Remedial Instructions in English
Remedial Instructions in English
Remedial Instructions in English
Instructions in
English
Martin Dave Ramirez
Enopequis
Instructor
Course Description:
This three-unit course in Remedial Instruction in
English deals with the strategies and methods of
contemporary English language teaching.
This is geared for English language learners who
are faced with difficulty in competence in one or
more domains. It also attempts to provide actual
remediation through hands-on practice and various
situational case studies.
I. Orientation to Functional
Grammar
a. Parts of speech
b. Verbs & Tenses
c. Sentences Structures
Suggested Reading/Resources Materials
Theory and Problems of ENGLISH
GRAMMAR Third Edition by Eugene Ehrlich
ACTIVITY
Remedial
Instructions in
English
Lesson Objectives
At the end of this lesson/session, students will be
able to:
• Identify the Remedial Classroom which includes
organization and management.
• Determine general instructional guidelines that
should be considered.
Warm Up Motivation!
(Get ¼ sheet of paper)
Unit I.
The Remedial Classroom:
Organization and
Management
A remedial program primarily helps students
address language skills deficits by helping them
acquire self-confidence to face their own
weakness and overcome these through the
acquisition of self-help strategies.
A thorough assessment must be conducted before
organizing a remedial program, while consistent
monitoring is imperative in managing the
Below are general instructional guidelines that
should be considered;
Instruction is systematic when it is planned, deliberate
in application, and proceeds in an orderly manner. This
does not mean a rigid progression of one-size-fits-all
teaching.
Intensive instruction on any particular skill or strategy
should be based on need. Thus, intensity will vary both
with individuals and groups.
There is no substitute for ongoing documentation and
monitoring of learning to determine the order in which
skills should be addressed and the level of intensity
required to help a child or group of children succeed in a
particular area.
To track specific goals and objectives within an
integrated language-arts framework, teachers must
know the instructional objectives their curriculum
requires at the grade or year level they teach.
A. Organization
In organizing a remedial program,
one must consider the following
factors:
1. CURRICULUM
a. Base goals and standards for language learning
on theory and research.
b. Relate teacher beliefs and knowledge about
instruction to research.
c. Organize the curriculum framework so that it
is usable
d. Select materials that facilitate accomplishment
of school goals.
2. INSTRUCTION
a. The program must identify instructional strategies and
activities for learners.
b. Instruction must be based upon what we know about the
effective teaching of language skills.
c. Those involved in designing or selecting instructional
activities need to consider the variables that contribute to
success in language learning, given its interactive and
constructive nature.
d. Time must be provided in the classroom for practice.
2. INSTRUCTION
e. Composing should be an integral part of
the program.
f. Students should be given opportunities to become
independent and to self-monitor their progress.
g. The climate in a school must be conducive to the
development of students. h. The school must develop an
organizational structure that meets individual needs of
students.
i. The program must provide for coordination among all
language programs offered in the school.
3. ASSESSMENT
a. Use assessment to guide instruction.
b. Develop scoring guides and rubrics.
c. Seek alignment among various layers of
assessment
B. Management
School-based remedial sessions tend to involve 3 to 10 learners,
and typically last between 30 to 50 minutes, depending on whether
they are in the elementary or secondary level.
A plan to maximize the utilization of that time should be a high
priority. To ensure that the program is effective, one must
consider the six components of an ideal remedial program (Manzo
& Manzo, 1993). These principles may also be applicable in
remediation for other skills aside from reading.
1. The orientation component. The orientation component
provides continuity and focus to the remedial session. It may
be an engaging question or statement related to local or
national news, or even school life. It must focus on
structured routines, materials, equipment, venue, people
involved, and the objective of the program.
2. Direct Instruction Component. This is the instructional
heart of the remedial session. It should never be traded
away, even for one period, without some compelling reason.
3. Reinforcement and Extension Component. This
period of time ideally should build on the direct
instructional period and be spent in empowered reading,
writing, and discussion of what was read. Writing activities
may vary from simply listing key words to summarizing and
reacting.
