his hers its theirs

Reflexive/ myself ourselves yourself yourselves himself herself itself themselves

Emphatic

Activity
46
 Replace the underlined with appropriate pronouns:

a) Send your assignments to the coordinator. Your assignments should reach the coordinator by
monthend.
b) We received the visitors the visitors we entertained well.
c) I met the visitors the visitors came yesterday.
d) Judith and Mercy love Judith and Mercy.

8.3.4 Adverbs

We now turn to the last word class. Here we are going to look at types of adverb. For each type
we shall look at how you can identify the adverb type using certain questions.
a) Adverbs of manner: These answer the question “How?” Most of them end in –ly
(slowly, weakly, loudly, etc) and are formed from adjectives.
b) Adverbs of time: These answer “When?” (now, then, today, yesterday)
c) Adverbs of place: These answer “Where?” (here, there, up, down, outside, etc)
d) Adverbs of frequency: They answer the question “How often?”(seldom, rarely,
sometimes, usually, never, etc)
e) Adverbs of degree: These answer the question “To what extent?” (very, deeply,
greatly)

Activity

Identify and categorize adverbs in the following sentences:

a) The doctor arrived too late to save the accident victims.

b) Gift usually smiles in a friendly manner.
c) Stephen spoke well at the meeting held outdoors.
d) Teddy visits the museum fortnightly.
e) Nathan seldom makes noise, but today he talked fast and heatedly.
f) Frank is quite right when he talks passionately about discipline.

8.4 Unit Summary

47
Summary

In this unit you have been introduced to the structure of language. We have only focused on word
classes. Let’s hope you are now able to identify any word class in any given sentence.

8.5 Assessment

Assessment

a) Explain the difference between regular and irregular verbs.

b) What are uncountable nouns? Illustrate how you can make them countable.

Unit 9 – Teaching Literacy 1

9.1 Introduction
We welcome you to the unit that deals with initial literacy or ‘beginning to read and write’.
You should realise that a number of studies on reading involving Zambia Primary Education
school children have shown that reading abilities of these children are quite low. It is in line with
these concerns that the Ministry of Education recently decided that all learners will be given an
opportunity to learn initial basic skills of reading and writing in a local familiar language. This is
contained in the national policy document on education called Educating Our Future (1996).
This policy concerning local language use has been implemented in recent years. It is therefore
important to critically examine the methods that have been included to teach literacy in a local
familiar language.

 Explain the word ‘literacy’ and the related given terms.

 State the importance of literacy.
 Apply relevant skills required to teach reading and writing.
Outcomes
 Demonstrate knowledge and skills of how to teach the Zambian
Breakthrough to Literacy (NBTL) and other related courses.
 Show understanding of the idea behind the teaching of Pathway
to English 1 and 2.

48
 Literacy: The ability to read and write in a particular
language.

Initial literacy: The skills of beginning to read and write

Terminology
Functional The ability to apply what has been learned in
literacy: relation to reading and writing.

Pre-reading Important skills that learners must acquire

skills: before they are introduced to formal reading.

Pre-writing Activities or skills that learners are introduced

skills: to before they start to write.

ZNBTL: Zambian New Breakthrough to Literacy – the

course introduced to teach learners in their
familiar local language.

Daily routine: The steps followed in a lesson presentation

when teaching NBTL classes.

ZNBTL kit: Various teaching and learning resources used

in NBTL.

9.2 Literacy
In most books that teach reading and writing in the early stages of learning, there is an emphasis
on ‘literacy’. The fact that you are able to read this text shows that you are literate in English.
Are you literate in other languages as well, or do you only speak them without reading or writing
them?
Initial literacy on the other hand refers to a set of skills that are a pre-requisite to the skills of
reading and writing, usually found in young children and also in beginning readers. Once a
learner has achieved initial literacy and is able to use the reading and writing skills sufficiently
for the purposes and activities in a person’s social position, the learner is said to have achieved
functional literacy. This is said to be the ability to apply what has been learned in relation to
reading and writing. A person who is functionally literate may not be able to comprehend fully a
complex written form such as a novel or a poem, but is be able to function in society by using
literacy skills. For example:
 Reading signs e.g. road signs
 Using an ATM
 Filling in a form
 Following an instructional manual or recipe

49
 Activity

1. From your understanding of what it means to be literate, how wouold you interprete the
expressions of ‘initial literacy’ and ‘fuctional literacy’?
2. There is a difference between a literare person and an illiterate one. Mention five (5)
differences between them.

9.3 Pre-reading Skills

You are very much aware that learners do not start reading and writing the day they enter school,
but have to be exposed to a number of skills that will enable them to read and write at a later
stage. Here are some of the pre-reading skills:
a) Visual discrimination is important in pre-reading activities or exercises. Examples of
visual discrimination exercises include:
 Identifying letters i.e. the alphabet.
 Distinguishing one letter from another such as “the odd-one-out” in bdbb.
 Associating letters with relevant size such as in ch for church, p as in pot.
 Recognising words/sentences/phrases in written scripts, e.g. batbad bad
day day dog day
 Matching individual letters, for instance letters in upper and lower cases.
b) The various left to right eye movement exercises
 Draw a person and a house on the board. The person is moving towards the house,
which is drawn on the right side of the person.
 Ask learners to say where the person in the picture is going.
 Ask a learner to come out and draw a line from the person to the house, left to right.
 Rub out the line and repeat this activity with a few other learners.
c) Matching exercises – Learners would be required to perform different matching
activities. These can be according to size, colour, shape, etc.
d) Discrimination – involving activities in which learners can show the differences of the
given items, for example, the letters p, b and d.
e) Same or different – Drawings or concrete objects can be used. Put similar objects, add
one which is different from the others and let the learners identify which one is different.
This activity will help to sharpen the skill of visual discrimination in learners.
50
 f) Remembering – place a number of objects in view. Show the objects to the learners and
let them name them. Then cover up and remove the objects from view and ask them to
recall as many objects as they can.

Activity
For now, stop reading. Take your note book and list other activities that can be done to
promote the above cited skills. Good. Carry on with your reading now.

9.4 Pre-writing Activities

Now that you have studied pre-reading activities, it is important that you learn about the pre-
writing activities. It is common knowledge that when a child begins school s/he may not have
handled a pencil before. As a teacher you have to teach this child to express his/her ideas in the
writing code, starting with the shaping of letters right up to the elaborate and meaningful linking
of words.
Before the learners can write sensibly, they go through certain pre-writing training, which will
cover the following activities:
a) Finger exercises: Learners should be made to conduct various finger exercises for making
the hands, wrists and fingers more flexible and coordinated.
b) Posture: Children should be taught to sit properly in order to learn how to write properly.
The teacher should ensure that their posture should be corrected to “sit like Leo” and
“not like Jumbo”.
c) Coordination: Each letter has a shape and a height which is how you should distinguish
the letters of the alphabet. For example, the ‘ascenders’ are letters with ascending
strokes like the b. Descenders have descending strokes like the g and the y. Children still
having difficulties in forming these letters may need to repeat some of the pre-writing
activities.
d) Drawing along dotted shapes: In order to enable the learner’s hand to be flexible, they
should be made to trace along dotted shapes which resemble the shapes of letters.
e) Scribbling: Learners should be made to form any shapes as they write on the sand. These
promote finger flexibility.
f) Writing in the air – the same as scribbling: helps learners’ fingers flexibility to form
shapes of letters in the end.

9.4 Pre-writing Activities

Now that you have studied pre-reading activities, it is important that you learn about the pre-
writing activities. It is common knowledge that when a child begins school s/he may not have
51
handled a pencil before. As a teacher you have to teach this child to express his/her ideas in the
writing code, starting with the shaping of letters right up to the elaborate and meaningful linking
of words.
Before the learners can write sensibly, they go through certain pre-writing training, which will
cover the following activities:
a) Finger exercises: Learners should be made to conduct various finger exercises for making
the hands, wrists and fingers more flexible and coordinated.
b) Posture: Children should be taught to sit properly in order to learn how to write properly.
The teacher should ensure that their posture should be corrected to “sit like Leo” and
“not like Jumbo”.
c) Coordination: Each letter has a shape and a height which is how you should distinguish
the letters of the alphabet. For example, the ‘ascenders’ are letters with ascending
strokes like the b. Descenders have descending strokes like the g and the y. Children still
having difficulties in forming these letters may need to repeat some of the pre-writing
activities.
d) Drawing along dotted shapes: In order to enable the learner’s hand to be flexible, they
should be made to trace along dotted shapes which resemble the shapes of letters.
e) Scribbling: Learners should be made to form any shapes as they write on the sand. These
promote finger flexibility.
f) Writing in the air – the same as scribbling: helps learners’ fingers flexibility to form
shapes of letters in the end.

Activity

1. Outline at least four hand/finger exercises that learners should know and practise before
they start the actual shaping of letters.
2. In what ways do these exercises help?
3. Why is pattern-drawing so important before learners begin actual writing?

9.5 The Primary Reading Programme (PRP)

As a student you should be aware of the new language policy which says that all pupils will be
given an opportunity to learn initial skills of reading and writing in a local language, MOE,
Educating Our Future (1996). It will therefore be important to you to appreciate the reasons for
initial literacy to be taught in a language familiar to the child. To remind you here are some of
the major reasons:
 It follows the firm educational principle of taking the learners from the known to the
unknown; in this case the language is the known and literacy skills are the unknown.

52
  Zambian languages are phonetically regular, much more so than English. For this reason,
learners will find it easier initially to learn and apply phonic rules in a Zambian language.
 Prediction based on picture and meaning cues is an important reading skill. A learner
cannot use cues unless they are familiar with the language they are reading.
 Learners feel more confident and therefore respond better to learning if that learning is
taking place in a language with which they are familiar.
 Parental support will be more forthcoming when learning is taking place initially in a
familiar language. Even illiterate parents can support their children’s literacy
development if they understand the language in which the child is reading and writing.
 Once sound foundations for literacy are laid, it is again much easier to move from the
known to the unknown, this time literacy being the known and the English language is
the (relatively) unknown.
 The phonetic idiosyncrasies of English can be taught more easily once learners are
familiar with basic phonic rules.

Activity

Many Zambians especially those aged 45 years and above are said to be illiterate.
Discuss some of the factors that could have contributed to this situation.

