Learning of Early Language and Literacy in Nali-Kali Classrooms

National Conference on Early Learning, New Delhi

Shailaja MenonSep 25, 2013

• Focus: Language teaching and learning (Grades 1-3).

• Work conducted as a part of a 2-year pilot for a larger project, Literacy Research in Indian Languages (LiRIL).

• LiRIL project:– Longitudinal; multiple levels of analyses;

mixed-methods.– Multi-site/language: Sonale (Maharashtra)

and Yadgir (Karnataka).

What Do We Know About Early Language Learning?• Not an autonomous set of skills, but a

socioculturally situated practice.• Language acquisition best supported by rich,

stimulating environments.• The communicative function is a driving

force of language learning for the child (Tomasello, 2003).

• Language use in homes and schools may or may not over-lap.

• First-generation literates may come from homes with low exposure to print and with discourses that are different school-based discourses.

[Heath (1982), Purcell-Gates (1997), Moll, et al. (1992), Gee (2001), etc.]

• This presentation, will focus on data from Yadgir, Karnataka.

• Yadgir: 44% BPL; • Half the population,

small or marginal farmers, another 28% landless.• Northern dialect of Kannada is spoken by over

90% of the population; Telegu & Urdu are other significant languages.

• 70% of the 6-14 year olds are in schools; of these, 88% attend government schools.

• Karnataka’s instantiation of the Multi-Grade Multi-Level (MGML) Curriculum: Nali Kali.

• MGML curricula now in approximately 15 states across the country.

• One of the fastest spreading early language/literacy interventions.

• Self-paced, “joyful”, “child-centered”.

The Nali Kali Curriculum

• Learning Ladder

• Milestone

• Step/Activity

• Phases/Groups

Sources of Data•Desk review of Nali Kali curricular materials – teacher manuals, activity cards, readers - 3 milestones per grade X 3 grades = 9 milestones reviewed.Grad

eActivitie

s in Mileston

e 1

Activities in

Milestone 2

Activities in

Milestone 3

Total No. of

Activities

Analyzed

Grade 1

21 19 22 62

Grade 2

14 15 16 45

Grade 3

23 25 22 70

Total       177

• 9 days of observation X 2 classrooms = 18 days.

• Student Assessments – 125 students (Grades 1-5).

• Selective presentation of results.

Key Finding

• A curriculum that is tightly organized around the sequential introduction of letters.

• All other goals of language and literacy learning appear to be subordinated to this primary goal.

• First decoding, then comprehension.• Elaborations of this finding will be

presented.

Elaboration 1: Oral Language?• Severely restricted and

repetitive oral conversations.

• Oral Language typically appears in the “Whole Class” activity at the start of each session.

• Typically includes action songs – a few cards may be repeated throughout the 3 years of N-K instruction.

• We did not observe opportunities within the curriculum for children to engage in extended/meaningful conversations with each other or the teacher.

• No spaces for children to bring in stories from own lives outside school.

Elaboration 2: Disconnect with Children’s Lived Words/Worlds• “Content” of curriculum

determined by sequence of letters being learnt.

• Common words from children’s spoken vocabulary avoided (Beginning of Grade 1), since they either include vowel sounds (gunitas), or have conjunct consonants (vattaksharas).

• Logic of moving from known to new is reversed.

• More common words appear in Grades 2 and 3, than in Grade 1.

Gara-Gara, Garagasa,

Garagasada

Example:Disconnect with Children’s Lived Words/Worlds:

Picture card shows a picture of an elephantTeacher A: Asks child to say what she sees in the pictureChild: “aane”Teacher A : Looks very puzzled because she realises that “aane” is correct and does not fit the milestone alphabets. She then reads the word in the card and says yes “Aane” is correct but there is another word and it is called “salaga”Child: Does not respondTeacher A: Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again.Child: “aane”. Teacher A : Yes correct but I said “salaga” is another word. Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again.Child: “aane”. Teacher : I said say “salaga” (impatiently). Makes child repeat after her, then goes through the other three pictures and points to the elephant picture again.Child: I don't knowTeacher A Moves on to the next student.

Aane?

Salaga?

