EDU 313: INTEGRATED LANGUAGE ARTS

Course Description

This course will expose you to the language arts programme, which encompasses process and
content of how people communicate as well as what they communicate. Process includes
skills and strategies used in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing. Content
includes the ideas, themes, issues, problems, and conflicts found in classical and
contemporary literature and other texts, such as technical manuals, periodicals, speeches, and
videos. This course will also help develop your ideas, experiences, and cultural perspectives
which are embedded in texts and help shape your visions of the world. The insight you will
gain in this course will enable you understand the cultural, linguistic, and literary heritages.

Course Objectives
At the end of this course, you should be able to:

 discuss the concept of language arts;

 discuss the roles of listening and speaking in language development;
 define the concept of reading;
 define the writing process;
 identify and discuss grammatical structure of language ;
 discuss and appreciate literary texts; and
 comprehend, evaluate, and compose visual texts.

Course Outline
UNIT 1: Introduction to Language Arts

a) What is Language Arts?

b) Scope and Goal of Language Arts
c) Benefits of Language Arts
d) Models of Language Arts Instruction
UNIT 2: Listening and Speaking

a) Effective Communication Skills

b) Listening Skill
c) Speaking Skill
d) The Role of speaking and Listening in Literacy Development
UNIT 3: Reading and Writing

a) The Concept of Reading

- Strands and different Types of Reading
- Reading Strategies
b) The Concept of Reading Comprehension
- Factors that affect reading comprehension

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 c) The Writing Process
- Prewriting
- Drafting
- Editing
d) Types of Writing
- Expository/Informative writing
- Descriptive writing
- Narrative writing
- Persuasive writing
UNIT 4: Language

a) Grammar/Usage: Subject (naming part), and predicate (action part), nouns, pronouns,
verbs, contractions, and adjectives.
b) Mechanics/Punctuation: Use of appropriate language mechanics in writing
c) Sentence structure
d) Vocabulary

UNIT 5: Literary Analysis/Appreciation of Text

a) Literary Genre
b) Literary Elements
c) Figurative Language and Sound Devices
d) Writing a Literary Analysis Essay

UNIT 6: Visual Literacy (Viewing)

a) What is Visual Literacy?
b) Interpret Meaning - Visual Metalanguage
c) How to Teach Visual Literacy – (Evaluate Media)
d) Compose visual messages

Course Lecturers
1. Dr. (Mrs) R. J. Musa
2. Dr. R. B. Danner
3. Dr. (Mrs) F. N. Ofuani
4. Mrs S. I. Uyi-Osaretin
5. Dr. (Mrs) P. Aika
6. Dr. (Mrs D. O. Osa-Omoregie
7. Mrs. V. Edobor-Uzamere
8. Dr. F. Alli

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 Unit 1: – Introduction to Language Arts
Contents
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introduction
1.3 What is Language Arts
1.4 Scope and Goals of Language Arts
1.5 Benefits of Language Arts
1.6 Models of Language Art Instruction
1.7 Summary
1.8 Unit Assignment
1.9 References
1. 1: Objectives
At the end of this unit you should be able to:
1. define the term Language arts?
2. explain the goals of Language arts;
3. discuss the scope of Language arts;
4. enumerate the benefits of Language arts
5. list the models of Language arts instruction and discuss each in details.

1. 2: Introduction

Language arts are so uniquely a human property that the proper development of any
individual human being, or even a community of such individuals, cannot be effected without
the proper utilization of it. They are skills taught in primary and secondary schools that aim at
developing students’ communication skills to give them a thorough proficiency in using the
language. Traditionally, the primary divisions in language arts are language and literature.

1. 3: What is Language Arts?

The language arts as defined by Fisher and Terry (1995) is the term used to describe the
various aspects of curriculum related to language. This includes listening, speaking, reading,
writing and their component parts such as viewing, visual literacy, spelling, drama,
handwriting or debate. The Language arts curriculum focuses on language, literature and
composition.

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1. 4: Scope and Goals of Language Arts

a) Goals of Language Arts

The most important goal in the English programme is to prepare all students to realise their
potential through the development of the ability to communicate in English. By developing
students' capacity to speak and write English they can compete more effectively in the job
market. Also, students are able to express their ideas, feelings and emotions in more than one
language. This is an excellent means of helping learners understand themselves and others
better. Finally, through listening and reading, learners are exposed to effective models of
communication which they can imitate in their own speech, and writing. This emphasis on
communication requires a focus on fluency and clarity in all grades.
The English Language Arts curriculum also aims to prepare all students to function
effectively in the world of work. In this age of technology, Full participation in the work
force requires the ability to speak and write effectively. Furthermore, the ability to
communicate well is fundamental to develop lifelong learning strategies.
These skills will permit people to become versatile and to adapt to jobs in the twenty-first
century which require sophisticated technical, scientific and managerial skills.
A third goal of the English language arts curriculum is to prepare all students to function as
informed and responsible citizens in our democratic society. By being exposed to the English
language and culture learners grow to appreciate and value democratic institutions. They also
learn to assume the responsibilities which accompany living in a democracy.

b) Scope of Language Arts

 Listening

Listening is the vital part of a complex thinking process. It is a lifelong process, beginning at
birth. It is closely tied to speaking as both depend on oral language. Listening is also related
to reading, which depends on receiving and interpreting information. Listening to language is
as much a key process in language acquisition and learning as it is the vital element in the
cultivation of healthy interpersonal relationships.

 Speaking

Speaking is intimately connected to thinking. It provides children with ideas and enables
them to communicate those ideas orally to others. Oral language development is also the

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foundation on which reading and writing were built. Speaking has a reciprocal relationship
with listening. Speaking precedes the other productive, communicative skills. Our oral
culture demands that the citizens improve, extend and refine speaking skills for social,
academic, civic, aesthetic and personal purposes.

 Reading

Reading is not a single skill that can be taught in isolation from other areas of the primary
school curriculum. The best teaching of reading exploits the interrelationships among the
Language Arts and the other subjects that comprise the total school curriculum .All readers
interact with the text they are reading. They have personal expectations about what they wish
to derive from a selection and bring these expectations to bear as they read by predicting and
testing those predictions. They actively create meaning by constructing or generating
relationships between what is within the text and what they already know. Strategic readers
value reading with set purposes, select strategies, make inferences and evaluate critically.

 Writing

Writing is a powerful tool for thinking. It is a process which gives the primary school child
opportunities to discover meanings, explore possibilities, reflect on experience and exercise
the imagination as he/she communicates through a variety of rhetorical modes/genres to fulfil
a range of purposes.

 Literature

The reading of literature in the primary school contributes to children’s cognitive and
affective development by deepening their insights, giving them opportunities to experience
life vicariously, offering delight and wonder to their lives. Through the experience of
literature, children achieve personal identification, understanding, enjoyment and
apprehension. As an aspect of language use, in its most heightened and sophisticated form,
literature offers opportunities to develop apprehension for the craft of language, its rhythm
and beauty. It is an integrating element in the language arts curriculum, engaging the skills of
listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing.

 Visual Literacy

Visual Literacy is the act of learning, evaluating and extracting information from art,
photographs, videos and other visual media. Eye- opening experiences occur when pupils
view different materials for different purposes. Students recognize that video, film,

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photography, art and other visual media are all ways of communicating messages and this
recognition of how to use these different media improves their communication skills. Pupils
may then be asked to express ideas both verbally and through visual media.

1. 5: Benefits of Language Arts

The skills learned through language arts are not only important independently, but they are
also necessary for success in other areas of study, and in life beyond school.

 Language Arts is Necessary to Meet Academic Standards

End-of-year expectations include progression and proficiency in a number of areas related to

and including language arts. Beginning with phonics instruction in the elementary grades, and
proceeding to complex technical concepts in later grades, the mastery of language arts is
necessary to meet academic standards. Both fluency and comprehension in reading are
critical to understanding nearly everything that is taught. Students are expected to speak,
write, and communicate what they have learned, which carries over into all content areas—
they must be able to effectively use language arts skills to both absorb content from other
subjects, and also express their knowledge of those other subjects.

 Language Arts is Essential in Professional Areas of Study

Proficiency in the four components of ELA is not only necessary components of every
subject, but they are also essential elements in nearly every profession. Communication skills
in particular are essential for every career field. Nearly every professional, from accountants
and lawyers to engineers and doctors, needs a high rate of proficiency in English Language
Arts in order to be successful in their field.

 Language Arts Is Crucial for Life Beyond School

Once the transition from learning to read has been made, a student has reached the place in
which learning can expand exponentially. English Language Arts enables a student to think
more critically and even abstractly about the information they are receiving.Critical thinking,
coupled with communication during class discussion or in an essay, teaches valuable life skill
that students will carry with them after graduation.

1. 6: Models of Language Arts Instruction

Many changes in language arts instruction have taken place since 1980. To understand these
changes, one must be conversant with the three basic models that have given rise to variations

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in language arts curriculum over the years: the heritage model, the competencies model, and
the process or student-centered model. Each model constitutes a belief system about the
structure and content of instruction that leads to certain instructional approaches and
methods.

 The heritage model, for example, reflects the belief that the purpose of language arts
instruction is to transmit the values and traditions of the culture through the study of
an agreed-upon body of literature. It also focuses on agreed-upon modes and genres of
writing, to be mastered through guided writing experiences.

 The competencies model, on the other hand, emanates from the belief that the chief
purpose of language arts instruction is to produce mastery of a hierarchy of language-
related skills (particularly in reading and writing) in the learner. This model advocates
the teaching of these skills in a predetermined sequence, generally through use of
basal readers and graded language arts textbooks in which the instructional activities
reflect this orientation. Instruction in both of these models depends heavily on the use
of sequenced curricula, texts, and tests.

 The third model of language arts instruction, the process model, is quite different
from the other two models. The curriculum is not determined by texts and tests;
rather, this model stresses the encouragement of language processes that lead to
growth in the language competencies (both written and oral) of students, as well as
exposure to broad content. The interests and needs of the students, along with the
knowledge and interests of the teacher, determine the specific curriculum. Thus,
reading materials, writing genres and topics, and discussion activities will vary from
classroom to classroom and even from student to student within a
classroom."Authentic" assessment is the rule in these classrooms, that is, assessment
that grows from the real language work of the students rather than from formal tests.

The process model leads to more flexible and varied curriculum and instruction than the other
two models. While the heritage and competencies models have come under criticism for
being too rigid and unresponsive to student differences, the process model has been criticized
as too unstructured and inconsistent to dependably give all students sufficient grounding in
language content and skills. In actuality, teachers of language arts generally strive to help
their students develop proficiency in language use, develop understanding of their own and
other cultures, and experience and practice the processes of reading and writing. Thus, it

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seems that the three models are not mutually exclusive. They do, however, reflect different
priorities and emphases, and most teachers, schools, and/or school systems align beliefs and
practices primarily with one or another model.

1. 7: Summary

 In this unit you have learnt that Language arts is the term used to describe the various
aspects of the curriculum related to language which are listening, speaking, reading,
writing and their component parts such as spelling, composition, drama or debate.

 You have also looked at the goals of Language arts.

 You have learnt that the scope of Language arts includ the four basic skills with
literature and visual literacy.

 In this unit you learnt the benefits of Language arts.

 You also learnt the three basic models that have given rise to variations in language
arts curriculum over the years.

1. 8: Unit Assignment

1. Define the term Language arts?

2. Explain briefly the different strands of language arts.
3. State the importance of language arts.
4. Write short notes on the different models of language arts.
1. 9: References
Cambourne, B. (1987). Language, learning, and literacy. In A. Butler & J. Turbill
(Eds.), Towards a reading/writing classroom, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Farrell, E. J. (1991). Instructional models for English language arts. In J. Flood, J. M.

Jensen, D. Lapp, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English
language arts. New York: Macmillan.

Farstrup, A. & Myers, M. (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Urbana, IL:
National Council of Teachers of English.

Mandel, B. J. (1980). Three language arts curriculum models. Urbana, IL: National Council
of Teachers of English.

Teale, W. H. (1989). Language arts for the 21 st century: A vision for elementary
school English teaching from the Coalition of English Associations
conference. In J.M. Jensen (Ed.), Stories to grow on: Demonstrations of
language learning in K-8 classrooms (pp. 3-34). Portsmouth, NH:

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 Heinemann Educational Book.

UNIT 2: LISTENING AND SPEAKING

Content

2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction

2.3 What is Communication?

2.4 What is effective Communication?
2.5 Effective Communication Skills
2.6 The Ten Top Communication Skills for Graduates
2.7 What is Listening?
2.8 The Importance of Developing Listening Skills in Children
2.9 How Oral Communication Works

2.10 Encoding and Decoding Oral Messages

2.11 Nature of a Good Speech

2.12 Functions of Talk
2.12.1 Talk as Interaction
2.12.2 Talk as Transaction
2.12.3 Talk as Performance
2.13 Forms of Speaking
2.13.1 Imitative
2.13.2 Intensive
2.13.3 Responsive
2.13.4 Interactive
2.14 Speech Making
2.15 Types of Speech Making
2.15.1 Extemporaneous Speeches
2.15.2 Impromptu Speeches
2.15.3 Manuscript Speeches
2.15.4 Memorized Speeches
2.16 Public Speaking Hints and Tips
2.17 The Role of Listening and Speaking in Literacy Development

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2.18 Summary
2.19 Unit Assignments
2.20. References
2.1: Objectives
At the end of this unit you should be able to:

1) explain what effective communication is;

2) discuss the skills that promote communication skills;
3) define listening;
4) state the importance of listening to children;
5) define speaking;
6) enumerate the basic ways to communicate effectively;
7) explain the terms “encoding” and “decoding” in relation to oral messages;
8) list the features of a good speech;
9) classify the function of speaking; and
10) discuss the role of speaking in literacy development of learners.
2.2: Introduction

Most of the time, listening is confused with hearing but they are not synonymous. While
hearing is the reception of sound, listening is the attachment of meaning. Hearing is however,
a necessary prerequisite for listening and an important component of the listening process.
Listening involves a more complex process than hearing. Hearing is the process whereby
sound waves are received and modified by the ear. It is a physiological process, while
listening is a psychological process of being aware of sound sequences and the meaning they
convey.

This unit also gives you some background information to the importance of the speaking
skill. You will learn the basic ways to communicate effectively, how to encode and decode
spoken messages, the features of a good speech, the functions of speaking and the role of
speaking in literacy development. It will be profitable to you as a teacher in training to note
that speech is the primary medium of communication.

The ability to speak is a powerful influence on the life of the individual learner. Learning a
language involves the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Even though the
listening skill is the fundamental of the four language skills, one cannot claim to know or
understand a language unless one is able to speak the language.

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2.3 What is Communication?

Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important of all life skills. It is
what enables us to pass information to other people, and to understand what is said to us.
(You only have to watch a baby listening intently to its mother and trying to repeat the
sounds that she makes to understand how fundamental the urge to communicate is).

Communication skills may take a lifetime to master—if indeed anyone can ever claim to have
mastered them. There are, however, many things that you can do fairly easily to improve your
communication skills and ensure that you are able to transmit and receive information
effectively.

Communication, at its simplest, is the act of transferring information from one place to
another. It may be vocally (using voice), written (using printed or digital media such as
books, magazines, websites or emails), visually (using logos, maps, charts or graphs) or non-
verbally (using body language, gestures and the tone and pitch of voice). In practice, it is
often a combination of several of these.

Other definitions of communication, include –

 “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some
other medium” and “means of sending or receiving information, such as telephone
lines or computers.” ~ Google
 “the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviours to express or
exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone
else” ~ Merriam-Webster Dictionary
 “the exchange of thoughts, messages or information, as by speech, signals, writing or
behaviour” ~ The Free Dictionary
 “the act or an instance of communicating; the imparting or exchange of information,
ideas, or feelings” ~ Collins Dictionary
 “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some
other medium” ~ Oxford Dictionary
As you can see by the above, communication is more than just your words, it also includes –

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  how you say it – including the tone of your voice,
 why you say it – the intention behind the message,
 when you say it – for example – during an argument, the time of day etc.,
 what you don’t say – sometimes what you don’t say gives a clearer picture of what is
going on than what you say, and
 your body language – including your facial expressions, gestures and posture.

