Designing Speaking and Writing Tasks Based on Texts

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Designing Speaking and Writing Tasks Based on
TextsInsights from the Four Resources Model

• Dr. Angel Lin, Associate Professor, Faculty of
  Education,
• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Email AngelLin_at_cuhk.edu.hk

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Introduction

• The Four Resources Model has been developed in
  Critical Literacy research and reading
  instruction
• It helps reading educators to understand the
  different key processes involved when a reader
  approaches a text

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Introduction

• Introducing the Four Resources model
• In this workshop, examples of activities will be
  provided to help participants to apply the model
  in designing writing and speaking activities
  based on texts

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The Four Resources Model

• A very good framework for understanding the
  existing typologies of reading pedagogies is
  provided by Luke Freebody (1990, 1999)s Four
  Resources/Roles model

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The Four Resources Model
Roles/Resources What successful readers know and do
Code breaker Decoding the codes and conventions of written, spoken and visual texts Understand the relationship between spoken sounds and written symbols the grammar of texts the structural conventions of texts
Text participant Comprehending written, spoken and visual texts Make meaning by drawing on own experiences and prior knowledge knowledge of similar texts
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The Four Resources Model
Text user Understanding the purposes of different written, spoken and visual texts for different cultural and social functions Know that different types of texts have different purposes these purposes shape the ways texts are structured and formed apply this knowledge in using (e.g., comprehending, creating, transforming) texts
Text analyst Understanding how texts position readers, viewers and listeners Is aware and can identify how texts are not ideologically natural or neutral but are crafted to represent the views and interests of the writer information, ideas and language in texts influence reader perceptions of oneself, others and the world texts empower or disempower certain groups of people
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The Four Resources Model

• It is a way of seeing all the different levels of
  literacy
• The model is a map of possible practices (Luke
  Freebody, 1999)
• Therefore, it is not an instructional panacea and
  does not have all the answers
• Basically the model can be used as a way to
  scaffold students towards becoming active users
  of texts rather than simply consumers

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Levels of the Model

• Leve1 Learning to be a code-breaker
• At this level the basic skills of reading may be
  emphasized
• Level 2 Learning to be a textparticipant
• At this level students may develop genre
  knowledge, back-ground knowledge and
  comprehension knowledge

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Uses of the Model

• Level 3 Learning to be a textuser
• Students use texts to participate in social and
  cultural activities or for further learning
• Level 4 Learning to be a text analyst
• At this level students critically analyse how the
  text positions (i.e., creates identities for)
  groups and people and has purposes and objectives

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Uses of the Model

• An important point is that literacy instruction
  can cover all four levels and one level is not
  pre-requisite for the next
• The aim of a reading programme should be to move
  students gradually towards a "critical" dimension
  of literacy and to develop literacy skills in
  each of the four resource areas

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Teaching Strategies

• All four roles need to be taught systematically
  and explicitly, and crafted by the professionally
  well informed teacher
• Teachers should explore how all strategies and
  materials available might be used to build
  literacy skills at each of the four resource
  levels

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Example 1 Printed Fiction

• Fairy Tale Snow White

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Sample Tasks for Snow White

• Level 1 Language decoding (of words, phrases,
  language features, stylistic features of the
  text)
• Find ten adjectives that describe each of the
  main characters
• Explain how these adjectives help you understand
  the characters personalities, special styles or
  mannerismsetc.

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Snow White

• Level 2 Comprehension of key content of the text
• What are the main problems encountered by the
  main character in the text?
• How does he/she overcome the problem?
• What does this tell us about life or how we
  should face difficulties?

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Snow White

• Level 3 Tasks related to active use of texts in
  real-life situations
• If you are to meet with the author (director) of
  this story (movie), what questions are you going
  to ask him/her?  Why?
• If you are to turn this text into a radio drama,
  what changes will you make (e.g., to include
  which main problems and solutions to include
  which main characters only)? Why? Explain your
  selections and decisions.

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Snow White

• Level 4 Tasks related to critical understanding
  of the social and cultural messages (both spoken
  and unspoken) conveyed by the text
• Why are the male and female characters described
  in such a way in the story/movie? 
• What are the cultural and social assumptions
  about women (e.g., the main female character is
  to be rescued by a prince and cannot help
  herself)? 

