Stage 1 guidelines for reading: Discourse

Here are some discourse objectives for Stage 1 for reading:

• To understand references in materials read:

  • Which person a pronoun refers to, when that person has been mentioned in a previous sentence
  • What general words may be used to refer to a particular thing or person already mentioned
  • What words can be left out to answer a question if they have been mentioned in the question

• To understand connectors found when reading:

  • The words that are most commonly used to connect clauses in a sentence. For example, in English, words like "and" , "but", or "then"

• To comprehend materials read:

  • Read what you can understand orally, unless orthography is a big barrier
  • Understand facts expressed in basic sentences and perhaps some facts from simplest connected texts

Here are some discourse strategies for Stage 1 guidelines for reading:

• Analysis

  Look at the pronoun system and conjunctions in the language. Make hypotheses about how they work.

• Selective attention

  Look at an easy book and select the word a pronoun refers to, or pay attention to conjunctions.

Here are some discourse techniques for Stage 1 guidelines for reading:

• The Cloze technique
• The Pronominal Reference Drill technique
• Computer assisted language learning programs, such as Transparent Language

Here is a discourse activity for Stage 1 guidelines for reading:

• Read some very simple connected texts, using the vocabulary you have practiced. Look for children's books which control difficulty of grammar and vocabulary. Go through these books with a language associate.

• Generic module: Stage 1 guidelines for reading: Discourse
• In overview module: Stage 1: Reading modules
• In modular book: Guidelines for a Language and Culture Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International