Learning vs. Acquisition

In an earlier blog, I identified myself as a person who held a strong word recognition view of how students learn to read. However, I incorporate many of techniques from the sociopsycholinguistic view into my lessons from time to time. After reading chapter two in the Freeman text, I see how the learning view and acquisition view of writing align with the aforementioned outlooks for reading. I will now make a huge effort to begin changing my literacy instruction to a more “acquired” approach to learning.
The Learning view of writing involves direct teacher instruction; a sort of drill and kill approach to teaching. The Acquisition view allows students to focus on process and the experience of writing for seemingly better internalization of tasks, thus leading to more proficient abilities to understand written and oral language. Below is my rationale for the activity presented in chapter 2.

Directions:
Label each activity L for learning/word recognition or A for acquisition/sociopsycholinguistic view. Some activities can have both labels. Be prepared to explain your choices.

The Students:
L/Look up words in the dictionary to write definitions. (Students identify words to get the meaning of a text, often before a passage or story is read)
L/A Make a Venn diagram to compare two stories. (I said both because it is a strategy that must be directly taught by the teacher, but it is a means to process information for better understanding: comparing and contrasting stories, thereby creating a deeper understanding of texts.)
L/Practice sounding out words (Students are using phonics to recode words from written to oral form)
L/Read in round-robin fashion (Round-robin requires students to read aloud as opposed to silently.)
L/Corrects peers when they make a mistake during reading (Again, this requires texts to be read aloud instead of focusing on the overall meaning of texts, relating it to background knowledge and prior experience.)
L /A Identify words on a big book page that start with the same sound. (This requires phonemic awareness skills because of the required breakdown of phonemes, but I also thought that because this was done in real-time with a big book text, that it might also be acquisition because of the graphophonics piece as a part of word study.)
A/Group cards with classmates’ names by a criterion on such as first of last letter. (Hands-on experience and direct application of graphophonics.)
A/Write rhyming poetry and then discuss different spellings for the same sound. (Involves a mini-lesson to help focus spelling along with authentic production of a writing piece.)
L/Ask the teacher how to spell a word they don’t know. (Students are not using invented spelling strategies to think through the spelling of the word. This student was not taught that spelling mistakes may occur; not focused on the idea at hand.)
A/L Read a language experience story they have created with the teacher. (Involves student input based on students’ background. Hands-on approach. I struggled with this one!)
A/ Work in pairs to arrange words from a familiar chant into sentences (Involves a hands-on approach to learning based on a language experience with which students are familiar.)
L/Divide words into syllables. (Involves segmenting words into
A/ On a worksheet, draw a line from each word to the picture that starts with the same sound. (According to Krashen’s Input Hypothesis, “To ensure that the input is comprehensible, teachers can use pictures, gestures, tone of voice, and hands-on activities.” (Freeman, pg. 38) Students are using other means to comprehend words.)
A/Make alphabet books on different topics (Students will acquire new vocabulary and it will be based on the knowledge gleaned from past experiences and new input from lessons.)

The teacher:
L/Preteaches vocabulary. (Teachers may do this to try to give students the meanings of words prior to reading a text, but students are not using strategies to help them as they come to words they may not know in texts.)
L/A Does a shared reading with a big book. (I said both because this is a text that is read aloud to students, but if using part of it to model for a mini-lesson as a strategy to use during SSR, then this could be considered acquired development.)
L/Makes sure that students read only books that fit their level. (Students are not given exposure to different types of literature, thus increasing vocabulary and meaning)
L/Has students segment words into phonemes (phonemic awareness practice, used to help students identify words correctly in texts.)
L/A writes words the students dictate for a story and has students help with spelling of difficult words. (In the beginning, this requires direct teaching, but once the logistics are down, this uses acquisition because students come up with stories due to own experiences and background; can be used as a model in a mini-lesson in preparation for authentic writing.)
A/Asks students to look around the room and find words starting with a certain letter. (Students get hands-on practice and use authentic approach to build vocabulary)
L/Uses decodable texts (Students will be able to sound out words, but may not understand read text)
L/A Sets aside time for SSR each day (students get a chance to use strategies taught in class. Exposure to multi-leveled text is important to acquire meaning and new vocabulary)
L/teaches Latin and Greek roots. (May help to acquire meaning, but may not always be helpful when words are used in different contexts.)
A/Has students meet in literature circles. (Students lead and work through authentic readings with productive discussion. Groups can be heterogeneous, so all students have exposure to a variety of texts.)
L/Conducts phonics drills (recognizing words/sounds without focusing on meaning.)
A/L Chooses predictable texts (Great piece for modeling and to take students through a meaning process if trying to understand the basics of a story. Strategies therein must be taught.)
A/L Teaches students different comprehension strategies. (Must be modeled in mini-lesson, some oral exposure, but can be carried over to SSR)
A/Does a picture walk of a new book. (Helps students predict, confirm predictions, have conversations to practice language, shows exposure to background knowledge, and practice other comprehension skills.)
L/Uses a variety of worksheets to teach different skills. (Not meeting all the modalities of learning. Kinesthetic/tactile, auditory. Need a variety of methods.)