Learning to Read

How did you learn to read and write? What are the differences between learning speech and learning to read and write? Consider: Are you taught formally to speak? Are we taught to read and write? Do children struggle more with speaking or reading and writing? What are the differences in the purposes of spoken and written language?

Some differences between speech and writing In normal circumstances when children learn to speak before five, they do not need any formal teaching. This is clearly not the case with writing and reading. Many pupils fail to become literate. There is also no maturational barrier. Writing is not as natural as speech. Skilful adult readers read at twice the rate they speak. Writing is not face to face, not co-operative, and is isolated. Writing is used for different purposes, recording facts, ideas and information, labelling. The more demanding a text, the more re-reading is necessary. Writing needs re-reading. Difficulties- 44 phonemes- 26 graphems. Punctuation can represent speech sounds. Speech contains false starts, incomplete utterances, hesitations, repetitions, rephrasing fillers and colloquialisms such as well and you know. It takes a child some time to see writing as a different mode of communication. Some differences between speech and writing In normal circumstances when children learn to speak before five, they do not need any formal teaching. This is clearly not the case with writing and reading. Many pupils fail to become literate. There is also no maturational barrier. Writing is not as natural as speech. Skilful adult readers read at twice the rate they speak. Writing is not face to face, not co-operative, and is isolated. Writing is used for different purposes, recording facts, ideas and information, labelling. The more demanding a text, the more re-reading is necessary. Writing needs re-reading. Difficulties- 44 phonemes- 26 graphems. Punctuation can represent speech sounds. Speech contains false starts, incomplete utterances, hesitations, repetitions, rephrasing fillers and colloquialisms such as well and you know. It takes a child some time to see writing as a different mode of communication.

There is a long standing and sometimes heated debate in educational circles about the best way of teaching reading. Most recently: a strong emphasis has been placed on the phonics-based approach in the ‘Literacy Hour’ introduced in English primary schools. This is versus the ‘whole word’ approach, also called the ‘look and say’ approach Controversy …

Phonics history – when did you learn to read? 1898 The phonics program devised by Nellie Dale becomes popular in the UK and USA, following the development of phonics in the mid-nineteenth century 1920s One-word flash cards become the rage 1960s Janet and John reading books take centre stage 1970s Frank Smith's books saying reading emerges naturally become influential 1989 National English curriculum published, emphasising variety of approaches 1992 Curriculum rewritten with more phonics 1998 National Literacy Strategy emphasizes a structured approach to teaching reading, with some phonics; half of all schools ignore phonics 1999 The DfES publishes phonics materials for teachers 2001 OFSTED finds that teaching of phonics is weak 2004 A six-year study in a Gloucestershire primary school shows phonics substantially boosts boys' achievements 2005 A report on a seven-year synthetic phonics study in Scotland shows success with all children, particularly boys and disadvantaged pupils. The Education Committee in the Commons asks for a widespread trial.

What is ‘phonics’? There are two ‘types’ of ‘phonics’ – ‘synthetic’ and ‘analytic’ This approach generally starts before children are introduced to formal reading or reading books. Don’t confuse the terminology – a phoneme is a unit of sound. Phonics is a method used to teach children to read.

Synthetic Phonics Synthetic phonics involves the development of phonemic awareness. The child learns 44 phonemes and their related graphemes. Child expected to recognise each grapheme then sound out each phoneme in a word, building up through blending the sounds together to pronounce the word. This approach works well with phonetically regular words. The sounds and their corresponding written symbols are taught in quick succession - up to five or six sounds per week. A multi-sensory approach is used where children see the symbol, listen to the sound, say the sound and accompany this by doing an action (Jolly Phonics is widely used).

Analytic phonics analysis of whole words to detect phonetic or orthographic patterns, then splitting them into smaller parts to help with decoding, for example onset and rime. The rimes of words used to help children read and spell by analogy. For example, the right rime, once known, can be used to generate another 96 words. Helps children develop a large sight vocabulary for reading and spelling. Works well for those words that children cannot work out sound- by-sound, for example ‘might', 'through', ‘sake'. It is an effective way of helping children adopt the common sight words, for example when teaching the word 'could', children would be encouraged to recall and read the rhyming words that share the same written pattern - 'would', 'should'.

Graded flash cards. Graded readers. Breaking down individual words. Phonics methods …

Children learn to understand how written words are built and spelt. Enables them to decipher new unknown words. Phonics advantages …

Phonics disadvantages Early written vocab may be limited to words with basic phoneme/grapheme correspondences English spelling system is extremely complex and full of irregularities.

Children DO need to acquire understanding of phonics to achieve literacy. 1996: Essex schools study: children taught using phonics achieved reading ages 6/7 months ahead of children not in scheme. Phonics research …

StageAgeKey characteristics 0Pre-reading and pseudo-reading Up to 6Pretend reading, turning pages. Some letter recognition, especially letters in own name. Often predicting stories and words. 1Initial reading and decoding 6-7Reading simple texts containing high frequency lexis. Chall estimated about 600 words understood. 2Confirmation and fluency 7-8reading more quickly, accurately, paying more attention to meaning of words. How many written words understood? 3,000. 3for learning9-14Reading for knowledge as motivation 4Multiplicity and complexity 14-17Responding critically to what they read and analysing texts. 5Construction and reconstruction 18+Reading selectively and forming opinions. Chall’s Stages of Reading Development

Reading Scheme By Wendy Cope Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. Jane has a big doll. Peter has a ball. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! Here is Mummy. She has baked a bun. Here is the milkman. He has come to call. Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. Go Peter! Go Jane! Come, milkman, come! The milkman likes Mummy. She likes them all. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! Here are the curtains. They shut out the sun. Let us peep! On tiptoe Jane! You are small! Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. I hear a car, Jane. The milkman looks glum. Here is Daddy in his car. Daddy is tall. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run! Daddy looks very cross. Has he a gun? Up milkman! Up milkman! Over the wall! Here is Peter. Here is Jane. They like fun. Look, Jane, look! Look at the dog! See him run!