4. Schema-Enhancement Component. This unit of time
should be spent in building a knowledge base for further
reading and independent thinking. It is an ideal time to teach
study skills such as outlining, note taking, and memory
training. Ideally, it should flow or precede Component 3.
5. Personal-Emotional Growth Development. There is
little learning or consequence that can occur without the
learner involvement and anticipation of personal progress.
6. Cognitive Development Component. This component
should contain an attempt to enhance basic thinking
operation such as: inference, abstract verbal reasoning,
analogical reasoning, constructive-critical/ creative reading,
convergent and divergent analysis, problem-solving, and
metacognition
Remedial
Instructions in
English
Lesson Objectives
At the end of this lesson/session, students will be
able to:
• Determine Remedial Instruction in READING and
its other special features
• Correcting Perceptual and Decoding Deficits in
Word Recognition
Unit II
Remedial Instruction in
READING
A. Correcting Perceptual
and Decoding Deficits in
Word Recognition
We can identify the student who has insufficient competence in
the visual analysis of words in two ways. First, the student, when
pronouncing words verbally, selects inappropriate elements to
sound out and often he/she tries again and again to use the same
analysis even when it does not work.
The second way can be done when the teacher shows him/her the
word covering up parts of it, if the student is able to recognize it,
then at least one of his/her problems in word recognition is faulty
visual analysis.
B. Definition
of Terms
1. Alphabetic Knowledge: understanding that letters
represent sound so that words may be read by saying the
sounds represented by the letters, and words may be
spelled by writing the letters that represent the sounds in
a word.
2. Sight-Word Knowledge: all words any one reader can
recognize instantly (with automaticity) not necessarily
with meaning.
3. Basic Sight Words: a designated list of words,
usually of high utility.
4. Knowledge on Sound-Symbol Correspondence:
(a.k.a. graphophonic knowledge) the readers’
ability to use phonics, phonemic, and structural
analysis knowledge.
C. Correcting Sight-
Word Knowledge
Deficit
1. Write a sentence on the chalkboard with the new
word used in context. Underline the word.
2. Let students read the sentence and attempt to say the
new word using context clues along with other word-
attack skills. If you are introducing a new story, it is
especially important that you do not tell them each new
word in advance, as this deprives them of the
opportunity to apply word-attack skills themselves.
3. Discuss the meaning of the word or how it is used in
talking and writing. Try to tie to something in their
experience. If possible, illustrate the word with a picture
or a concrete object.
4. Write the word as students watch. Ask them to look
for certain configuration clues such as double letters,
extenders, and descenders. Also ask them to look for any
well-known phonograms or word families, e.g. ill, ant,
ake, but do not call attention to little words in longer
words.
WARM UP!
(Get your Notebook)
SPELL OUT
WORDS
1. Inevitable - unavoidable
2. Vicious - cruel or dangerous
3. Chihuahua – kind of dogs
4. Colloquial – informal/ordinary
5. Amorphous - no shape
6. Fallacious – false or mistaken idea
7. Straighten – to make straight
8. Viscount - noblemen from Britain
9. Opaque – Not transparent, unable to seen through
10. Acquaintance – a person knowledge of something
D. Correcting Basic
Sight Vocabulary
Deficit
1. Have the students trace the word; write it on
paper, or use chalk or magic slates.
2. Have the students repeat the word each time
it is written.
3. Have the students write the word without
looking at the flash card; then compare the two.
4. Create “study buddies.” Match learners in the
classroom with fellow students who have mastered the
words. Take time to teach the “tutors” how to reinforce
new words. Provide a big reward to both tutor and learner
once the learner has attained the goal.
5. Provide reinforcement games for students to use on their
own or with their study buddies. Games may be open-
ended game boards or developed by levels according to the
sublists
6. Provide charts, graphs, and other devices for
students to display their progress. These serve as
excellent motivators, especially since students are
competing with themselves rather than each other.
7. Use your imagination. Have students dramatize
phrases, build a sight-word “cave,” practice words
while lining up, read sight-word “plays,” etc.
