A.

The Essense of Teaching Reading and Writing for Young Learners

1. Reading
Reading is one of the most important skills in language learning. It is a crucial
skill for students of English as a Foreign Language. Being able to read, as well as
to write, enables the students to speak more communicatively, which is the main
goal of language learning. One of the milestones in children’s education is how
and when they learn how to read (Debat, 2006).
Teaching reading and writing to young learners is not only about learning to
decode letters or form sentences it's about nurturing language development,
cognitive growth, and emotional engagement. That young children are not passive
recipients of language input, but active meaning-makers. Therefore, reading and
writing activities must be designed to connect with how children think, feel, and
communicate.
a. Reading as a Window to Language Exposure
Reading provides children with rich, repeated, and meaningful exposure to
language that they may not encounter in everyday spoken conversation.
Storybooks, songs, and informational texts introduce children to vocabulary,
grammar structures, and discourse patterns. This exposure helps learners acquire
natural language intuitively, especially when texts are engaging and supported
with visuals.
Example: Reading the same storybook multiple times can reinforce key language
while also building fluency and confidence.
b. Writing as a Tool for Learning and Reflection
Writing allows children to express their own ideas, retell stories, and construct
new meanings using the language they are learning. It is not just an output skill
but a cognitive process. Children organize thoughts, make connections, and
practice structures they’ve seen in reading or heard in class. Example: After
reading a story, learners may write a new ending or a personal reflection, helping
them internalize both content and form.
c. Developing Literacy Builds Autonomy and Confidence
Literacy empowers learners to interact with language independently. When
young children begin to read signs, instructions, or short messages, they gain a
sense of competence, control over their own learning, and motivation to explore
 more texts or write more. Example: A student who can write a short letter to a
friend in English feels a sense of achievement and belonging.
d. Interconnection Between Reading and Writing
Reading and writing are mutually reinforcing. When children read, they see
models of written language. When they write, they practice using what they’ve
seen. Teaching them together helps learners recognize that language has structure,
purpose, and audience. Example: After reading a recipe, students can write their
own simple recipe or food description using similar structures.
e. Emotional and Imaginative Development
Children are naturally imaginative. Reading stories and writing creatively give
them opportunities to connect emotionally to characters, events, and ideas, express
personal experiences or imaginary adventures, and build empathy. This kind of
engagement supports intrinsic motivation. Example: A learner writes a story about
a superhero cat after reading a funny animal story, combining language learning
with creativity (Cameron, 2001).
2. Writing
Writing skill is specific abilities which help people put their thought in to
words in meaningful form and mentally interact with the message. The purpose of
writing is not only for media, but also giving information. Everyday many people
do writing activity by using mobile phone to sending a message. It has purpose
that giving information. writing is a combination of process and product. The
process refers to the act of gathering ideas and working until the writers are
presented in a manner that is polished and comprehensible to readers, the very
nature if writing indicates it must be learned through actual experience in putting
words together to express one’s own meaning.
The writing process writing involves the process than necessary to produce a
good quality final piece of writing. That in process writing, students experience
five interrelated phrases, such as prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and
publishing.
Teaching writing is most challenging, more specifically teaching writing to young
learners is a genuine challenge for the teachers. It is an imperative language skill,
which need to be developed from an early age. Young learners do not feel
motivated to write rather they like to speak more. In our educational system
 students do not get enough chance to write according to their own wish (Linse,
2005).

B. Principle of Teaching Reading and Writing for Young Learners

1. Reading
Reading is central to the learning process. To access critical information from
enormous data banks, students will need to be able to read complex material with
a high degree of comprehension. To support English language teaching in the
classroom, teachers should have some competencies, especially the competencies
to teach English to young learners.
a. Pupils Need to Readin All Curriculum Areas
Too frequently, pupils perceive reading as involving the literature curriculum
only. Reading then is not seen as an essential part of all curriculum areas in the
school setting. Aperception of holism is needed so that teach pupils realizes that
reading is done in the social studies, mathematics, science, language arts, art,
music,and physical education
b. Pupils Should Experience Quality Sequence
A vital principle of learning is that pupils experience an appropriate sequence
in the reading curriculum. If the sequence is not appropriate, a pupil might well
experience failure if the goals are not achievable. Should the objective so
instruction be too easy, the involved learner Might well become bored and feel
unmotivated. It is difficult for any teacher to determine the preset achievement
level of a pupil and then have that learner achieve at an optimal level.
c. Pupils Need To Perceive That Reading Is Enjoyable
When it is time for reading instruction, pupils should feel that this is a time for
enjoying content read. It should not be considered by pupils as a time for drill
and more and on phonics and other word recognition techniques. Negative
attitudes toward reading should never be reinforced. The very first day of reading
instruction in school should emphasize that literature is enjoyable in its many
manifestations.
d. Pupils Need to Become Lifelong Learners
Pupils with teacher assistance need to enjoy reading so that it can become an
experience that lasts throughout one's lifetime. Processes in reading can
 continually be improved upon. Comprehension may also become increasingly
proficient.