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Snow White

• If you can get into a time machine and meet with
  Snow White, what 3 objects  will you bring her
  and why?
• e.g., anti-wrinkle/aging cream for she might lose
  the love of the prince when she grows old
  whitening skin care products for she has to keep
  her skin white to be beautiful 

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Snow White

• If you are to write a sequel to the movie or
  story of Snow White, what would be the storyline?
  Why do you have such a story as a sequel?
• e.g., the sequel might be about what happens to
  Snow White and her family after marriage, after
  getting children, and so on 

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Example 2 Movie

• Synopsis
• After her husband leaves her, Roberta Guaspari
  (Streep) struggles to find a job and take care of
  her two sons
• When she bumps into an old friend (Quinn), he
  tells her of a high school that might need a
  music teacher
• She meets with the school's principal (Bassett)
  and states her desire to teach the children the
  violin

• Hollywood Movie
• Music of the Heart (1999)
• Actors Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Gloria Estefan

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Music of the Heart

• The principal rejects her, citing lack of funding
  as one of the many excuses why it could never
  happen
• Persistently, she eventually breaks her down and
  fights to establish a solid, effective violin
  program
• Ten years later, the program has spread to other
  schools and is a smashing success
• When funds are once again cut and the program is
  threatened for real, Roberta uses connections to
  get the injustice printed in the New York Times
• A benefit concert ensues at Carnegie Hall,
  featuring appearances of such luminaries as
  Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, and Arnold Steinhardt

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Music of the Heart

• Tasks related to language decoding
• Find ten expressions that Roberta used to praise
  her students and ten expressions that she used to
  admonish her students (level 1)
• If you were her students, which expressions would
  you like and why? (levels 1,2,4)

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Music of the Heart

• Why did her students want her to switch back to
  her harsh speaking style? (level 1)
• If you were her students, would you like her to
  use a harsh or an indirect speaking style when
  teaching you? Why? (levels 1/ 2/4) What do you
  think about the different cultural styles of
  teaching in other countries (e.g. Hong Kong)?
  (level 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Nick (Son) said to Roberta (Mum),
• Whats up?
• Roberta, Youre up.
• Please discuss the meanings of the above dialogue
  (level 1/2)
• Can you find other word puns / interesting
  dialogues in the movie? What are their
  implications? (level 1/2)
• Can you make up several extra fun dialogues for
  the movie yourself? (level 3)

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Music of the Heart

• Tasks related to social conditions/problems
• Tell ten problems that Roberta has come across
  when teaching her students in a poor inner city
  school in East Harlem, New York (levels 1/2)
• What do these problems tell us about the family
  and social conditions of poor minority children
  in inner city schools in the United States?
  (level 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Why did Nain (the Black schoolboy)s mum refuse
  to let her son learn violin? (levels 1/2)
• Why did she think Roberta is a pompous white
  woman who thought who had come to rescue her son?
  (level 1/2)
• Do you think certain music genres or music
  instruments belong to one ethnic group and not
  others, and certain music styles and instruments
  are seen as higher than others? Why?
• (level 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Why do some Blacks in the United States hold
  negative attitudes towards White people and their
  music?
• Does something similar happen in Hong Kong (e.g.,
  among ethnic minorities in HK)?
• Can music cut across race lines and social
  classes and touch the hearts of different
  peoples?
• How can we help make this happen?
• (all at level 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Tasks related to gender images/ relations
• Mum, Thank Charles for this.
• Roberta, Why, why thank him for this?
• Mum, If he had not left you, nothing of this
  would have happened.
• Discuss this dialogue between Roberta and her
  mum. What is the message of this dialogue?
  (levels 1/2/4)
• In your views, what counts as a happy/fulfilling
  life for a woman in modern society? Why? (level 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Whats the difference between Brian and Roberta
  in their views about love relations?
• Why did Roberta ask Brian to leave her and her
  family?
• If you were Roberta, would you do that?
• Try to write up a story for Brian and Roberta
  yourself
• What do you think an ideal relationship between a
  man and a woman should be like? Why?
• (Levels 1 to 4)