E. Syllabication
Principles
1. When two consonants stand between two vowels, the word is
usually divided between the consonants, e.g., dag-ger and cir-
cus. In some of the newer materials, materials are divided after
the double consonant, e.g., dagg-er. It should be remembered
that in reading we are usually teaching syllabication as a
means of word attack. Therefore, we should also accept a
division after double consonants as correct even though the
dictionary would not show it that way.
2. When one consonant stands between two vowels, try
dividing first so that the consonant goes with the second
vowels, e,g., pa-per and motor, Students should be taught
that flexibility is required in using this rule; if this does
not give a word in the student’s speaking-listening
vocabulary, then the student should divide it so that the
consonant goes with the first vowel, as in riv-er and lev-
er.
3. When a word ends in a consonant and le, the
consonant usually begins the last syllable, e.g., ta-ble
and hum-ble.
4. Compound words are usually divided between
word parts and between syllables in this parts, e.g.,
hen-house and po-lice-man.
5. Prefixes and suffixes usually form separate
syllables
Unit II, Lesson 2.
Remediation through
Phonemic Awareness
The following are Critical Phonemic Awareness skills
students should learn
1. Sound Isolation.
Example: The first sound in sun is /ssss/. Example Instruction: In
sound isolation use conspicuous strategies. a. Show students how
to do all the steps in the task before asking children to do the task.
Example: (Put down 2 pictures that begin with different sounds
and say the names of the pictures.) "My turn to say the first sound
in man, /mmm/. Mmman begins with /mmm/. Everyone, say the
first sound in man, /mmm/." Non-example: "Who can tell me the
first sounds in these pictures?"
b. Use consistent and brief wording.
Example: "The first sound in Mmman is /mmm/. Everyone say the
first sound in man, /mmm/." Non-example: "Man starts with the
same sound as the first sounds in mountain, mop, and Miranda. Does
anyone know other words that begin with the same sound as man?"
c. Correct errors by telling the answer and asking students to repeat
the correct answer.
Example: "The first sound in Man is /mmm/. Say the first sound in
mmman with me, /mmm/. /Mmmm/." Non-example: Asking the
question again or asking more questions. "Look at the picture again.
What is the first sound?"
2. Blending (Example: /sss/ - / uuu/ - /nnn/ is sun). In
blending instruction, use scaffold task difficulty.
a. When students are first learning to blend, use examples
with continuous sounds, because the sounds can be stretched
and held. Example: "Listen, my lion puppet likes to talk in a
broken way. When he says /mmm/ - /ooo/ - /mmm/ he means
mom." Non-example: "Listen, my lion puppet likes to talk in
a broken way. When he says /b/ - /e/ - /d/ he means bed."
b. When students are first learning the task, use short words
in teaching and practice examples. Use pictures when
possible.
Example: Put down 3 pictures of CVC words and say: "My
lion puppet wants one of these pictures. Listen to hear which
picture he wants, /sss/ - /uuu/ - /nnn/. Which picture?" Non-
example: ".../p/ - /e/ - /n/ - /c/ - /i/ - /l/. Which picture?" (This
is a more advanced model that should be used later.)
c. When students are first learning the task, use
materials that reduce memory load and to represent
sounds.
Example: Use pictures to help them remember the
words and to focus their attention. Use a 3-square
strip or blocks to represent sounds in a word. Non-
example: Provide only verbal activities.
d. As students become successful during initial learning,
remove scaffolds by using progressively more difficult
examples. As students become successful with more difficult
examples, use fewer scaffolds, such as pictures. Example:
Move from syllable or onset-rime blending to blending with
all sounds in a word (phoneme blending). Remove scaffolds,
such as pictures. "Listen, /s/ - /t/ - /o/ - /p/. Which picture?"
"Listen, /s/ - /t/ - /o/ - /p/. What word?" Non-example:
Provide instruction and practice at only the easiest levels with
all the scaffolds.
3. Segmenting (Example: The sounds in sun are /sss/ -
/uuu/ - /nnn/) In phoneme segmentation instruction, strategically
integrate familiar and new information.
a. Recycle instructional and practice examples used for blending.
