Adult Literacy Rs/E3.2 Use implicit & explicit knowledge of word types/order to help with decoding/predicting meaning

Adult Literacy>Reading>Sentence Focus>Grammar & Punctuation 
Rs/E3.2 Use implicit and explicit knowledge of different types of word (e.g. linking words [connectives], nouns, verbs, adjectives), of word order, and of possible plausible meanings, to help decode unfamiliar words and predict meaning 

  • Understand that grammatical patterns, word order, types of word and meanings are inter-related and that only certain types of words and certain meanings will make sense in any particular place in a sentence

Related Adult ESOL curriculum elements: Rs/E3.1a Recognise the generic features of language of instructional text and ESOL Rs/E3.1b Use knowledge of syntax and grammar to work out meaning 

Example of application and level
Read a simple continuous text written in sentences (e.g. a newspaper article) and get most of the sense even if they are not able to read every word.

Sample activities

  • Read a short text in which certain words have been masked out. Keep going, then go back and guess the words using the context and their knowledge of word order and sentence patterns. Discuss the choice of words with the teacher/other learners.
  • Practise how to monitor their own reading for sense and self-correction, becoming used to ‘listening’ internally to their own reading to spot errors of sense.
  • Read some text extracts from everyday experience in which potentially tricky words have been highlighted. Read in pairs and apply knowledge of context, illustrations, grammatical understanding to work out any unknown words. Discuss the process, 
    e.g.: [From instructions for a vacuum cleaner] . . . For cleaning awkward places remove handle and insert tool adapter into end of hose. Attach tools as required. 
    Awkward must relate to places and so is likely to be an adjective giving some information about places. Knowledge of context plus diagrams might suggest ‘hard to reach’ places, which in turn might suggest awkward, a phonetically irregular word.
  • Choose a text. Highlight the words that are difficult. Cut and paste them out of the text. Read the text again with the blank spaces, and record how much you understand.

Source: Department for Education and Skills (2001) Adult Literacy core curriculum. London DfES.  

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