District Institutes of Education and Training - Teacher Education

District Institutes of Education and Training: A Comparative Study in Three Indian States
8.5 Limitations of current approaches
This project provided further evidence (see also chapter two) that early years
literacy teaching largely comprises technical decoding aspects, and that literacy
teaching is not embedded in language work. Teachers know that speaking and
listening are two of the four skills associated with language, but believe that
speaking and listening goes on at home, while homes do not give any opportunity
to work on reading and writing. Their classroom efforts are thus directed at
reading and writing, but in such a way that it is largely devoid of meaning for
children.
None of these teachers modelled reading with children by reading story books
aloud to them. Teachers did not encourage children to tell them stories which
could be written up on the blackboard to involve children in the creation of text –
or innovate language games. These ideas were suggested during workshops since
all of them are feasible even if children cannot move around.
What is missing from the diaries and was also missing in workshop discussions
was any linkage between these decoding skills and comprehension. The extent to
which children comprehended anything they read or wrote was not evaluated by
teachers.
The discussion of what is easy and difficult for children is an indication of what
teachers know how to teach effectively and the limitations of the methods they
adopt. It also raises questions as to the expectations of children in respect of
literacy in their very first year at school, and the appropriateness of the curriculum
load. Many of those expectations however stem from the teachers who, as the
diaries indicated expect children to know all the letters of the alphabet within a
very short time after arriving at school – even if they have not been (and most of
these children do not go) to pre-school.
Another issue that emerged clearly was that teachers did not know what to do with
children who did not learn well by the methods they used. This group required
support and professional development in coping with the different speeds at which
children learn. The ‘intelligent’ children also did not have their understandings or
skills extended, since the role for them once they had learned was to help the
teacher get others to learn.
Overall, it was evident from these workshops that while a variety of approaches to
literacy teaching were identified, it was mostly programmatic and bound by the
‘steps’ in the textbook. Pressures of time and limited teaching strategies precluded
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