Effective communication skills are fundamental to success in many aspects of life. Many
jobs require strong communication skills and people with good communication skills usually
enjoy better interpersonal relationships with friends and family.

Effective communication is a key interpersonal skill and learning how we can improve our
communication has many benefits.

2.4: What is effective communication?

Effective communication is about more than just exchanging information. It’s about
understanding the emotion and intentions behind the information. As well as being able to
clearly convey a message, you need to also listen in a way that gains the full meaning of
what’s being said and makes the other person feel heard and understood.

2.5 Effective Communication Skills

Effective communication doesn’t happen overnight, it is a skill that has to be cultivated and
nurtured. Below are some skills that can be practised to build on or develop your
communication skills.

Active Listening – some ways to actively listen include: listen twice as much as you speak,
listen with your whole body, be alert and interested in the other person, refrain from
interrupting and reflecting back what you have heard. Remember – “The most basic of all
human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand
people is to listen to them.” ~ Ralph Nichols.

Non-Verbal Communication – we transmit information using words, gestures and body

language, subsequently active listening also involves non-verbal communication. Sometimes
you can be unaware of the messages you are sending none-verbally. Examples of non-verbal
signals include tone of voice, eye contact, facial expressions, silence and hand, arm and leg
postures. Are you aware of the signals your non-verbal communication could be sending?

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Asking Questions – when you are in conversation with someone, asking questions shows
you are interested in them. There are many types of questions you can ask including – open
(i.e. questions that start with What and How), closed (i.e. questions that start with Did, Do,
Would, Will, Should, Could, Have, Must and Is), specific (e.g. questions that are specific can
start with When, Where, Who, Which, How much, How many and How often) or visionary
(e.g. what are your dreams).

Being Clear and Succinct – when you are speaking, be clear, articulate and concise. Less is
more when it comes to speaking and speaks plain English.

Clarifying and Summarizing – to ensure you are hearing correctly you can reflect back to
clarify what you have heard and summarize what you have heard from the other person. This
shows you are listening to the other person and also checks you have the message correct that
they are trying to get across.

Being Empathetic – having empathy for another person is the ability to understand and share
the feelings of another. Not sure what I am talking about – have a look at this beautiful clip
called “If We Could See Inside Other People’s Hearts.”

Providing Feedback – it doesn’t matter whether you are giving or receiving feedback, the
feedback process is a vulnerable place to be. If you are providing feedback, you may like to
use the Engaging Feedback checklist that was developed by Dr Brené Brown.

Developing Trust and Rapport – what is trust for you? How do you build trust with your
friends, family and colleagues? Is it about doing what you say you are going to do and
building relationships on honesty and integrity? How do you build trust in your relationships?
As Ralph Waldo Emerson stated – “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not
the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one
when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a
friendship.”

Being Present – being present links to many of the above skills. Some of the words that
relate to being present include being accepting of the other person you are communicating
with, allowing life to be as it is, cultivating compassion and having a beginners mind.

2.6: The Top 10 Communication Skills for Graduates

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  Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your emotions so as to
communicate effectively, avoid stress, overcome challenges and empathise with others. It’s a
skill which is learned over time rather than obtained. There are four main strands to
emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship
management. Each of these strands is important in its own way and allows you to
communicate confidently with a variety of people.

 Cohesion and Clarity

Good communication is much more than saying the right thing; it is about communicating
messages clearly and concisely. Before you start a conversation, type an email or begin a
discussion, have in mind what the purpose of the communication is and what information you
hope to obtain as a result. Lack of clarity and cohesion can result in poor decisions and
confusion.

 Friendliness
In any type of communication, make sure that you set the right tone. A friendly tone will
encourage others to communicate with you. Always try to personalise messages, particularly
when working with partners or fellow colleagues. Wishing the recipient a good weekend, for
example, is a great way to personalise your message.

 Confidence
In all interactions, confidence (but not over-confidence) is crucial. Demonstrating confidence
will give customers faith in your abilities to deliver what they need, and that you will follow
through with what you have promised.

 Empathy
Within a busy work environment, everyone will have their own ideas about how things
should be done. Even if you have disagreements with your colleagues or partners, their point
of view should be considered and respected. Empathy is also beneficial when speaking with
customers in certain types of customer-facing role. The goal here is to understand where the
other person is coming from - and respect their views even if they are very different from
your own.

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  Respect
Empathy leads into the next communication skill, respect. If you respect the ideas and
opinions of others, they will be more likely to communicate with you. Active listening or
simply using the name of the person you are speaking to can both be effective. Make sure that
when you type emails, you don’t sound insincere or write in a way that is insincere.

 Listening
Good communication is all about listening effectively. Take the time to listen to what the
other person is saying and practice active listening. Pay attention to what the other person is
saying, ask questions and clarify points, and rephrase what they have said so that you know
you have understood correctly.

Open Mindedness

Try to enter into communications without having an agenda. Strong communications require
an open mind and a commitment to understanding other people’s points of view. If you
disagree with the people you are speaking to, try to reach a middle ground that benefits all
parties. Approaching a discussion with an open mind is more likely to result in a successful
outcome.

 Tone of Voice
The tone of your voice can set the whole mood of the conversation. If you start the discussion
in an aggressive or unhelpful manner, the recipient will be more inclined to respond in a
similar way. The tone of your voice will include the level of emotion that you use, the
volume you use and the level of communication you choose. The same sentence can have a
very different meaning depending on which words are emphasised and the tone of your voice.
In a customer complaint scenario, for example, your tone of voice should be as calm as
possible, since an unfriendly tone of voice will only serve to worsen the situation.

 Asking Good Questions

Good questions can help conversations flow and improve the outcome. During a
conversation, always aim to ask open-ended questions. These are questions with prompts
which encourage the recipient to speak about certain points and they require more detailed
responses.

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2.7: What is Listening?

Gbenedio (1996), defines listening as “the process of hearing, identifying, understanding and
interpreting spoken language” and “Before one can claim to have listened with
comprehension, four stages must have taken place … hearing, ‘listening,’ auding and
cognizing” (p. 24), where hearing stands for the process of hearing, listening stands for
identifying, auding stands for understanding and cognizing stands for interpretation.
Gbenedio (1996) classified listening into six (6) types according to the degree of involvement
of the listener. She identified intermittent listening, half listening, passive listening, narrow
listening, critical listening, appreciative and creative listening.

Intermittent listening involves turning the speaker on and off and hearing some things said
but not hearing the other. Half listening involves following a discussion only well enough to
find an opportunity to express one’s own ideas. While passive listening is listening with little
observable response. Narrow listening involves the listener losing details of what is being
said as he or she selects details that are familiar and agreeable to him or her. In critical
listening, a listener notices the emotional appeal of words in a speech or announcement.
Appreciative and creative listening take place when the listener shares the excitement in what
he or she is listening to and later is able to recreate, using the ideas in new ways.

2.8: The Importance of Developing Listening Skills in Children

Listening and speaking skills are vital in a child's development because they allow the child
to function properly in society. When developing these skills, it is important that your child
become an active listener, which means that he uses what he hears from you and others as
part of the communication process. By setting a good example and working with your child
to develop these skills, you can give him academic and social advantages in the future.

 Improves Language and Communication

Children retain information through their interactions with others and this includes language
skills. The more your child listens to what others have to say, the better her vocabulary and
communication become. By helping her to develop her listening and attention skills, you
make it easier for her to communicate with others once she goes to school. Overall, listening
and learning go hand in hand.

 Develops Literacy and Comprehension

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As the child develops, he will begin using his listening skills to improve his vocabulary,
grammar and reading ability. If he lacks listening skills or does not pay attention, he might
struggle to pick up on mistakes he is making with his speech, since he will not hear what
others have to say. Reading skills can also suffer if the child does not have adequate listening
skills, since he might not pay attention to the words when someone else is reading to him.

 Aids Social Development

Listening skills and attention span increase in importance when a child begins school. At this
age, she will begin interacting with other children regularly and will have to retain
information based on these interactions. The child's self-concept and social life are dependent
on her interactions with her peers, states Davis-Kalugin. At this point, parents will become
aware if the child's speech is underdeveloped, as she could have problems making friends or
communicating with teachers.

2.9: How Oral Communication Works

Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves

producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning are dependent on the
context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce,
1997). Oral communication is a process whereby information is transferred from a sender to
a receiver usually by a verbal means which can be supported by visual aid. E.g. face to face
talking, meetings, conference calls, presentations, discussions, speeches, conversations,
questions/answers, through radio TV/internet, telephone conversation/voice mails, VHP
radios, and the receiver could be an individual, a group, or even an audience.

To make oral communication work the sender must

 Be a good listener
 Give and receive feedback
 Be clear (should be crisp and to the point)
 Simplify language

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  Constrain emotions
 Avoid digression (gives wrong impression)
 Know your audience (behaviour, culture, education etc)
 Play back for confirmation (stop for confirmation and verify what you understand)

2.10: Encoding and Decoding of Oral Messages

Encoding means the creation of a message (which you -want to communicate to another
person). On the other hand decoding means the listener or audience of the encoded message.
So decoding means interpreting the meaning of the message. The encoding of a message is
the production of the message. It is a system of coded meanings, and in order to create
that,the sender needs to understand how the world is comprehensible to the members of the
audience.

The decoding of a message is how an audience member is able to understand, and interpret
the message. It is a process of interpretation and translation of coded information into a
comprehensible form. The audience is trying to reconstruct the idea by giving meanings to
symbols and by interpreting the message as a. whole. Effective communication is
accomplished only when the message is received and understood in the intended way.

Communication is a process of conveying messages (facts, ideas, attitudes and opinions)

from one person to another. The communication process is made up of four key components.
Those components include encoding, medium of transmission, decoding, and feedback.
There are also two other factors in the process, and those two factors are present in the form
of the sender and the receiver. The communication process begins with the sender and ends
with the receiver.

The sender is an individual, group, or organization who initiates the communication. This
source is initially responsible for the success of the message. The sender's experiences,
attitudes, knowledge, skill, perceptions, and culture influence the message. All oral
communication begins with the sender.

The first step the sender is faced with involves the encoding process. In order to convey
meaning, the sender must begin encoding, which means translating information into a
message in the form of symbols that represent ideas or concepts. This process translates the
ideas or concepts into the coded message that will be communicated. The symbols can take

18
on numerous forms such as, languages, words, or gestures. These symbols are used to encode
ideas into messages that others can understand.

When encoding a message, the sender has to begin by deciding what he/she wants to
transmit. This decision by the sender is based on what he/she believes about the receivers'
knowledge and assumptions, along with what additional information he/she wants the
receiver to have. It is important for the sender to use symbols that are familiar to the intended
receiver. A good way for the sender to improve encoding their message is to mentally
visualize the communication from the receiver's point of view.

To begin transmitting the message, the sender uses some kind of channel (also called a
medium). The channel is the means used to convey the message. Most channels are either
oral or written, but currently visual channels are becoming more common as technology
expands. Common channels include the telephone and a variety of written forms such as
memos, letters, and reports. The effectiveness of the various channels fluctuates dependingon
the characteristics of the communication. For example, when immediate feedback is
necessary, oral communication chains are more effective because any uncertainties can be
cleared up on the spot. In a situation where the message must be delivered to more than small
group of people, written channels are often more effective. Although in many cases both oral
and written channels should be used because one supplements the other.

If a sender relays a message through an inappropriate channel, its message may not reach the
right receivers. That is why senders need to keep in mind that selecting the appropriate
channel will greatly assist in the effectiveness of the receiver's understanding. The sender's
decision to utilize either an oral or a written channel for communicating a message is
influenced by several factors. The sender should ask him or herself different questions, so
that they can select the appropriate channel. Is the message urgent? Is immediate feedback
needed? Is documentation or a permanent record required? Is the content complicated,
controversial, or private? Is the message going to someone inside -or outside the
organization? What oral and written communication skills does the receiver possess? Once
the sender has answered all of these questions, they will be able to choose an effective
channel.

After the appropriate channel or channels are selected, the message enters the decoding stage
of the communication process. Decoding is conducted by the receiver. Once the message is

19
received and examined, the stimulus is sent to the brain for interpreting, in order to assign
some type of meaning to it. It is this processing stage that constitutes decoding. The receiver
begins to interpret the symbols sent by the sender, translating the message to their own set of
experiences in order to make the symbols meaningful. Successful communication takes place
when the receiver correctly interprets the sender's message.

The receiver is the individual or individuals to whom the message is directed. The extent to
which this person comprehends the message will depend on a number of factors, which
include the following: how much the individual or individuals know about the topic, their
receptivity to the message, and the relationship and trust that exists between sender and
receiver. All interpretations by the receiver are influenced by their experiences, attitudes,
knowledge, skills, perceptions, and culture. It is similar to the ' sender's relationship with
encoding.

2.11 Nature of a Good Speech

Speech is an effective means of oral communication. It is delivered in front of a large

gathering. Therefore, speech serves as an important medium of presenting information in
schools, meetings, political or business gatherings. However, a speech becomes effective
when it fulfils the following features:

Clarity: Clarity is an essential feature of a good speech; Speech should be clear and
unambiguous so that the audience can understand it easily. If it is not clear enough to express
its meaning to the audience, it will become ineffective.

Definiteness of Message: The message of the speech should be definite and relevant with the
subject matter.
Conciseness: The audience becomes impatient to a long speech. Hence, speech should be as
concise as possible. However, it should not be incomplete.
Interesting: Speech should be delivered in an interesting and pleasing way so that the
audience is motivated to pay attention. In order to make the speech interesting, various
stories, examples, quotations and jokes can be cited.
Informal Touch: Though speech is a formal address, it should be presented in a personal
and informal way.
Considering the Audience: Speech is delivered to a specific audience. So, the speaker

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should actively consider the expectations, interest, and nature of the audience
Speaking Slowly: An ideal speech is one which is delivered slowly and in usual tone. It
helps the audience to hear and understand the message clearly.
Free from Emotions: Another important feature of a good speech is that it should be
delivered in an unbiased and unemotional way. Speaker's emotion may drive him away from
the main theme.
Use of Body Language: Good Speech goes with necessary body language. Therefore, at the
time of delivering a speech, the speaker should use various nonverbal cues.
Ensuring Participation of Audience: A good speech is one which ensures participation
from the audience with the speaker, that means the audience will ensure their attention
through effective listening, expressing their solidarity with the speech and so on.

If your speech fails to hit the check boxes for these qualities, then it will lose its edge.

2.12: Functions of Talk

Attempts have been made to classify the functions of speaking in human interaction. Brown
and Yule (1983) made a useful distinction between the interactional functions of speaking, in
which it serves to establish and maintain social relations, and the transactional functions,
which focus on the exchange of information. Richards (2005) use an expanded three-part
version of Brown and Yule's framework (after Jones, 1996, and Burns, 1998): talk as
interaction; talk as transaction; talk as performance. Each of these speech activities is quite
distinct in terms of form and function and requires different teaching approaches.

2.12.1: Talk as Interaction

Talk as interaction refers to what we normally mean by "conversation" and describes

interaction that serves a primarily social function. When people meet, they exchange
greetings, engage in small talk, recount recent experiences, and so, on because they wish to
be friendly and to establish a comfortable zone of interaction with others. The focus is more
on the speakers and how they wish to present themselves to each other than on the message.
Such exchanges may be either casual or more formal, depending on the circumstances, and
their nature has been well described by Brown and Yule (1983). The main features of talk as
interaction can be summarized as follows:

• Has a primarily social function

• Reflects role relationships

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• Reflects speaker's identity
• May be formal or casual
• Uses conversational conventions
• Reflects degrees of politeness
• Employs many generic words
• Uses conversational register
• Is jointly constructed
2.12.2: Talk as Transaction

Another important communication skill is the ability to use English to accomplish different
kinds of transactions. A transaction is an interaction that focuses on getting something done,
rather than maintaining social interaction. (In communicative language teaching, transactions
are generally referred to as junctions, and include such areas as requests, orders, offers,
suggestions, etc.) A transaction may consist of a sequence of different functions. Two
different kinds of transactions are often distinguished.