Blending and segmenting are sides of the same coin. The only
difference is whether students hear or produce a segmented word.
Note: A segmenting response is more difficult for children to
reproduce than a blending response. Example: "Listen, my lion
puppet likes to say the sounds in words. The sounds in mom are
/mmm/ - /ooo/ - /mmm/. Say the sounds in mom with us. "
b. Concurrently teach letter-sound correspondences for the
sounds students will be segmenting in words.
Example: Letter sound /s/ and words sun and sit. Put down
letter cards for familiar letter-sounds. Then, have them place
pictures by the letter that begins with the same sound as the
picture. Non-example: Use letter-sounds that have not been
taught when teaching first sound in pictures for phoneme
isolation activities.
Remedial Vocabulary Instruction
Vocabulary is initially acquired in four ways:
• Incidentally, through reading and conversation
• Through direct instruction, as when a teacher or auto-
instructional program is used intentionally build vocabulary
power
• Through self-instruction, as when words are looked up in a
dictionary or their meaning are sought from others in a
conscious manner.
• Through mental manipulation while thinking, speaking ,and
writing
1. Considerations in remedial vocabulary instruction.
Connect vocabulary instruction to the natural processes of
word learning. The literature on vocabulary acquisition
tends to divide the teaching of vocabulary into five phases.
These are:
a. Disposition – opening the student’s mind and will to
engage new words.
b. Integration – establishing ties between the meaning of a
new word and the student’s existing knowledge.
c. Repetition – provisions for practice distributed over
time, as well as opportunities for frequent encounters with
the word in similar and differing contexts.
d. Interaction and meaningful use – social situations
conducive to using new words in interactions with others
and, thus, mentally referencing new words in listening,
reading, writing, and speaking.
e. Self-instruction – maintaining an awareness of new
words outside the classroom.
2. Concept-Based Approach to Vocabulary Building
a. Identify the relevant and irrelevant features of the concept in
question.
b. Provide examples of the concept.
c. Provide examples of irrelevant but loosely related concepts with
which it might be compared.
d. Relate the concept by some possible smaller or subordinating
concepts.
e. Relate or categorize the concept by some possible larger or
subordinating concepts.
f. Relate or categorize the concept alongside equal or coordinating
terms.
3. Subjective Approach to Vocabulary (SAV)
a. Identify two to four words to be taught or pre-taught if
SAV is used as a pre-reading activity. If a word list is used,
be sure to include as many words as possible that impart
concepts and feelings that you would wish students to learn.
b. The teacher tells the student the full meaning of a word,
much as it might be found in a dictionary. It is recorded in a
Word Study Journal as the “objective” or dictionary
meaning.
c. The teacher asks the student, “What does this word remind you
of?” or “What do you picture or think of when you hear this
word?” Explain that discussion of a personal association with a
word can be very helpful in remembering and clarifying its
meaning.
d. The teacher talks to the student through this personal search for
meaning by asking further clarifying questions, and in group
situations by pointing out those images suggested that seem most
vivid. The teacher may add his or her own images. Students are
then directed to write some “subjective” or personal associations for
the new word under the previously written dictionary definition in
their journals. Drawings can be added.
c. The teacher asks the student, “What does this word remind you
of?” or “What do you picture or think of when you hear this
word?” Explain that discussion of a personal association with a
word can be very helpful in remembering and clarifying its
meaning.
d. The teacher talks to the student through this personal search for
meaning by asking further clarifying questions, and in group
situations by pointing out those images suggested that seem most
vivid. The teacher may add his or her own images. Students are
then directed to write some “subjective” or personal associations for
the new word under the previously written dictionary definition in
their journals. Drawings can be added.
e. Silent reading follows next when SAV is used as pre-reading
vocabulary development. When it is being used for general
vocabulary development, students are given 5 to 10 minutes to study
and rehearse the new and previously recorded words.
f. The teacher let the student close the Word Study Journal and asks
him/her the meanings of the words studied that day and a few
others from previous days. This step can be tied to seat exercises in
conventional workbooks such as crossword puzzles, category games,
etc. This manipulation and reinforcement step can be made easier
by selecting the words to be taught from the exercise material.
