French

Workshops of graphic negotiation: a perfect system to understand the students’ reasoning on word spelling

The solving problem strategy at the service of written production: how developing the ability to think together about language. Ministry of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Agers, General Department of Education Monitoring and Research, and of Relationships with Business in FWB, 2009-2011.

This action research is mainly aimed at primary education-3d degree and secondary education-1st degree teachers. Some teachers implemented in their class(es) Workshops of Graphic Negotiation. The purpose of these workshops is to help students to develop a reasoning ability interacting with others, and then to take over this type of cognitive running.

The teacher dictates some sentences to the students gathered in small groups. First, each student reads what he/she wrote and corrects oneself individually, underlining the words for which he/she has a doubt about spelling. In the second phase, the students read and compare they wrote and the differences of spelling. In each group, the debate ends up with a proposed version which is written on the blackboard. During the phase of sharing the different versions, the teacher starts up a debate during which each one may expose the arguments in favor of the proposed written options. The teacher influences the reasoning, underlines the main aspects, makes sure everybody can speak, asks for explanations. The usual dictation is thus increased by a reflective dimension: the students verbalize and confront their way of applying rules and progressively develop an attitude of doubt and revision of their own writings.

The purpose of this action research is the creation of a tool – a file completed by video – aimed at training the teachers at the concerned levels of education. This tool is intended to report on how the implemented activities work, with many illustrations to back it. The document also supplies some clues to get round the difficulties met by the teachers who will use it.

Tools aimed at the diagnosis and remediation of reading learning difficulties in 1st and 2d years of primary education

General Department of Education Monitoring and Research in FWB, 2005-2007.

Reading learning is an essential phase for children; some of them expect it impatiently, while others dread it. It is indeed admitted that reading is a complex process: the beginner has to learn to master various strategies but also to coordinate them. Difficulties may appear at various levels and take roots in the schooling career the more so as all children are not equal when they begin their writing/reading learning. Ignoring the forces on which they can lean on or the weak points to react against them appropriately as early as possible may have very heavy consequences: difficulties add up and augurs school failure career which may early and sometimes definitely set the child at odds with reading, for lack of diagnosis and remediation implemented early enough.

The purpose of this instrument is not to recommend such or such reading method but rather to supply the teacher, whatever the method he/she uses, with answer elements in the face of some students’ difficulties. A thorough understanding of the difficulties met by the children may improve the teacher’s instructional action.

The selected approach is definitely focused on education and ecology: the point is to aim at the aspects on which the teacher can take immediate action, making an educational intervention within the class, without any other means.

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Tools aimed at the diagnosis and remediation of reading learning difficulties in 1st and 2d years of primary education

Understanding difficulties: tools aimed at diagnosis and remediation, in 3d and 4th years of primary education 

General Department of Education Monitoring and Research in FWB, 2007-2009.

Following the tool designed for diagnosis and remediation of reading learning difficulties in 1st and 2d years of primary education, the reflection was carried on for the middle degree. 3d and 4th years are indeed key-moments if we refer mainly to the external assessments 2007. Once the bases are set up and it seems they are quite well for most students, the point is going on involving a great part of the schedule to reading, not only to its practice and assessment, but also to its instruction.

The purpose, supplying teachers with such tools, for diagnosis as well as for remediation, is to answer magnitude of the issues diagnosed repeatedly and more accurately, to solve the lack of « qualitative leap » expected between step 1 and 2, and the next ones, in the reading curriculum. The suggested, instructional approach is an alternative to « silent reading », in the sense it is definitely about teaching active approaches oriented towards sense building. Within this system, the assessment becomes truly formative and focuses on mastering strategies (process).

It is also essential not to let the difficulties crystallize: for instance, for children who have significant gaps in the mastering of the so-called « low-level competences », the design of identification tools and remediation activities was considered to overcome these difficulties. Teachers would be thus well-equipped to help themselves these students to catch up with those who have fully and automatically mastered the processes of word identification.

The first part of the flyer aims at supplying teachers with tools enabling them to assess their students’ reading level and with an accurate diagnosis tool about their understanding difficulties. The second part presents remediation tracks oriented towards fluency as well as various understanding strategy development.

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Tools aimed at diagnosis and remediation, in 3d and 4th years of primary education

Oral and written expression in 1st differentiated degree, assessment tools, instructional itinerary

French differentiated learning strategies in first degree of regular secondary education. Ministry of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Agers, General Department of Education Monitoring and Research, and of Relationships with Business in FWB, 2008-2010.

This research focused on two competence domains of French instruction: oral expression and written expression. It is known that every teacher needs some tools helping him/her to diagnose accurately his/her students’ skills. On the basis of such diagnostic, he/she can select his/her instruction and/or remediation activities. This need is undoubtedly more urgent for 1st differentiated degree, because of the very heterogeneous population enrolled.

The research resulted practically in a booklet where the most realistic situations possible are presented, in connection with the assessment tools as well as the instructional sequences, and require the students to communicate and/or interact. The solving tasks are functional and meaningful for the students, and themes are as close as possible to their experience, as it is supposed to be for all or most of them.

The assessment tools were designed in coherence with the instructional itinerary presented in the booklet: they are both at the teacher’s and the student service:

via a formative assessment approach   search for everyone’s strengths and weaknesses;
via a reflective approach   search for the processes to be implemented, and globally, for the conditions of successful communication.
This instructional itinerary is distinct from a textbook, an activity collection, which would target the improvement of an aspect of language learning, a specific-competence training. It presents an approach where reflective analysis has a significant place. In each task-problem, there is space for the student, generally on the basis of his/her spontaneous written production, think about and indicate the tools they need to help them to structure the required production and in the end, improve their knowledge.