e. Pupils Need To Attach Meaning to What Is Being Read

Learning involves pupils attaching meaning to what is being read or
experienced. The criticisms which may be given to memorization work is that
pupils do not understand much of what has been memorized.
f. Pupils Need Adequate Background Information
A major reason that pupils fail in reading is they lack background information
in order to understand the new ideas encountered. If pupils have adequate
background information pertaining to the news election to be read, they will
comprehend better.
g. Pupils Need Purposes for Reading
Very often, pupils read poorly in oral or silent reading because they perceive
No. or little value in reading a given selection. Pupils need to feel reasons exist
for reading a story or it will not be read meaningfully (Ediger, 1997).
2. Writing
That every teacher should consider the following a few principles while
planning a course, whether it is a writing course, or a course in which writing
will play a part.
a. Understand your students’ reasons for writing
It is important to understand the teacher’s goal and students goal should match
each other and understand both to convey goals to students in ways that make
sense to them.
b. Provide many opportunities for students to write
Writing almost always improves with practice. Practice writing should provide
students with different types of writing as well. Short response to a reading,
journal entries, letter writing, summaries, poetry, or any type of writing you find
useful in your class should be practice in class.
c. Make feedback helpful and meaningful
Students crave feedback on their writing, yet it doesn’t always have the
intended effect. If you write comments on students’ paper, make sure they
 understand the vocabulary or symbols you use. Take time to discuss them in
class. Finally, feedback should not entail “correcting” a student’s writing.

d. Clarify for yourself, and for your students, how their writing will be evaluated
Students often feel that the evaluation of their writing is completely subjective.
Teachers often hear, “I just don’t understand what you want.” One way to combat
that feeling is to first develop a statement for yourself about what is valuated in
students writing, either in your classroom or in your institution as a whole.
Teaching writing there are two main types or genre: Academic writing and non
academic writing but this research only focus on academic writing (Nunan,
2003).

C. Method of Teaching Reading and Writing for young learners

1. Reading
In this paper, there are only four main approaches which are going to be
discussed that explains about “Emergent literacy”, Language Experience
approach, Whole words/key words approach, and Phonic teaching.
a. Emergent Literacy
“Emergent literacy” describes the phenomenon in which children seem to
learn to read without any teaching, gradually, and through exposure to text and to
reading. When children spends lots of time being read to from interesting and
appropriate books, some will begin to work out for themselves the patterns and
regularities that link spoken and written text.
The features of emergent literacy that are most relevant for foreign language
teaching. They are:
1) children choose the books they want to hear and read;
2) children are motivated by choice and by the quality of the writing they
encounter;
3) children often choose to read the same book many times, and this is a
valuable learning experiences;
4) meaning comes first because the child understands the story as a whole;
 5) from this overall meaning, attention moves to whole words and letters,
beginning with initial consonants, then final consonants, then vowels in the
middle;
6) the link between reading and oral skills is very strong because children adopt
and play with the language of the story;
7) parents can be involved with their children’s language learning through
reading aloud with them.
b. Language Experience Approach
The Language Experience approach (LEA) starts children reading at sentence
level, and its key feature is the child’s use of his or her own experience as the
topic of the texts. This approach builds upon the notion that if children are given
material to read that they are already familiar with, it will help them learn to read.
Typically a class of LEA would follow a series of steps like this:
1) The student or class dictates a “story,” usually based upon an experience they
have had, that the teacher writes down on a large sheet of paper;
2) the teacher then reads the story to the class (this “reading” may be repeated
several times until the children are familiar with what have been written);
3) depending on their level of ability and needs, the class will the engage in
various extended activities based upon the original story, including focusing
on individual words, letters, or meanings of various parts;
4) finally, the children are expected to move from the stories they have dictated
toward being able to read those written by others.