4. Motor Imaging
It appears that even the highest forms of vocabulary and
concept learning have psychomotor foundations, or
equivalents. Hence, motor movements associated with
certain stimuli can become interiorized as a “symbolic
meaning” (Piaget, 1963 in Manzo and Manzo1993).
There are three considerable advantages to knowing this
where remediation is concerned
a. First, since physical-sensory or proprioceptive learning can be
interiorized, they also can be self-stimulating, and as such, they are
easier to rehearse and recall with the slightest mental reminder, as
well as from external stimulation.
b. Second, proprioceptive learning is so basic to human learning
that it is common to all learners, fast and slow, and hence, ideal for
heterogeneously grouped classes.
c. Third, the act of identifying and acting out a word becomes a life
experience in itself with the word – a value that Frederick
Duffellmeyer (1980) in Manzo and Manzo (1993) demonstrated
when he successfully taught youngsters words via the “experiential”
approach.
PROCEDURE
(“How could you show someone what this word means with just your
hands or a gesture?”)
4. Select the most common pantomime observed.
Demonstrate it all to the students, saying the word while
doing the pantomime.
5. Repeat each new word, this time directing the class to do
the pantomime while saying a brief meaning or simple
synonym.
6. Let the students encounter the word in the assigned
reading material.
7. Try to use the pantomime casually whenever the word is
used for a short time thereafter.
Group Activity
(Performance Task)
Remedial
Instructions in
English
Lesson Objectives
At the end of this lesson/session, students will be
able to:
• Identify Remedial Instruction in Listening and its
other special features.
• Determine Factors Affecting Students’ Listening
Comprehension.
• Classify ways to improve Students’ Listening
Comprehension
Warm Up!
ACTIVITY
(Individual Task)
Direction: Accomplish this activity by gathering related and
similar concepts/ideas in the given term below using the
Semantic Map.
Listening
Unit III
Remedial Instruction in
Listening
A. Factors Affecting Students’ Listening Comprehension
1. Internal factors – refer to the learner characteristics,
language proficiency, memory, age, gender, background
knowledge as well as aptitude, motivation, and
psychological and physiological factors
2. External factors - are mainly related to the type of
language input and tasks and the context in which listening
occurs
A. Factors Affecting Students’ Listening Comprehension
1. Internal factors – refer to the learner characteristics,
language proficiency, memory, age, gender, background
knowledge as well as aptitude, motivation, and
psychological and physiological factors
2. External factors - are mainly related to the type of
language input and tasks and the context in which listening
occurs
Internal Factors
1. Problems in language proficiency (cover problems on phonetics
and phonology like phonetic discrimination, and phonetic
varieties; problems in grammar; and lexicological problems)
2. Poor background knowledge
3. Lack of motivation to listen
4. Psychological factors
5. Other internal factors (age, attention span, memory span,
reaction and sensitivity)
External Factors
1. Speed of delivery and different accents of the speakers
2. The content and task of listening materials
3. Context - refers to the spatial-temporal location of the
utterance, i.e. on the particular time and particular place
at which the speaker makes an utterance and the
particular time and place at which the listener hears or
reads the utterance.
External Factors
4. Co-text - another major factor influencing the interpretation of
meaning. It refers to the linguistic context or the textual
environment provided by the discourse or text in which a
particular utterance occurs. Co-text constrains the way in which
we interpret the response.
Here we can infer that the person is not going to a picnic by
judging from the co-text.
A: Are you coming going to Baguio with us?
B: I have a paper to finish by Monday.
How to Improve Students’
Listening Comprehension
1. Teach pronunciation, stress, and intonation of the critical
sounds of English
4. Enrich vocabulary
5. Teach grammar
produce it;
d. Limited vocabulary;
knowledge;
and punctuation);
d. Do not analyze or reflect on writing;
be present.
social change.
with the writing process and move through the process over a
3. Lessons should be designed to help students master craft elements
revising tactics).
Struggling Writers
1. Accommodations in the Learning Environment
procedural checklists.