One type refers to transactions that) occur in situations where the focus is on giving and
receiving information, and -Where the participants focus primarily on what is said or
achieved (e.g. asking someone for directions or bargaining at a garage sale).

The second type refers to transactions that involve obtaining goods or services, such as
checking into a hotel or ordering food in a restaurant. Talk in these situations is often
information- focused, is associated with specific activities and often occursin specific
situations. The following are examples of communication of this kind:

 Ordering food in a restaurant

 Ordering a taxi
 Checking into a hotel
 Changing money at a bank.
 Getting a haircut.
 Buying something in a store.
 Borrowing a book from the library.

The skills involved in using English for transactions thus include:

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 Selecting vocabulary related to particular transactions and functions
 Using fixed expressions and routines.
 Expressing functions.
 Using scripts for specific transactions and situations.
 Asking and answering questions.
 Clarifying meanings and intentions.
 Confirming and repeating information.
 Using communication strategies.

2.12.3: Talk as Performance

The third type of talk that can usefully be distinguished has been called talk as performance.
This refers to public talk, that is, talk that transmits information before an audience, such as
classroom presentations, public announcements, and speeches.

Talk as performance tends to be in the form of monolog rather than dialog, often follows a
recognizable format (e.g., a speech of welcome), and is closer to written language than
conversational language. Similarly, it is often evaluated according to its effectiveness or
impact on the listener, something that is unlikely to happen with talk as interaction or
transaction.

Examples of talk as performance are:

• Giving a class report about a school trip

• Conducting a class debate
• Giving a speech of welcome
• Making a sales presentation
• Giving a lecture

The main features of talk as performance are:

 A focus on both message and audience

 Predictable organization and sequencing
 Importance of both form and accuracy
 Language is more like written language
 Often monologic

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Some of the skills involved in using talk as performance are:

 Using an appropriate format

 Presenting information in an appropriate sequence
 Maintaining audience engagement
 Using correct pronunciation and grammar
 Creating an effect on the audience
 Using appropriate vocabulary
 Using an appropriate opening and closing
2.12 Forms of Speaking
In the context of ESL teaching, there are at least five types of speaking that take place in the
classroom. The five types are as follows:

 Imitative
 Intensive
 Responsive
 Interactive
 Extensive
The list above is ordered from simplest to most complex in terms of the requirements of oral
production for the student.

2.13.1: Imitative

At the imitative level, it is probably already clear what the student is trying to do. At this
level, the student is simply trying to repeat what was said to them in a way that is
understandable and with some adherence to pronunciation as defined by the teacher. It
doesn't matter if the student comprehends what they are saying or carrying on a conversation.
The goal is only to reproduce what was said to them. One common example of this is a
"repeat after me" experience in the classroom.

2.13.2: Intensive

Intensive speaking involves producing a limit amount of language in a highly control

context. An example of this would be to read aloud a passage or give a direct response to a

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simple question. Competency at this level is shown through achieving certain grammatical or
lexical mastery. This depends on the teacher's expectations.

2.13.3: Responsive

Responsive is slightly more complex than intensive but the difference is blurry, to say the
least. At this level, the dialog includes a simple question with a follow-up question or two.
Conversations take place by this point but are simple in content.

2.13.4: Interactive

The unique feature of intensive speaking is that it is usually more interpersonal than
transactional. By interpersonal it is meant speaking for maintaining relationships.
Transactional speaking is for sharing information as is common at the responsive level. The
challenge of interpersonal speaking is the context or pragmatics. The speaker has to keep in
mind the use of slang, humour, ellipsis, etc. when attempting to communicate. This is much
more complex than saying yes or no or giving directions to the bathroom in a second
language. Extensive communication is normal some sort of monolog. Examples include
speech, storytelling, etc. This involves a great deal of preparation and is not typically
improvisational communication.

It is one thing to survive having a conversation with someone in a second language. You can
rely on each other's body language to make up for communication challenges. However, with
extensive communication either the student can speak in a comprehensible way without
relying on feedback or they cannot. In my personal experience, the typical ESL student
cannot do this in a convincing manner.

2.14: Speech Making

Public speaking is one of the most feared things for many people - in fact, some public
surveys show fear of public speaking as higher than fear of death, public speaking, for most
people, public speaking is just about the worst pressure they can be put under. It will do all
kinds of unpleasant things to you when you have to stand up and face a sea of faces with the
hope of getting your message across in a compelling and interesting way.

Your hands may sweat and your mouth goes dry. Your 'knees may shake and a quaver affects
your voice. Your heart may race and those well-known butterflies invade your stomach.

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When all that happens most people do not think of getting their message across in a
compelling and interesting way they just think of getting off the 'stage' as quickly as
possible! It's normal to be nervous and have a lot of anxiety when speaking in public. In a
way, it is less normal not to have nerves anxiety; in fact, to feel you have a phobia about
public speaking. Anybody can give a speech if they know some basic techniques of speech
making.

2.15: Types of Speech Making

There are four types of speeches that most speakers utilize in delivering a speech.

2.15.1: Extemporaneous speeches are speeches that are carefully prepared and practiced
by the speaker before the actual speaking time. A speaker will utilize notes or an outline as a
guide while they are delivering the speech. The notes or outline will usually include any
quotes and sources the speaker wants to cite in the presentation, as well as the order the
information in the speech should be delivered in. The speech is delivered as if the speaker is
having conversation with the audience. Since the speaker is not reading the entire speech, the
extemporaneous speaker uses the notes as a guide only - a sort of memory trigger - and the
speaker will also be able to respond to the audience since her head is not trapped by reading
every word on a paper.
2.15.2: Impromptu speeches are speeches that are delivered without notes or a plan, and
without any formal preparation - they are very spontaneously delivered. This is one of the
most nerve wracking situations for most students to find themselves in because there is not a
plan or agenda to follow - they just have to get up and speak without any "thinking" time.
They are afraid of not knowing what to say when they get up in front of the audience so they
might-make a fool of themselves. If this type of speaking situation makes you nervous, you
are not alone. The reality is that this is the type of public speaking you are the MOST
prepared for. Your daily life is filled with impromptu, experiences and conversations. Every
phone conversation, exchange between you and a loved one, and discussion amongst friends
is impromptu by its very nature - even if we "practice" our conversations, they are still
Impromptu in their delivery. So, while most students are nervous about impromptu speeches,
they are the type they are the most prepared for from their daily experience.
2.15.3: Manuscript speeches are speeches that are delivered with a script of the exact
words to be used. If they have to give a speech, most students prefer to have every single
word in front of them so they can basically "read" the -speech to the audience. While this is

26
very reassuring for a speaker and they feel like they won't "forget" anything if they have
every word in front of them, manuscript speaking is one of the worst traps to fall into for a
speaker. The speaker who utilizes a complete manuscript will often spend more time looking
at the script than at the audience. By doing this, the speaker is unable to react to the audience
or respond to the audience members questions. Therefore, the manuscript becomes a trap for
the speaker
2.15.4: Memorized speeches are speeches that are committed to memory. The speaker
complete memorizes the text of a speech and then delivers the speech from memory without
reliance on notes or an outline. This is a very fearful speaking situation for most people
because they fear they will forget what they had planned on saying when they get in front of
the group -and, they might make a fool of themselves in front of the audience if they forget
what to say. This type of speaking is not very common to daily living unless you are in a
profession like acting. Most of us memorize very little in our daily lives - we don't even have
to remember telephone numbers since we have cellular phones.

2.16: Public Speaking Hints and Tips

Here are just a few hints, public speaking tips and techniques to help you develop your skills
and become far more effective as a public speaker.

Mistakes: Mistakes are all right. Recovering from mistakes makes you appear more human.
Good recovery puts your audience at ease- they identify with you more.

Humour: Tell jokes if you're good at telling them. If you aren't good, best to leave the jokes
behind. There's nothing worse than a punch line that has no punch. Gentle humour is good in
place of jokes.

Tell stories: Stories make you a real person not just a deliverer of information. Use personal
experiences to bring your material to life. No matter how dry your material is, you can
always find a way to humanize it.

2.17: The Role of Speaking and Listening in Literacy Development

Speaking and Listening refers to the various formal and informal ways oral language is used
to convey and receive meaning. It involves the development and demonstration of knowledge
about the appropriate oral language for particular audiences and occasions, including body

27
language and voice. It also involves the development of active-listening strategies and an
understanding of the conventions of different spoken texts.

Acknowledging the major role speaking and listening play inside and outside of school,
stands to reason that oral language should not be left to chance, but planned for across the
curriculum and explicitly taught.

The importance of oral language as a communicative process, with speaking and listening
receiving prominence in the English curriculum, alongside reading, viewing and writing
cannot be overemphasised. Speaking and listening in the classroom serve both social and
educative purposes. That is, speaking and listening is central to forming relationships, and
acting as cognitive tools for learning (Vygotsky, 1978)

A speaker makes choices about degrees of formality. It is helpful to think of oral language as
moving along a continuum from informal utterances to talk that is more formal and
extended. As the talk moves along the continuum to more formal structures, these more and
more resemble written, literary language. Ultimately a speaker makes decisions about the
appropriate register to adopt, with a mindfulness of purpose and audience.

As the child develops, he will begin using his listening skills to improve his vocabulary,
grammar and reading ability. If he lacks listening skills or does not pay attention, he might
struggle to pick up on mistakes he is making with his speech, since he will not hear what
others have to say. Reading skills can also suffer if the child does not have adequate listening
skills, since he might not pay attention to the words when someone else is reading to him.

Children start to learn language from the day they are born. As they grow and develop, their
speech and language skills become increasingly more complex. They learn to understand and
use language to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings, and to communicate with others.
During early speech and language development, children learn skills that are important to the
development of literacy (reading and writing). This stage, known as emergent literacy, begins
at birth and continues through the preschool years. Children see and interact with print (e.g.,
books, magazines, grocery lists) in everyday situations (e.g., home, in preschool, and at
daycare) well before they start elementary school. Parents can see their child's growing
appreciation and enjoyment of print as he or she begins to recognize words that rhyme,
scribble with crayons, point out logos and street signs, and name some letters of the alphabet.

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Gradually, children combine what they know about speaking and listening with what they
know about print and become ready to learn to read and write.

Communication begins with hearing and responding to sounds. Children begin

communicating and developing language the day they are born. As children grow and
develop, they begin listening for different purposes and responding with words instead of
sounds and gestures. Receptive language (listening) precedes expressive language (speaking).
Receptive and expressive language skills, or oral language skills, lay the foundation for future
success in reading and writing. These skills develop as children have opportunities to listen to
and talk with their parents, relatives, friends, caregivers, etc. Children must be able to listen
to and understand words before they are able to produce words and use them effectively.

2.18: Summary

 In this unit you have learnt that communication is the act of transferring information
from one place to another vocally, written, virtually or non-verbally.
 You also learnt how to develop effective communication skills.
 From this unit you learnt that listening is the process of hearing, identifying,
understanding and interpreting spoken language.
 You also learnt the importance of the listening skill in children.
 You also learnt that speech is the primary means of communication and that the
ability to speak greatly enhances the life of the learner.
 You have also looked at the basic ways to communicate effectively.
 You have learnt the terms “encoding” and “decoding” as each relates to oral
messages.
 You also learnt that speeches have functional classifications.
 Finally, all that you have learnt in this unit have equipped you to discuss the role of
speaking in the literacy development of learners.

2.19: Unit Assignments

1. Give three definitions of communication.
2. What is effective communication?
3. List and explain briefly five effective communication skills.
4. List the top ten communication skills for graduates.
5. Give Gbenedio’s (1996) definition of listening.

29
 6. Explain briefly the role of speaking and listening in literacy development.
7. What is oral communication?
8. List the features of a good speech and explain each briefly.
9. Explain the terms “encoding” and “decoding”
10. Enumerate the features of a good speech.
11. Classify the functions of speaking.
12. Explain the role of speaking in literacy development of the learner.
2.20: References

Brown, Gillian, & Yule (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Burns, A. (1998). Teaching speaking .Annual Review of Applied linguistics 18, 102-123.

Burns, A & Joyce, IT. (1997). Focus on speaking. Sydney: National Center for English
Language Teaching and Research.

Davis-Kalugin, D. S. (nd). The importance of listening skills for your preschool child’s
learning and development. Retrieved from http://eye2theworld.net/article-4

Gbenedio, U.B. (1996). Teaching and learning English as a second language Benin City:
New Era Publications.

Jones, P. (1996). Planning an oral language program. In P. Jones (ed.), Talking to Learn. (pp.
12-26). Melbourne: PETA.

Richards, J. C. (2005). Interchange (5thed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge: MA: MIT Press.

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 UNIT 3: Reading and Writing
Content
3. 1. Objectives
3. 2. Introduction
3. 3. The Concept of Reading
3. 4. Strands and Different Types of Reading
3. 5. Reading Strategies
3. 6. The Concept of Reading Comprehension
3. 7. Factors that Affect Reading Comprehension
3. 8. The Writing Process
3. 8. 1. Prewriting
3. 8. 2. Outlining
3. 8. 3. Drafting
3. 8. 4. Revising
3. 8. 5. Editing
3. 9. Types of Writing
3. 9. 1. Expository/Informative Writing
3. 9. 2. Descriptive Writing
3. 9. 3. Narrative Writing
3. 9. 4. Argumentative Writing
3. 9. 5. Persuasive Writing
3. 10. Summary
3. 11. Unit Assignment
3. 12. References
3. 1: Objectives
At the end of the unit, you should be able to:

 explain the concept of reading

 explain the different types of reading
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  discuss reading strategies
 explain the concept of reading comprehension
 enumerate factors that affect reading comprehension
 explain the processes involved in writing
 write the different essay types

3. 2: Introduction
This unit is designed to broaden your knowledge on the reading and writing skills.
Specifically, it discusses what it means to read with comprehension, how to read for
understanding and factors that can hinder or aid comprehension. In addition, the unit is
intended to help you become a better writer by explaining the processes involved in writing.
Similarly, the different forms of the essay is discussed. Lastly, the units contain exercises
designed to help you practice what you have learned.

3. 3: Concept of Reading

In your previous units, you have treated two language skills – listening and speaking;
reading and writing complete the four language skills. Reading and writing are known as
literacy skills. They are used to categorise people as being educated.

Reading is a means of language acquisition, communication and of sharing of ideas

and information. It is the ability in and knowledge of a language that allows comprehension
by grasping the meaning of written or printed characters, words or sentences. Reading is a
complex activity and involves both perception and thought. It consists of two related
processes of word recognition and word comprehension. It requires the active participation of
the reader who makes connection between existing knowledge and the construction of
meaning from the material read. It is an active rather than a passive process (Arua, 2009) in
which the reader is actively bringing something to the process and activating his background
knowledge, querying, assessing, evaluating, critiquing the content and the form of the text
and agreeing or disagreeing with facts, opinion and style of the text. It is a fundamental skill
in the learning process and in the personal development of an individual. Success in school is
based on reading ability.