Picture Child's Word Nali Kali WordArrow BaNa ಬಣ shara ಶರ ್

Necklace Sara ಸರ HavaLa ಹವಳ

Trumpet pipi ಪಿಪಿ Oolaga ಓಲಗ

Circle rutu ರುತು Vruta ವ್ರತ

Phone phone ಫೊನ dooravaNi ದೂರವಣಿ

Thread dara NoolooDawn/Sun* surya Udaya“…I have always insisted that words used in organizing a

literacy program come from what I call the “word universe” of people who are learning, expressing their actual

language, their anxieties, fears, demands, and dreams. Words should be laden with the meaning of the people’s

existential experience, and not of the teacher’s experience” (Freire & Macdeo, 1987).

* Picture showed sun rising

Progression in Word Familiarity Across First Grade

23%77%

Beginning of First Grade

48%

52%

Middle of First Grade

68%32%

End of First Grade/Second Grade Key

Unlikely to be in Oral Vocabulary of ChildLikely to be in Oral Vocabulary of Child

* Total Number of Words Analyzed = 58 (First Grade) + 81 (Second Grade) = 139

Elaboration 3: Bottom-Up Model of Literacy Acquisition

Decod-ing 81%

Story18%

Song2%

Grade 1

Decod-ing

73%

Story25%

Song2%

Grade 2

Grade 3

Higher Order Work100%

Example: Emphasis on Lower-Order Skills

Teacher: Asks child to read a passage.Child: Reads slowly and correctly, some words are decoded akshara by akshara, others are read as whole words.Teacher: Makes whole words out of the words child cannot blend together. Interrupts 2 times and asks the class to be quiet.Child: Completes book.Teacher B: Asks child to read it again and then copy in notebook.Child Is done with the task in 10 minutes and spends rest of class time sitting quietly.

Given this Emphasis on Decoding, it’s Fair to Ask: Are Children Learning to Decode

in These Classrooms?

Akshara & Matraa Recognition

1 20

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

AksharaMatraa

Grade Level

Mean No. of Akshara/Matraas Recognized at Each Grade Level

Word-Lists

1 2 30

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

7958

33

16.6

8.4

8.4

0

25

33.3

4.2 8.325

WL 7-9WL 4-6WL 1-3Below WL 1

% Students reading at Different Levels of the Word Lists

Grades

Passages

Grades

% Students reading at Different Levels of the Passages

1 2 30

20

40

60

80

100

87.566.7

41.7

12.5

8.3

4.1

020.8

37.5

0 4.216.7

P 7-9P 4-6P 1-3Below P1

• Sizeable proportion of students struggling with decoding-level tasks.

• Unsurprisingly, they were also struggling with comprehension and free-writing.

• Problems in comprehension are related to at least 4 issues that we were able to identify: • Simple decoding problems - to such children, we

read out the passages and tested their listening comprehension;

• Explicit questions were easier than implicit. Even with explicit questions, narrating story events, sequencing, etc. were challenging. Inferential questions were very difficult.

• Vocabulary was an area of concern for many of the students.

• Discourse-related issues (oral vs. written discourse) seen in some students – need to probe further.

ConclusionsWhat is the Child Doing?

Programme built on ECCE principles should -

Nali-Kali Curriculum

Transitioning from Home to School

Build curricular and pedagogical bridges from home to school.

Set larger goals of language and literacy learning; establish it as meaningful and purposeful.

Home culture doesn’t seem to have a place in this curriculum.

Language learning presented as decoding a series of aksharas and low frequency/utility words.

Developing Oral Language

Providing rich opportunities for extending oral language learning; vocabulary acquisition and meaning making.

Using language that moves from the known to the new.

Extremely restricted opportunities for oral language development, vocabulary development and meaning-making in Grades 1 & 2.

Language moves from uncommon to more common.

Acquiring Familiarity with Written Language

Introducing children to relationship (similarities and differences) between oral and written language.

Establishing meaningful contexts for the use of written language.

Introduction to sound-symbol relationship – whole-part-whole.

Written language introduced in a manner that is largely disconnected from oral speech.

Literacy as “decoding”. No attention to Conventions of

Print , etc.

Discussion • Need to evaluate the language components of

early learning programmes in terms of what is known to be facilitative of children’s early language and literacy acquisition.

• Need more content-specificity in identifying programmes that work; general pedagogical principles may be good, but not good enough.

• Learners who rely exclusively on schools to provide them with a context for acquiring early literacy are likely to suffer the most.

• Bernsten (2003): “Collapse at the Foundation.”

Thank You!