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Since 2013 Dutch children have the opportunity of inquiry learning to read. The program is from the Dutch developmental psychologist Ewald Vervaet, is named {{lang|nl|Ontdekkend Leren Lezen}} (OLL; 'Discovery Learning to Read') and has three parts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ontdekkendleren.nl/boeken |title= There is a fourth book. It is for children who are not reading mature and generally in kindergarten: Klank- en vormspel (Sound and form play)|access-date=2019-04-27|author=Ewald, Vervaet }}</ref> As of 2019, OLL is only available in Dutch.
OLL's main characteristic is that it is for children who are reading mature. Reading maturity is assessed with the Reading Maturity Test. It is a descriptive test that consists of two subtests.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ontdekkendleren.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/formulieren-schrijfproef-en-leesproef.pdf |title=Schrijfproef en leesproef |language=nl |trans-title=Writing test and reading test |access-date=2019-04-27|author=Ewald, Vervaet }}</ref> We present here the essentials.
In the writing test ('{{lang|nl|schrijfproef}}') the child writes his name, the words 'mam' and 'dad' and some names more, which he happens to know. In the reading test ('{{lang|nl|leesproef}}') the tester makes new, transparent (common, rare or nonsense) words which the child then tries to read. Testwords consist of three or four letters.
Suppose, Tim writes TIM, MAM, DAD and SOFIE (Tims sister). Good testwords are SIT, (nonsense word) FOM and MIST. When Tim reads SIT as 's, i, t', he only analyses the sounds of the word. He is definitely not reading mature then.
However, when Tims reaction on SIT is first 's, i, t' and then 'sit', he analyses-and-synthesizes. He then is reading mature of almost so for there are some conditions more such as analysing-and-synthesizing of words of four letters and absence of mirror writing in the writing test.
If a child is reading mature, he can start with OLL. The essential element of OLL are the discovering pages. See the discovering page for the letter 'k' below. The Dutch word '{{lang|nl|kat}}' is the English word 'cat'; Dutch '{{lang|nl|slak}}' is English 'snail', Dutch '{{lang|nl|kers}}' is English 'cherry' and Dutch '{{lang|nl|vork}}' is English 'fork'. [[File:2019 06 21 wikipedia inquiry learning afbeelding 1.png|thumb|Picture 1. {{lang-nl|Ontdekkend Leren Lezen}} (OLL; 'Discovery Learning to Read').]]
In earlier chapters the child has discovered the letters 'a', 't', 's', 'l', 'e', 'r', 'v' and 'o' in similar discovering pages. Consequently, the novelty in the discovering page for the letter 'k' is the figure 'k': obviously, the figure 'k' is a letter in the Dutch alphabet, but how does 'k' sound? The child finds this out by making hypotheses: is the one animal perhaps a snail, 'slak' in Dutch? If so, the word below sounds as /slak/; the child reads 's, l, a, k; slak'; hypothesis confirmed! Similarly with 'k, a, t; kat', 'k, e, r, s; kers' and 'v, o, r, k; vork'.
Consequently, the hypothesis 'That is a snail' has broadened itself to the hypothesis that 'k' sounds like /k/ as twice in the English word 'clock', and that hypothesis had proven to be tenable. Not just that: the process to find out how 'k' sounds, is rightly called a discovering process and Discovering Learing to Read clearly is a form of discovery or inquiry learning.
====Discovery Learning to Read (DLR) in English====
Phonemically speaking the Dutch language is much less transparent than almost completely transparent languages like Italian, Finnish and Czech, but much more transparent than languages like English and Danish. The classification of the British reading expert Debbie Hepplewhite (born in 1956) yields 217 letter-sound-combinations. The letter symbol 'a' for instance sounds on at least four ways: 'car', 'fat', 'saw' and 'table'. Conversely, the sound in 'table' is written on at least seven other ways: 'sundae', 'aid', 'straight', 'say', 'break', 'eight' and 'prey'. And so on.
