Learning to read: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:57, 23 December 2020

Revision as of 10:36, 24 December 2020

Line 40:

In the 1970s, the [[whole language]] method was introduced. This method de-emphasizes the teaching of phonics out of context (e.g. reading books), and is intended to help readers "guess" the right word.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A psycholinguistic guessing game|journal=Journal of the Reading Specialist|volume=6|issue=4|pages=126–135|doi=10.1080/19388076709556976|year = 1967|last1 = Goodman|first1 = Kenneth S.}}</ref> It teaches that guessing individual words should involve three systems (letter clues, meaning clues from context, and the syntactical structure of the sentence). It became the primary method of reading instruction in the 1980s and 1990s. However, it is falling out of favor. The neuroscientist [[Mark Seidenberg]] refers to it as a "theoretical zombie" because it persists in spite of a lack of supporting evidence.<ref> {{cite book |title ="The persistence of the [whole language] ideas despite the mass of evidence against them is most striking at this point. In normal science, a theory whose assumptions and predictions have been repeatedly contradicted by data will be discarded. That is what happened to the Smith and Goodman theories within reading science, but in education they are theoretical zombies that cannot be stopped by conventional weapons such as empirical disconfirmation, leaving them free to roam the educational landscape." Language at the speed of light, 2017, page 271, Mark Seidenberg}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/introduction/|title=Reading foundational skills, Common Core States Standards Initiative, USA}}</ref> It is still widely practiced in related methods such as [[Sight word|sight words]], the 3-cueing system and [[balanced literacy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-read |title=Hard Words: Why American kids aren't being taught to read, ARM Reports 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Adams, Marilyn Jager |title=Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print |publisher=MIT Press |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=1994 |isbn=0-262-51076-6 |oclc=256731826 |url=https://archive.org/details/beginningtoread00mari }}</ref><ref name="LDOnline">{{cite web |last1=Moats |first1=Louisa |title=Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of Balanced Reading Instruction |url=http://www.ldonline.org/article/6394/ |website=LD Online |publisher=WETA Public Television |accessdate=29 January 2019}}</ref>

In the 1980s the [[Learning to read#three-cueing system|three-cueing system]] (the searchlights model in England) emerged. According to a 2010 survey 75% of teachers in the USA teach the three-cueing system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edweek.org/media/ed%20week%20reading%20instruction%20survey%20report-final%201.24.20.pdf|title=Early reading instruction survey, EdWeek Research Center, USA|date=2010}}</ref> It teaches children to guess a word by using "meaning cues" (semantic, syntactic and graphophonic). While the system does help students to "make better guesses", it does not help when the words become more sophisticated; and it reduces the amount of practice time available to learn essential decoding skills. Consequently, present-day researchers such as cognitive neuroscientists [[Mark Seidenberg]] and professor [[Timothy Shanahan (educator)|Timothy Shanahan]] do not support the theory.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/it-good-idea-teach-three-cueing-systems-reading|title=Is It a Good Idea to Teach the Three Cueing Systems in Reading|date=2019-04-01|author=Timothy Shanahan, Reading Rockets}}</ref><ref> {{cite book |title=Language at the speed of light|date=2017|pages=300–304|author=Mark Seidenberg|isbn=9780465080656}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nifdi.org/resources/hempenstall-blog/402-the-three-cueing-system-in-reading-will-it-ever-go-away|title=The three-cueing system in reading: Will it ever go away|author=Dr Kerry Hempenstall, Senior Industry Fellow, School of Education, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia|date=2017-10-29}}</ref> In England, [[synthetic phonics]] is intended to replace "the searchlights multi-cueing model".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2006-primary-national-strategy.pdf|page=18|title=Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics, Department for education and skills, England|year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/0201-2006PDF-EN-01.pdf|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100512233640/http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/0201-2006PDF-EN-01.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-05-12|title=Independent review of the teaching of early reading, 2006|access-date=2020-05-22}}</ref>

In the 1990s [[Balanced literacy]] arose. It is a theory of teaching reading and writing that is not clearly defined. It may include elements such as word study and phonics mini-lessons, differentiated learning, cueing, leveled reading, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading and sight words.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/reading-is-more-than-sounding-out-words-and-decoding-thats-why-we-use-the-whole-language-approach-to-teaching-it-126606|title=Reading is more than sounding out words and decoding, The conversation.com, 2019-11-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://districtadministration.com/teaching-phonics-builds-balanced-literacy|title=Teaching phonics builds balanced literacy, District administration, FL}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-make-better-use-reading-science|title=3 Ways to Make Better Use of Reading Science, Edutopia.org, 2020-02-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/4-reasons-to-use-the-balanced-literacy-approach-4e6556ccb19a|title=4 reasons to use balanced literacy}}</ref> For some, balanced literacy strikes a balance between [[whole language]] and [[phonics]]. Others say balanced literacy in practice usually means the ''whole language'' approach to reading.<ref>Reading at the Speed of Light: How we Read, why so many can't, and what can be done about it, 2017, pages 248, Mark Seidenberg {{ISBN|978-1-5416-1715-5}}</ref> According to a survey in 2019, 68% of K-2 teachers in the USA practice balanced literacy. Furthermore, only 52% of teachers included ''phonics'' in their definition of ''balanced literacy''.