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3. 4: Strands of Reading

Figure 3. 1: The strands of Reading (National Reading Panel, 2000)

Figure 1 shows the hierarchy of the strands of reading. At the base is phonemic awareness. It
is followed by phonics, fluency, vocabulary development and comprehension. This shows
that if a person is to achieve comprehension, which is the goal of reading, the lower levels
must be present. Let us now discuss each strand of reading.

a. Phonemic Awareness

It is the awareness and understanding that words and syllables can be broken down to
smaller units or phonemes. It is one of the predicators of reading success.

b. Phonics

Phonics instruction equips the reader with a consistent strategy to apply sound-symbol
relationships that assist to identity unfamiliar words. The objective of phonics instruction is to
teach children to decode unfamiliar words easily and automatically as they read.

c. Vocabulary

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 This is crucial to learning to read and the progress made by the students in reading.
Moreover, readers’ understanding of materials read is based on their vocabulary base.
Students need to read a large characteristics of materials in order to build up their vocabulary
and this is done through varied reading and direct instruction.

d. Fluency

This is of two stages. The first stage is where the reader changes printed symbols
into words. The second stage is when the reader goes beyond the decoding stage and can
now recognize many words in a text. Achieving speed and accuracy in recognizing words is
reading fluency.

e. Comprehension

It is the ability to read and grasp the meaning of the material read. It includes the
recognition of individual words, grouping words into thought units and relating the thought
units into meaningful sentence(s), paragraph(s), chapter(s) or book. Reading cannot be said to
have taken place if there is no comprehension. It is affected by the reader’s knowledge of the
topic, language structure, knowledge of text structure, genre, reasoning abilities, motivation,
level of engagement and quality of the reading materials.

Exercise 1:
1. What is Reading?
2. What are the four language skills?
3. Discuss any component of reading?

3. 5: Types of Reading

The question here is how does one read? The answer to this question tells us about
the types of reading: oral reading/reading aloud and silent reading. Silent reading can be
further broken down into intensive and extensive reading.

1. Oral Reading/Reading Aloud

It is a way of reading loudly with the labial movements and the vibration of the vocal
cords. It promotes students’ syntactic development and helps increase reading comprehension
skills and vocabulary. It is not just for beginners. It can also help skilled readers to
comprehend dense challenging text.

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 Oral reading/reading aloud is an excellent diagnostic tool. It enables students to learn
from one another. It gives non-readers a means of entering into a discussion. It helps them to
develop their reading skills as they follow along, reading silently while another student reads
orally. Sometimes, reading orally or listening to someone read is more interesting and
meaningful than silent reading, especially when the selection being read is dramatic or poetic.

Oral reading should develop the following abilities:

 Recognizing and pronouncing words accurately,

 Using the voice meaningfully and pleasingly,
 Reading accurately,
 Interpreting thoughts and feelings, and
 Sensing audience reaction.

It is usual for silent reading to proceed oral reading.

Silent Reading

It involves the individual reading without vocalization. It is the way reading

proficient people read. It is used to teach the students how actual reading act is done. Silent
reading is done in a more relaxed mood for recreational or independent reading. It encourages
concentration which improves students’ understanding and makes them focus on the meaning
of the text rather than on pronunciation. It helps students read faster, ignore unnecessary
words and improve understanding.

Within the category of silent reading one encounters intensive and extensive reading.
Intensive reading is used to teach or practice specific reading strategies or skills. Extensive
reading involves the reading of large quality of varied materials usually for pleasure.

Intensive Reading

Most times, you are asked to read a passage and answer questions based on it. In
order do so effectively, you will need to employ some reading strategies. This calls for

intensive reading. Intensive reading involves reading a text for detailed information. It is also
referred to as `narrow reading’. In intensive reading, the skills the learners develop are rapid
reading practice and interpretation of text using word attack skills, text attack skills and non-
text information. It is also used to equip students with reading skills such as skimming,

35
scanning, previewing, schema activation, inferring, finding main ideas, and finding details.
Intensive reading practice can focus more intentionally on essential core vocabulary, pattern
of text organization and types of text processing needed to adequately comprehend a text.

Advantages
i. It aids comprehension and provides a check on the degree of comprehension for
individual learners.
ii. It helps to develop a greater control of language. The learners develop literacy skills
necessary to generate productive expressions.
iii. It provides a base to study structure, vocabulary and idioms.
iv. It helps in the learning of how to use and monitor effective reading strategies.
Disadvantages
i. There is little actual practice of reading because of the small amount of text the students
are exposed to.
ii. Selected text may not be of interest to the reader since they are not self-selected but
selected by the teacher.
iii. Exercises and assessments usually follow at the end of the selected passage(s), so
students may associate reading with testing and find it a chore and not a pleasurable
activity.
Extensive Reading

Do you read because you are asked to find out something or read because you just like
reading? One of the reasons for reading is for enjoyment. Extensive reading involves reading
a text for pleasure with the emphasis on overall meaning. It is also called independent
reading, voluntary reading or free reading. It is a supplementary class library scheme in
which students are given encouragement and materials to read pleasurably at their own level,
ability and limitations. It helps in the development of vocabulary, reading speed, extensive
reading habit, comprehension and critical thinking. It caters for each student’s needs and is
highly personalized. It also widens the readers’ intellectual exposure and improves the
general knowledge of the reader.

Using extensive reading, students read what please them without the pressure of testing
or marking. It helps to meet students’ practical needs and enables them to learn at their own
pace while reducing competition among class members. It helps in the development of
healthy self-concept, responsibility and initiative and so it is highly motivating. It can lead to

36
creativity in the students by giving them the opportunity to make projects, and write and
share what they have read. The teacher meets regularly to discuss their reading. The watch
word here is quantity. So books are selected for their attractiveness and relevance to pupils’
level rather than for literacy merit.

Extensive reading has the following characteristics:

a. Self-seeking of materials to be read.
b. Self-selection of materials.
c. Teacher/pupil conferences.
Advantages
1. It helps to develop reading habit.
2. Students attitude towards reading is improved.
3. Students gain more confidence in reading.
4. It helps enrich students’ background knowledge.
Disadvantages
1. It may be costly and time consuming to set up materials if they are not readily
available.
2. Reading each student’s journal and report can be time consuming and stressful for
the teacher.
3. Students already exposed to intensive reading may find it difficult coping with
extensive reading.
Exercise 2

Carry out further reading on the following: scanning, skimming, previewing and schema
activation.

3. 6: Reading Strategies

What strategies do you employ in order to make meaning out of your reading materials?
Good readers use a variety of strategies to get meaning out of written material. These
strategies includes previewing, contextualizing, visualizing, questioning, outlining,
summarizing and background knowledge.

Good readers use their relevant prior knowledge between, during and after reading to
enhance their understanding. When students have an experience similar to that of a character
in a story, they are more likely to understand the character’s motives, thought and feelings.

37
The background knowledge of a reader, known as schema, is important in the reading
process.

Schema has to do with background, knowledge and it is different for everyone. Schema
helps readers to connect with text and understand it in different ways. If readers do not have
previous knowledge or experience to hook new information to, it would be difficult to
construct meaning from what is read.

Another strategy that readers use is questioning. They ask questions of themselves, the
author and the text while reading. Promoting and fostering in students the ability to generate
questions before, during and after reading in order to construct meaning from what is read is
a vital practice in reading instruction.

Good readers also use visualization to make meaning of what is read. They visualize and
create mental images of ideas in the text. In other words, they create a wide range of visual,
auditory and other sensory images as they read and become emotionally involved with what
they read.

Summarization is another strategy used in reading. The reader identifies the main ideas
in the text and these are noted and written down in the reader’s own words.

3. 7: The Concept of Reading Comprehension

Is it possible to read without comprehension?

Reading and Comprehension are two inseparable things; they are two sides of a coin.
Comprehension is the ability to get the message that is being put across through print. The
aim of reading is comprehension. Comprehension is a process of constructing meaning from
clues in a text and this is based on the reader’s background experience. Complete meaning is
based on the reader’s background knowledge. Reading comprehension can be developed by
using factual/literal questions and inferential or interpretative questions asked on the reading
passage. Similarly, three types of reading comprehension have been identified. They are:

a. Literal comprehension which is a process of reading a material just for facts. It is the
easiest of the three types of reading comprehension.

38
b. Inferential comprehension: This is a type of reading comprehension that deals with
reading between lines. The facts are not directly stated but the reader reads to get the
writer’s intended meaning.

c. Critical Comprehension. This involves evaluation and appreciation of a text and it

requires a thorough understanding of the material read making it a complex type of
reading comprehension.

3. 8: Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension can be affected by readers’ characteristics, text features and

teachers’ factors.

i. Readers’ characteristics
- Motivation
- Intelligence
- Background knowledge
- Deficient word recognition skills
- Inadequate exposure and practice
- Underdeveloped attention strategies
ii. Text characteristics
- Genre
- Nature of text/text features
iii. Teachers’ characteristics
- Paying little or no attention to teaching comprehension
- Improper training
- Methods of teaching
Exercise 3

(1) What is reading comprehension?

(2) Discuss any factor that affects reading comprehension

3. 8: The Writing Process

Writing an essay takes time. You have to go through several steps before you can
produce an effective piece of writing. These steps make up the writing process. Every writer
is unique and so the processes may be different for each person. That is why you will find

39
different number of steps of the writing process in the literature on writing. However, we can
generally group the steps in the writing process into five: prewriting, outlining, drafting,
revising and editing. You should always remember though, that these steps are not linear.
Rather, writing is a recursive process. What this means is that as you write, you usually move
back and forth between the steps. Thus, for example, while you are revising, you might have
to return to the prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas. Figure 2 helps you to
visualize the writing process.

Figure 3. 2: The Writing Process (Caulfield, 2020)

Let us now discuss the steps in the writing process.

3. 8. 1: Step 1: Prewriting

Prewriting is the stage of the writing process during which you write down your ideas
about a topic before actually organising them. It is part of the planning phase of the writing
process. There are several prewriting strategies available for you to choose from. You can
actually use as many of them as needed. These prewriting strategies enable you decide on a
topic to write about or gather information about an already chosen topic. One prewriting
strategy is reading. You can read materials in the library and/or on the internet. Searching the
Internet using search engines is a good way to see what kinds of websites are available on
your topic. Reading a variety of materials helps you gather a lot of information about what to
write.

40
 Another prewriting strategy is the use of observation or experience. You can write
about things that are already familiar to you, things that you have observed or that you have
experienced. Asking questions is a third prewriting strategy you can use. You could interview
people to obtain more information about a subject. Brainstorming is a good prewriting
strategy you can use too. It is similar to list making. In order to brainstorm, start with a blank
sheet of paper and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list
of more specific ideas that come to mind. Most often, you will find that one specific item can
lead to the next, creating a flow of ideas that can help you compose your work when you
already have a topic or to narrow your focus to a more specific topic. Similarly, it is
important to identify the purpose for writing and the audience (who will read your work) at
the prewriting stage.

Idea mapping is the final prewriting strategy we will discuss. It is a strategy that
allows you to visualize your ideas. To do so, ideas are clustered on paper using circles, lines,
and arrows. Hence, the strategy is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down
and clustered, or grouped together. If you want to create an idea map, you start with a general
topic in a circle in the centre of a blank sheet of paper. Then you write specific ideas around it
and use lines or arrows to connect them together. The more ideas you think of, the more
clusters you add. Figure 3 presents an example of one writer’s idea map on the topic, mass
media.

41
Figure 3.3: An Idea Map (Schmitz, 2012, p.391)

Notice in Figure 3 that the largest circle contains the writer’s general topic, mass
media. Then, the general topic divides into two subtopics written in two smaller circles:
television and radio. The subdivision goes on and on until the writer finally narrows the topic
to a more specific subcategory, music piracy.
Exercise 4
1. Using as many prewriting strategies as you would like, choose a topic of your choice for
essay writing.

3. 8. 2: Step 2: Outlining

Now, you have gathered information for your writing assignment. It is time to turn to
the task of arranging and ordering the information so they can make sense. It is important to
use a logical structure to convey information effectively. This requires planning out in
advance rather than trying to work out a structure after writing has begun. Ordering refers to
which information you choose to present first, second, third, and so on in your writing. The
order you choose should relate to your purpose for writing.

How to Organize Your Writing

42
 There are three common methods of organizing writing: chronological order, spatial
order, and order of importance. The chronological order is a method of organization that
arranges ideas according to time. With spatial order, the arrangement is done according to
physical characteristics or appearance while order of importance arranges ideas according to
their significance. Keeping these methods of organization in mind will help you to arrange in
an outline the information you have gathered during the prewriting stage.

An outline is a rough plan that can help make the process of writing much easier. It is
usually written down and serves as a frame or skeleton for the paragraphs you write. Later, in
the drafting stage, supporting materials will be added to make it come alive. In addition, the
purpose of writing must be identified in order for you to choose correctly how you will order
or structure your essay. You must determine whether you are writing to explain, to persuade,
to inform or for a combination of these purposes. We will learn more about the purposes of
writing when we learn about the different essay types. Table 1 presents information that
shows the relationship between order and purpose when writing.

Order Purpose
Chronological order To explain the history of an event or topic
To tell a story or relate an experience
To explain how to do or make something
To explain the steps in a process
Spatial order To help readers visualize something as you want them to see it
To create a main impression using the senses (sight, touch,
taste, smell and sound)
Order of importance To persuade or convince
To rank items by their importance, benefit or significance
Table 3.1: The Relationship between Order and Purpose (Schmitz, 2012, p. 397).

Writing a Thesis Statement

Every piece of writing usually revolves around a central idea. That is, a controlling
idea, the main idea that you want to present and develop. This main idea is expressed in what
is called a thesis statement. A thesis statement states your point of view. It is often one
sentence long and is usually expressed in the first paragraph of the essay. The thesis

43
statement is different from the topic you are writing about. It is what you want to say about
the topic; what you feel is important to tell the readers. You need the thesis statement when
organising your outline. Initially when you start to write, you will have a thesis statement,
which is usually a preliminary one. As you continue to write, you can modify your thesis
statement, perhaps narrowing the scope of your statement or expanding it.
Exercise 5
1. Using the topic you selected in Step 1 (Prewriting), develop a thesis statement that
states your central idea for the piece of writing you are doing.

Writing an Outline
There are three types of outlines: the topic outline, the sentence outline and the
paragraph outline. You format the three types of outlines in the same way. In a topic outline,
you use words or phrases to state your main and supporting ideas. In a sentence outline, you
use complete sentences to state your main and supporting ideas. However, in a paragraph
outline, you state both the main and supporting ideas together in short paragraphs. Table 3
gives a framework for an outline generally. For further examples of the three types of
outlines, please see Chapter 17 ‘’Fundamentals of Essay Writing’’, in the book English
Language and Communication by V.U. Longe and O. A. Ofuani.

Essay Outline
I Introduction
Thesis:_____________________
II Body 1. Topic Sentence:___________
- supporting idea
- supporting idea
2. Topic Sentence:___________
- supporting idea
- supporting idea
3. Topic Sentence:___________
-supporting idea
-supporting idea
III Conclusion

44
Table 3.2: Sample Essay Outline
Exercise 6
1. Using the thesis statement you wrote in "Exercise 1" and using the information you
have gathered in the prewriting stage, construct a topic, sentence and paragraph
outline for your essay.

Collaboration
Please share with a classmate and compare your outlines. You can help each other
strengthen your outlines.

3. 8. 3: Step 3: Drafting
Once you have produced an outline, it is time to write your first draft. Drafting is the
stage in the writing process when you put your ideas into sentences and paragraphs. It is the
stage in which you develop a complete first version of a piece of writing. In this stage, your
efforts are concentrated towards explaining and supporting your ideas fully. In addition, you
begin to connect your ideas in a more meaningful way. When you write the first draft, do not
expect everything to be perfect. Your goal at this stage should be to complete a first draft.
When you have completed the first draft, you will see clearly areas that need improvement.