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Music of the Heart

• Why did Robertas sons place a dating ad for
  their mum?
• What kind of social expectations do they seem to
  hold of a single mum?
• Do you agree with their social norms and
  expectations about a single mum?
• (levels 1/2/4)

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Music of the Heart

• Is Roberta a stronger woman at the end of the
  movie than at the beginning?
• If yes, in what ways is she stronger?
• What has made her strong?
• What decisions did she make that made her strong?
• (levels 1/2/4)

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Music of the Heart

• Tasks related to active use and critical analysis
  of texts
• What do you think of the ending? Do you think
  Roberta should be dating the university
  professor? Why and why not?
• What do you want the ending to be? How will you
  re-write it and why?
• If you are to choose a song for Roberta, which
  song would you choose and why?
  (levels 3/4)

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Your Task 1 Movie

• I Not Stupid (1999)
• Actors
• Jack Neo
• Xiang Yun
• Huang Po Ju
• Shawn Lee
• Theme song 1
• Theme song 2

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I Not Stupid

• Synopsis
• Kok Pin, Boon Hock and Terry are classmates in
  EM3
• In Singapore, that means that at the age of 12,
  the government has decided that they are not as
  academically inclined as their peers who have
  been placed in an express or normal stream

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I Not Stupid

• Kok Pin is creative and a born artist but his
  parents would like him to focus on his Math and
  Sciences
• Boon Hock comes from a poor family and needs to
  balance school and help out at the hawker stall

• Terry, a spoilt brat is just too lazy a student

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I Not Stupid

• While the three children suffer from the pressure
  of school, their parents have another set of
  problems
• Kok Pin's mother is passed over for a promotion
  because she does not have a university degree

• His father, a Chinese advertising copywriter is
  struggling to move ahead at work where Caucasians
  and the English language mean authority at most
  advertising agencies

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I Not Stupid

• When Terry's father goes to an agency to seek
  advertising help for his ailing business due to a
  newly opened "Ba Gua" (Pork Jerky) store from
  Taiwan, he opts for a creative plan from the
  Creative Director rather than a better campaign
  by Kok Pin's father because of an unpleasant
  encounter with Kok Pin's father earlier

• Terry's father family business runs into a crisis
  when a competitive "Ba Gua" company from Taiwan
  sets up a chain of shops in Singapore

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I Not Stupid

• The Chinese New Year "Ba Gua" campaign ends up in
  a mess
• Kok Pin's father decides to help Terry's father
  and convinces him to try his campaign. It was a
  big success

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Designing Activities

• Please design some tasks/activities for the
  movie, applying the same model
• Discuss the objectives of each task you designed
  for the student
• Did you encounter any difficulties in planning
  the tasks/activities? How did you tackle them?

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Useful Materials

• Online resources for I Not Stupid
• http//inotstupid.com.sg/inotstupid1/
• http//inotstupid.kingnet.com.tw/
• http//www.hkfilms.com/?http//www.hkfilms.com/Fil
  ms/2002/INotStupid/INotStupid.shtml
• http//www.filmplay.com/html/gallery/g_inotstupid.
  html
• http//www.imdb.com/title/tt0166943/

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Useful Materials

• Online resources for Shrek (2001)
• www.shrek.com
• www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id
  810

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Your Task 2

• Please choose one printed text (e.g. stories,
  fairy tales, fables or other genres) and design 4
  related tasks/activities, again using the
  Four-Resources Model
• Share your experiences with other participants
  (e.g. where can you find the resources/materials,
  what are the limitations..)
• How can you teach the 4-resources model to your
  students and encourage them to develop tasks
  based on texts? (e.g., one group designing tasks
  for another group to do, or as a competition)

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References Websites

• http//www.inpoint.org/ (The language of film)
• http//www.twghsksk.edu.hk/xoops/html/hp/english/i
  ndex.htm (School wide literacy programme at
  TWGHSKSK)
• Freebody, P., Luke, A. (1990). Literacy
  programs Debates and demands in cultural
  context. Prospect Australian Journal of TESOL,
  5(7), 7-16.
• Luke, A., Freebody, P. (1999). Further notes on
  the Four Resources Model. http//www.readingonline
  .org/research/lukefreebody.html

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The EndComments Feedback Welcome!