Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Susan Ebbels
Moor House School, Hurst Green, Surrey, UK www.moorhouseschool.co.uk and Division of Psychology & Language, UCL
Shape Coding
1. Codes parts of speech with Colour Pattern Scheme colours (with a few modifications) 2. Codes phrases with shapes (drawn in black). 3. Codes verb morphology with arrows
Extra shapes
How? When? Aux or Modal Clause What happening?
Prepositional Phrase
Shape Coding
Ben was putting an apple in a bowl
The apple
is
tasty
in her bowl
Narrative
Plan ideas in the relevant shapes, e.g., Setting: Where, When, What like? Main characters: Who? Actions / Events: What did? Makes links between narrative and grammar
Narrative
Where? Who? When?
2. Teach that can have >1 word per shape and the correspondence to the question word is key to coding
John is cleaning the car John is putting the car in the garage
3. To reinforce the meaning of the shapes, give exercises where the shape changes according to the meaning
John is sleeping vs. John is tired
4. What, but
and
5. Specific shapes inside hexagons (verb phrase) depend on the individual verb and need to be learned with the verb.
Learning vocabulary
To really know an item of vocabulary you have to know its
1. Phonology 2. Meaning, including
a) multiple meanings (use colours to show different meanings which belong to different grammatical categories) b) if it is an irregular plural (double red line) or past tense (vertical arrow at the left) or past participle (horizontal arrow pointing left)
3. AND be able to use it in a sentence, for this you need to know its
a) Part of speech (use the colour) b) Argument structure if it is a verb (use the shapes)
For example
light = not heavy, easy to lift This box is light light = object which helps you see when it is dark The boy is touching the light light = make something burn The boy is lighting the fire
The men
are
happy
are
happy
Verb tenses
Vertical arrow = finite verb (in the middle=present, left=past tense) he eats he ate
horizontal arrow pointing left = past participle he has eaten he had eaten
PAST
PRESENT Coding used to reinforce which form of the word is present and which is past Signing also used with verbs to indicate tense
Correcting work
Use coding system to mark work This enables children to see their own mistakes Increases independence as can correct own mistakes
Points to note
Shape Coding is a tool, not a programme You need to gradually withdraw the shapes to get automatic use or understanding of the grammatical structures:
Activities with shapes Activities without shapes, but bring shape templates back to check answers Activities with no use of shapes
Evidence of effectiveness
Comprehension of wh questions and passives (Ebbels & van der Lely, 2001) Comprehension of datives (Ebbels, 2007) Use of past tense in written work (Ebbels, 2007) Production of verb argument structure (Ebbels et al., 2007) Comprehension of coordinating conjunctions (Ebbels et al., 2011)
Ebbels, S. and van der Lely, H. (2001). Meta-syntactic therapy using visual coding for children with severe persistent SLI. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 36(supplement), 345-350. Ebbels, S.H. (2007). Teaching grammar to school-aged children with Specific Language Impairment using Shape Coding. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 23, 1, 67-93. Ebbels, S.H., van der Lely, H.K.J., and Dockrell, J.E. (2007). Intervention for verb argument structure in children with persistent SLI: a randomized control trial. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 50, 1330-1349. Ebbels, S.H., Mari , N., Murphy, A. & Turner, G. (2007). Can we improve comprehension of grammar in secondary-aged students with language impairments? A randomised control trial of therapy for coordinating conjunctions. Poster presented at Lost for Words: Lost for Life? conference on SLCN in older children and young people. 15-17 June 201, City University London, England.
More information
Email: ebbelss@moorhouseschool.co.uk Website (CD of resources & References): www.moorhouseschool.co.uk/shape-coding-course Discussion group + info re future courses: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shapecoding/ or email: shapecoding-subscribe@yahoogroups.com