Moreover, you may wonder which points to develop first. It is easier to begin with the
part you know the most about. It could be the third paragraph in your outline, the second
paragraph, and so on. Your paragraph should contain sufficient information. It must not be
one sentence long neither should it be too long or wordy. A general guide in paragraph length
is that it should be shorter than the length of an entire double-spaced page. More importantly,
always keep your audience and purpose in mind as you write.
.
A first draft should have the following elements:
1. An introduction that makes the reader eager to read your essay. It should tell the
reader what your essay is about and motivate them to keep reading.
2. A thesis statement that presents the main point, or central idea, of the entire essay.
3. A topic sentence in each paragraph that states the main idea of the paragraph and
implies how that main idea connects to the thesis statement. Topic sentences make the

45
 structure of a text and the writer’s basic arguments easy to locate and comprehend. In
university writing, using a topic sentence in each paragraph of the essay is the
standard rule. However, the topic sentence does not always have to be the first
sentence in your paragraph even if it the first item in your formal outline. The topic
sentence can be the first, middle, or final sentence in a paragraph. The assignment,
audience and purpose will often determine where a topic sentence belongs.
4. Supporting sentences in each paragraph. They develop, enhance, prove or explain
the topic sentence. The topic sentence can be explained by means of specific facts,
illustrations, analogies, anecdotes, data from reputed organizations, and more.
5. A conclusion which serves as the closing paragraph of the essay. It reinforces your
thesis statement and helps the reader perceive that the essay is over.

These elements follow the standard five-paragraph essay format, which you have been taught
in secondary school. You can also use this format for extended pieces of writings such as the
ones you are required to do in the university.
Exercise 7
1. Following the guidelines and suggestions presented in Step 3 (Drafting), write your
own first draft.
3. 8. 4: Step 4: Redrafting and Revising

Now you have produced an initial draft of your essay. It is now time to redraft and
revise the first draft with the aim of improving it. Redrafting means substantially adding or
removing content. Revising on the other hand involves making changes to the structure of the
draft and reformulating arguments. Both are carried out together and so many authors simply
classify them as the revising stage. Thus, when we henceforth talk about revising, we are
actually referring to both activities.
Revising is one of the task you do to significantly improve your work. During the
process of revising the draft, you take a second look at the ideas you have written. Then you
add, cut, move, or change information with the intention of making your ideas clearer, more
accurate, more interesting, or more convincing. In other words, the work is reviewed,
modified and reorganized, making sure the tone, style and content are appropriate for the
intended audience. During the writing process, you can redraft and revise your work several
times until you have a final draft that you are satisfied with.

Creating Unity and Coherence

46
 A piece of writing should have unity. That is, all the ideas in each paragraph and in
the entire essay should clearly belong and be arranged in an order that makes logical sense.
Closely related to unity is coherence. When a writing has coherence, the ideas flow
smoothly. The wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph
and from paragraph to paragraph. To ensure coherence, you should use transitions to clarify
how the ideas in your sentences and paragraphs are related. Transitions are words and phrases
that help the writing flow smoothly. Adding transitions is not the only way to improve
coherence, but they are often useful and give a mature feel to your essays. For examples on
transitions, please see chapter 21 (Speech Writing) of the book ‘‘English Language and
Communication’’ by V.U. Longe & O.A. Ofuani.
Exercise 8
1. Reread your first draft it to find any statements that affect the unity of your writing.
Decide how best to revise.
2. Revise your first draft for coherence. Add transition words and phrases where they
are needed, and make any other changes that are needed to improve the flow and
connection between ideas.

Being Clear and Concise

The following tips can help you remain clear and concise in writing your essay:
 Choose specific and appropriate words.
 Avoid slang.
 Avoid language that is overly casual.
 Avoid contractions. Contractions are considered casual speech.
 Avoid clichés.
 Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings.
 Choose words with the connotations you want.
 Use specific words rather than overly general words.
Exercise 9
1. Now return once more to the first draft of the essay you have been revising.
(i) Check it for unnecessary words. Try making your sentences as concise as they can
be.

47
 (ii) Read carefully for problems with word choice. Be sure that your draft is written
in formal language and that your word choice is specific and appropriate

3. 8. 5: Step 5: Editing

The next step after revising the content is editing. When you edit, you take a second
look at how you expressed your ideas. You add or change words. You fix any problems in
grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure to improve style and clarity. In other words,
when editing, you should look out for grammatical errors, ambiguous phrasing, redundancy
and repetition, spelling errors, missing words, punctuation errors, and missing or excess
spaces (for typed documents). In this stage, you turn your essay into a finished product, one
that results from your best efforts. Also make sure you use the proper format when creating
your finished assignment. In addition, it is helpful for you to have another writer’s feedback
in this stage as it is all too easy to gloss over your own errors. Finally, do not edit your
writing until the previous steps in the writing process are complete.
Exercise 10

1. With the information provided in Step 5 (Editing), edit and proofread your essay.

3. 9: Types of Writing

In the previous section, we discussed the processes you have to go through to write an
effective essay. Let us further the discussion by learning about the different essay types.
When it comes to essay types, different authors use different classification methods.
However, we will stick to the following five division of an essay type – narrative, descriptive,
expository, argumentative and persuasive. In addition, no matter the essay type you are
expected to write, always remember that none is mutually exclusive. In other words, there are
usually elements of the various essay forms in a particular piece of writing. For example, you
may be required to write an argumentative essay. However, you may need to use elements of
narration, description, exposition or all the aforementioned essay types to drive home your
point. Now, let us discuss the expository essay.

3. 9. 1: Expository/Informative Writing

An expository essay, also called a discursive essay, discusses ideas, issues and
perspectives without giving an opinion or arguing. Your purpose in writing this type of essay
is to explain, describe, define, instruct, or inform the reader about a particular topic.

48
Similarly, the primary purpose for the reader of this essay type is to understand a topic.
Expository writing, like all writing, requires that you carefully organise your ideas. For your
reader to easily grasp what you are saying, ideas must be arranged and presented in a logical,
sequential manner, with like details grouped together. As such, you can develop an
expository essay in a variety of ways. They include: sequence, description, process
description, narration, summary, causation, problem/solution and compare/contrast, and
definition.

Sequence, also known as enumeration, is the simplest form of exposition and refers to
the presentation of details in a logical sequence. For example, right to left; top to bottom, one,
two, three, and time ordered collection of events/ideas. Examples of sequence can be found in
recipe steps, history books and biographies. Description has to do with explaining a process.
As the name implies, its purpose is to list information about a topic, person, event, process, or
concept. Characteristics of the topic are usually addressed in order of importance. Causation
(cause and effect) relates ideas causally; the main ideas are organised into cause and effect
parts. When you use this text structure, your aim is to show how certain events occur as a
result of a separate event. In problem/solution, the main ideas are organised in two parts: the
problem (or question) part and the solution (or answer) part, which responds to the problem
part. This structure is used when you want to explain how a problem arose and describe
attempts to resolve it.

Comparison (Compare and contrast) relates ideas by differences and/or similarities.

The main ideas are organised to provide a comparison, contrast, or alternative view. This
structure is employed when you intend to show how two topics are similar to or different
from each other. In definition, the central concern is to explain the meaning of a key term. In
very formal prose, you could decide to begin writing by stating the definition abstractly and
then filling in more concrete materials and secondary ideas that are components of the main
definition. For an effective definition, you need a combination of techniques including
classification, examples, process, cause-and-effect and comparison and contrast.

Exercise 11

1. Using what you have learnt from the writing process, identify topics that illustrates
each of the sub-type of the expository essay. Write an outline on one of them

3. 9. 2: Descriptive Essay

49
 Description is the art of using details and colourful language to bring a subject to life.
When you write a descriptive essay, your purpose is to create, as much as possible, a vivid
picture in the mind of your reader. In order to provide vivid details, you must use language
that appeals to the reader’s five senses (taste, touch, sound, smell, sight). To do this, you must
use descriptive language, usually in the form of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs that describe
the sensations felt by the senses. Figurative use of language such as metaphors and are also
needed. A purely descriptive essay is impersonal in character. In other words, when you
write, you exclude your own views and reflections. You can structure your paragraphs in the
descriptive essay spatially (from top to bottom or from near to far) or chronologically (time
order) or from general to specific. Other patterns of organisation such as narration or
exemplification could also be used.
Exercise 12
1. Pick a subject to describe. Write a descriptive essay on it

3. 9. 3: Narrative Essay
When you tell a story, you are narrating. Simply put, a narrative is a sequence of
events told by a narrator. It may be fiction or non-fiction. In writing the narrative essay,
emphasise details that are central to the story’s point and downplay those that are not. The
narrative essay is usually told in chronological order and contains character(s), setting and
plot. When you employ flashback as a means of telling the narrative, use transitional phrases
or other signals to ensure that your reader does not become confused or lost. Additionally, the
narrative essay most often involves a conflict, and it may include dialogue. Finally, it makes a
point.
Exercise 13
1. Select a short story you want to tell. Put it in writing.

3. 9. 4: Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay requires you to take a stand on an issue and use logic and
evidence to convince readers. In the essay, you present a central claim (or claims, depending
on length and purpose) and support the claim(s) using an argument based on evidence and
warrants. You do not only present ideas in support of your claim in this type of writing, you
also consider or acknowledge opposing ideas and do your best to rebuff or counter them. This
you do to show that your arguments outweighs the opposing ones. The structure of the

50
argumentative essay is held together by the following: a clear, concise, and defined thesis
statement that occurs in the first paragraph of the essay; clear and logical transitions between
the introduction, body, and conclusion; body paragraphs that include evidential support
(whether factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal) and; a conclusion that does not simply
restate the thesis, but readdresses it in light of the evidence provided.
Exercise 14
1. Select a topic that requires argumentation and write about it.
3. 9. 5: Persuasive Essay
It is quite common for people to confuse persuasive writing for argumentative
writing. However, both forms of writing are different in terms of purpose, technique and tone.
The purpose of a persuasive essay is to get the reader to agree with your opinion or point of
view. With the argumentative essay, on the other hand, you write so as to get the reader to
consider or recognise your side of the argument as valid.

Moreover, in terms of techniques employed in writing, the persuasive essay combines

facts (if at all) with emotions. The aim basically is to appeal to the emotions of the reader.
Many times, claims are made without evidence. You only put forward ideas that will help
you establish your position and sway your audience. Counter claims are completely ignored.
These techniques are far different from those of the argumentative essay as we have earlier
discussed.

Finally, in terms of tone, the persuasive essay is emotionally charged. You also
present the reader with a more relaxed tone, like that of a trusted friend or mentor. For the
argumentative essay, on the other hand, you have to adopt an authoritative tone, one which
portrays you as knowledgeable in the matter under contention. Classic examples of
persuasive writings are found in advertisement.

Exercise 15
1. Select a topic that requires persuasion and write about it.

NOTE: For further discussion and examples of the essay types, please see Chapter 18
‘’Types of Essays’’, in the book English Language and Communication by V.U. Longe and
O. A. Ofuani.
3. 10: Summary

51
 Reading and writing as part of the language skills need to be mastered successfully by
students if they are to be effective communicators. Identifying and avoiding the barriers to
reading comprehension will help a student make the most of study materials. Similarly,
mastering the writing process and always being guided by the purpose of an essay, taking
cognisance of the audience, will help a writer become adept at conveying information in
writing. The following are the major highlights of what we have learned in this unit.
 Reading is the ability to make meaning from printed characters, words or sentences.
 The strands of reading are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary
development and comprehension.
 Oral reading/reading aloud and silent reading constitute the two types of reading.
 Good readers use strategies before reading, while reading and after reading.
 Reading and comprehension are inseparable.
 Creating an effective piece of writing takes several processes – prewriting, outlining,
drafting, revising and editing.
 There are different essay types – narrative, expository, descriptive, argumentative,
persuasive.
 No essay type is mutually exclusive.
 The best way to become a good writer is to practice writing frequently.

7.0 References
Arua, E. A. (2009). Reading comprehension skills for colleges and university students. Ile-
Ife, Nigeria: Centre of Excellence for Literacy Education (CELE).

Caulfield, J. (2020). A step-by-step guide to the writing process. Retrieved from

http://writing.ku.edu/writing-process

Longe, V. U. & Ofuani, O. A. (2007). English language and communication. Benin City,
Nigeria: Nigerian Educational Research Association.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. n.d.
Resources for Writers: The Writing Process. Retrieved from
https://cmsw.mit.edu/writingandcommunicationcenter/resources/writers/
writingprocess/#:~:text=Writing%0is%20a%20process%20that,develop%20and
%20expand%20your%20idea

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read. Report of sub-groups

(publication report). Washington, DC: National Institute for Child Health and Child
Development.

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Schmitz, A. (2012). The writing process: How do I begin? Washington, DC: Saylor
Academy.

Unit 4: Language
Content:

4.1 Objectives
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Grammar/Usage
4.3. 1. What is Grammar

53
 4.3. 2. Parts of Speech
4.4 Mechanics
4.5 Sentence Structure
4.5. 1. Types of Sentences
4.5. 2. Sentence Fragments
4.6 Vocabulary
4.7 Summary
4.8 Unit Assignment
4.9 References
4.1: Objectives

By the end of this unit, you should be able to:

 Define grammar
 List and explain the parts of speech with examples
 Define and explain the concept of mechanics
 Define a sentence and list the types of sentences
 List at least five (5) features of sentence fragments
 Define and explain the importance of vocabulary in language learning
4.2: Introduction

This unit is designed to intimate you with knowledge of what constitutes grammar. It
will also give you an insight into the parts of speech and what constitutes the mechanics of
effective writing. You will also find in this unit, the sentence structure and how to write
different sentence types and the components of good vocabulary.

4.3: Grammar/Usage

4.3. 1: What is Grammar?

You may have used the word ‛grammar’ several times, the question is, what is
grammar?

54
 Grammar is the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general.
Grammar is usually taken as consisting of syntax, morphology, phonology and semantics of a
language. Grammar is also seen as the system of a language.

4.3.2: Parts of Speech

Knowledge of the parts of speech is essential for good grammar. The parts of speech
are:

1. Noun – A noun is a word for a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns are often used with an
article but not always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter, common nouns do
not. Nouns can also be singular or plural, concrete or abstract. Nouns can function in
different roles within a sentence, for example, it can be a subject, direct object, subject
compliment or object of a preposition.
2. Pronouns – A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. E.g. She, they, we.
3. Verb – A verb is referred to as an action word i.e. it denotes an action or a state.
4. Adjective – An adjective qualifies or describes a noun or pronoun. E.g. pretty, red, dull.
5. Adverb – An adverb describes or modifies a verb, or an adjective. E.g. carefully, gently.
6. Preposition – This is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying
another word in the sentence.
7. Conjunction – A conjunction joins words, phrases or clauses e.g. and, but, because.
8. Interjection – This is a word used to express emotion. Most times, an interjection is
followed by an exclamation mark. E.g. Oh!, Wow!

4.4: Mechanics

Mechanics refers to the parts of speech and how they combine together to form
sentences. It refers to the rules of the written language such as capitalization, punctuation and
spelling. An understanding of both grammar and mechanics is required to clearly
communicate ideas in written form.

 Capitalization

Capitalization helps convey information. The first word of every sentence is capitalized, this
action signals that a new sentence has begun. Proper nouns are capitalized to indicate
uniqueness.

 Punctuation

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Punctuation brings a whole write-up together to ensure that it makes sense as a whole. It also
places emphasis where the writer wants it to be. The most commonly used punctuation
mechanics include: the full stop or period (.), colon (:), semi-colon (;), apostrophe (’), hyphen
(-), bracket (()), exclamation mark (!), inverted comma (“ ”), among others.

 Spelling

Spelling in English follows some basic rules as some words are not spelled as pronounced. A
student can learn these rules as well as the exemptions to the rules that need to be learned.
English spelling rules relate to; prefixes and suffixes; plurals, dropping and adding letters,
verb forms etc.

4.5: Sentence Structure

The sentence is often referred to as the largest grammatical unit of expression. This
helps students write great sentences for all text types and genres.

Talking about sentence structure’, we mean the various elements of a sentence and
how these elements are organized on the page to convey a desired effect. Writing well in
terms of sentence structure requires students to become familiar with various elements of
grammar, as well as the various types of sentences that exist in English.

4.5. 1: Types of Sentences

There are four types of sentences in English:

1. Simple sentences (They are the first children easily construct. They follow the pattern:
SV or SVO).
2. Compound sentences (Two simple sentences joined with a conjunction: and, or, but, etc.
to clauses).
3. Complex sentences (Basically, it comprises of one independent clause and one
dependent clause).
4. Compound-complex sentences (Joining compound sentence with a complex one. Two
independent clauses and one subordinate clause).