9.6.0 The New Breakthrough to Literacy (NBTL)

9.6.1 Introduction
The course called Zambian New Breakthrough to Literacy is the first course in the Primary
Reading Programme (PRP). Other courses are Step into English (SITE) for Grade 2, Read on
Course (ROC) for Grades 3 to 7 and Pathway 1 and 2 for Grade 1 and 2 language courses. As a
student you should be aware that learners come from different homes and this may be their first
time to have a teacher in front of them. As a teacher of NBTL you are expected to pay particular
attention to all steps at every teaching stage.
What is NBTL? This is a method and course designed to help children learn to read fluently and
write easily and accurately in their local language in Grade 1. There is also an oral English
Language course called Pathway to English 1 that teaches English language twice a week.
This is to ensure that learners develop enough English language to learn literacy skills in Grade
2. Right from the start children see in print form words that they use in every day talk in their
local languages. They realise that what they read is something that they already know a lot about
but just in a different form.
NBTL uses the Language Experience Approach (LEA) where pupils tend to be the source of
information as you teach.
53
9.6.2 Features of NBTL
 NBTL uses the Language Experience Approach in which children use familiar language
to help them build literacy skills that are familiar.
 The method allows children to compose sentences before they are able to write the words
for themselves through the use of printed word cards, on which this method is based.
 It is learner-centred. This means that the methodology facilitates the teaching of children
as individuals. It recognises learners’ own particular experiences and learning needs.
 Learners learn from each other and are encouraged to work in groups cooperatively.
 It allows individuals to develop at their own pace in carefully graded pace groups.
 It follows the firm educational principle of learning from the known to the unknown.
 Literacy skills are at the most basic level about understanding the sound-symbol
relationship that forms the phonic rules of a language. This is much easier if these sounds
and symbols make up words with which a learner is familiar.

Activity

What do you think are the reasons behind NBTL’s success in facilitating the reading and
writing process to the learners?

9.6.3 The NBTL Kit

You will notice that the NBTL kit consists of a variety of resources that together support the
learners in their task of learning to read and write, and the teacher’s task of teaching. These
include:
Name of Description
Resource
The Teacher’s It contains the methodology of the course and specific lessons for
Guide stages 1 to 3. It guides you on how to teach each lesson in the teaching
corner and prepare group learning activities for the other groups. It
gives guidance on remedial teaching, revision and how to conduct stage
assessment. It states resources, core-vocabulary, etc. It will help you to
support your lesson planning and teaching.
The Sentence These hold word cards that you need to teach in stages 1 and 2.
Maker

54
 The Teacher’s A long plastic word-stand that you need, to teach reading in stages 1
Sentence and 2.
Holder

Learner’ Similar to the teacher’s sentence holder but shorter, used by

Sentence learners for making their own sentences.
Holder

Word Cards These are used in stages 1 to 2 for construction of sentences.

Phonic Flip It contains 12 pre-reading posters. These are used in stages 1 early
Chart and phonic posters throughout stage 2.
Conversation There are four of these. They depict the home, the school, the farm
Posters and the town.
Learners’ Contains graded learning activities; used as sources for independent
Activity Book learning activities.
(LAB)

Group Slate A small chalk board used to set a handwriting pattern for individual
groups.
Storybooks Used throughout the year and make up part of the class library.
Exercise Books Learners should have at least three of these, one called their activity
book (ILA), another for the work done in the teaching corner called
their storybook, and the third one for homework.

9.6.4 How the NBTL Classroom is Organised

A typical NBTL classroom should have the following:
1. The learners’ desks and benches – they should be arranged in four separate groups,
each with its sentence maker.
2. The Teaching Corner – This is where focused work with individual groups is carried out.
It should be big enough for all learners and close to the chalk board at the front of the
class. Nails for holding conversation and sentence holders, should be fixed in the wall.
3. The Class Library – A reading corner that contains storybooks should be established.
4. Talking Walls – The walls in your class should be educative and interactive. The
teacher’s work and that of learners should be displayed on the walls according to subject

55
 areas and should be at an appropriate height for learners to see. However, these need to
be changed from time to time.

Activity

a) NBTL requires the indentification of group leaaders. What do you think is the role of a
group leader?
b) How often do you think you need to change your group leaders and why?
9.6.5 Overview of the NBTL Course

Stage 1 Early: the learners are introduced to the routine and the pre-reading
activities
Late: learners are introduced to the first set of core vocabulary.

Stage 2 Early: learners revise set 1 of the core vocabulary and work on set 2.
Middle: learners work on sets 3 and 4 of the core vocabulary.
Late: learners work on sets 5 and 6 of the core vocabulary

Stage 3 Learners have achieved initial literacy and start more challenging work.

(Stage
Stage 1:
1: 10
10 min;
min; Stage
Stage 22 &
& 3:
3: 15min)
15min)

9.6.6 The NBTL Daily Routine Storybook

Storybook
The daily routine is what happens every day during the literacy hour. It changes from stage to
Sound
stage. However, the
Starting
Starting start and the end of each lesson remain
Together
Together theof
Sound of the
the day
same. day (Stages
(Stages
The 22 &
& 3only)
3only)below
explanation
is what each day should look like when it is the literacy hour.
Learning activities set for the day:
Learning activities set for the day:

Group
Group 1:
1: teaching
teaching corner
corner

Group
Group 2:
2: teaching
teaching corner
corner

Group
Group 3:
3: teaching
teaching corner
corner (Stage 1only)
(Stage 1only

Development/
Development/ Group
Group 4:
4: teaching
teaching corner
corner (Stage
(Stage 11 only)
only)
Teaching
Teaching Corner
Corner (Stage 1: 4x10 min; Stage 2 & 3: 2x20 min)

Group Work
Group 1: Teaching Corner change-over
Group 2: Teaching corner
56 Group 3: Teaching Corner (Stage 1 only)
Group 4: Teaching Corner (Stage 1 only)

Sharing
Sharing Together
Together
Stage 1: 10 min; Stages 2 & 3: 5v min
9.7 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit you have learned about initial literacy as a prerequisite in the pupils’ learning
process. The unit has also covered the pre-reading and pre-writing exercises as well as the
Primary Reading Programme. The knowledge acquired after going through this unit should
enable you to teach literacy skills and the NBTL course.

9.8 Assessment

Assessment

How would you help your learners to practice the left-to- right eye movement? Give four
exercises.

57
Unit 10 – Teaching Literacy 2
10.1 Introduction
We have just finished looking at the New Breakthrough to Literacy Course [NBTL] whose aim is to
develop literacy skills in a familiar local language in Grade One. In this unit, we will look at another
course called Step-In To English [SITE]. This course aims at teaching learners literacy skills in English in
Grade Two. As was the case in Grade One, learners will be taught English orally to sharpen their
speaking skills through the Pathway to English Course for Grade Two.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Familiarise yourself with materials and methodologies used in Step In

To English.
 Describe items in the SITE kit and the classroom organisation.
Outcomes  Explain the daily and weekly routines.
 Conduct assessment in SITE.
 Show differences and similarities between SITE and NBTL.

SITE: Acronym for Step In To English

Abs: Abbreviation for Activity Books

Terminology

58
10.2 What is Step In To English Course?
This course is just like the New Breakthrough to Literacy Course. It is a literacy course and not a
language course. The course will enable your learners read fluently and write accurately and clearly in
English in Grade Two. You will be helping your learners to build on the literacy skills they will have
acquired in reading and writing in local languages in Grade One. It is an important stage as it bridges the
gap between the NBTL and the ROC for Grades 3-7. Learners will have been taught some oral
vocabulary in English after undergoing lessons in Pathway to English Course in Grade One. You will
therefore continue teaching them oral English through Pathway to English [Grade Two].

10.3 Materials Used in SITE

You will notice that the materials used to teach SITE are similar to those you used to teach NBTL.

Teachers’ Guide: This is the book that contains the methodology for the course and prescribed lesson
plans for stages 1-3 [50 lessons in all]. It guides you on how to teach each lesson at the teaching Station
and set learning activities for the other groups. It gives guidance on reading, revision and remedial work,
and takes you through assessments. It states the resources you need for each lesson and also provides
phonics lessons with guidance and suggestions on how to teach them.

Activity Book: The activity Book is for the learners. It contains graded activities to be used as the main
source of independent learning activities. The activities are divided into 3 sections, that is, Section 1,
Section 2 and Section 3.

Posters: There are four posters, which can be used in the Pathway course for oral language and at the
Teaching Station for eliciting reading and spelling words in the Step In To English course. The posters
depict themes that are familiar to learners. They are: Poster 1 My school; Poster 2 My family; Poster
3 At the market, and Poster 4 At the bus station.

Story Books: There are three carefully graded Story Books; the Red Level stories; the Yellow level
stories and the Green Level stories. Learners are familiar with the stories as they are the same stories they
read in Grade One only that this time they are translated into English.

 Red Level - contain simple stories and are meant for the beginners.

 Yellow Level - contain stories with some unfamiliar vocabulary and are meant for intermediate
learners

 Green Level - contain some difficult stories meant for learners in the higher grades but some
learners who are advanced in reading can read them.

Note that, though not included in the kit, there are two exercise books for learners. Activity Book where
to write Teaching Station activities, and the Dictionary Book where to write new spelling words.

59
Reflection

So far what would you say are the similarities and differences, if any, between SITE and NBTL as
regards materials used in the two courses?

10.4 Classroom Organisation

A SITE classroom is organised in the same way as in an NBTL class.

a) Tables and chairs: These are arranged in four groups and this arrangement allows
learners to interact freely with one another as they do learning activities. Name tags are
hang behind for each group.

b) The Teaching Station: This is where the actual teaching and learning takes place with
individual groups of learners. The area can also be used to bring the whole class together
for Starting Time and Sharing Time.

c) Class library: This is the reading section of the classroom. You are advised to display
story books here and any other interesting and appropriate reading materials that you may
come across. The library should also include learners’ own stories.

d) Talking Walls: The classroom walls should be kept as lively and interactive as possible.
Your work and that of the learners should be displayed on the walls. Change the display
regularly.

10.5 Routines in SITE

Stages: SITE has 3 stages: stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3. Stage 2 is divided into 2 Early, 2 middle
and 2 Late. Each stage has 10 lessons.

Daily Routine

Starting time (15 minutes)

The teacher does the following activities during starting time:

 The teacher either reads a story to the class, or the class sings a song or says a
rhyme together or they discuss their news.
 Phonics lesson is taught [remember, this is similar to the phonic flip chart activity
in NBTL but this time the teacher the structure programme in the Learners Activity
Book
 Teacher explains the learning activities to be completed by each group.