More info

L’expression orale et écrite au 1er degré différencié : Des outils d’évaluation, Un parcours didactique

Collaborations between primary schools and public libraries 

Reflexion and design of a reading contract in primary education and initiation to readers’ circle. Public Reading Department – General Administration of Culture –– Genral Service of Letters and Books – 2003.

The summary report Lire ou ne pas lire. État de la question (“To read or not to read. The state of the question”, Baye, Lafontaine, Vanhulle, 2003) highlights that in FWB, the book and reading culture seems less stimulating than in other countries: a significant part of students has access to a very restricted number of books at home. In such a context, the development of synergies between public libraries and schools seems an interesting track to develop.

This first part of this study consists in listing the existing practices, questioning all the directors of primary schools and public libraries (mailed printed questionnaires and then interviews) and the second part, in designing the outline of a typical collaboration between primary education classes (for cycle 8-12 year-olds, and more particularly 4th and 5th years of primary education) and the public libraries.

These typical outlines are designed on the basis of the data collected via surveys, and of field observations and interviews. Their purposes are :

making the educational community aware of the importance of developing partnerships between primary schools and public libraries;

synthesizing the practical information necessary to establish partnerships;

supplying examples of collaboration between primary schools and public libraries, as well as instructional exploitation examples for 8-12 cycle students, particularly in 4th and 5th year of primary education.

More info

Booklet :

Moi, les livres, je les picore, je les dévore, je les explore
http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/9841

Research reports : 

Baye, A. , Crepin, F. ,Hindryckx G., & Lafontaine D. (2003) Pour un développement des collaborations entre les classes de l’enseignement fondamental et les bibliothèques publiques. Rapport de recherche non publié. Liège : Service de Pédagogie expérimentale de l’Université.

Papers :

Baye A. & Lafontaine D. (2005) Les bibliothèques vues par le monde de l’enseignement, Lectures : La Revue des Bibliothèques, Centre de lecture publique de la Communauté française de Belgique, 141, p. 46 
http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/8008

Baye, A., Lafontaine, D., & Vanhulle, S. (2003) Lire ou ne pas lire : état de la question. Les Cahiers du C.L.C.F., Centre de lecture publique de la Communauté française de Belgique.

Daily oral expression

Avenues for reflection and action aimed at oral expression instruction for 2.5-5 y.o. cycle students. Publication aimed at teachers and trainers of 2.5-5 y.o. cycle teachers. AGERS. 2004.

The purpose of this publication aimed at 2.5-5 y.o. cycle teachers consists in supporting them in thinking and improving their practices to make these more efficient as far as language skills are concerned. Indeed, even though oral expression is omnipresent in kindergarten classes, these activities concern generally large groups, which leads to a variety of oral communications, according to the children, and the teacher generally speaks definitely more than the children all together. How could it be possible to make each student speak ? How to avoid some students’ disinterest ? How to encourage the less performing students without demotivating the better performing ones ? 

This is to address these difficulties and many other ones that the authors worked together with teachers to prepare some sheets classified by domain and by targeted language skill. These sheets are not models, but rather activity reports aimed at stimulating the teachers’ creativity. They include the aimed purposes as well as assessment and class management method proposals. They are intended to be edited according to everyone’s necessities or desires.

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Instrument : order at http://www.ctpe.be

Bibliographical synthesis about production of documents accessible to children

Observatoire de l'Enfance, de la Jeunesse et l'Aide à la Jeunesse. 2009.

Which are the required criteria when it is a matter of adapting a written text to make it accessible to 6-12 year-old children? A text is not intrinsically obvious, although its linguistic wording is perfect. Legibility formulae, in vogue till the 1970’s, seemed to take as agreed that a simplification principle applied only to linguistic features were enough to guarantee the text clarity, and thus its understanding. Some researches about the factors in favor of understanding nevertheless helped to become aware that, beyond superficial simplifications, it was important to take into account of the intended readers’ features as well as the complex processes put at stake by reading, particularly the informative texts. Acting on legibility can thus also imply sometimes adding some pieces of information such as foot notes intended to help exchanges between the text and the reader.

On the basis of bibliographic researches, a vade-mecum has been made, meant to any person adapting informative documents to make them accessible to children. Its application can also be extended: for instance, teachers will find inside relevant advises to make the informative texts they use in their classes more readable so that their students could get the best form them. The first part presents recommendations on how to start that specific task consisting in adapting some documents initially meant to an all-type audience. Three separate moments are considered: before redaction, during redaction and after redaction. The second part presents the criteria orientated to some simplification of the linguistic features of the text. Various types of helping-to-understanding strategies are also developed beyond these simplification procedures.

More info

Vade-mecum, Adapter un écrit pour le rendre accessible aux enfants

Immigrated children learning French in relationship with their heritage language. Role and assets of cultural, out-of-school organizations

FWB, (Department of French language and Direction of Equality of Chances) and FEI. 2011.

Action research aiming at tool development meant to French learning by 5-12 year-old immigrated children (synergies with various organizations, educational aspects). Description, in a given area, of different out-of-school, socio-cultural interveners, ground issue analysis and observation of successful initiatives (meeting resource persons, case studies).