Understanding multisensory practices can allow teachers to open the doors of literacy to students. Multisensory learning is also an effective way to make teaching inclusive, as it offers a wide range of strategies for children to learn, and does not depend upon just listening, writing, and reading alone. 

• Visual - learning through watching and seeing;

• Auditory - learning through listening and hearing sounds;

• Kinesthetic - learning through physical activity or body movement (this involves the vestibular and proprioceptive senses);

• Tactile - learning through using the sense to touch;

• Olfactory and Gustatory - learning through smell and taste.

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1. How would you teach explicit, systematic, and sequential single and multisyllabic word reading

I would teach explicit, systematic, and sequential single and multisyllabic word reading, beginning with foundational phonics instruction that introduces letter-sound correspondences in a clear, step-by-step manner. This would help provide framework and the foundation for learners to decode regular one-syllable words. Later they can continue with more complex multisyllable words identification while analyzing the morphological structure of such advanced words. I will use the following strategies: explicit instruction and modeling, sequencing, progression from simple to complex, guided practice with more independent work if a student demonstrates growth and confidence in developing reading skills. Frequent constructive feedback is important at all steps. 

2. How would you teach orthographic mapping for regular and irregular words 
Orthographic mapping is the process of forming connections between the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of words in memory. To teach this for both regular and irregular words:
- visually and with audio support guide learners in analyzing word patterns and recognizing common letter combinations;
- use analogies and examples to decode unfamiliar words
- explicitly instruct on recognizing morphological parts of words (roots, prefixes, and suffixes) and provide related activities (recognizing, sorting);
- provide multiple exposures to high-frequency words;
- use associations/mnemonics for irregular words that don’t follow phonics rules.

3. How do variations in phonology across dialects and speech patterns affect the development of phonemic awareness?  

The examples of variations in phonology across dialects/speech patterns: different pronunciations, omission/addition of certain sounds.
Impact: difficulty identifying, manipulating sounds that differ from their own dialect/speech pattern. 
What should I do: 
- be aware of regional, cultural differences;
- adjust instruction accordingly, recognizing the variety of students' home languages and dialects in the classroom;
- explicitly teach the phonological patterns using standard academic language;
- provide opportunities engaging students in auditory/speaking activities to help them develop listening, sound recognition, speaking skills, etc.

4. How do evidence-based and multisensory practices support the development of phonemic awareness?

Evidence-based, multisensory practices support the development of phonemic awareness in the following ways:
- besides improving the literacy (includong phonemic awareness) such practices engage students of multiple learning modalities (according to Gardner’s theory);
- help create connections by pairing visual/kinesthetic/auditory experience to learning phoneme recognition and manipulation, and their written forms.

5. What is one evidence-based practice that you could incorporate into your teaching to connect reading and writing that enhances comprehension and student engagement?
As I don’t directly teach reading and writing in middle-high school (only higher level techical vocabulary in Design Technology/Computer Science), I will give an example from my experience of being a Girl Scout Leader in Beijing for a group of brownie-age (grade 1 - grade 2) girls. I organize a variety of activities to support holistic development of my troop members, such as STEM activities, hiking/camping, art activities and gallery visits, yoga, etc. There was one meeting with a theme “Senses”. I provided them with a variety of aroma smells and fruits (like durian, raspberries) to smell with closed eyes. Then I asked them to create a mindmap - for 3 favorite smells (associations, feelings, what reminds them of, adjectives) - they could draw and/or write. Then, one by one, they were reading aloud what they wrote. At all steps - I was supporting them (if they didn’t know how to write a word - “map from sounds to letters”) I was explicitly instructing (visually - on the board and auditiory “pronouncing”). I was providing immediate feedback. After such activities - girls feel more confident about their writing skills. They are able to connect phonemic awareness and writing to smelling, picturing and to overall fun experience. 

 

Reference:

 

Esplendori, G. F., Kobayashi, R. M., & Püschel, V. A. A. (2022). Multisensory integration approach, cognitive domains, meaningful learning: reflections for undergraduate nursing education. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P, 56, e20210381. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-220X-REEUSP-2021-0381

 

Mometrix Academy. (2022, December 20). Components of oral language [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeNiIMAcsvU

 

Nordengren, C. (2024, January 7). 10 ways to meet the learning needs of all students. Teach. Learn. Grow. https://www.nwea.org/blog/2023/10-ways-to-meet-the-learning-needs-of-all-students/