Teaching station 1 (20 minutes)

Here the teacher follows the steps below to teach a teaching station lesson:
60
  Revising: the teacher revises the structures and vocabulary taught in the previous
lesson [2 min]
 Discussing: the teacher and learners discuss the poster or picture in the book to
elicit the new vocabulary [3 min]
 Reading: the teacher conducts a reading activity using the board [7 min]
 Writing: the learners undertake the writing assignment prescribed in the teachers’
guide or the activity he/she has set [8 min]. During this time teacher goes round
checking the work of the other groups

Teaching station (2 x20 minutes)

The same procedure is followed as in the Teaching Station 1

Sharing time (5 minutes)

 Learners look at each other’s work and make comments and give praise.
 Lesson ends with a song or a rhyme.

Each lesson lasts one hour. You will see only two groups per day in the Teaching Station. There
are 5 hours of Site lessons in a week. Day 5 is used for revision and remedial work. On this day
two weaker groups are seen in the Teaching Station. You will give extra support to your two
weaker groups by seeing them three times in the Teaching Station.

Weekly Routine
The table here shows how you will plan your weekly routine for your class.

Groups Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Mango LA 1 LA 2 TS LA LA 1 LA 2 LA TS LA Revision

Pawpaw LA 1 LA 2 LA TS LA 1 LA 2 TS LA LA Revision

Guava TS LA LA 1 LA 2 LA TS LA 1 LA 2 TS LA
Remedial

Lemon LA TS LA 1 LA 2 TS LA LA 1 LA 2 LA TS
Remedial

61
 Activity

Having gone through the two courses, NBTL and SITE, list down similarities and differences
between the two courses. Compare your list with that of your colleague.

10.6 Assessment in SITE

This a way of finding out how effective your teaching has been and how much your learners
have learnt. It is important to put your learners in pace or ability groups. Assessment helps you
to:

 Identify fast and slow learners and those with special education needs
 Plan for the next lesson
 Gauge the progress of the learners and the suitability of your planned teaching
programme
 Plan for remedial work

How much time you spend to prepare for assessment is critical. You need to spend more time to
prepare this activity if learners are to benefit from it.

When will you carry out assessment?

You will carry out assessment at different times for different purposes.

 After every block of ten lessons and this is done to put learners in pace groups.
 During teaching time at the Teaching Station for the purpose of keeping records and for
remedial work.

Things you will assess:

 Reading- sentences provided in the Teachers’ Guide

 Writing-dictation [sentences]

How you will assess learners:

Instructions are given at the end of every block of ten lessons in the Teachers’ Guide. So you
are advised to follow these instructions carefully before you conduct assessment. The total marks
for reading is 30 and for dictation is 20. Add the total marks obtained for each candidate in both
reading and writing.
62
Scoring

 Put learners that have scored 26 or above in one group and should move straight on to
Stage 2E

 Learners that have scored between 16 and 26 should revise some of the stage 1 work
before reassessing them.

 Learners that score below 15 should revise most of the work in stage 1 before assessing
them again.

Teachers’ Progress Record

 Make a list of all the words in the dictation sentences. Write the words in the top
horizontal column
 Write the names of the learners in the first vertical column.
 Tick each word they have written correctly
 Add up the totals

Here is an illustration

Words Basket What Want five banana How Much total

Kalyafye      5

Gillian       6

Metusela       6

Kangachepe      5

Note that learners that have scored the same mark should be in the same group. So some groups
will be slightly larger than others but groups of weaker learners should be relatively small so that
you can spend more time with them and give individualised attention.

10.7Learners with Special Education Needs

These learners should be mixed with other learners so that they do not feel isolated. The learners
are like any other learners except that they do not learn at the same pace with the rest of the
learners. Because of this they need special assistance from you the teacher.

63
10.8 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit we have looked at materials and methodologies used in SITE. We have also looked at the
composition of the kit and how the classroom is organised. The unit also outlines the daily and weekly
routines. Steps of a daily routine are outlined and a sample of a weekly routine has been provided. We
have looked at assessment and assessment procedures. We hope you enjoyed the unit.

10.9 Assessment

Assessment

1. What we have looked at is formal assessment. When do you carry out informal
assessment (assessment that is ongoing)?
2. Mention some difficulties that learners face when learning SITE and suggest what can be
done about them.

64
 Unit 11 – Teaching Literacy 3
11.1 Introduction
As you are aware, the Ministry of Education has developed new programmes to improve the
reading levels in Zambia. Some of these are the Zambia New Breakthrough to Literacy (ZNBTL)
the Step-In To English (SITE) reading course for Grade 2, the Read On Course (ROC), which is
aimed at continuing the development of reading and writing skills in both English and Zambian
Languages. The first two programmes NBTL and SITE have already been dealt with in earlier
units and so we are just going to concentrate on ROC, which you have not met before in this
programme.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Explain what ROC is all about.

 Use the skills of teaching ROC.
 Relate similarities among NBTL, SITE and ROC.
Outcomes

Read on Course the reading course aimed at continuing the

development of reading and writing skills in
both English and Zambian Languages

Literacy skills the acquired knowledge that enables one to

read and write.

Literacy teaching teaching concerned with the skills involved in

the process of reading and writing
65
 Language teaching teaching concerned with vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation so that learners
achieve fluent oral communication

Daily Routine the steps followed in a lesson presentation

when teaching ROC classes

Weekly Routine the time table followed in a week to teach

Grades 3-7 when handling ROC courses

11.2 The Read on Course

The Read On Course for Grades 3-7 provides you with strategies and activities to help learners
develop basic literacy skills they acquired in Grades 1 and 2 to levels needed for the higher
grades of schools and for life. ROC ensures that skills in reading and writing are consolidated
and further developed in both the familiar Zambian Language and English

11.3 Literacy Skills

It was discovered that one year of literacy instruction in a Zambian Language, followed by one
year of applying those skills in English establishes the basic reading and writing skills. However,
this does not take the learners to point at which they can read, write and learn across the
curriculum. Therefore, there is need to strengthen and support these skills in both English and
Zambian Languages throughout the primary years.

11.4 Literacy Teaching

In literacy teaching the focus is on teaching the skills involved in the process of reading and
writing. These skills include things like familiarity with the shapes and sounds made by letters,
how to make meaning from printed words and how to put thoughts on paper.

11.5 Language Learning

In language teaching the focus is on teaching vocabulary, grammar and idiomatic expressions of
a language so that the learners achieve fluent oral communication. Language lessons, therefore,
focus on listening and speaking.

11.6 Daily Routine

By now you are familiar with the daily routine of NBTL and SITE. The ROC routine should now
become very familiar:

 Starting Time 15 minutes

66
  Teaching Station 1 20 minutes

 Teaching Station 2 20 minutes

 Sharing Time 5 minutes

Starting Time

As usual you will use starting time to read a story to the class. You will then explain the
learning activities to each group. Two of your groups will be visiting the Teaching Station
during that lesson; these two groups should read books from the class library while waiting to
go to the Teaching Station, or after returning from it. The other two groups that will not visit
the Teaching Station should be given learning activities according to their ability level.

Teaching Station 1 and 2

This is the time when you see one group at a time to give them the focused teaching they
need based on their ability level. This will be an activity you select from Chapter 8 according
to the ability level of each group.

Sharing Time

As usual the lesson will end with you showing examples of work that learners have
completed well. These can be shown to the class and the learners congratulated. Remember
that the purpose of this time is to show learners how important their independent learning
activities are. It is also time for you to assess informally how well learners are copying with
the activities you are setting. When you mark their work, later you can decide whether an
activity needs to be repeated, whether learners need to do another similar activity or whether
they can move to something different.

11.7 Weekly Routine

The weekly routine for Grades 3-4 should again be very familiar to you. It differs slightly for
Grades 5-7 as in these grades the Literacy Hour is only taught two times weekly, with a half hour
session for revision and remedial work each week. So you teach two groups at the Teaching
Station each Literacy Hour exactly as for the Grades 1 and 2 literacy courses. The fifth day
called ‘Day 5’ is for revision and remedial work – when you work with the weakest group of
learners.

Note that you will see each group twice in the Teaching Corner from days 1-4. The first time you
see each group, you will develop literacy skills in the local Zambian Language. The second time
you will develop literacy skills in English. The activities in Chapters 8 and 9 indicate clearly
whether they are appropriate for Zambian Language, English or both. You will also try to
achieve a balance between reading and writing activities over the week.
67
Grades 5-7

Again look at the weekly routine in the Teacher’s Guide Chapter 7. Note that you will see every
group once in a week. Over a two-week cycle, you should cover Zambian Language work one
week and English the next. Otherwise your routine is just the same.

Activity

1. Now that you have known how to teach the ROC lessons and how the weekly routines are
designed, state the similarities and differences between SITE and NBTL. List 5 of those
similarities and differences between these two courses.

2. How does each course NBTL, SITE and ROC build on the skills developed in the previous
course?

11.8 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit we have learned that ROC is a literacy course for Grade 3-7 aimed at supporting
reading and writing in both English and Zambian Languages. It will help you to identify reading
ability levels for your learners which in turn will help you provide appropriate learning activities
so that learners improve their literacy skills. You will also need to assess learners formally and
informally. Informal assessment goes on all the time while formal assessment is done once a
month, alternating languages in order to chart the progress of every learner in the class. The
Daily Routine is similar to SITE Daily Routine and to NBTL Stage 2 and 3. However, the
Weekly Routine at Grades 3-4 differs slightly for Grades 5-7.

11.9 Assessment

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 Assessment

Conduct an initial assessment on Read on Course with 10 learners and read with them one by
one.

a) What have you learned about your pupils as a result of conducting this assessment?

b) Why is the Rainbow Reading Ladder such a useful assessment tool?

Unit 12 – Introduction to Linguistics

12.1 Introduction
In this unit you are going to be introduced to new and exciting concepts. Have you ever thought
of the study of languages being a science? Well, you will discover in the course of this unit. You
will discover how to describe the sounds we use in speech.
Study the outcomes listed below to make yourself familiar with what you are expected to learn at
the end of this unit. Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Define the term linguistics.

 Explain why linguistics is regarded as a science.
 Discuss branches of linguistics
Outcomes
 Analyse levels of linguistic analysis.
 Differentiate between phonetics and phonology.
 Classify sounds.
 Describe consonant and vowel sounds
 Segment words into syllables.

