2. I understand that ambiguous sentences can have identical surface structures, but very different deep structures, but I agree strongly with the text when it says that we respond more quickly and accurately when language is more straightforward. I think I am just having trouble understanding some of the examples of ambiguous statements.
3. In third grade students are working on reading fluently and adding to their vocabulary. When reading about the background of the structure of language I notices a lot of things that I already do with my students. We break apart sentences all the time looking closely at subjects and predicates. My students use the entire constituent to find clues about the meaning of the words within. We are continuously searching for context clues as we reading third grade. (You can perceive familiar words more accurately when they are embedded within the meaningful context of a sentence. Kintsch, 1998) Although in third grade we are mainly focusing on adding a rich vocabulary and reading fluently, some students still struggle with vowels and blends. I would say that I favor the indirect access hypothesis and support the phonics approach. I still help my kids sound out words when they get stuck by breaking words apart. When assessing students in class I rarely ever use negative words or an implied negative. Although these questions may require more thinking, and processing time, these were the trick questions that always got me when I was in school. I could go on and on as to how language plays a part in our classroom, without it we would be lost......
My third graders still have problems with vowel sounds. We have a new reading and spelling series and I was thinking it would make a difference this year. What I am finding though is the phonics material is about the same. We are thinking the results will show up after the district has used the curriculum across the board for a few years. I have not found a fix for this other than teaching the letter sounds.I think it is just a problem area for many students.
ReplyDeleteI support the indirect access hypothesis as well. I believe that when students focus on pronouncing the word correctly and sounding it out as they read, they may make a connection of having heard the word before and find meaning based on their knowledge of a previous experience.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your third grade students struggling with vowels...that must be very difficult. I teach Spanish, and the sounds stay fairly consistent throughout the language as they are in the alphabet. English is one of the hardest languages to learn because there seems to be so many rules or exceptions to the rules of our language. In some cases of difficult words like "through" or "laugh" we as adults have utilized the direct access approach and have just learned to recognize the word and how to say it when we see it. For children that are just learning, it must be difficult to explain why it ("gh") sounds one way in one word but different in another. I give elementary teachers all the credit in the world for the work you do!
The way I see ambiguous sentences, phrases, or questions (and I'm no expert) is that sometimes what is ambiguous to me might not be ambiguous to you. Based on our varying background knowledge, you might have more experience and understanding of specific words and I might not so you might understand a phrase and I might not based on my background knowledge. For example, I went to a workshop and the presenter gave us a phrase with words and phrases only guitar players would understand. So, to me, it was foreign because I don't have a background and it was completely ambiguous. But, there were several guitar players in the room and they understood every bit of it so to them it wasn't ambiguous. So, I guess to each kid maybe they see different words, phrases, or questions as ambiguous. I could be wrong, but that is my interpretation of the info!
ReplyDeleteI like your response to # 3. I feel in today's society that students are getting information from sources in which we know nothing about. This can become dangerous and misleading. You're right, it is becoming more and more important to teach kids the strategies and heuristics to solve problems, and propose proper solutions. Thanks for the reminder. JJ
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