User:Bames-wp/Language Cueing Systems

The graphophonemic cues are related to the sounds we hear (the phonological system including individual letters and letter combinations), the letters of the alphabet, and the conventions of spelling, punctuation and print. Students who are emerging readers use these cues considerably. However, there is a very imprecise relationship between written symbols and sound symbols. Sometimes the relationships and their patterns do not work, as in the example of great and head. Proficient readers and writers draw on their prior experiences with text and the other cueing systems, as well as the phonological system, as their reading and writing develops. Ken Goodman writes that, “The cue systems are used simultaneously and interdependently. What constitutes useful graphic information depends on how much syntactic and semantic information is available. Within high contextual constraints an initial consonant may be all that is needed to identify an element and make possible the prediction of an ensuing sequence or the confirmation of prior predictions.” He continues with, “Reading requires not so much skills as strategies that make it possible to select the most productive cues.” He believes that reading involves the interrelationship of all the language systems. Readers sample and make judgments about which cues from each system will provide the most useful information in making predictions that will get them to meaning. Goodman provides a partial list of the various systems readers use as they interact with text. Within the graphophonemic system there are:
 * Letter-sound relationships
 * Shape (or word configuration)
 * Know ‘little words’ in bigger words
 * Whole know words
 * Recurrent spelling patterns

The semantic cueing system is the one in which meaning is constructed. “So focused is reading on making sense that the visual input, the perceptions we form, and the syntactic patterns we assign are all directed by our meaning construction.”. The key component of the semantic system is context. A reader must be able to attach meaning to words and have some prior knowledge to use as a context for understanding the word. They must be able to relate the newly learned word to prior knowledge through personal associations with text and the structure of text.

The semantic system is developed from the beginning through early interactions with adults. At first, this usually involves labeling (e.g. This is a dog.) Then labeling becomes more detailed (e.g., It is a Labrador tree. It's coat is black.) The child learns that there is a set of “dog attributes” and that within the category “dog”, there are subsets of “dog” (e.g. long-hair, short-hair). The development of this system and the development of the important concepts that relate to the system are largely accomplished as children begin to explore language independently. As children speak about what they’ve done and play out their experiences, they are making personal associations between their experiences and language. This is critical to success in later literacy practices such as reading comprehension and writing. The meaning we bring to the reading is available to us through every cuing system, but it’s particularly influential as we move from our sense of the syntactic patterns to the semantic structures.

To support the reader in developing the semantic system ask, "Does that make sense"?

The syntactic system, according to Goodman and Watson includes the interrelation of words and sentences within connected text. In the English language, syntactic relations include word order, tense, number, and gender. The syntactic system is also concerned with word parts that change the meaning of a word, called morphemes. For example, adding the suffix “less” or by adding “s” to the end of a word changes its meaning or tense. As speakers of English, we know where to place subjects, which pronoun to use and where adjectives occur. Individual word meaning is determined by the place of the word in the sentence and the particular semantic or syntactic role it occupies. For example: ''The mayor was present when he received a beautiful present from the present members of the board.''

The syntactic system is usually in place when children begin school. Immersed in language, children begin to recognize that phrases and sentences are usually ordered in certain ways. This notion of ordering is the development of syntax. Like all the cueing systems, syntax provides the possibility of correct prediction when trying to make sense or meaning of written language.Goodman notes the cues found in the flow of language are:
 * Patterns of words (or function order)
 * Bulleted list item
 * Inflection and inflectional agreement
 * Function words such as noun markers (the, a, that)
 * Intonation (which is poorly represented in writing by punctuation)

To support a reader in developing the syntactic system ask, "Can we say it that way? Does that sound right?"

The pragmatic system is also involved in the construction of meaning while reading. This brings into play the socio-cultural knowledge of the reader. It provides information about the purposes and needs the reader has while reading. Yetta Goodman and Dorothy Watson state that, “Language has different meaning depending on the reason for use, the circumstances in which the language is used, and the ideas writers and readers have about the contextual relations with the language users. Language cannot exist outside a sociocultural context, which includes the prior knowledge of the language user. For example, shopping lists, menus, reports and plays are arranged uniquely and are dependent on the message, the intent, the audience, and the context.”

By the time children begin school, they may have developed a inferred understanding of some of the pragmatics of a particular situation. For example, turn taking in conversation, reading poetry or a shopping list. “While different materials may share common semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic features, each genre has its own organization and each requires certain experiences by the reader."

To support the reader in developing the pragmatic system ask, "What is the purpose and function of this literacy event?"