Linguistics:
The scientific study of human languages

Levels of Linguistic The sub-systems into which language is organised

analysis: or analysed
Terminology

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12.2 What is Linguistics?
Let us begin our study by looking at the term linguistics. Linguistics (also called Linguistic
Science) is the scientific study of language. It is the scientific study of human language in
general and of particular human languages. It concerns itself with basic concepts of language and
theories of language. People who study linguistics are called linguists. Linguists concern
themselves with issues such as the origin of human language, description of language, the
relationship between languages and how languages are learnt.

Linguistics as a Science

We have just described linguistics as a scientific study. Take a moment to think about why
linguistic is regarded as a science. For any study to be scientific it has to be objective and its
results verifiable and replicable. Objectivity means it is not based on personal feelings but facts
that can be observed by anyone. The results being verifiable means the facts can be proved to be
true with evidence from existing languages and the results can be repeated (replicable) within a
given framework. Linguistics is said to be a science because knowledge in the field is based on
objective analysis rather than personal feelings. It deals with data (observable facts) that can be
verified empirically (based on what can be experienced or observed).

12.3 Branches of Linguistics

Linguistics has many sub-disciplines or branches. The following are some of them. Make sure
you are able to identify and differentiate them:

a. Theoretical Linguistics: This field of Linguistics studies the nature of language, which
is, what language is and how it works and also attempts to show what languages in
general have in common.

b. Applied Linguistics: This field is concerned with the application of Linguistics to the
problem of language learning and language teaching.

c. Sociolinguistics: This field looks at the relationship between language and society.
It is the study of patterns and variations in language within a society or community. It
focuses on the way people use language to express social class, group status, gender, or
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 ethnicity, and it looks at how they make choices about the form of language they use. It
also examines the way people use language to negotiate their role in society and to
achieve positions of power..
d. Psycholinguistics: This field explores the representation and functioning of language in
the mind. It looks at such problems as language acquisition in children and language
learning in adults.

e. Comparative Linguistics: This field compares language with a view to establishing their
common origin. It is a division of historical linguistics.

f. Descriptive (or Synchronic) Linguistics: This field tries to describe particular

languages, in other words how particular languages are used. It is concerned with
analysing particular languages at a particular stage of their historical development.

g. Historical (or Diachronic) Linguistics: This field explores the way language changes
over time, in other words the historical development of languages.

Activity

Look at the branches of linguistics discussed above. Which ones do you think will be of
relevance to a teacher like you and why?

12.4 Levels of Linguistic Analysis

We are now going to look at the way language is analyzed starting with the smallest unit to the
largest. I am sure you know that human language is a system, meaning that it is an organised
whole. As a system it is divided into subsystems which are referred to as levels of linguistic
analysis.

Which unit of language would you say is the smallest? If you said the sound, then you are right.
Now let us look at these levels from the sound to the sentence. There are six levels of linguistic
analysis:

a) Phonetics

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 This is the scientific study of the sounds of speech in human languages in general so as to
outline the universal properties in the sound system.

b) Phonology

Phonology is the scientific study of the speech sounds of a particular language and how
they are organised into words. While phonetics studies sounds without any reference to
their function in the sound system of a language, phonology deals with sounds within the
context of a given language.

c) Morphology

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and how they are derived from
others. It deals with word units rather than sound; it deals with the structure of words and
word formation in general.

d) Syntax

Syntax is the study of how words combine to form sentences. It spells out rules for
permissible and non-permissible combination of words.

e) Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning. It deals with the structure of meaning, in other words
how word meaning combines to give sentence meaning.

f) Pragmatics

Pragmatics is the study of the implication of what is said. Pragmatics studies the
interaction between language and the contexts in which it is used.

We shall now look at the first two levels of linguistic analysis.

12.5 Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics is concerned with description, classification and transcription (representation by
written symbols) of sounds in general while phonology is concerned with how sounds are
realized in particular languages. For example, phonetics will describe the sound /ʒ/ as a voiced
palato-alveolar fricative. On the other hand, phonology will show that the sound is realized as
‘j’ in Luvale while it is realized as ‘zh’ in Kaonde

12.5.1 Phonetics
This is the scientific study of the sounds of speech in human languages in general so as to
outline the universal properties in the sound system. Phoneticians concerned with classification,
72
description and transcription (representation by written symbols) of sounds. It has three different
but interrelated disciplines:

i. Acoustic Phonetics – This studies the physical properties of sound (sound waves) and
how sound is transmitted from one person to another.

ii. Articulatory Phonetics – This studies the vocal organs by which sounds of speech are
articulated. It is concerned with the way sounds are produced by the vocal organs.

iii. Auditory Phonetics – This studies how speech sounds are perceived by a person
through the ear.

12.5.2 Organs of Speech

The human organs that produce speech sounds are called organs of speech (speech organs) or
articulatory organs. These include lips, teeth, teeth-ridge (alveolar ridge), hard palate, soft
palate (velum), uvula, larynx (voice box), tongue, epiglottis and vocal cords. Note that certain
cavities (openings or holes) are considered to be organs of speech because they contribute to
speech production. These include the oral and nasal cavity. Some articulators are active (tongue,
lips, uvula and velum) while others are passive (teeth, tooth ridge, etc). In the production of
sound, active articulators move towards passive ones.

12.5.3 Classification of Sounds

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Sounds are classified into two major categories, namely consonants and vowels. Consonants are
sounds produced by stopping the flow of air while vowels are produced in such a way that the
airflow escapes freely.

12.5.4 Description of Consonants

Consonants are classified in terms of three major factors using what is called the three-term
label:

(i) Voice: Voice has to do with whether there is vibration of the vocal cords in the production
of a sound. A voiced sound is one causes vibration of the vocal cords as the air from the
lungs passes through the windpipe into the larynx (e.g. /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, all nasals). A
voiceless sound is produced when no vibration is caused to the vocal cords (e.g. /p/, /t/, /k/,
/f/, /s/).

(ii) Place of Articulation: This has to do with the articulators that are actively involved in the
production of the sound. Bilabials are produced by bringing both lips together (/p/, /b/,
/m/); Labiodentals are produced as the upper teeth touch the lower lip (f, v); Dentals are
produced with the tongue inserted between the two sets of teeth (/θ/,/ð/ ); Alveolars are
produced with the tip of tongue raised to the tooth ridge (/s/, /t/, /z/, /d/n/); Velars are
produced by raising the back of the soft palate called the velum (/k/, /g/); Alveolapalatals
are produced with the front part of the tongue raised to the hard palate just behind the tooth
ridge (/ʃ/,/ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ )

(iii) Manner of Articulation: This refers to the way the air is released from the mouth, in
other words what type of closure there is to the airstream. Total obstruction to the airflow
in the mouth results in the formation of Plosives or Stops (/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /g/, /k/). Sounds
produced with a partial obstruction to the airflow are called Fricatives (/s/, /z/, /f/, /v/).
Sounds that are produced with the air flowing through the nose are Nasals (/m/, /n/).
Sounds produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a slow release of air are called
Affricates. Phonetically they are a combination of a Plosive and a Fricative (/tʃ/, /dʒ/).
When the tongue is raised to the alveolar ridge but the sides of the tongue are low and
allow air to flow over the side of the tongue what is produced is a Lateral (/l/).

Below are examples of descriptions of some sounds using the three-term label:

Activity

Describe the following sounds using the three-term level:

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 1. /b/: 5. /g/:

2. /t/: 6. /n/:

3. /v/: 7. /tʃ/:

4. /s/: 8. /tʃ/:

12.5.5 The International Phonetic Alphabet

Using the three features sounds are given slots on a table referred to as the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA).

Place of Articulation

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Alveopalatal Palatal Velar Glottal

Manner of - + - + - + - + - + - + - - +
Articulation +

Plosive p b t d k g h

Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ

Affricate tʃ dʒ

Nasal m n ŋ

Lateral l

Glide w j

12.6 Vowels

A vowel is a sound produced without any interference to the airflow. In English the word vowel
can also refer to a letter which represents a vowel sound or a letter which is not a consonant.

Vowels are cardinal to word formation and pronunciation. While it is possible to have a word
with only vowel sounds, it is not possible to have a word without a vowel sound. Note that words
like ‘hymn’ and ‘rhythm’ contain vowel sounds.

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A distinction is made between pure vowels, which include short and long vowels, and gliding
vowels, which include diphthongs and triphthongs. In glides there is a movement (glide) from
one sound to another. Below are examples of the four types of vowel:

i) Short Vowels

 /ɪ/ as in sit /sɪt/

 / e/ as in met /met/

 /æ/ as in man /mæn/

 /ʌ / as in but /bʌt/

 /ɒ / as in pot /pɒt/

 /ʊ / as in put /pʊt/

 /ə / as in about /ə ˈbaʊt/

ii) Long Vowels

These are longer that the short vowels and are represented by a vowel followed by two
dots like a colon, e.g. /a:/. The following are examples of long vowels:

 /I:/ as in piece / piːs/

 /ɜː/ as in purse /pɜːs/

 /a:/ as in palm /pa:m/

 /ɔ:/ as in board /bɔ:d/

 /u:/ as in sue /su:/

Note that in Zambian Languages long vowels are represented by doubling a vowel, e.g. in
Bemba pepa (pray) and peepa (smoke); lula

Activity

Come up with at least six words in any Zambian language to illustrate the difference between
long and short vowels.

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 iii) Diphthongs

A diphthong can be said to be a vowel sound in which the tongue changes position to
produce the sound of two vowels. In this way they are like long vowels.

 /aɪ/ as in kite /k aɪt/

 / ɔɪ/ as in boy /bɔɪ/

 /eɪ/ as in late /l eɪt/

 /au/ as in count /kaunt/

iv) Triphthongs

Triphthongs are glides in which three vowels are produced.

 eɪ + ə = eɪə as in player

 aɪ + ə = aɪ ə as in liar

 au + ə = auə as in hour

12.7 The Syllable

A syllable is a sound unit that is uttered without a pause either as a word or part of a word. It
contains one vowel sound with or without consonants before or after it. It may be said to be a
unit of speech the next bigger than a speech sound. Syllables are considered to be building
blocks of words ad influence phonological features such as stress.

A word that consists of a single syllable like ‘dog’ is called a monosyllable (such a word is
monosyllabic), while a word consisting of two syllables like ‘puppy’ is called a disyllable
(such a word is disyllabic). A word consisting of three syllables such as ‘manager’ is called a
trisyllable (the adjective form is trisyllabic). A word consisting of more than three syllables
(such as rhinoceros) is called a polysyllable (and could be described as polysyllabic), although
this term is often used to describe words of two syllables or more.

