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Improving narrative and language skills in senior primary school students

Teacher guide Improving narrative and language skills in senior primary school students

TLF ID S7027

This teacher resource describes a highly successful narrative strategy developed by Mahogany Rise Primary School in Victoria. The strategy enhanced acquisition of literacy skills by supporting students' oral language development. All years 5 and 6 students were involved in whole-class programs. Extended intervention in small group sessions was provided to students with moderate to severe language difficulties. The resource is organised in nine sections: Summary; Target student group; Method; Results; Lessons learned; Next steps; Research base; Further reading and links; and Contacts.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This is a valuable resource for teachers and schools seeking to improve their students' attainment of those aspects of the years 5 and 6 English achievement standards where oral language development makes a significant difference. This includes the ability to create detailed texts, including spoken texts; make presentations; demonstrate understanding of grammar; and make considered choices from an expanding vocabulary. Capacity in these areas can help improve students' NAPLAN literacy results.
  • The resource identifies several implications for teaching the English curriculum and for students' development of the Literacy general capability. It highlights the importance of oral language development, pointing out the essential role of the school's speech pathologist. It provides guidance for schools debating whether to focus their literacy improvement efforts on whole-class or individual withdrawal strategies. It also shows that strategies that work in the early years may be equally successful in upper primary.
Year level

5; 6

Topics Speaking Teaching methods Creating texts Learning strategies Complex sentences Sentences (Grammar) Remedial programs Narratives Vocabularies Oral presentations
Learning area
  • English

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Organization: Commonwealth of Australia
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.australia.gov.au
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Generic
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
  • Text
Rights
  • © 2014 Commonwealth of Australia, unless otherwise indicated. This material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence (CC BY-SA 3.0 AU) unless otherwise indicated. You may distribute, remix and build upon this material, provided that you include the acknowledgement '© Commonwealth of Australia 2014' and license under the same terms any new creations you have based on the material.