III.   INTRODUCTION

I.   How Do People Learn To Read?

There has been a lot of controversy over the issue of how we learn to read for the first time. This section provides an overview of the two major theories of reading and a short description of what most researchers now believe is the process of acquiring reading skills.

Phonics

For a good part of this century children were taught to read through phonics. This method is an application of the "bottom-up" theory of reading. Children were often given lists of words and taught to decode them. While some children learned to read this way, some did not. Critics of this method claim that children who learn to read this way get so caught up in trying to decode the sounds of the word that they do not understand what they are reading. In other words, they are not reading for meaning. If they are not reading for meaning, then they are not receiving the message the author is trying to convey and hence, they are not really reading at all.

Whole Language

In 1971, Frank Smith published Understanding Reading, which proposed the idea that we do not attend to individual letters when we read nor do we read every word in a sentence. Rather than learning to identify individual sounds, Smith proposed that children learn to read by predicting what words will be in the text by relying on visual and non-visual cues including print, pictures, background knowledge, etc. Part of his research was based on watching good readers read.

Understanding Reading contributed to the revival of the Whole Language Movements. Whole Language methodology is described in many different ways. It often includes ensuring that learners are only given "real" or authentic reading material and that the wider uses of literacy are explored. Whole Language methodology is an application of the "top-down" theory of reading.

Since Smith published his research in the early 1970s technology has improved to the extent that researchers can now accurately follow eye movement as one reads a text. This research shows that good readers do attend to most letters and most words in a sentence. Therefore, "prediction" is not the primary conveyor of meaning, especially in the early stages of learning to read.

Interactive Theories

Currently, the literature supports "interactive" theories. These theories marry Whole Language and phonics, or top-down with bottom-up. An ESL analogy might be to compare communicative approaches to grammar-based methodologies, such as audio-lingual. Interactive theories take what is good from each to produce more effective methodologies.

A good reading and writing program combines the Whole Language approach with the solid development of sequential skills.

Brain-based Learning

Approaches to the teaching of ESL Literacy have also been influenced by research into brain-based learning. Caine and Caine (1997) outline 12 brain/mind learning principles, which basically suggest that learning is enhanced when it involves meaningful, social interaction with the real world. It is also enhanced when learning tasks and activities are varied to respond to the diversity of learning styles within the classroom and tasks are also designed to offer challenge, promote success and minimize threat of failure.

Canadian Language Benchmarks www.language.ca



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