A syllable may take any of the following structures:

a) V as in all /ɔːl/

b) CV as in raw /rɔː/

c) CCVC as in stick /stɪk /

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 d) CCVCCC as in stinks /stɪŋks /

e) VC as in at /æt/

Counting Syllables
To find the number of syllables in a word, use the following steps:
1. Count the vowels in the word.
2. Subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent e at the end of a word, or the second vowel
when two vowels are together in a syllable)
3. Subtract one vowel from every diphthong (diphthongs only count as one vowel sound.)
4. The number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of syllables.

The number of syllables that you hear when you pronounce a word is the same as the number of
vowels sounds heard. For example:
 The word ‘came’ has 2 vowels, but the e is silent, leaving one vowel sound and one
syllable.
 The word ‘outside’ has 4 vowels, but the e is silent and the ou is a diphthong which
counts as only one sound, so this word has only two vowel sounds and therefore, two
syllables.

Activity

How many syllables are in the following words?

a) Lizard

b) Shopkeeper

c) Hour

d) Hotelier

e) Crocodile

f) Hippopotamus

78
 g) Farmer

h) skipping

12.8 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit we have been introduced to linguistics and learned why linguistics is a science. We have
looked at branches of linguistics and also learned about the six levels of linguistic analysis. Finally we
explored the first level of linguistic analysis, phonetics in which we learned how sounds are classified and
how consonants and vowels are described. Let’s hope you are now ready to look at the next level of
linguistic analysis.

12.9 Assessment

Assessment

Draw and label a diagram showing organs of speech.

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 Unit 13 – Morphology

13.1 Introduction
In this unit, we introduce the term Morphology and discuss the three central units of analysis in
Morphology: the Morph, the Allomorph and the Morpheme. This is followed by a look at the
word and such concepts as affixes, inflection, derivation, stem root and segmentation.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Define morphology, morph, allomorph and morpheme.

 Illustrate the three central units of analysis in morphology.
 Show how phonological conditioning affects morphological
Outcomes
conditioning.
 Classify morphs as free, bound, full and empty morphs.
 Show how inflection differs from derivation.
 Illustrate the concepts of root and stem
 Segment words into their constituents parts and describe their
constituents parts .

Morphology: The study of the internal structure of words

Morph: The physical representation or realisation of a

morpheme
Terminology
Morpheme: An abstract linguistic element which functions as
the smallest meaningful unit of grammar

Allomorph: Any one of the different phonological realisations

of a morpheme

Root: A morpheme that cannot be analysed into further

80
 morphemes

Stem: Word unit to which inflectional morphemes can

be added

Word formation: The morphological process of creating new words

[Term]: [Term description]

13.2 What is Morphology?

Morphology comes from two Greek words i.e. Morph (form) and logos (study). Therefore,
Morphology is the study of form. Morphology is the study of the internal structures of words in
a language into discrete parts that can be distinguished and identified as morphemes.

The Morph

A Morph is described as the smallest structurally significant unit that has constant semantic
value. It is a segment of a word which represents a particular morpheme. Such a morpheme may
be the Plural morpheme, the Root morpheme, the Comparative morpheme, the Tense morpheme,
the Agentive morpheme, the Possessive morpheme or the Superlative morpheme.

For example, books as a word can be split into book and s which are two morphs which make up
the word books.

The Morpheme

A Morpheme is a smallest or minimum grammatical unit of a word. Look at the examples below:

English

 Playful: play root, -ful suffix =2 morphemes

 Unkindness: -un prefix, kind root, ness suffix = 3 morphemes

Zambian languages

 Musankwa: mu prefix, sankwa root = 2 morphemes

 Bantu: ba prefix (plural), ntu root (person) = 2 morphemes

 Mucikolo: mu prefix (locative), ci (singular), kolo root = 3 morphemes

 Adzabweranso: a subject pronoun (he or she), dza tense marker (future), bwer root, a
second tense marker, nso (again)

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 Activity

Now look at the following words and divide them into their constituent parts:

Language word prefix Root suffix

English Disliked

unpreparedness

Undoubtedly

Running

Icibemba Muntu

Balashiilana

Bantunshi

Icitonga Bakaintu

Bakalyana

Silozi Bazuhile

Lilepe

Cinyanja Adzabweranso

Anabwera

Kikaonde Mingilo

Banike

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13.3 Classification of Morphemes
Morphemes can also be classified as free, bound, empty or full

 Free Morpheme: This is a morpheme that is independent and can stand on its own .e.g.
dogs –dog is a free morpheme s is a bound morpheme.

 Bound Morpheme: This is a morpheme which cannot stand on its own as a word. It
cannot be used as a word unless attached to another morpheme.

 Empty Morpheme: This is a morpheme which is devoid of meaning of its own. Affixes
and some grammatical functions are examples of this.

 Full Morpheme: This is a morpheme which is meaningful, which has inherent

meaning .e.g. content words.

From these classes and examples, three conclusions can be drawn:

a) All Affixes are Empty and Bound

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 b) All content words (verbs, adjectives and some adverbs) are full and free.

c) All prepositions, articles and conjunctions are free but empty.

Activity

In your groups discuss the meaning of each of the following terms: morphology, morpheme,
affixation, prefix, suffix, and infix.

13.4 The Word

We all know what a word is and we can distinguish a word from what is not a word quite easily
but may not be able to define it. Different scholars have defined it differently and you may have
your own definition of a word. Let us proceed and look at some elements of a word.

Affixes

An affix is any linguistic unit attached to (or affixed to) a word. An affix may be attached at the
beginning of a word (prefix) or may also be attached at the end of a word (suffix).

Inflection

Inflection is the process by which a change is made in the form or structure of a word to express
its relation to other words in a sentence in terms of number (plural) case (possessive) degree
(comparative/superlative) and time (tense). Inflection is achieved through inflectional
morphemes. All inflections are suffixes. All the inflectional suffixes are bound and empty.

Derivation

Derivation is the process by which new words are formed from existing ones by affixation.
Derivational Affixes change the meaning of the words to which they are attached. They yield
new words like inflectional suffixes, they are bound and empty. The difference between
derivation and inflection is illustrated in the following examples:

Inflection

Cook – cooking (tense)

Jacket – jackets (plural)

Big – bigger (comparative)

Big – biggest (superlative)

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Derivation

Cook – cooker (Agentive -er)

Friend – friendship (noun to noun)

Accept – acceptable (verb to adjective)

In inflection, both meaning and word class of the word involved are maintained while in
derivation the meaning of the word always changes and in some cases the word class also
changes.

Stem

A stem is that part of a word which remains after all the inflectional affixes have been removed.
For example, in the word untouchables, there is only one inflectional affix, the plural morpheme
s. Removing this gives us untouchable which is our stem in this case.

Root

A Root is that part of word which remains after all the inflectional and all the derivational
Affixes have been removed from a word. It is for this reason that a root has been referred to a
part that cannot be analysed into any smaller units. This also implies that a root can also be a
stem in some cases.

Segmentation

Segmentation is the process of splitting words into their constituent parts and naming these parts.

Example: Untouchables

 untouchable – stem

 touch – root

 able – derivational affix, suffix

 -s – Inflectional affix, suffix

Activity

Segment each of the following words and describe the resulting segments: encouragement,
disembarking, unhappiness, friendships, misfits, expect, relationships, friendliness,
85
unforgetables, discuss

13.5 Word Formation

Word-Formation is the process of forming new words. Let us look at some of the ways of
forming new words

Affixation

This is the process by which new words are formed by attaching affixes to roots according to
certain rules. The process may be achieved by either prefixation or suffixation.

Prefixation

This is the process by which prefixes are attached to roots. Prefixes have a constant meaning
when attached to roots. Generally, prefixes do not alter the word class of the word to which they
are attached.

Suffixation

Suffixation is the process by which suffixes are attached to roots. These are affixes attached at
the end of a root. Suffixes alter or change the class (or part of speech) and function of the word
to which they are attached.

Conversion

Conversion is the process of word formation whereby an item assumes or is converted into a new
word class without the addition of an affix. It differs from affixation in that affixation involves
the use of affixes to change words from one class to another. This distinction can be illustrated as
follows:

Affixation: Aquit(V) ..Aquittal(N)

Conversion: Release(V) Release(N)

Acronymy

This is the process by which new words are formed using the initial letters of names or phrases
as words in their own right. Examples of these are:

Paye: pay as you earn

Radar: Radio detecting and ranging

Clipping

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This process forms words by subtracting one or more syllables either at the beginning or at the
end of a word or both to make a new word. Examples of these include:

Phone: from telephone

Flu: from influenza

Demo: from demonstration

Blending

Blending is the process by which new words are formed by putting together elements of two
words to make a word. Examples:

Motel – from motor+hotel

Smog – from smoke + fog

Forex – from foreign + exchange

Reduplication

Under reduplication new words are formed by repeating a word or imitating a sound to suggest
movement, nonsense, insincerity, instability or class.

Examples:

Ha-ha – sound of laughter

Bow-wow – sound of a dog

Compounding

Compounding is the process by which two root morphemes are put together to make a new word.
A compound, therefore, is a lexical unit consisting more than one root and functioning both
grammatically and semantically as a single word. Examples:

a) Solid as in wheelchair, bedroom

b) Hyphenated as in wheel-chair ,bed-room

c) Open as in wheel chair, bed room

13.6 Unit Summary

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Summary

In this unit we have been introduced to concepts in morphology such as the morph, morpheme,
allomorph, segmentation and word formation. Let’s hope you are now able to analyse the internal
structure of words in both English and Zambian Languages.

13.7 Assessment

Assessment

Pick any five ways of word formation and give at least five examples of your own.

Unit 14 – Syntax
14.1 Introduction
Welcome to this unit on syntax or grammar. In this unit you are going to explore concepts such
as the sentence, types of sentence

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 Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Define a sentence.
 Explain the various elements of a sentence.
 Discuss types of sentence.
Outcomes
 Analyse sentences into various elements.

Clause: A group of words that contain a finite verb and a

subject

Phrase: A group of words without a finite verb

Terminology
Sentence: A unit of grammar that expresses a complete
thought

Syntax: The study of how words are arranged in sentences

14.2 What is Syntax?

Syntax or grammar is the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses and sentences. A phrase is
the group of words without the finite verb. The finite verb is the verb that carries tense. For
example:

The children are sleeping.

The word are is the finite verb because it is carrying the tense.

The man parks his car in the garage.

The underlined words do not contain the finite verb. Phrases can also just contain a single word
like verb, noun, adjectival and adverbial phrases.