Getting used to these sentences will enable students to articulate effectively and with
personality and style. This requires a lot of practice, but the process begins with ensuring that
each student has a firm grasp on how each type of sentence structure works. For example, we
need to ensure that students understand the difference between independent and dependent
clauses and how they work; this will make it easier for students to grasp the different types of

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sentences that follow. First what is a clause? It is a group of words having a subject and a
predicate including a finite verb.

Independent Clause: It is that part of a sentence that can stand on its own and yet still
remains meaningful as a complete sentence. It expresses a complete thought or idea and
contains a subject and a finite verb.

Dependent clauses or subordinate clauses: are not complete sentences and cannot stand on
their own. They do not express a complete thought or idea. To become complete, they must
be attached to an independent clause. They are also known as subordinate clauses. To
understand this better, an example will suffice:

I shut the door/ before the animal escaped

Independent clause Dependent clause

5.5.2: Sentence Fragment

A sentence fragment is a collection of words that looks similar to a sentence, but actually is
not a complete sentence. Sentence fragment usually lack a subject or a verb or don’t express a
complete thought. Whilst a fragmented sentence can be punctuated to appear similar to a
complete sentence, it is no substitute for a sentence.

 Sentence Fragment Features

These are the distinguishing features of a sentence fragment:

1. It lacks a subject.
Example: jumped further than a kangaroo (who jumped?)
2. It lacks a verb or has the wrong verb form.
Example: My favorite math teacher. (What did the teacher do or say?)
3. It is a residual phase
Example: For better or worse (what is better or worse? What is it modifying?)

4. It is an abandoned clause.
Example: When my mother married my father (what happened when “my mother
married my father”?)
5. It is an improper use of “such as, for example, especially”.

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 Example: Such as, my brother was practicing martial arts. (it is unclear; did
something happen when “my brother was practicing martial art”?)

The methods of correcting a sentence fragment are varied but essentially it will boil down to
three options. Either to attach it to a nearby sentence, revise and add the missing elements or
rewrite the entire passage or fragment until they are operating in synergy with each other.

4.6: Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person’s language. It serves as a useful

tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one
of the largest challenges in learning a second language. Vocabulary is also seen as “word
knowledge” that makes it possible for students to engage with, produce and talk about texts
that are valued in schools.

Student’s vocabulary knowledge is a building process that occurs over time as they
make connections to other words; learn examples of the word accurately within the context of
the sentence. Vocabulary is used for communication in every spoken or written language
situation.

The term vocabulary is classified into the following:

a) Expressive Vocabulary – This refers to both written and spoken language, as these are
the ways we express ourselves.
b) Receptive Vocabulary – This refers to listening and reading other peoples’ works. In
doing this, we receive what another person has done.
c) Oral Vocabulary – This refers to the combination of listening and reading vocabulary.
d) Literate Vocabulary – This refers to the combination of reading and writing vocabulary.

4.7: Summary

The main thrust of this unit is to make you see the importance of grammar and its
component parts. This unit gave you an insight into the meaning of grammar, parts of speech,
mechanics as well as the structure of sentences. The unit also gave you the opportunity to
learn about sentence fragment and its features and vocabulary which helps you to develop
good spoken and written language.

4.8: Unit Assignment

1. What is Grammar?
2. What is a sentence?

58
3. Name four (4) sentences you know and briefly write on each.
4. What is a clause?
5. What is a sentence fragment?
6. What are the features of a sentence fragment?
7. With relevant examples, what are the methods of correcting sentence fragment?
8. Define Vocabulary.
9. Discuss the advantages of extensive vocabulary knowledge.
10. List and discuss the classes of vocabulary.

4.9: References

Gbenedio, U.B. (1996). Teaching and learning English as a second language Benin City:
New Era Publications.

Longe V.U. & Ofuani O. A. (2007). English language and communication. Benin City:
Nigerian Educational Research Association.

Flynt, E & Bozo, W.G. (2008). Developing academic language: Got words? The Reading
Teacher, 61(6), 500-502.

Butte College. (2009).The eight parts of speech. Retrieved from

https://www.butte.edu<Cas<
grammar.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. (2020). Boston; Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved from https://ahdictionary.com<search.

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 Unit 5: Literary Analysis/Appreciation of Text

Contents

5.1. Objectives

5.2. Introduction
5.3. Literary Genre
5.3.1. Poetry
5.3.2. Prose
5.3.3. Drama
5.3.4. Media
5.4. Literary Elements and Devices
5.4. 1. Literary Elements
4.4.2. Literary Devices
5.5. Figurative Language and Sound Devices
5.5. 1. Figurative Language
5.5.2. Sound Devices
5.6. Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
5.7. Summary
5.8. Unit Assignment
5.9. References
5. 1: Objectives

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After reading this unit you will be able to do the following:
1. Discuss what literary analysis entails.
2. Define and identify literary genres.
3. Identify the different literary elements.
4. Discuss the use of figurative language and sound devices in literary texts.
5. Write a literary analysis of a given text.
5. 2: Introduction

Majority of you who are language students may be familiar with the term ‘literary analysis.’
However, for those of you who are not, we will have to discuss what literary analysis entails.
Literary analysis is the close study of a text, interpreting the meaning, and exploring the
choices the author has made. Literary analysis is also known as literary criticism. In this
context, "criticism" means a close reading and interpretation of a literary text. To be able to
understand what literary analysis entails we must first identify what a literary text is.

 What is a literary text?

A literary text is a subjectively transformed reflection of the objective reality (Bednárová-

Gibová, 2014). Some good examples of literary texts include poems, short stories, plays,
novels, or even movies. The main feature of a literary text is that it is very often based on
imagination, ideas, and unreal things. You now know what the term literary text means. You
must have read a novel, short story or a poem in the past either for pleasure or for
examination purposes. You may or may not have carried out literary analysis of the text then.
So we will take a look at what literary analysis is all about.

A literary analysis explains a work of fiction, poetry or drama by means of interpretations.

Literary appreciation is reading, understanding and making a critical judgment of the theme,
style, use of figurative and non-figurative language as well as other elements of a literary
work (Anigbogu, & Uwakwe, 2016). The goal of a literary analysis (as with any other
analysis) is to broaden and deepen your understanding of a work of literature. A literary
analysis is also an argumentative analysis about a literary work. Although, some summary is
needed within the argument of a literary analysis, the objective is not to write a report about a
book or story, instead, a literary analysis discusses a writer’s interpretation of a text through
careful examination of the author’s choices within the text: word choice, themes, motifs, as
well as many other literary devices. The task in literary analysis is to study a given text in the
light of what Mulder and Hervey (1980) calls the ‘primitive statement’ which seeks to

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establish on the basis of classification that the work given have the quality of literature. In the
next section we will examine the different types of literary genres.

 Exercise 1

1. What is a literary text?

5.3: Literary Genres

The term ‘genre’ is a French word, which means 'kind' or 'type’. Genre, in broad terms,
refers to any works that share certain characteristics. If enough characteristics are in common,
then the pieces are said to be in the same genre. In literature, the main genres are Poetry.
Prose and Drama, though these genres can be broken down even further resulting in dozens
of subgenres for each. Some authors will cite only two genres: fiction and non-fiction, though
many writers will argue that fiction and non-fiction can, and do, both fall under poetry, drama
or prose. . A more recent genre of literature is media, which encompass the many new and
important kinds of texts in our society today, such as movies and films, websites,
commercials, billboards, and radio programmes. You may be very familiar with this genre.
This genre will also be discussed in the next unit under Visual Literacy. We will now look at
the different literary genres in this section.

5.3. 1: Poetry

Poetry is a style of writing written in verses, and typically employs a rhythmic and measured
approach to composition. It is characteristically known for evoking emotional responses from
readers through its melodic tone and use of creative language that is often imaginative
and symbolic in nature. The word “poetry” comes from the Greek word “poiesis” which
essentially means, making, which is translated into the making of poetry. Poetry is typically
divided into two main subgenres, narrative and lyric, which each have additional types that
fall under their respective umbrellas. For example, narrative poetry includes ballads and epic
tales, while lyric poetry includes sonnets, psalms and even folk songs.

In general, a poem has some sort of meter or rhythm, and focuses on the way the syllables,
words, and phrases sound when put together. Poems are heavy in imagery and metaphor and
are often made up of fragments and phrases rather than complete, grammatically correct
sentences. Also, poetry is nearly always written in stanzas and lines, creating a unique look
on the page. You will have to read up the different types of poetry.

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5.3.2: Prose

Prose can be defined as any kind of written text that is distinct from verse it can be either
fiction or nonfiction. Most essays, compositions, reports, articles, research papers, short
stories, and journal entries are types of prose writings, the most typical varieties being novels
and short stories. Prose is written in complete sentences and organized in paragraphs. Instead
of focusing on sound, which is what poetry does, prose tends to focus on plot and characters.
Like poetry, prose is broken down into a number of sub-genres. Some of these sub-genres
revolve around the structure of the text, such as novellas, biographies, and memoirs, and
others are based on the subject matter, like romances, fantasies, and mysteries.

5.3.3: Drama

Drama is any text meant to be performed rather than read (unless it’s a poem meant to be
performed, of course). It portrays fictional and non-fictional events through the performance
of written dialogue. Dramas depend heavily on spoken dialogue to keep the audience
informed about the characters’ feelings, personalities, motivations, and plans. In layman’s
terms, dramas are typically called plays, and their writers are known as ‘playwrights’ or
‘dramatists’. In many cases, dramas will actually overlap with poetry and prose, depending
on the writing style of the author. Some dramatic pieces are written in a poetic style, while
others employ a more casual writing style seen in prose, to better relate to the audience. Like
both poetry and prose, dramas can be fiction or nonfiction, though most are fictional or
inspired by real life, but not completely accurate. Drama is generally classified into specific
categories according to the mood, tone, and actions depicted in the plot. Some popular types
of drama include:

- Comedy

This type of drama is lighter in tone, and is intended to make the audience laugh and usually
come to a happy ending. Comedies place offbeat characters in unusual situations causing
them to do and say funny things. Comedy can also be sarcastic in nature, poking fun at
serious topics. There are also several sub-genres of comedy, including romantic comedy,
sentimental comedy, a comedy of manners, and tragic comedy,

- Tragedy

Tragedies portray serious subjects like death, disaster, and human suffering in a dignified and
thought-provoking manner. Rarely enjoying happy endings, characters in tragedies, like

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Shakespeare's Julius Caesar are often burdened by tragic character flaws that ultimately lead
to their downfall.

- Farce

This type features exaggerated or absurd forms of comedy, a farce is a nonsensical genre of
drama in which characters intentionally overact and engage in slapstick or physical humor.
Examples of farce include the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and the hit 1980
movie Airplane!, written by Jim Abrahams (Longley, 2019).

- Melodrama

This is an exaggerated form of drama, which depicts

classic one-dimensional characters such as heroes, heroines, and villains dealing with
sensational, romantic, and often perilous situations. Sometimes called “tearjerkers,” examples
of melodramas include the play Gone With the Wind, based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel
(Longley, 2019).

- Opera

This versatile genre of drama combines theater, dialogue, music, and dance to tell grand
stories of tragedy or comedy. Since characters express their feelings and intentions through
song rather than dialogue, performers must be both skilled actors and singers.

- Docudrama

This is a relatively new sub-genre of drama, which,

portrays historic events or non-fictional situations. It is more often presented in movies and
television than in live theater.

5.3.4: Media

The newest type of literary text that has been defined as a distinct genre is media. This
categorization was created to encompass the many new and important kinds of texts in our
society today, such as movies and films, websites, commercials, billboards, and radio
programmes. Any work that doesn’t exist primarily as a written text can probably be
considered media, particularly if it relies on recently developed technologies. You are likely
to be more exposed to this genre of literature. It is however, dealt with more under media and

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visual literacy. You may have to read it up, though visual literacy will be discussed in the
next unit.

 Exercise 2
1. Describe the main differences among the different literary genres.

5. 4: Literary Elements
Now that we have looked at literary genres and its types, we will be looking at specific
features that are general or peculiar to each genre. In order to know what to look for in a text
before you write your literary analysis essay, you need to be familiar with literary terms.
Knowing your terms will be beneficial to you, so you can consider what you want to discuss
in your essay. We will examine some literary elements which will be of benefit to you when
writing your literary analysis.

5.4. 1: Literary Elements

 Theme – The message/s explored throughout a work of literature.

 Plot – The arrangement of event in chronological or through the use of

flashback/flash-forward. Under plot you may have to look at some of the following:

- Exposition – The opening of the story that sets up the characters, setting, (time and
place), and basic information in introduced.

- Conflict – The protagonist struggles between opposing forces. It can be external:

person vs. person, per-son vs. person vs. nature, person vs. society, person vs.
technology, person vs. supernatural. It can be internal: person vs. self.

- Rising Action – The main character faces a series of conflicts.

- Crisis – A significant turning point in the story that determines how the story must
end.

- Climax – The highest point of tension or drama in a narratives’ plot. Often climax
is also when the main problem of the story is faced and solved by the main
character or protagonist.

- Falling Action – The story begins to slow down and work towards its end, tying
up loose ends.

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 - Resolution/Denouement – The conclusion of the story’s plot.

 Setting

The time and place (or when and where) of the story. It can be time period, location, the time
of day, the season, weather, type of room or building. The three types of setting you should
take note of are:

- Physical – The place where the story occurs. Example. The setting of Things Fall
Apart takes place in Umofia.

- Historical – The time period in history that surrounds the story. That is why in
African literature we often talk of Pre-colonial, Colonial, Post-colonial, Pre-
independence literature etc.

- Atmospheric – The feeling, emotion, or mood that an author creates in a narrative

through descriptive language

 Character

A character is a person, animal, being, creature in a story. Writers use characters to perform
the actions and speak dialogue, moving the story along a plot line. Examples of types of
characters are:

- Protagonist – This is the main character, around which the whole story revolves.

- Antagonist – This character, or group of characters, causes the conflict for the
protagonist. The antagonist could be the protagonist, who is torn by a problem within.

- Foil – Opposite character traits from another, character meant to help highlight or
bring out another’s positive or negative side.

- Static – this type of character do not change throughout the story. A major character
can remain static through the whole story.

- Dynamic – This type changes throughout the story. They may learn a lesson, become
bad, or change in complex ways.

- Flat – Has one or two traits, usually only all positive or negative. They are the
opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its use in the story.

- Round – Opposite of the flat character. Characters have many different traits, good
and bad, making them more interesting.

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  Characterization –

This is the process a writer uses to develop his/her characters throughout the story.
The author uses details to teach us about a character. This is used over the course of a
story in order to tell the tale. There are two types of characterization,

- Direct – The author explicitly tells the audience what he or she wants you to know
about the character.

- Indirect – The reader makes inferences about a character based on their actions,
thoughts, personality, and emotional effect on other characters.

 Point of view

Point of view refers to the vantage point from which the story is told. Who is telling the
story? There are three points of view a story can be told from.
- First-person – The story is told through the eyes of the character telling the story.

- Second-person – The narrator is speaking to you. This is seen mostly in poems,

speeches, instructional writing, and persuasive articles.

- Third-person – The narrator is describing what’s seen, but as a spectator. If the

narrator is a character in the story, then we are reading what he or she observes as the
story unfolds. The story can be told from an omniscient (all-knowing) narrator who
doesn’t interact in the events, or a limited omniscient character who knows only one
other person’s thoughts or feelings, or character who has a limited perspective of the
events unfolding.

 Diction

Diction refers to word choice and phrasing in any written or spoken text. There are two types
of diction:

- Formal – Involves choosing words that are polite and proper. Formal language is
often filled with descriptive words that are quite precise, and sentences may be longer.

- Informal – Generally uses shorter words. Sentences may be incomplete or ignore

some finer points of grammar and usage.

- Denotation Imagery – Evokes the five senses. What does the character or narrator
make the reader touch, see, hear, feel, smell, taste? Dictionary definition of a word.