Because the children have “composed” the stories themselves, there is a close
match between their knowledge or experience and the texts they read. There is an
approach called Whole Language approach which has almost the same
characteristics as the Language Experience Approach. Advocates of the Whole
Language approach believe that reading is part of general language development,
not an isolated skill students learn apart from listening, speaking, and writing.
Teachers in whole-language classroom seldom use textbooks; instead, young
students write stories and learn to read from their writing, and older students read
literature that is closely related to their everyday experiences.

c. The Whole Word / Key Words Approach

 It starts from word level, with children looking at single words on cards to
encourage rapid whole word recognition. In the Whole-word approach, the
children learn words such as cat, dog, or ship as whole, independent words.
Other experts call this approach as sight word or look-say method, which
teaches children to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual
sounds. Flash cards with individual words written on them (which are often
accompanied with related pictures) are used for this method.
Many children memorize he spelling. Whether or not the children picture the
word as a whole or memorizing the spelling, the important point is that they are
learning independent words and are not focusing on the connections between one
word and another. The children may practice reading by drawing pictures next to
words, by coloring the pictures, and even putting the words in puzzles, and these
methods certainly do a lot to increase the children’s retention of the words. But the
children are still focusing on independent items of knowledge rather than
underlying patterns.
The term “key words” was used because the sight words taught were taken
from the most frequently used words in English. This can help children quickly
identify such common function words as of, and, for, and the. These words do not
have clear lexical meanings but create meanings when they are used with content
words. In learning to read, these words are probably better, and more easily, learnt
through multiple encounters in contexts of use, rather than separated from other
words on a card.
d. The Phonics Approach
The phonics approach is probably the best known and widely used method to
teach reading and writing in the English language. This approach generally
emphasizes teaching children to match individual letters of the alphabet with their
specific English pronunciations, with the idea that if children can “sound out” or
decode new words, they will be able to read independently. They then will be able
to blend two letters together to make simple words then three letters, then four and
so forth. Decoding is the process of identifying the written words using the
alphabetic code to determine pronunciation ad meaning.
Phonics teaching generally children the involves sound-letter relationships
used in reading and writing. A related type of knowledge, phonemic awareness,
involves children understanding that speech is made up of individual sounds,
 including such things as the ability to tell if two words begin or end with the same
sound, and the ability to focus on the form of speech apart from focusing on its
meaning or content Phonemic awareness is also important for literacy
development and frequently taught with phonics.
Phonics is often taught in a rather mechanical way with the children
memorizing a lot of rules, doing a lot of repetition, and reading and writing
sentences that have little personal meaning for the children. It can be very dry,
boring, and demotivating, if done in isolation, so it is probably preferable to
incorporate five or ten minutes of concentrated phonics work inside other
activities, such as story reading, class joint writing, song and rhymes, and others
(Suganda, 2016).
Several methods are commonly used in teaching reading to young learners:
a. Look and Say Method
The look and say method involves teaching learners to recognize whole words
by sight. Learners are shown flashcards or words in a text and are encouraged to
memorize their shapes and meanings. This method is useful for teaching common
sight words and can be combined with other methods to enhance vocabulary
acquisition (Harmer, 2007).
b. Storytelling and Shared Reading
Storytelling is a powerful tool in teaching reading because it provides a natural
and engaging context for language learning. Stories can enhance vocabulary,
comprehension, and motivation to read. Shared reading activities, where the
teacher reads aloud while learners follow along, help develop print awareness and
listening comprehension (Wright, 1995).
c. Storytelling and Shared Reading
Interactive reading involves active participation from learners during reading
activities. This method encourages asking and answering questions, predicting
story outcomes, and discussing characters or events, interactive reading fosters
critical thinking and engagement, making reading a collaborative learning process
(Brewster, 2007).
2. Writing
That some techniques may run counter to a given students’ learning
preferences; students should be asked to practice all techniques but should later
focus on using those that clearly serve them best.
a. Brainstorming
This is often a group exercise in which all students in the class are encouraged
to participate by sharing their collective knowledge about a particular subject.
Students can then utilize any or all of the information when turning to the
preparation of their first drafts.