Verb Phrases

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A verb phrase is simply a single verb. For example, walk, speak, jump, and think. Verb phrases
can be two or more phrases. For instance, are sleeping, is coming.

Noun Phrases

A single noun can be a noun phrase, for instance, man, moon, car, banana, cabbage. A noun is
simply the word that names a person, place, thing or idea.

Adverb Phrases

A single adverb can be an adverbial phrase, for example, slowly, very. Most English words that
end in –ly are adverbs.

Adjectival phrases

A single adjective can be a phrase, for instance, beautiful, blue, handsome, tall and short.

The word

A word is the smallest meaningful unit in the language that can stand on its own. For instance,
walk is a word, look is a word.

The clause

A clause is a group of words that contain a subject and a finite verb. Sometimes a clause can be a
sentence, for example, He slept.

14.3 The Sentence

14.3.1 Definition of a Sentence.

A sentence is a group of words with a complete thought. A simple sentence contains a subject
and a verb. A verb is a word that expresses an action while a subject is the door of the action in
the sentence. For instance, Jesus wept .Jesus is the subject while wept is the verb.

14.3.2 Types of Sentence

There basically four types of sentence. These are:

a) Declarative Sentence.
It is a sentence that makes the statement. For example, “I am teaching.”

b) Interrogative Sentence

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 It is a sentence that asks the question. For instance, “Did he go to town?”

c) Imperative Sentence
It is a sentence that makes an order or request, for example, “Please, leave my room.”
Imperatives usually begin with a verb. Note also that the subject is always YOU,
d) Exclamatory Sentence.
It is a sentence which expresses a strong emotion, for instance, “Bravo!” Yangu tata Lesa
icimana ubusuma!

Sentences can also be classified according to clause types:

a) Simple Sentence.
A simple sentence is one which contains a subject and a verb, for instance, “He slept.”
b) Compound Sentence
A compound sentence is one which contains two independent clauses joined by the
conjunction. For example, “John got block and sold a T.V set.” In this case and is the
conjunction.
c) Complex Sentence
A complex sentence contains the main clause and the subordinate clause. For instance,
“Although it was hot, he was wearing a coat.” The underlined sentence is the subordinate
clause.
d) Compound Complex Sentence
A compound complex sentence is one which combines the qualities of both the complex
sentence and compound sentence. For example, “Although John was clever, he failed the
examinations and he did not enter the college.”

14.4 Elements of a Sentence

Sentences can be analysed using elements in them. Let us look at two ways in which sentences
can be analysed:

14.4.1 Basic Elements of a Sentence

A sentence is made up of two major parts:

a) Subject – this is the ‘theme’ of the sentence, or what is being talked about in the
sentence. It can be determined by asking “what” or “who” before the verb.

b) Predicate – part of the sentence which says something about the subject. It says what the
subject is, does or is like. It is the rest of the sentence after the subject. It may include the
main verb, object, complement and adverbial.

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14.4.2 Functional Elements of Parts of Basic Sentence Patterns

a) Subject (S) – a noun phrase (NP) in form. Note that in sentence analysis an NP is not
necessarily a phrase but refers to any element whose head word is a noun.

 The three young girlsNP have been found. [NP = phrase]

 BeatriceNP has been found. [NP = single word]

b) Verb (V) – appears in form of a verb phrase (VP). Like an NP above a VP is not always
a phrase but any element whose head word is a verb.

 Joan arrivedVP yesterday. [VP = single word]

 Joan will be arrivingVP tomorrow. [VP = phrase]

c) Object (O) – given in form of a noun phrase and expresses who/what was affected by
the action of the verb. The two types of object are Direct Object (DO) and Indirect
Objects (IO).

 Fraser bought a cowDO.

 Fraser bought LindaIO a cowDO.

Note that the indirect object normally comes immediately after the verb.

d) Complement (C) – These complement a subject or object of a sentence so that the idea
about these elements is complete. There are two types:

 Subject Complement (SC) – given in form of adjectives or noun phrases that

occur after verb phrases to qualify subjects:

Mr Sata is the President. [NP]

Mr Sata is old. [adjective]

Mr Sata grew popular. [adjective]

 Object Complement – qualifies an object and can be an adjective or noun

phrase in form:

They made Bridget happy. [adjective]

They made Bridget class representative. [NP]

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 e) Adverbial (A) – This is any element that does the function of an adverb. It can be an
adverb, adverb phrase or clause used to qualify a verb:

 Elvis worked hard. [adverb]

 Elvis worked all day. [adverb phrase]

 Elvis worked whenever he was asked to do so. [clause]

14.5 Sentence Patterns

Using the above functional elements, some basic sentence patterns can be presented. The
order in which the elements appear is common but not fixed:

i) [SV]: TheyS have arrived.V

BirdsS flyV.

ii) [SVO]: The studentsS finishedV the exercise.O

iii) [SVOO]: KelvinS promisedV NancyIO a [Link]

iv) [SVOA]: HeS ateV the foodO in a hurry.A

v) [SVC]: My uncleS seemedV [Link]

MwambaS isV my neighbourSC.

vi) [SVOC]: The classS votedV herO monitorOC.

vii) [SVA(A)]: Mr ZimbaS isV in classA nowA.

15.5 Unit Summary

Summary

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In this unit you learned about some basis elements in syntax such as sentence elements, sentence
types and clause types.

We hope this knowledge will help you to analyse any given sentence.

15.6 Assessment

Assessment

Analyse the following sentences according to their functional elements (S, V, O, C and A)

1. Misozi ate her lunch greedily.

2. The rich old man promised Linda marriage.
3. The President promoted GBM minister.
4. The lecturer wound up the lesson in a hurry.
5. Without any warning, he arrived.
6. The ‘kaponya’ gave the policeman a hard blow.

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 7. We proceeded to the graveyard immediately.
8. Ben appeared worried.
9. Sarah smiles whenever she sees the ice-cream man.
10. He was crowned prince.

Unit 15 – Teaching Reading and Writing

15.1 Introduction

We have just looked at syntax in the previous unit. Now I would like to welcome you to this unit
in which we shall look at teaching reading and writing. At the end of this unit you will be given
some questions to answer or rather to practise.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Define reading and writing.

 Discuss stages in reading.
 Explain bad reading habits.
Outcomes
 Highlight challenges in writing.
 Explain the various types of writing.

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 Vocalisation : reading aloud when no reading to others

Subvocalisation: Reading in a whispering manner

Terminology Regression: Going over a word of phrase again

Mechanics of Skills a person needs to learn before being

writing: able to write fluently

15.2 Reading

Reading is simply the process of getting meaning from graphic symbols, that is, to identify
meaning from written symbols. Reading is said to be receptive when the person is reading
silently and it is productive when one is reading aloud like reading a Bible in church. The goal of
teaching reading is to make learners fluent readers. What is fluent reading and what do you think
are some of its characteristics?

This is the ability to read easily, confidently and quickly. A fluent reader

 Does not move lips when reading silently

 Does not point at words when reading

 Reads meaningful chunks of language – s/he does not regress or go back to what
has been read already

 Moves eyes ahead of what they are reading

 Observes sentence boundaries by making appropriate pauses

 Reads with expression when reading aloud

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15.2.1 Stages of Reading

e) Pre- reading: This stage prepares the learners of what they are going to read.
f) While reading: This stage helps the learners to understand the text.
g) Post Reading: This stage helps the pupils to connect what they have read with their own
experience and to move fluently from reading to another classroom.

15.2.2 Process of Reading

(a) Skimming

Skimming is the process or the ability to run the eyes over a text to get the general idea of what
the text is all about without reading the whole passage. Therefore, skimming is reading
something very quickly, looking only at occasional lines in order to get a general idea of its
content. An example of skimming is finding out what a story in a newspaper article is about
when one is in the hurry.

(b) Scanning

Scanning is the ability to identify specific information as quickly as possible. It is reading for the
specific information, for instance, looking for the sport results in the newspaper or a verse in the
Bible.

(c) Reading in Depth

This is simply reading for understanding. An example of reading in depth is when you are
doing comprehension.

15.2.3 Types of Reading

(a) Extensive Reading: This is reading for entertainment like when reading the newspaper,
novels magazines. It is reading for enjoyment.
(b) Intensive Reading: This is reading for understanding. It requires total mastery of the text
or deep understanding of the material. A good example of this type of reading is when
you are reading for the examinations or academic reading.

15.2.4 Bad Reading Habits

Bad reading habits are things that must be avoided when reading. Bad reading habits include the
following:

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  Vocalisation- is reading aloud when not reading to others.
 Sub- vocalisation- This refers to whispering.
 Regression-This means going over a word, phrase or sentence.
 Book folding- The book or magazine that somebody is reading must not be folded.
 Poor posture- The learner should sit up rightly.
 Finger pointing- T he learner or reader must not be pointing fingers on the letters of the
words.

15.3 Teaching Reading

We are now going to discuss some of the methods of teaching reading. You may have come across almost
most of them.

Activity

Think of the methods you would use to teaching reading to primary school children. Which ones are
better and what reasons would you give?

15.3.1 Importance of Reading Aloud to Children

One important strategy that you must use when teaching reading to children is reading aloud to
them. This is important for the following reasons:

 Modelling: for the teacher to model good reading practice

 Consolidating literacy: to improve listening and comprehension skills

 Pre-reading: to introduce the stories they will read themselves

 Linking spelling and pronunciation: to emphasize link between words of the story
as said by the teacher and words as written in the book

 Literate culture: to contribute to the love of books and a literate culture

 Creativity: to develop skills of creativity and imagination

 Language development: to extend vocabulary and introduce new ideas and

concepts

15.3.2 Methods of Teaching Reading

Now let us discuss some common methods of teaching reading.