Line 99:

==Acquiring reading==

A child's ability to learn to read, known as [[reading readiness]], begins in infancy, as the child begins attending to the speech signals in their environment and begins producing spoken language.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83">{{cite book |author1=Wolf, Maryanne |author2=Stoodley, Catherine J. |title=Proust and the squid: the story and science of the reading brain |publisher=Harper |___location=New York |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/proustsquidstory00wolf/page/81 81–83] |isbn=978-0-06-018639-5 |oclc=471015779 |url=https://archive.org/details/proustsquidstory00wolf/page/81 }}</ref> Children make some use of all the material that they are presented with, including every perception, concept and word they come in contact with; thus the child's environment affects their ability to learn to read.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> The amount of time a child spends listening to someone read to them is a good predictor of their reading attainment later in life.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Fields|first=Tiffany|title=Touch Therapy|year=2000|publisher=Churchill Livingstone|___location=New York|isbn=978-0-443-05791-5|pages=255}}</ref> As a child listens to stories and looks at pictures they gradually learn the relationship between letters, words and stories.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/><ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> Preschool-aged children with limited exposure to books and reading in their home, including limited experience of being read to, are at risk of reading difficulties.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> For example, these children tend to have less exposure to literary phrases, such as "Once upon a time",<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> and have smaller vocabularies,<ref>{{cite web|last=Biemiller|first=Andrew|title=Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network|url=http://www.literacyencyclopedia.ca/pdfs/topic.php?topId=19|accessdate=20 November 2011|pages=10|format=pdf|year=2007}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="MyersBotting2008">{{cite journal |last1=Myers|first1=L. |last2=Botting|first2=N. |title=Literacy in the mainstream inner-city school: Its relationship to spoken language|journal=Child Language Teaching and Therapy|volume=24 |issue=1|year=2008 |pages=95–114|issn=0265-6590 |doi=10.1177/0265659007084570|s2cid=145153275 |url=http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/13719/3/Lucy%20RC%20paper%20revised%20CRO.pdf }}</ref> both factors that affect the ability to read by limiting comprehension of text. The environment in which a child lives may also impact their ability to acquire reading skills. Children who are regularly exposed to chronic environmental noise pollution, such as highway traffic noise, have been known to show decreased ability to discriminate between [[phonemes]] (oral language sounds) as well as lower reading scores on standardized tests.<ref name="CohenGlass1973">{{cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Sheldon|last2=Glass|first2=David C.|last3=Singer|first3=Jerome E.|title=Apartment noise, auditory discrimination, and reading ability in children|journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology|volume=9 |issue=5|year=1973 |pages=407–422 |issn=0022-1031 |doi=10.1016/S0022-1031(73)80005-8}}</ref>

Thus, the ideal process of what is called emergent or early literacy<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> begins in the relationship between hearing spoken language, seeing [[written language]] and feeling loved. The positive feeling that arises from spending time with books in a loving context provides a strong foundation and intrinsic [[motivation]] for the long and cognitively challenging process of learning to read.<ref name="Wolf, 2007, 81-83"/> However, reading to children and ensuring exposure to many [[books]] is not enough to prepare them for reading.<ref name="Wolf90">{{cite book |author1=Wolf, Maryanne |author2=Stoodley, Catherine J. |title=Proust and the squid: the story and science of the reading brain |publisher=Harper |___location=New York |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/proustsquidstory00wolf/page/90 90] |isbn=978-0-06-018639-5 |oclc=471015779 |url=https://archive.org/details/proustsquidstory00wolf/page/90 }}</ref> Another critical skill is the ability to name letters or characters.<ref name="Wolf90"/>

Line 286:

=====Combining phonics with other literacy instruction=====

There are many ways that phonics is taught and it is often taught together with some of the following: oral language skills,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/oral-language-interventions/|title=Oral language interventions, Education endowment foundation, UK}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219627/DFE-RR247-BCRP13.pdf|title=Exploring interventions for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs: A study of practice, UK Government}}</ref> concepts about print,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusconceptsprint.aspx|title=Concepts of print-'how print works', Education, Victoria, AU}}</ref> [[phonological awareness]], [[phonemic awareness]], [[phonology]], oral reading [[fluency]], vocabulary, [[syllables]], [[reading comprehension]], [[spelling]], word study,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Word_Study.pdf, |title=Word Study Instruction:Enhancing Reading Comprehension, 03-09-2010, Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, ON}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.readingrockets.org/article/word-study-instruction-k-2-classroom|title=Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom, Reading Rockets}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Morphology.pdf|title=Morphology Works, Queen's University, Canada}}</ref> [[cooperative learning]], [[multisensory learning]], and [[guided reading]]. And, phonics is often featured in discussions about [[Learning to read#Science of reading|science of reading]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/1869|title=Exploding some of the myths about learning to read, NSW Teachers Federation, AU}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/what-science-reading|title=What Is the Science of Reading? Timothy Shanahan, Reading Rockets 2019-05-29}}</ref> and [[evidence-based education|evidence-based practices]].

The [[National Reading Panel]] (U.S.A. 2000) suggests that phonics be taught together with phonemic awareness, oral fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. [[Timothy Shanahan (educator)]], a member of that panel, suggests that primary students receive 60–90 minutes per day of explicit, systematic, literacy instruction time; and that it be divided equally between a) words and word parts (e.g. letters, sounds, decoding and phonemic awareness), b) oral reading fluency, c) reading comprehension, and d) writing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/why-an-overemphasis-on-foundational-reading-skills-makes-kids-sick|title=Foundational reading skills, Timothy Shanahan, Shanahan on literacy}}</ref> Furthermore, he states that "the phonemic awareness skills found to give the greatest reading advantage to kindergarten and first-grade children are ''segmenting and blending''".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489535.pdf|title=THE NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT: Practical Advice for Teachers, page 9, Timothy Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago, Learning Point Associates 2005.}}</ref>