Every few years an argument begins about how best to teach reading. Four decades ago discussion was over the “sight,” or “look, say” method where the reader memorized whole words, versus the phonics programs which require readers to break the words into parts, associate them with sounds and meanings, and then blend them together to make words.
Phonics or Real-Life Experience
At the heart of the continuing controversy is whether to use the whole language, or real-life experience approach, or the phonics approach. Whole language advocates say that reading is defined as understanding meaning from printed symbols. They plan field trips to the zoo or fire station, plant gardens, or plan and cook meals to help children relate the experiences to the material to be read.
They spend much time developing the child’s oral language because they believe a child is able to read and understand printed material only as well as he or she can listen and speak.
While whole language advocates focus on meaning and fluency, those who advocate the use of a strong phonics approach say that readers have to be able to decode words before they can get meaning from the words.
They take a more direct approach to decoding words, using drill and practice activities to help children recognize letter/sound relationships and decode words and phrases.
Learning to Read Is a Complicated Process
While reading is as easy as breathing for some learners, too many never master it. Beginning readers learn to decode, or figure out words by recognizing printed symbols and associating them with sounds and meaning. Later they learn the comprehension skills; how to recognize the main idea in a paragraph, pick out the details, predict what will happen next, make inferences, and draw conclusions.
Some children need to have words broken down into small units of sound and need to be taught to blend the sounds together to form meaningful units as words. Others have developed their own ways of breaking down words and putting them back together again. These children may be bored by the drill and repetition of phonic approaches.
Other children have been around the world and back again, literally or figuratively, and they may not be thrilled by a trip to a zoo or classroom cookie-making session. They might learn more about their world by plunging into their books and exploring the areas they haven’t yet covered. These children are ready for more formal reading and writing activities.
There are some for whom the phonics instruction will not work because they are not able to process auditory stimuli. It may be easier for them to process visual information, and they may be able to memorize whole words by sight.
It helps some children to use the sense of touch. They use their fingers to trace letters in sand or on paper, or form letters and words from clay.
No Easy Answers to Teaching Reading
For some reason teachers and parents tend to take an either/or approach to complicated issues. It is a mistake to rely on one approach to teaching reading, because a method that works for one child may not work at all for another. Good teachers have always recognized that children learn in different ways and require different strategies.
Focus on the Learner
It is not necessary to take an either/or approach. In his 2001 article for Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, "What Does a Balanced Literacy Approach Mean?" Sebastian Wren suggested that teachers should focus not on approaches or even a balance between approaches, but on what the teacher has learned about individual students.
The best way to teach kids to learn is to find out what each child knows and how that child learns best, according to Wren. Teachers must use all the tools available to them to get the job done.