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a) Look and say: This is a method of teaching new vocabulary. It relies on memory,
visual memory to recognise the word and clarify its meaning, and auditory memory
for pronunciation. The meaning of the word is made clear by a picture, real object, an
action or explanation. The ‘look’ of the word is presented in writing form. The
‘say’ of the word (sound) is made clear by spoken repetition. By drilling the
‘look’, the pronunciation and meaning of the word are fixed in the learner’s
memory. S/he can recognise it in reading and use it in conversation.
 Introduce word using picture, real object, action (Look at this; what is it?)
 Learners say word/ teacher tells learners the word (Say; this is )
 Teacher writes word on the board
 Learners read the word
 Practice: (spelling; reading from flashcards; word-picture matching; word-
matching)
b) Phonics: It associates the letters of the language with their sounds. Learners must first
be able to recognise the letters of the alphabet then they are taught the sounds
represented by the consonant letters and the sort vowel sounds. When they are
familiar with these sounds, they are taught how to combine them to form words. The
Phonic Method is also called Word Attack Skill or Crack-the-Code Skill.

c) Syllabic: It is used to help children deal with long or difficult words that they
encounter in reading. A syllable is a group of graphemes (letters) containing one
vowel sound and one or more consonant sound. The children are presented with a
long word and asked to break it into syllables. It works well with ZLs than English.
 Write word on the board
 Break word into syllables
 Ask the learners to read, syllables then word (banana, elephant,
 Spelling (read-cover-write-check method/flashcards)

d) Whole word/ Sentence Method: This is just like the Look and say. It is based on the
psychological view (Gestalt) that the human brain makes sense of the world by
recognizing whole things. Therefore, the teacher should teach whole words and not
constituent parts.

e) Whole Language: This is based on giving learners meaningful form of print right
from childhood. It emphasizes ‘real’ books hence it is also called Real Books
Method. Children can be given picture storybooks to read with a skilled reader.

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 f) Language Experience Approach: This is the view that when children come to
school, they are not ‘Tabula Rasa’ have rich experiences to communicate using
their well-developed oral language. Thus the starting point is oral language. Learners
move from known (oral language) to unknown (written language)

15.4 Writing

15.4.1 Definition of Writing

Writing is the act of forming graphic symbols which relate to the sounds that we make when we
speak.

15.4.2 Importance of Writing

 It is a form of communication.
 It is needed for formal and informal testing.
 It reinforces what has been learnt orally.
 It acts as retention that is to keep information learnt.
 It is vital for language maintenance.

15.4.3 Problems of Writing

The following are the common problems that are encountered in writing.

 Spellings
 Punctuation
 Language structure

15.4.4 Ways of Practising Writing

a) Structured/Controlled Writing: this is the kind of writing in which learners are

given supportive guidelines. It can also be called Guided Writing. The following are
examples:
 Arranging jumbles sentences in order
 Matching sentence beginnings to their endings
 Using picture strips (a series of pictures), i.e. learners write a story based on
the series of pictures
 Copying sentences and filling in the blanks
 Using writing frames (providing, title, paragraph structure, guiding questions,
etc)

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 b) Extended Writing: This is free writing where learners write longer pieces on a topic
given by the teacher or of their own choice. Usually they get little or no help from the
teacher. In ROC it can be given to groups that are not going to the Teaching Station.
c) Shared Writing: This is where the teacher works with a small group of learners to
compose a story. In ROC it can be done during a TS session; the teacher can suggest
a theme and then ask the learners to make suggestions. The teacher can also use a
story circle, where the teacher starts the story by saying the first sentence and then
each learner adds a sentence to the story.

15.4.5 The Writing Process

[Link] Product and Process Writing

In product writing the focus is on the product; therefore the teacher provides a model which
learners imitate. Features are discussed and controlled practice is given. In process writing, the
focus is on the various classroom activities which promote language use such as punctuation,
paragraphing and coordination. These include brainstorming, group discussion, re-writing, etc.

[Link] Steps of the Writing Process

a) Pre-writing: This is the stage for generating and organising ideas. Activities can
include thinking, brainstorming (generating as many ideas as possible), organising,
etc. this can be done in pairs or groups.
b) Drafting: This is writing the ideas in sentences and paragraphs.
c) Revising: This is the process of changing the writing so that it can be at its best. It is
about re-organising the content by adding, deleting or re-ordering.
d) Editing: While revising focuses on content, editing focuses on correctness
(punctuation, spelling, grammar, form)
e) Publishing: This is the last stage of the writing process. It refers to the stage when the
writing is ready for the intended audience.

15.4.6 Types of Writing

The following are the types of writing.

(a) Narrative Writing

This is a type of writing that tells about events that happen like writing a story.
(b) Expository Writing
This is a kind of writing that explains and answers implied questions such as; who or
what is the person or thing under discussion.

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 (c) Descriptive Writing
This kind of writing attempts to show the impression evoked by a person, place or thing.
(d) Persuasive Writing
This is a kind of writing whereby somebody influences other peoples’ thinking or
opinion or views.
(e) Argumentative Writing
This is the type of writing where learners or people write for or against the motion. For
instance, one has to give reasons as to why schooling is important.

15.5 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit you learned about reading and writing, the types of reading, bad reading habits,
methods of teaching writing, ways of practicing writing, the writing process and types of writing.

We hope you will be able to use these ideas to teach reading and writing in the primary school.

15.6 Assessment

Assessment

1. What are the differences among the following terms skimming, scanning and reading in
depth?
2. What reading skill can you use if you want to check for the game between Zambia and
Norway in the newspaper?
3. Mr Chambakale is preparing for the examinations, what reading skill can he use in order to
pass the examinations?

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4. Mrs Jere has just bought a novel and has nothing to do. What type of reading she is going use
to read the novel.
5. Discuss six bad reading habits.

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 Unit 16 – Introduction to Literature

16.1 Introduction
You are welcome to Unit 1 of the Literacy and Language Education Study Area. In this unit, you
will be introduced to Literature and discover most interesting issues that will be beneficial to you
as well as your pupils. You will discover that most aspects of literature have been part of us as
Africans even when writing was not part of our culture. .
Study the outcomes listed below to make yourself familiar with what you are expected to learn at
the end of this unit. Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Explain the term literature.

 Classify literature in various ways.
 Discuss elements of a story.
Outcomes

Genre: A style with a particular set of characteristics

Prose: Style of writing in ordinary and continuous form

Terminology Fiction: Imaginary or not real

Character: A personality in a literary piece of work

Literal: Used in the plain or ordinary sense

Figurative: Having a meaning that is not literal

Literary: Of or related to literature

16.2 What is Literature?

We are now going to look at the definitions of literature. In your own words, how would you define
literature?

Note that literature has been defined in various ways. However, there is no agreed upon definition of
literature as each definition has its own weaknesses or limitations. For example, one common definition
of literature is “Literature is everything that is written.” This view comes from the literal definition of

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the word ‘literature’. The word comes the Latin word liter which means letters or writing. This
definition has weaknesses or limitations:

- It leaves out oral forms of literature.

- It implies that only those who are literate can appreciate literature.

-It implies that even subjects like Maths, Physics and Chemistry are also Literature. However, Literature
communicates feelings, attitudes and interpretations.

Activity

Examine each of the following definitions of literature bringing out their weaknesses.

a) Literature is fiction.

b) Literature involves the use of special /heightened language.

c) Literature is a reflection of life/an imitation of life

As a student of Literature you need to come up with your own definition which you should be able to
justify.

Why Do We Study Literature?

There many reasons why we study literature. Note that literature represents a language or people, culture
and tradition. It introduces us to new worlds of experience.

Activity

Now think of your own reasons why we study literature.

16.3 Classification of Literature

Literature can be classified in so many ways. For the purposes of this study, three ways of classifying
Literature shall be considered.

a) Fiction vs Non-fiction Literature:

b) Genres: For this course, three genres of literature are of interest, which are prose, poetry and
drama.

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  Prose – Style written in ordinary and continuous from, without using the style of poetry,
e.g. novel, short story, biography.
 Poetry – Style of writing in verse, that is arranged in separate lines often ending in
rhyme. Poetry can be in written or spoken form
 Drama – Literary works intended for performance (to be acted) on stage, television or
radio.
c) Forms: Literature can be classified according to forms. Form refers to the mode of transmission.
There are two major forms of literature:
 Oral: The word oral means related to the mouth. Thus oral forms of literature are
literature transmitted by word of mouth. Examples are stories, songs, proverbs, riddles,
poems, legends, myths, etc. All these constitute what is called folklore.
 Written: This is literature transmitted using graphic symbols or through writing.

Activity

With relevant examples, explain the terms fiction and non-fiction literature.

16.4 Forms of Oral Literature

Now we are going to discuss various forms of oral literature. Thus oral forms of literature are literature
transmitted by word of mouth. Examples are stories, songs, proverbs, riddles, poems, legends, myths, etc.
All these constitute what is called folklore. Remember that oral literature has been part of African
culture.

Activity

a) Discuss the following types of songs: popular, panegyric, occupational, funeral, lullabies and
lyrics.

b) Give some reasons why stories are told.

c) What are folktales? Explain the following types of folktales: myths, fables, fairytales and legends.

Proverbs and Riddles

Let us now turn to some other forms of oral literature that are very close to our African heritage. I’m
sure you know a lot about proverbs and riddles. A proverb is a well-known short saying that expresses a
general truth. In many traditional societies, proverbs are said to be sayings of the wise. The careful use of
proverbs is considered to be a sign of wisdom. In traditional society, a cultured person is expected to
punctuate his speech with proverbs.
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On the other hand, a riddle is a puzzling or confusing question or description intended to test another
person’s cleverness. Because of their amusing nature, riddles are recreational but they are also
educational because they test one’s intellectual skill and sharpness of mind. They are brainstormers as
they train quickness of mind and help to develop a sense of observation in people. Almost all societies
have riddles which they call by different names.

Discuss with your colleagues the various names of riddles in different languages.

16.4 The Language of Literature

We are now going to look at language aspects in literature. I am sure you have heard of the term
‘figurative language’. What do you think this is? It refers to the deviation from the use of language that
is literal or plain and ordinary. Figurative language is particularly common in poetry. Figures of speech
are used for various purposes such as humour, variety of expression, emphasis or courtesy. Below are
examples of some common figures of speech:

a) Simile: This is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another. It is the simplest
form of figurative language and involves direct comparison. It is marked by the use of as as
and like.
 Chilumba is as proud as a peacock.
 Moses eats like a pig.
b) Metaphor: This is a figure of speech in which one thing is said to be another. Unlike a simile
which uses direct comparison, a metaphor uses indirect comparison. A metaphor is an
implied or compressed comparison.
 Chilumba is a peacock.
 Moses is a pig.
c) Hyperbole: This is a figure in which exaggeration is used. Hyperboles are used for emphasis
and often can be humorous.
 I’m so hungry I can eat the whole world.
d) Irony: This is figure in which a person means the opposite of what is said. Irony can be
humorous or sarcastic.
 (Mother to child who has done something silly): You are really clever!
e) Euphemism: This is a figure in which something unpleasant or harsh is said in such a way
that the unpleasantness or harshness is hidden or reduced.
 Expecting/ in the family way - pregnant
 Lady of the night - prostitute
f) Personification: This is a figure of speech in which human characteristics are given to things
or animals. When personification is used there is usually the use of capital letters.
 The smiling moon danced over the horizon.
 When the baobab shook her head, all the singing birds danced in unison.
.

