reading wars
hala odeh
hi all ,
This is a reflection i shared in the learning to read course i took last summer. It is about the READING WAR between two instructional approaches.
There have been two general instructional approaches that governed reading education. They are generally known as Phonics and Whole Language approaches. These approaches to reading instruction reflect very different fundamental philosophies and stress very different skills. The philosophy of the Whole Language approach is that reading is a natural process, much like learning to speak. Children need to be exposed to a great deal of authentic texts. They will naturally become literate, without much in the way of explicit systematic phonics instructions. The philosophy of the Phonics approach is that in order to learn to read, most students require a great deal of explicit instruction in the rules of printed text.
attached is a document that summarises both similarities and differences.
hala
Don't just search. Find. MSN Search Check out the new MSN Search!
Pan Yone
2-257 Kaijin-cho
Leo Palace #203
Funabashi-shi
Chiba 273-0022
Japan
mobile: 09096785158
From: ode...@hotmail.com
To: I2...@googlegroups.com
Subject: reading wars
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 20:14:01 +0000
hala odeh
Hi Pan,
I agree it is challenging to implement a balanced and integrated approach between the holistic and phonitec approach to teaching reading, because we tend to yield towards an approach. As it proved the failure of standing on its own through various research in the U.S, i find it puzzeling that most indian or pakistani schools in kuwait don't follow the study of phonemic analysis , and their students tend to excel in reading!
hala
From: Pan Yone <mpan...@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: I2...@googlegroups.com
To: <i2...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: reading wars
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 22:11:48 +0000
Pan Yone
You raised a good point. One that I have mentioned in discussions with my Learning to Read peers. When I was growing up, and learning to read, I wasn't taught phonetics. Same with my mother, who is Burmese. Nothing like it, in fact, I remember figuring it out for myself. I remember one Saturday afternoon, reading on my mom's bed, wondering why a word sounded the way it did, when the letters didn't. I tried to sound out the word, according the sounds of the letters, and it just sounded weird. I know that this may sound like I didn't have much of a life as a child, ha ha. But, I have grown into an avid reader, and never leave the house without a book to read, "just in case I have time". Similarly, my boss' eldest son wasn't taught using the phonics method, and is also an avid reader, however both my boss and I agree that her younger son would have a great deal of difficulty learning to read if we used the whole word approach with him. He is a slow reader, but I have always attributed that to his inability to concentrate. I am sure that reading ability differs greatly from person to person, and is influenced by something more innate than the method used to learn how to read.
Thanks again for sharing.
PY
2-257 Kaijin-cho
Leo Palace #203
Funabashi-shi
Chiba 273-0022
Japan
mobile: 09096785158
From: ode...@hotmail.com
To: I2...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: reading wars
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 04:36:15 +0000