b. Listing
The student is encouraged to produce as lengthy a list as possible of all main
ideas and subcategories that come to mind as he or she thinks about the topic at
hand.
c. Clustering
Clustering begins with a key word or central idea placed in the center of a
page around which the student quickly jots down all of the free-associations
triggered by the subject matter, using words or short phrases.
d. Freewriting
The main idea of this technique is for students to write for a specified period
of time without taking their pen from the page. For EFL/ESL students, this often
works best if the teacher provides an opening clause or sentence for the students to
start with to structure the freewriting.
Teaching English to young learner needs a careful design. Syllabus for
language program describes content goal for teaching writing comprises structures
that arranges grammatical structures, like the present continuous tense and the
simple present tense. And, sometimes it complies list of structures, e.g I like
swimming/ singing/reading or I don’t/can’t/ won’t. Teacher also needs to pay
attention to how to provide content goals in the classroom providing context and
building schema be important to lead to meaning and understanding of the
language learned. For example, if a teacher is going to talk about animals, he/she
may build students’ knowledge by give them pictures of cow, cat, dog,etc
They can be exposed to how the language is used. Some grammatical concept,
especially at the upper levels of childhood, can be called to children end of the
word, children’s attention by showing them certain patterns and examples. For
example, they can be drawn to notice ‘ing’ at the end of the word, and the teacher
can say and act.
There are two good sets of reasons for teaching writing for young learners.
The first set of reasons relates to writing skill itself. The second set relates to
foreign language learning in general. The young learners cannot be expected to
develop their writing skills without teaching them how to write and giving them
opportunities to practice. Learners do not necessarily transfer their skill in writing
from what they can do in their own language. In the case of young learners, they
may not have developed their writing skill, even in their own language. Writing is
probably the most personalized, creative activity in the language class.
In foreign language learning, writing gives learners the opportunity to find
ways of expressing their ideas in a foreign language. Writing gives learners the
opportunity to try out the language with plenty of thinking time. A learner’s
writing gives the teacher a good opportunity to diagnose grammar and vocabulary
problems and to identify progress. Writing allows learners to practice new
structures in an extended context. Writing can provide more variety in classwork.
In many classes, attention to writing is very limited. The teacher gives the
learners a title or a topic. The learner produces a text, and the teacher marks the
grammar, vocabulary and spelling mistakes in it. Writing is then merely a testing
tool. This is perhaps the reason for writing’s ‘bad reputation’. Some solution for
teaching writing can be described as follow:
a. Pay attention to the writing process by providing opportunities for learners
to brainstorm, plan, draft and revise. Remember that young learners will
perhaps not use these strategies yet even in their own language. Many of
these may be class or group activities, which can help make writing a less
lonely process.
b. Give learners something to write about. Pictures are a particularly good way
to provide content:’a picture is a text for which the learner provides the
words’.
c. Choose topics which the children can relate to in their own experience, for
example in the playground, rather than in the bank.
d. Stimulate young learner’s creativity by putting familiar things together in an
unfamiliar way. For example, “animals” and “hotel”: ask students to
describe a scene at a hotel for animals.
e. Make sure the learners will be able to do the task with the language level
they have (pay attention to vocabulary, useful expressions and structures at
the pre writing stage)
f. Set the writing task itself as homework if time is short, but at least try to find
time for some preparation work in class.
g. Give the children the opportunity to become involved with their writing. For
example, let them choose to be a character in native.
h. Be prepared for mixed ability. For example, have extension tasks for
students who finish early like adding a ps to their letter.
i. Encourage young learners to take pride in the presentation of their work, for
example by decorating it with pictures. Ask them to write on alternate lines
so there is space for comments.
j. Encourage learners to consider their audience. For instance, if they are
writing postcard, get them to imagine clearly who they are writing to; a
parent or a friend for example.
k. Be an interested audience by responding to the ideas in the learner’s work,
not just the language. Take on the role of intended audience as you mark.
l. Don’t just mark work for accuracy; mark for content as well. Select some
appropriate aspects of content to consider as you assess and comment on
them when giving feedback.
m. Be success-oriented: don’t only mark mistakes. For example, mark
positively for good and ambitious use of language too. Learners need to be
told what they are doing right as well as where their own particular problems
are. It is good for learners to develop a positive attitude to writing from an
early age.
n. Involve the learners in their development. Encourage students to reread their
work and to make necessary corrections. Let your students know know in
advance what you will be assessing when you mark. This will give them
manageable criteria to evaluate their own work and improve it before
handing it in. Also, encourage students to record their marks and their
feelings about each piece of writing. For example, they could draw a happy
face if they are pleased with their writing. This helps them to chart their
progress, motivating them to become more involved in it. It may also
provide a basis for teacher – student discussion.
o. Look out for ways of using the learner’s completed texts after writing. For
example, students could work in pairs, asking and answering questions about
content, or give each other clues about a character or plot for their partner to
guess who or what was written about. They could also be encouraged to
assess each other’s work.
p. Consider different ways to “publish” learner’s writing. Display it on the
wall, or get them to make a magazine, on paper or the internet (Jefiza, 2016).