Activity
a) Write 5 sentences using 5 different figures of speech. Then rewrite these sentences literally.

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 b) With relevant examples in English and a Zambian Language, discuss the term idioms.

16.5 Elements of a Story

Earlier on we referred to stories as oral forms of literature. In this section, we are going to review some
important parts that make up a story. Can you think of some of these parts? I am sure you have mentioned
that every story must have people in it and a place where this story is taking place. The story also has
what it is talking about and arranged in a particular way. You are right; these parts are called elements of
a story. Let’s review them once more:

i. Setting: This refers to the time and place when events take place in a work of fiction. Some
stories take place in more than one setting.

ii. Characters: These are the personalities in a literary piece of work. They are invested with certain
human characteristics by the writer (novelist or playwright). Characters are therefore imitations of
humans. There are two types of character: major (main/primary) and minor
(subsidiary/supportive) characters. Minor characters help us to understand the main characters by
helping create a world of reality. The main character can either be a protagonist or an antagonist

a) Protagonist: This is the main character who is involved in a conflict and usually attracts
the sympathy of the readers as he/she battles with his/ her enemy and so he is also called
the victim. Because he is involved in a conflict, he is the hero/heroine.
b) Antagonist: this is the main character who is involved in a conflict with the protagonist.
He openly fights the protagonist and so attracts dislike/condemnation from the readers
and is also called the villain.

Characterization refers to the portrayal/representation of the personalities in a literary piece of

work. It is also the description of characters in a literary piece of work. Characters can be
described by using various devices.

iii. Theme: This is the main idea underlying a literary piece of work. It is the message or idea the
writer wants the reader to understand about life. Therefore, a theme must be a generalization
about life. A story may have more than one theme. A theme is different from a subject in that a
subject is stated as a phrase while a theme is often stated as a sentence:

Subject: Love

Theme: Love can cause pain to the one who loves

iv. Plot: This refers to the series of events that make up the story. It is the outline of the main events
in the story. It is the deliberate or conscious arrangement of events in a literary piece of work.
Thus the events that make up the story are interrelated and lead one to the other. The four parts of
plot are exposition, complication, climax and resolution.

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Activity

Highlight some ways on how you can come up with a description of a character.

16.6 Unit Summary

Summary

In this unit you have been introduced to Literature. We have looked at the challenges of defining
literature and the various ways in which literature is classified. Finally we have also looked at
elements of a story. We hope these skills will help you to appreciate literature .

. 16.7 Assessment

Assessment

Pick any short story of your choice and analyze it in terms of its setting, plot, characters and
themes.

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Unit 17 – Planning for Teaching & Record Keeping

17.1 Introduction
Welcome to unit 17. We hope you enjoyed interacting with the previous unit. In this unit, we will
are looking at planning. Have you ever thought of planning before any lesson is taught? What
could happen if you went to class and began teaching without planning for it? Planning for
teaching is one of the problems with which teachers are faced. It begins with the development of
the curriculum, preparation of schemes of work (now termly plans), weekly forecasts (now
weekly plans), lesson plans and lesson notes. There is a relationship among these concepts in that
each component is derived from the preceding one..

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Define the terms curriculum and syllabus.

 Discuss types of curriculum.
 Explain the importance of termly plans.
Outcomes
 Design termly plans and lesson plans for English and Zambian
Languages.
 Discus the importance of lesson planning.
 Discuss the various types of records in schools.

Curriculum: The sum total of all the planned experiences of

offered to learners

Syllabus: Outline of what is to be taught over a given period

Terminology
of time

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17.2 The Curriculum
The sole purpose of the school is to implement the curriculum. Learners are at the centre of the
school. Curriculum is defined variously by different authors. Let us examine the three definitions
of curriculum:

 Ralph Tyler(1947) defines curriculum as the learning of students planned by and directed
by the school to obtain its educational goals.
 Taba(1962) simply puts it as a plan for learning.
 Wheel (1978) says curriculum is planned experiences offered to the learner under the
guidance of the school.

In Zambia, and indeed in other countries, curriculum is designed by the government in

consultation with stake holders (NGO’S and cooperating partners).

Types of curriculum

Core- curriculum: this is what learners learn in the school. It includes all subjects taught in
the school (examined and not examined). Subjects are reflected on the timetable. The
school is under obligation to implement this curriculum because it is the core business of
the school.

Co-curriculum/extra curriculum: this is the type of curriculum which is offered outside the
teaching time in the classroom. It is also reflected on the main school timetable. It is not
examinable. Activities in this curriculum include: Sport, Preventive Maintenance System,
Production Unit, Clubs and Societies, etc.

Hidden curriculum: this one is not timetabled but is seen in the manner people conduct
themselves .It influences character formation. Examples include the following:
mannerisms, eating habits, manner of dressing, and accent in speech, various forms of
behaviour, etc. As a teacher you should guide your learners so that they do not copy
anything they see.

17.3 Syllabus

This can be defined as a series of statements about what is to be taught to pupils over a
given period of time, say a year and usually concerns a particular subject. It is an outline
of what is to be taught as subject matter over a given period of time. As a teacher makes
sure that you plan it well so that the topics follow one another in a logical sequence. It is
derived from the curriculum.

17.4 Scheme of Work (Termly plans)

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 This document originates from the syllabus. It is a plan of work which the teacher expects to
cover with the learners in a term. It shows work that is divided into specific lessons and
lessons themselves divided into specific learning activities. In other words, the term plan
translates the syllabus into specific topics,

Importance of a Termly Plan

 It enables the teacher to do his/her work smoothly as soon as the school opens.
 Helps new and old teachers not to waste time before they begin to do their work
because they will encounter straight forward work.
 It is easy to follow because they follow a logical sequence/order for teachers to
teach and learners to learn.
 It enables you the teacher to prepare in advance the kind of concepts and teaching
aids required for teaching.

Let us now look at the format of a scheme of work in English and Zambian Languages:

WEEK TOPIC/CONTENT GENERAL OUTCOMES RESOURCES REFERENCES

NOTE: What used to be known as objectives are now called outcomes.

17.5 Weekly Forecast

This document is derived from the scheme of work and its components are almost the same as
those that are on a scheme of work except there is an additional column for lessons. The forecast
shows the work to be covered in a week depending on the number of lessons.

Week beginning: .. Week ending: ..

DATE TOPIC/CONTET SPECIFICOUTCOMES METHODS RESOURCES REF ROW

17.6 Lesson Planning

This is a short, carefully developed and, usually, written outline designed to help the teacher to
achieve the outcomes of a specific topic, skill, or idea (Kasambira, 1999). It contains specific
learning activities that evolve around the scheme of work and is executed in a period or two.

Importance of lesson planning

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The lesson plan is important so many stake holders. We shall analyse its importance from the
three standpoints: from the administrator’s point of view, from the teacher’s point of view,
and from the learner’s point of view.

Administrator’s point of view

a) To obtain evidence, especially from newly qualified teachers, of a teacher’s ability to

prepare a professional teaching plan.
b) To evaluate how well a teacher can prepare and implement a plan in actual teaching
situations.
c) To use the plan as a guide for substitute teachers.

Teacher’s point of view

a) To visualise and prepare for the lesson, in terms of what instructional activities need to be
emphasised an how they should be directed
b) To avoid instant planning or off-the-cuff teaching. This often results in poor teaching.
c) To use as future reference , to reinforce the strength and improve on the weaknesses
revealed in the previous plan
d) To earn respect from the students for the fact that the teacher prepares the lessons
e) To ensure coherence as regards the content

Pupil’s point of view

a) Provides an opportunity to interact with the material to be learned

b) Provides a systematic or structured learning environment
c) Provides an idea of what they are expected to learn and to retain

Lesson plan format

The following features or elements are essential for any lesson plan:

Step Content Learning Activities Method

Teacher’s Pupil’s

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17.7 School Record Keeping
Record Keeping

Keeping records in the school is very important. School records are books, documents, diskettes
and flies in which are embodied information on what goes on in school (e.g. social, academic
and non-academic activities, important events, etc.) or they can be explained as official transcript
or copies of proceedings of actions, events, other matters kept by the school manager. School
records could be viewed as authentic register or instruments or documents of official accounts of
transaction or occurrence which are preserved in the school office.

Importance of Record Keeping

 Tells ministry about the school and useful historical sources.

 Facilitates continuity in the administration of a school
 Provides information for the school community and the general public employers.
 Provides data needed for planning and decision making.
 Provides a basis for the objective assessment of the state of teaching and learning in
school.
This includes staff and student performance.
 Provides information needed on ex-pupils by higher and other related institutions and
employer for administration and placement.
 Serves as data bank on which the school head and staff and even pupils can draw on.

Examples of school records

 Staff time book, for checking when staff report for work and when they are living the
station.
 Log-book, for recording important events taking place in the school.
 Stock book, for making new entries of books and other materials in the school.
 Attendance registers, for recording presence or absence of pupils on a daily basis.
 Admission and withdraw register, for entry into or exit from school.
 The visitors book, for recording visits of important people from the ministry of education,
other ministry officials, or indeed other departments and agencies.
 Personal files for staff and pupils
 Student report sheets or cards, for showing academic achievement of each learner.
 Teaching file, for schemes, records of work, weekly forecasts and lesson plans.
 School timetable, for showing time and class when lessons will be conducted.

Conclusion

The effectiveness and efficiency of the head teacher depends largely on these documents.
However, the class teacher should complement this task by proper keeping and maintenance of
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these academic records for which they have direct responsibility.

Activity
Among the records mentioned above, which ones do you have at your school? Do you think
there are other records that the school should keep in addition to the ones above? Why do you
think so?

17.8 Unit Summary

Summary
In this unit, we have focused our attention on various educational documents that a teacher
should be aware of. We have looked at the curriculum, the syllabus, schemes, weekly forecasts
and a lesson plan. Formats of schemes, weekly forecasts and lesson plans have also been
outlined. Remember that each school may have its own formats but what have been given are
general formats. The unit has also discussed various records that the school keeps and why it is
important to keep such records.

17.9 Assessment

Pair up with a colleague and list all the components os a lesson plan. Explain why each part
should be reflected in a lesson plan

References

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Hammer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching: New Edition, London:
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Jeremy, H. (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching. London; Longman

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Richards, J. C., Rodgers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. New
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