Literacy Matters

Alison Sanza

Literacy Leader

As we oscillate between Remote Learning and Face-to-Face Learning, we would like to share with you some of the strategies we are employing at Brunswick Secondary College to improve students’ literacy. 

The Department of Education and Training (DET) defines literacy as, 

‘students’ ability to interpret and create texts with appropriateness, accuracy, confidence, fluency and efficacy for learning, in and out of school, and for participating in the workplace and community.'

Across subject areas, we are embedding a range of strategies to increase students’ confidence and ability to understand what they read and hear, and to support them with increasing their skills to listen, speak and write more fluently and with greater complexity. 

Here are some strategies being used: 

• Vocabulary building - new words and words associated with specific subjects
• Tier 1, 2 and 3 words - Tier 1 - Commonly used words, Tier 2 - Academic vocabulary that appears across content areas, Tier 3 – Low frequency words that occur within specific domains – click on this diagram to enlarge
• Synonyms and Antonyms - words with similar meanings and their opposites
• Shades of meaning - words which are similar but may convey slightly different meanings eg smile, grin, laugh, chuckle, giggle, chortle, snicker, chortle, guffaw
• Spelling patterns - double consonants; words ending in -tion – sion, -able -ible; words with -ough; words with a silent letter
• Prefixes and suffixes - understanding unfamiliar words by linking the prefix or suffix to a known word eg. the prefix ‘haema’ – haematology, haematosis, haemoglobin, haemophilia, haemorrhage or the adjective suffix – ‘al’ meaning pertaining to – theatrical, natural, criminal, seasonal
• 4 levels of reading - a framework to teach students how to increase the complexity of their understanding of texts – to be able to infer meaning and reflect on texts)
• Subordinating conjunctions – words such as: if, because, although, while, until. These allow students to increase the complexity of their sentences
• Grammar – clauses and nominal groups which add detail to an otherwise simple sentence  eg. The three cats OR The three Persian cats with long whiskers, who love curling up in front of the open fire.
• Punctuation – using colons, semi-colons and ellipses to add meaning to their writing

The evidence about the benefits of parents being involved in their children’s education in general, and their children’s literacy activities in particular, is overwhelming and has been clearly documented since the late 1990s. Research shows that parental involvement in their children’s learning positively affects the child’s performance at school (Fan & Chen, 2001) in both primary and secondary schools (Feinstein & Symons, 1999), leading to higher academic achievement, greater cognitive competence, greater problem-solving skills, greater school enjoyment, better school attendance and fewer behavioural problems at school (Melhuish, Sylva, Sammons et al., 2001).                                                   

Here are some literacy tips that you may like to try at home, to help your child build their literacy skills, consolidating the work we are doing at school and during remote learning.   

• Let your child choose what to read (fiction or non-fiction) and spend 15 – 20 minutes, 2 – 3 times a week, reading together.
• Encourage your child to read magazines, comics, newspapers and the internet as well as books.
• Remember that your child is reading when they are looking at bus timetables, menus, instructions, TV guides, sub-titles for movies/series and the internet.
• You could perhaps discuss what you have read.  Begin with a summary of the key points and then discuss and clarify any unfamiliar or less frequently used words.