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 Some-times a word can have multiple definitions. Consider the way the word is used
in context to the story.

- Connotation – Feelings and images associated with a word or phrase.

- Tone – is the author’s attitude towards the subject they are writing about.
- Mood – is the atmosphere of the story. The reader determines the feel of the story.

5.4.2: Literary Devices

 Symbolism

The use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are
different from their literal sense. Symbols can be universal, conventional, or contextual.

- Universal – A word or object that almost everyone agrees on the meaning.

- Conventional - Widely recognized by a society or culture. Example: Christian cross,
or a nation’s flag.
- Contextual - A word or object that stands for some-thing else just in the story or
situation.
 Imagery

Evokes the five senses. What does the character or narrator make the reader touch, see, hear,
feel, smell, taste?

 Figurative Language

Figurative language is used to describe someone or something by comparing to another or

using words for description that do not have a literal meaning. Examples: Metaphor and
Simile. This will be discussed in more detail in the next section.

 Exercise 3

1. Explain two literary elements as it used in the different genre.

5. 5: Figurative Language and Sound Devices

5.5. 1: Figurative Language

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Imagery or figurative language is a writing technique that uses words to capture and clarify
concepts for the reader. Devices of imagery include metaphor, simile and personification.
Although well-known as a poet's tool, figurative language infuses prose with a spark that sets
an author's writing apart and helps a reader feel and understand the material more completely.
Imagery and figurative language utilize concepts that readers already know and understand,
comparing those concepts to new material and ideas. Figurative language refers to a way of
using description to create a special image and bring out one's emotions. It is also closely
linked to the senses. There are several types of figurative language. Figurative language is an
important part of writing and is also widely used in speech.

 Metaphors
A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things. Writers use metaphors to describe
something unknown or difficult to understand by comparing it to something the reader
already knows. For example, saying "John is a lion" is a clear, concise way to explain that he
is a strong and fearless. Although people do not know John, they do know a lion and want it
can do and can understand the comparison.

 Simile

A simile is like a metaphor, although not quite as direct a comparison. Similes compare the
known to the unknown, but must also use the words "like" or "as." For example, "He is as
slippery as a snail" connotes that someone is trying to squirm out of something and paints a
negative picture without having to say all of those words. "She is like dynamite" shows that
someone has an explosive personality.

 Personification

Personification occurs when inanimate objects are given human characteristics. This tool is
used to describe a scene and bring life to a piece of writing. "The wind whispered through the
trees" means that a gentle wind was creating noise in the branches. "The heavens cried" could
be used to describe a heavy rain and give a sense of a sad mood as well. Personification is a
poet's tool that can be used when the author wants to engage the audience more emotionally.

 Hyperbole

Hyperbole is exaggeration to make a point. "I am as hungry as a horse" is a startling

statement, making it clear that the speaker is ravenous. "I've had a million job rejections"
explains just how dire the writer's job search has been in a clear, succinct way. Hyperbole is

69
used both in writing and in casual conversation to create a clear, exaggerated effect using a
minimum of words. Hyperbole invokes the figurative rather than the literal meanings of
words.
 Exercise 4
1. What do writers achieve with the use of figurative language in literary texts?
2. Identify the figure of speech in the extract below.

“Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe

Transparent like a river, mysterious like a lake”

5.5.2: Sound Devices

 Alliteration

Alliteration is a sound device formed by the repetition of the same sound, usually a
consonant, at the beginning of a word. “Dead as a doornail” and “footloose and fancy-free”
are examples of alliteration. A subcategory of alliteration is tongue twisters, which involve
words that contain the same sounds. “She sells sea shells by the seashore” and “Peter Piper
picked a peck of picked peppers” are two well-known examples.

 Assonance
Assonance is a sound device that refers to word phrases with similar sounds repeated in the
words, such as the “ee” sound in “easy to please.” These recurring sounds don't necessarily
have to be vowels, as phrases such as “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” are also assonance
examples, due to the repetition of the "B," "T" and "D" sounds of the words.
 Onomatopoeia

The sound device onomatopoeia refers to words both derived from sounds and used to
suggest sound. “Ping” and “tick, tock” are examples of words derived from sounds.
 Exercise 5
1. What is the use of sound devices in literary texts?

2. Identify the sound device(s) used in the extract below.

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits”

Proclaims the Forest Sage,

“A little bit of a Lion

A little bit of a Lamb”

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5.6: Writing a Literary Analysis of Texts
We have gone through the rudiments of what we need to be able to write an effective analysis
of a literary text; identifying the different literary genres, literary elements and the use of
figurative language and sound devices in literary texts. The purpose of a literary analysis
essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a
work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its
component parts. Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in
itself, but rather a process to help you better appreciates and understand the work of literature
as a whole.

In order to analyze a literary text, you need to examine, in detail, the structure/makeup of the
text with the purpose of explaining or interpreting how its parts work together. A literary
analysis is a paper on one, or many, of the key elements in a text and how they support a
main idea or purpose. However, you bear in mind that when writing a literary analysis, you
are not just identifying elements in a text, but analyzing those specific elements. In this
section, we will examine the steps to take in writing a good literary analysis.

 Identify the Author’s Purpose

The first step in writing a literary analysis is to identify the author’s purpose. This will form
the basis of the thesis of your paper. You may come across several purposes as you read, but
choose the one that speaks most to you. This is also defined as a theme of the text. We have
looked at theme under literary element in one of the previous sections; it is an abstract
concept that portrays a message, claim, or life lesson.

- Examples of Purpose/Theme:
1. In the text Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a main theme is heroes versus
villains.
2. In the text Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a main theme is the struggle between
change and tradition.
3. In the text The Leader and the Led by Niyi Osundare, a main theme is leadership.

How do you identify the author’s purpose(s)? There are some useful questions you can ask to
identify the author’s purpose:

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 1. What main idea did the author want the reader to understand or take away from the
text?
2. What idea do you, as a reader, feel is most prevalent?
 Analyze Key Elements

The next step after you have identified the purpose is to figure out how the author portrays
this theme and why you came to the conclusion that this theme is both important and
prevalent. The elements you should analyze are plot, setting, characters,
point of view, style, figurative language, and sound devices. Take care to observe such
specifics as narrative point of view, the use of a persona, the ways in which character and
setting are established, plot structure, verse form. Look out for allusions to other literary
works, to myths and folktales, or historical events. Watch for the characteristic features of a
writer’s (or character’s) style, for the way in which a work fits, stretches, or thwarts
established expectations for works in its mode or genre, for the way the lineation (placement
of line breaks) and meter or variations within the meter of a poem underscore or trouble its
meaning, for the way the rhythms of the prose help to convey ideas or produce emotions in
the reader.

There are specific questions that will guide you to figure out the use of these elements.

- Plot:

1. What main conflicts occurred throughout the story?

2. What are the main events of the story?
3. What is the order of these events?
4. Does the order have significance to the purpose?

- Setting:
1. Is there anything to note about the role that time of day plays in the story?
2. Is the location or changing of location significant to the purpose of the overall piece?
3. Does the author intentionally bring forth any social or cultural contexts to aid their
purpose
- Characters:
1. How do the characters change throughout the story?
2. What caused or provoked this change?
3. Who is the protagonist? Antagonist?

- Style:

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 1. How does the format of the text affect the overall piece?
2. Does the word choice play a role in the understanding/interpretation of the text?
3. Are simple, plain words used, or does the writer use higher, more elevated
language?

- Figurative Language:

1. Where and how are metaphors, similes, symbols, etc. used in the story?
2. What are their purposes in the overall functionality of the text?
3. Why did the author choose to use these specific examples of figurative language?

 Connect Ideas

After you have identified a purpose and the key elements in the story, you need to create a
thesis that shows how these two connect. In other words, you need to show how these key
elements play a role in the argument that the text is making about a specific theme. It is
important to keep this thesis in mind while analyzing the text because your analysis of the
element(s) should always tie back to the author’s purpose.

 Elements of a Good Literary Analysis Essay

You may also consider the following when writing a literary analysis essay.

- The Thesis Statement

The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded
declarative sentence that states the purpose of your essay -- the point you are trying to make.
Typically, the thesis statement comes at the end of your introductory paragraph.

- The Introduction

In the introduction to your literary analysis essay, ensure to capture your reader’s interest. To
bring immediate focus to your subject, you may want to use a quotation, a provocative
question, a brief anecdote, a startling statement, or a combination of these. You may also
want to include background information relevant to your thesis and necessary for the reader
to understand the position you are taking. In addition, you need to include the title of the
work of literature and name of the author

- The Body of the Essay

The term regularly used for the development of the central idea of a literary analysis essay is
the body. In this section you present the paragraphs (at least 3 paragraphs) that support your

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thesis statement. Good literary analysis essays contain an explanation of your ideas and
evidence from the text (short story, poem, play) that supports those ideas. Textual evidence
consists of summary, paraphrase, specific details, and direct quotations. Each paragraph
should contain a topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) which states one
of the topics associated with your thesis, combined with some assertion about how the topic
will support the central idea. The purpose of the topic sentence is twofold:

1. To relate the details of the paragraph to your thesis statement.

2. To tie the details of the paragraph together.

The substance of each of your developmental paragraphs (the body of your essay) will be the
explanations, summaries, paraphrases, specific details, and direct quotations you need to
support and develop the more general statement you have made in your topic sentence.

 Exercise 6
1. Discuss the guideline for writing a good literary analysis essay.
2. Pick any poem of your choice and write a literary analysis essay on it.

5.7: Summary

In this unit we examined literary analysis/appreciation of text. In order to help you

begin to appreciate how to analyze a literary text, we looked at the definition of the term
“literary text”. We went further to discuss the different literary genres; poetry, prose, drama
and media we also discussed what differentiate literary texts from other texts. Writers’ use of
literary elements, literary devices, figurative language and sound devices were also discussed.
After going through all these we took a critical look at the guidelines necessary for writing a
good literary analysis essay. We hope you will try your hand on the analyses of some literary
texts of your choice.

5.8: Unit Assignment

1. Do a study of the genres of literature and give examples for each, using text
references from Nigerian writers.
2. What is figurative language? Give at least three examples; illustrate your answers
with examples from any text
3. Briefly describe how to write a literary analysis.
4. Write a literary analysis of any text you have read.
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5.9: References

Abrams, G (2009). A glossary of literary terms (9th ed). Boston: Wadsworth Cengage.

Bednárová-Gibová, K. (2014) Literary text through the prism of text linguistics & translation
studies reconsidered
https://www.pulib.sk/web/kniznica/elpub/dokument/Kacmarova4/subor/
Bednarova_Gibova.pdf
Buchanan, I. (2010). Dictionary of critical theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cowles, D. (1994). Critical experience: Literary reading, writing and criticism 2nd ed.
Dubuque,
Iowa.

Lodge, D. (2000). Modern criticism and theory New York: Pearcan Education Inc.
.
Longley, R. (2019, November 23). What is an antagonist? Definitions and examples in
literature. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-antagonist-4164839

Mulder, I. & Hervey, S. (1980). The strategy of linguistics. Edinburgh.

Taylor, R. (1981). Understanding the elements of literature. London: Macmillian Press Ltd.

UNIT 6: Visual Literacy (Viewing)

Content
6. 1. Objectives
6. 2. Introduction
6. 3. What is Visual Literacy?
6. 4. Interpreting meaning – Visual Metalanguage
6. 5. How to teach visual literacy (Teaching Strategies)
6. 6. Analysis and composing visual texts
6. 7. Summary

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 6. 8. Unit based questions
6. 9. References

6. 1: Objectives
Reading this unit will help you do the following:

1. Define visual literacy

2. Interpret meaning using visual metalanguage
3. Discuss strategies to use in teaching visual literacy
4. Analyse and compose visual texts

6. 2: Introduction

We are sure you come across several visual elements in your daily activities as you tackle the
non-linear demands of the technological age. This is even more prominent in today’s teaching
and learning as the integration of images and visual presentations with text in textbooks,
instructional manuals, classroom presentations, and computer interfaces is on the increase
(Benson, 1997; Branton, 1999). You make use of smart phone and computer to surf the web
where you are further bombarded with visual elements. This calls for your understanding
about how visual meaning is conveyed in visual texts. You may wonder what visual literacy
is all about.
After going through this unit, we hope that you will understand that to say someone is literate
it entails more than just being able to read and write. This justifies Kellner’s (1998) assertion
that multiple literacies are necessary to meet the challenges of today's society, literacies that
include print literacy, visual literacy, aural literacy, media literacy, computer literacy, cultural
literacy, social literacy, and ecoliteracy. However, in this unit we are concerned with visual
literacy.

6.3: What is Visual Literacy?

You may want to know what ‘visual literacy’ is. Visual literacy can simply be defined as the
ability to read, write and create visual images. It is about language, communication and
interaction. The term “visual literacy” was first coined in 1969 by John Debes, who was the
founder of the International Visual Literacy Association:
Visual Literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can
develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory

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 experiences. The development of these competencies is fundamental to normal
human learning. When developed, they enable a visually literate person to
discriminate and interpret the visible actions, objects, symbols, natural or man-
made, that he encounters in his environment. Through the creative use of these
competencies, he is able to communicate with others. Through the appreciative
use of these competencies, he is able to comprehend and enjoy the masterworks
of visual communication (Debes, 1969).

After Debes’ (1969) definition several researchers and practitioners have re-defined the
concept from different disciplines like education, science, graphic design, art, technology,
philosophy and so on. We will take a look at two or three other definitions of the concept
‘visual literacy’, the first one is that by Kaplan and Mifflin (2000), who termed it as “an
evolving concept best defined as the ability to think and learn in terms of images” and is a
reaction to the awareness that “contemporary culture is increasingly captured by and reflected
in visual … documents” (p. 73). The second definition, that of Finley (2014), classifies
visual literacy as a component of the 21st century skills, which every present day learner
must “demonstrate the ability to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand information
presented through visible actions, objects, and symbols natural or man-made.” You must
have come across the term “21st century skills”. It is generally used to refer to the set of core
competencies such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, ICT skills
that students need to succeed in the present day workforce. You need these skills to succeed
in your career.

Visual literacy involves skills that we use when interacting with multi-media, and is defined
from two perspectives. The first perspective is the ability to extract or “read” (decode)
linguistic meaningful information from an image. The second perspective involves the ability
of the individual to produce visual representations using art elements (line, shape, color,
proportion, etc.) to communicate (encode) clear messages and symbols (Piro, 2002). Visuals
come in different formats and you may have come across some of these, like advertisements,
cartoons, charts and graphs, collages, comic books and graphic novels, diagrams and tables,
dioramas, maps, memes, multimedia texts, photos, pictograms, signs, slide shows,
storyboards, symbols, timelines, videos and so on. How do we make meaning from these
various formats you may want to know? To make meaning, students and teachers should

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have a shared visual metalanguage (a shared, specialised terminology) that describes
meaning. The concept ‘visual metalanguage will be discussed in the next section.

 Exercises
1. What is visual literacy?
2. List some of the formats for visual texts.
3. What role did John Debes play in the emergence of visual literacy?

6.4: Interpreting Meaning – Visual Metalanguage

You will understand the term ‘visual metalanguage’ in the same way we use in
describing the grammar of a language, for example how we talk about meaning making in
written and spoken texts. Visual metalanguage is a technical language for reading visual
texts. This specialised terminology enables you to be able to discuss the design features and
meanings of visual texts. Access to a visual metalanguage will also enable students and
teachers to accurately and consistently talk about how meaning is made in visual texts. A
metalanguage enables the comparison of visual texts. You will also be able to discuss and
identify visual semiotic choices made by the author to construct particular meanings, the
effects of particular choices on the audience, what alternatives might have been chosen, and
how this would change the meaning of the visual text (Unsworth, 2007, p. 380).

The visual metalanguage discussed in this section supports teaching viewing and creating
visual meaning, and is informed by the works of Kress and van Leeuwen (2006), Callow
(2013), and Painter, Martin and Unsworth (2013). The visual metalanguage is organised
around three simultaneously operating meaning functions: to effectively comprehend,
respond to, and compose visual texts.