Maybe a native speaker of English can construct enough discovering pages for all these 217 letter-sound-combinations, but the time being Discovery Learning to Read (DLR) looks only feasible with one or more auxiliary letters.
*The very first discovering page could be with the word 'ɑnd' and would actually be a discovering page for the letters 'ɑ', 'n' and 'd'. [[File:2019 06 21 wikipedia inquiry learning afbeelding 2.png|thumb|Picture 2. Ontdekkend Leren Lezen (Dutch) (OLL; Discovery Learning to Read).]]
*In the second discovering page the letter 'm'-/m/ is discovered with 'mɑn', 'dɑm' and eventually 'mɑd' as discovering words.
*In the third discovering page the letter 't'-/t/ is discovered with 'mɑt' en 'ɑnt' and possibly 'tɑn' as discovering words.
*In the fourth discovering page the letter 'e'-/e/ is discovered with 'ten', 'net', 'tent' and 'men' as discovering words.
*In the fifth discovering page the letter 'r'-/r/ is discovered with 'rɑt', 'trɑm' and 'red' (for instance on the basis of the British/USA-flag, with an arrow near the red parts).
*In the sixth discovering page the letter 's'-/s/ is discovered with 'stem', 'nest', 'sɑnd' and 'ɑnts'.
*In the seventh discovering page the letter 'p'-/p/ is discovered with 'pen', 'tɑp', 'pɑn' and 'mɑp'.
*In the eighth discovering page the letter 'i'-/i/ is discovered with 'pin', 'tin', 'pit' and 'mist'.
*In the ninth discovering page the first auxiliary letter could be discovered: the /ai/-sound of 'my', 'pie', 'find' and 'ice', for instance with the discovering words 'night'-/nait/, 'mice'-/mais/, 'pie'-/pai/ and 'rice'-/rais/. [[File:2019 06 21 wikipedia inquiry learning afbeelding 3.png|thumb|Picture 3. Ontdekkend Leren Lezen (Dutch) (OLL; Discovery Learning to Read).]]
To make it clear to the child from the outset that 'ai' is not a standard letter but an auxiliary letter, this is told to him and this letter is presented in a different way than the standard letters, for example with a line through it and/or against a gray instead of white background: as 'ɑi', 'ɑi' or 'ɑi'.
There are two conditions for a discovering page with a non-standard letter symbol. The first is that such a letter symbol resembles the standard alphabet as much as possible. And the second condition is that in the case of a combination of letters, the child is familiar with the composing parts. With 'ɑi' both conditions are fulfilled: the parts are derived from the standard alphabet and the child knows 'ɑ' and 'i' from the first and the eighth discovering pages.
In Vervaets opinion, the aim should be to keep the number of non-standard letter symbols as low as possible. After all, whatever kind of positive purpose is aimed for with non-standard letter symbols, the child learns them for the time being and should replace them – preferably as early as possible – and thus unlearn them. The number of things to be unlearned should therefore not be greater than strictly necessary.
In later discovering pages the child discovers the correct spelling. The /ɑi/-sound has at least these six spellings:
#'igh' – 'bright', 'fight', 'flight', 'high', 'knight', 'light', 'might', 'nigh', 'night', 'plight', 'right', 'sigh', 'sight', 'slight', 'thigh', 'tight';
#'ie' – 'die', 'hie', 'lie', 'pie', 'tie', 'vie';
#'i(nd)' – 'behind', 'bind', 'blind', 'find', 'kind', 'mind', 'rind', 'wind';
#'y' – by', 'cry', 'dry', 'fly', 'fry', 'my', 'pry', 'shy', 'sky', 'spy', 'try', 'why';
#'ei' – 'eider', 'eiderdown';
#'i(consonant)e' – 'jibe', 'nice', 'tide', 'life', 'oblige', 'bike', 'file', 'time', 'fine', 'ripe', 'wise', 'kite', 'dive', 'size'.
== Misconceptions ==
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