Literacy Is About More Than Reading
Literacy remains one of the most important foundations of the revised curriculum.
But effective literacy instruction should not stop at getting pupils to recognise letters, pronounce words or memorise vocabulary.
A strong literacy programme should progressively develop a child’s ability to:
- Listen and understand information
- Speak clearly and confidently
- Read with increasing fluency
- Understand what they have read
- Identify key information
- Build vocabulary
- Express ideas in writing
- Organise thoughts logically
- Respond to questions using evidence from a text
For younger learners, this means schools should pay particular attention to foundational reading skills.
For older primary learners, the emphasis should increasingly shift towards reading comprehension, vocabulary development, writing and communication.
What does this mean for teachers?
Instead of teaching reading as a standalone activity, teachers can integrate literacy into other subjects.
For example, a Basic Science lesson can include:
Read ā Explain ā Discuss ā Write
A pupil reads a short passage about plants, explains what they understood, discusses the topic with classmates and writes three things they learnt.
The result is that the child is developing science knowledge and literacy skills at the same time.