 Expressing and developing ideas in images

Here we consider the 5 W questions. Who, what, where, when, why? These are questions
we ask in relation to choices of lines, symbols, vectors, size and colour in order to
make meaning of a visual text. The following discussion questions can be used as a
starting point for talking about any visual text. Each question can be expanded to
elicit responses to explain reasons why, and provide evidence from the image to
justify these responses. Such questions could include:

1. What type of text is this image from?

2. What is this image about?

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 3. Who and what is in this image? Who are the main participants – characters, or
things/objects – seen?
4. What is happening? What are different participants/objects doing?
5. Where and when and why is this happening? What information is provided in the
image which tells us about the circumstances surrounding these participants and
actions?

Besides these questions, you also need to understand author’s use of v isual semiotic resources in
expressing and developing ideas in visual texts/images; symbols, lines, vectors, size, and
colour. These visual semiotic resources will be discussed in this section.

 Visual Semiotic Resources used in Expressing and Developing Ideas in

Images
- Symbols

Symbols or signs are used to represent ideas or concepts. For example, the dove is a symbol
often used to represent peace, heart symbols are used to represent love, and the tree
symbolizes growth, nature, stability and eternal life. Symbols can also be used to present
concepts, and information in diagrams, graphs, timelines, and other forms of visual
information texts.
Symbol examples and discussion prompts:

- Lines

Lines used in an image include: straight or curved, length, angle, intersection of vertical and
horizontal lines, and direction. Lines are used in images to indicate movement and direction.
Lines can be natural, formed by objects in the image, or artificial lines created by the author,
using subject gaze or pointing for example. When discussing the use of lines in an image, the
following questions can be used: What sort of lines do you see in this image? Are these lines
formed by natural objects in the image or created by the image maker? Where do the lines
take your eye? What information does this use of straight/curved/intersecting lines give the
audience about the circumstances of this situation? Why has the author chosen to use these
lines like this? How would meaning change if these straight/curved/intersecting lines were
replaced with a different type of line?

- Vectors

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A vector shows action and direction in an image through lines. A vector can be a visible line.
A vector can indicate movement in a still image. Vectors can also be created using the line of
a shadow or an object, subject gaze or eyeline, or a pointing arm or finger. When discussing
the use of vectors in an image, the following questions can be used as prompts: What sort of
vectors do you see in this image? Are these vectors formed by natural objects in the image or
created by the image maker? What information does this use of vectors give the audience
about the circumstances surrounding these participants and actions?

- Size

Size of objects in an image is a comparative process. Questions often asked about size in an
image include some of the following: How big is something in the image in relation to
something else? What information does this use of size give the audience about the
circumstances of this situation? Why has the author chosen to use size like this? What might
this mean? How would meaning in this image change if the size of the objects changed or
were reversed?

- Colour

Colours are often loaded with rhetorical meaning, both in terms of the values and emotions
associated with them and their contextual background. Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) show
how the use of colour is as contextually bound as writing and images themselves. For
instance, they write, “red is for danger, green for hope. In most parts of Nigeria, black is for
mourning, though in some part of the south eastern parts of Nigeria, widows were white for
mourning. In Nigeria, during Valentine’s Day it is common to see youths all dressed up in red
(the colour for love) partying with their dates and friends. In some contexts also red
symbolizes danger.

 Interacting and relating with others through the image

You may have noticed that there are three main participants in a text; the author, the
audience, and the subject(s) (characters in a literary text, or the main things/objects in a
factual text). Authors build relationships and interactions among these three participants
using metalanguge. You may recall that we said earlier on that metalanguage is a technical
language used for reading visual texts. Three of these metalanguge terms; focaliser, social
distance and gaze will be discussed in this section. These three terms show how you as the
audience is positioned to see and interact with the subject(s) in the image.

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  Focaliser

This describes how you are positioned to see the image. It is also known as ‘point of view’.
Focaliser shows how the audience sees events; direct as viewer (yourself), or to see events
mediated through a character, either as a character [first-person]; or alongside a character
(Painter, Martin, Unsworth, 2013). The following general discussion prompts are intended to
develop student knowledge of these options for choice of focaliser in an image or visual text,
and the possible impact this might have the viewer. How are you positioned to see this
image? Is it direct to you? Or is it mediated through a character? How do you know? What
evidence is there in the image to support this? How does this choice of focaliser affect how
you feel about these characters, or this subject, and what is happening to them? Do you feel
more closely aligned to the character? Why do you think the author made this choice of
focaliser for this image? If you changed the focaliser, for example from direct 'as viewer', to
'as character', or vice versa, how do you think this might change your feelings about, or
response to, what is happening in this image?

 Types of Focalisers
- Direct as Viewer

Direct as viewer is the most common choice of focaliser. The viewer is positioned as an
outsider looking in at the events and actions within the image. Everything is laid out for you
to see.

- Mediated Focaliser – as Character

Focalising as a character shows what the character can see, as if through a character's eyes.
This is designed to align the viewer more closely with the focalising character. Focalising as
a character means that your view point is restricted to see only what this character can see.
Focalising as a character can be inscribed through use of the focalising character’s shadow.
Other options for an inscribed 'as character' focaliser, include showing a body part from the
focalising character. Focalising through the eyes of a character can also be inferred across a
sequence of two images.

- Mediated Focaliser – along with Character

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The other option for a mediated focaliser is to position the viewer to see events from just
behind or close beside a character.
 Social Distance

Social distance shows how close or far away the subject is to you. This term reminds one of
COVID-19 pandemic and the call for social distance as a means of preventing its spread.
Social distance is the distance between the viewer/focaliser and subject. How close or far
away is the subject shown from the viewer? Social distance is measured on a continuum from
extremely close, to extremely remote. This is based on how comfortable we generally feel
with people being close to us, in real life situations. The following are discussion prompts
that can be used to describe social distance in an image. How are you positioned to see this
image? Is the subject close or far away? How does this choice of social distance affect how
you feel about these characters or this subject, and what is happening? Why do you think the
author made this choice of social distance here? If you changed the social distance in this
image, for example from close to public, or remote, or vice versa, how do you think this
might change your feelings about, or response to, what is happening in this image?

 Types of Social Distances

- Close social distance

In close social distance, the subject is shown to be very close to you, and takes up most of the
frame, and you can only see part of the subject. A close-up can imply a close, intimate and
familiar relationship with the subject. This can be comfortable if you like the character, but
might be threatening if the character is a bully.

- Mid social distance

In mid social distance the subject is quite close to you. Here half or most of the subject’s
body is in the frame, and a little bit of the setting. This is considered a friendly distance as in
real life, we would be close enough to touch each other and talk.

- Group social distance

In group social distance, you are positioned to be part of a larger group. You can see the
character’s whole body, and perhaps other characters, and more of the setting, this indicates
that the subject is further away from you.

- Public social distance

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The further a subject is positioned away from you, the less connection you feel, and subjects
therefore appear like strangers. We are too far away to easily talk to the subject. As the
subjects become further away, and therefore smaller, the setting becomes more dominant.
The framing of the subject at this distance is created through a long shot.

- Remote social distance

When the subject is positioned a very long way away from you, the subjects are tiny and hard
to recognise in the vast setting. This remote social distance means there is no opportunity for
social interaction. This remote framing of the subject is created through an extreme long shot.

 Composition and Structure of the Image

Composition and structure of the image show how the image is organised to create a
cohesive, coherent whole. It shows how the image flow of information in the image
organised. You need to learn how texts are structured to achieve particular purposes, and
make visual design choices to create texts that are logical, cohesive and coherent with
varying levels of complexity. You will also learn how the image maker guides the viewer
through the text through the deliberate choices of visual design at the level of the whole text,
and components within the text. In examining how the image or text is organised, you will
learn how visual design choices can prioritise some meanings and background. In this
section, we shall discuss two metanlanguage, salience and viewing/reading path, used in
describing show how the image is organised to create a cohesive, coherent whole.

- Salience

You would have noticed that when you are viewing an image your eyes are drawn to certain
parts of the image. This feature is called salience. Salience is how the viewer's eye is drawn
to what is important in an image. An aspect of an image can be highlighted by placement in
the foreground, size of the object, and contrast in tone or colour. These questions can be
asked to show the salience of an image.

- Viewing/Reading Path

When we are viewing an image or even reading a text our eyes are drawn from one point to
another across the image. Reading paths show how the eye is drawn to something in the
image first, and then vectors lead the viewer from this object through the image from point to
point.. Usually, the English-speaking reader will read a page from left to right and from top to
bottom. However, image authors can design specific reading paths which can begin and end

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in different ways. The following questions can be used as prompts to detect the
viewing/reading path of an image. If you imagine the image to be divided equally into four
quadrants, where is the main subject/s and the action placed in the text? For example, is this
in the top or bottom of the image? On the left or right side? Or in the middle? Is there a frame
around the image? How thick is the frame border? Is there a lot of white space on the page
around the edges? Or is the image spread across two pages? How do these elements draw the
image together as a cohesive whole?

 Exercises
1. What is metalanguage?
2. What are visual semiotic resources and what are they used for?
3. List and discuss two types of focalisers.
4. What is social distance and is it used in deriving meaning from an image?
5. Describe the importance of viewing/reading path in analyzing visual images.

6.5: How to Teach Visual Literacy – (Teaching Strategies)

At the beginning of the unit, one author, Finley (2014), whose definition we looked at,
remarked that visual literacy was one of the component parts of the 21st century skills which
every present day learner needs to perform well in the modern day workforce. What this
means is that as a pre-service language teacher you need to know how best to teach visual
literacy to your students. In this sub-section of the unit, we are going to discuss some
strategies, which are simple to execute, but powerfully effective in helping your
students interpret visual texts or images.

 Visual Thinking Strategy

This strategy adapted from ‘Think-Aloud’ strategy typically used to model how
expert readers make meaning from a text can be used for reading a visual
piece. You may check ‘Model Think-Aloud strategy’ by Derek Fernandez on Vimeo
(https://vimeo.com/10099005 ). Your knowledge of metalanguage, the technical
language, used in describing visual texts, which we discussed in the previous
section, will come in handy. Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) is a specific approach
to whole-class viewing and talking about art that primarily uses these questions:

1. What do you notice?

2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. What more can we find?

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VTS encourages students to think beyond the literal by discussing multiple
meanings, metaphors, and symbols.

 Five Card Flickr

Another strategy you can use is the ‘Five Card Flickr’, where players are given five
random photos. Students are then asked to carry out the following steps:

1. Jot down one word that they associate with each image.
2. Identify a song that comes to mind for one or more of the images.
3. Describe what all the images have in common.
4. Compare answers with classmates.

During the class discussion, ask students to point out the element(s) of the image
that prompted their responses.

 Asking the 4 Ws

You may also find this strategy very exciting and effective to use in teaching visual
literacy. Finley (2014) inspired by Debbie Abilock’s NoodleTools exercises,
developed the 4 Ws activity to help students make observations, connections, and
inferences about an artist’s agenda and develop ideas about the significance of an
image. You can read more about Debbie Abilock, the co-founder of Educational
Vision and content from http://www.noodletools.com/about/debbie-abilock/
Figure 1 shows a sample of a ‘Asking the 4 Ws’ worksheet.

Figure 6.1: Asking the 4 Ws Worksheet (Finley (2014).

 Exercises

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 1. Why should we teach visual literacy?
2. Discuss how to teach visual literacy using any of the strategies discussed in
this section.

6.6: Analyzing and Composing Visual Texts

In this section of the unit we will do more of practical activities; analyzing and composing
visual texts or images. Image analysis worksheets that can be used to promote
analysis of key features specific to different formats can be downloaded from the
National Archives website:
https://www.archives,gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo.html Samples that
can be found here include:

1. Photo Analysis
2. Cartoon Analysis
3. Motion Picture Analysis
4. Map Analysis
5. Poster Analysis

After downloading these worksheets you can either try using it to analyse or
compose the specific visual text/image. We will try that of photo analysis in this
section.

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 Analyze a Photograph
Meet the photo.
Quickly scan the photo. What do you notice first?
Type of photo (check all that apply):
❑ Portrait ❑ Landscape ❑ Aerial/Satellite ❑ Action ❑ Architectural
❑ Event ❑ Family ❑ Panoramic ❑ Posed ❑ Candid
❑ Documentary ❑ Selfie ❑ Other

Is there a caption? ❑ yes ❑ no

Observe its parts.

List the people, objects and activities you see.
PEOPLE OBJECTS ACTIVITIES

Write one sentence summarizing this photo.

Try to make sense of it.

Answer as best you can. The caption, if available, may help.
Who took this photo?
Where is it from?
When is it from?
What was happening at the time in history this photo was taken?
Why was it taken? List evidence from the photo or your knowledge about the photographer
that led you to your conclusion.
Use it as historical evidence.
What did you find out from this photo that you might not learn anywhere else?
What other documents, photos, or historical evidence are you going to use to help you
Understand this event or topic.

Figure 6.2: Photo Analysis Worksheet

(https://www.archives,gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo.html )

After studying the analysis worksheet, there are three steps Literal observation, Interpretation
and Evaluation/application that you can follow in photo analysis.

 Literal observation Phase

In this phase, you will take a photograph you wish to analyze and study it for a while. Next,
jot down what you have observed about the picture – what is pictured, how space is used, the
people, objects or activities captured etc.

 Interpretation Phase

In this phase, you try to interpret what you have observed. Here your knowledge of
metalanguage will be of help. Periodically, you will have to re-examine the photo as you

87
interpret what you have observed. You may want to reflect on the photo whether it reminds
you of something in the past or present. You may also consider whether the message(s) are
implicit or explicit.

 Evaluation/Application Phase

At this phase, you now put down your interpretation in writing. The following questions
should guide you in your writing. Does the implied purpose of the photo convey ideas that
are important? How? Is the image biased? How?

 Exercises
1. Get any picture of your choice and analyze it following the steps outlined in
the photo analysis worksheet.
2. Download any of the other analysis worksheet and use it to analyze the visual
text related to it.

6. 7: Summary
In this unit we have provided definitions of key terms in visual literacy and looked at the
importance of the use of visual metalanguage, a technical language, for reading visual texts.
We have also explained that in expressing and developing ideas in images we consider the
use of the 5 W questions: What? Where? Which? Who? Why? In addition to the use of visual
semiotic resources such as symbols, lines, vectors, size and colour. We have also considered
the use of some visual metalanguague terms; focalisers, social distance, gaze, salience and
viewing/reading path in the description of the relation between the viewer and the visual
image or in describing how the visual image is organised to create a cohesive, coherent
whole. We reviewed some strategies that the teacher can use in teaching visual strategies.
You were provided with website links to download image analysis worksheets to aid you in
analyzing visual texts/images. These worksheets present what you should look out for when
analyzing a visual text.

6. 8. Unit based questions

1. In not less than 150 words, write an essay on the importance of e nhancing visual
literacy skills and abilities of secondary school students. Use your own words, please
do not copy and paste from websites. Be sure to reference all sources using APA
reference style.
2. From the National Archives website
https://www.archives,gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo.html ,

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 download the worksheet for cartoon analysis and using the directives/steps
provided in the worksheet analyze any newspaper cartoon of your choice.

6. 9. References

Benson, P. J. (1997). Problems in picturing text: A study of visual/verbal problem solving.

Technical Communication Quarterly, 6(2), 141-160.

Branton, B. (1999). Visual literacy literature review.

http://vicu.utoronto.ca/staff/branton/litreview.html

Callow, J. (2013). The shape of text to come: How image and text work. Primary English
Teaching Association (Australia) (PETAA).

Debes, J. L. (1969). The loom of visual literacy. Audiovisual Instruction 14 (8), 25-27.

Finley, T. (2014). Common core in action: 10 visual literacy strategies. Retrieved from http://
www.edutopia.org/blog/ccia-10-visual-literacy-strategies-todd-finley

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