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From: Anne Murr <anne.murr@DRAKE.EDU>
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Subject: [NIFL-LD:3695] response
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Friends,
I am a newcomer to the adult literacy field - been at it less that 5
years. I have found that teachers of reading (for all ages) seem to
be guided more by philosophy and belief than by what is known from
the research. When I took the teaching of reading course about a
dozen years ago, our major project was to write a philosophy of the
teaching of reading paper - not to look at specifically how to teach
reading. My approach then was from the whole language perspective,
i.e., you learn to read by reading - the whole word approach. (John,
you suggested that I had missed that piece, but I familiar with it.)
I began teaching adults using the whole language/language experience
approach. We soon found that adults were not learning to read as a
result of that instruction. Thus enter our quest to find a better
way to teach them. After starting to use a multisensory, structured
method of directly teaching phonological processing skills, I
discovered that the research describes just that approach as critical
for persons who are failing (or have failed) to learn to read.
Teaching reading is rocket science. (See Louisa Moats at
http://www.aft.org/edissues/rocketscience.htm) We must be informed
by the research. (I wonder why no one responded to the research I
cited in my previous post.)
See also the thorough review of current reading research compiled by
the National Reading Panel (2000) nationalreadingpanel.org. They did
not review the research on whole language because they found no
scientific research on that type of instruction.
Let me ask you this: when you read, don't you hear the whole words
in your mind? In Perfetti and Zhang's research with Chinese readers,
they found that when readers of Chinese look at Chinese logographic
script, they do mentally hear the sound of the words before the
meaning of the words is accessed. Doesn't this demonstrate the role
of phonology in reading?
David Share (1995) states that phonemic awareness and the ability to
process sounds in words is the sine quo non (essential condition) for
learning to read. We in the adult literacy field must provide that
essential condition.
On the comprehension/reading issue: Comprehension is what reading is
all about! Without comprehension there's no point in reading.
Decoding, i.e., getting the words off the page, is merely the first
step. Fluency, getting the words automatically and a well-developed
vocabulary contribute to comprehension. Each piece is a necessary
part of the whole. Any one piece by itself is not enough.
John, I read your Learning to Read article. Your description is
accurate. However, Shaywitz and others have found that as many girls
as boys have reading problems. Girls, however, are quieter about it
and don't become the behavior problems so they are not noticed as
often.
We tried computer-assisted teaching in our Literacy Center and found
that adults wanted to meet with a real person rather than with a
computer. I think that computer learning can be more effective in a
school setting where computers supplement personal instruction.
Adults,however, are trying to fit 2 hours of literacy learning into a
week full of work and life demands.
Good tidings from Iowa!
Anne
Share, D.L. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching: sine
qua non of reading acquisition. Cognition, 55, 151-218.
--
Anne Murr, Coordinator
Adult Literacy Center
School of Education
Drake University
3206 University Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50311
anne.murr@drake.edu
Tel 515-271-3982
Fax 515-271-4544
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<div>Friends,</div>
<div>I am a newcomer to the adult literacy field - been at it less
that 5 years. I have found that teachers of reading (for all
ages) seem to be guided more by philosophy and belief than by what is
known from the research. When I took the teaching of reading
course about a dozen years ago, our major project was to write a
philosophy of the teaching of reading paper - not to look at
specifically how to teach reading. My approach then was from the
whole language perspective, i.e., you learn to read by reading - the
whole word approach. (John, you suggested that I had missed that
piece, but I familiar with it.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I began teaching adults using the whole language/language
experience approach. We soon found that adults were not learning
to read as a result of that instruction. Thus enter our quest to
find a better way to teach them. After starting to use a
multisensory, structured method of directly teaching phonological
processing skills, I discovered that the research describes just that
approach as critical for persons who are failing (or have failed) to
learn to read.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Teaching reading is rocket science. (See Louisa Moats
at</div>
<div>http://www.aft.org/edissues/rocketscience.htm) We must be
informed by the research. (I wonder why no one responded to the
research I cited in my previous post.)</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>See also the thorough review of current reading research compiled
by the National Reading Panel (2000)<font color="#0000FF"><u>
nationalreadingpanel.org</u></font>. They did not review the
research on whole language because they found no scientific research
on that type of instruction.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Let me ask you this: when you read, don't you hear the
whole words in your mind? In Perfetti and Zhang's research with
Chinese readers, they found that when readers of Chinese look at
Chinese logographic script, they do mentally hear the sound of the
words before the meaning of the words is accessed. Doesn't this
demonstrate the role of phonology in reading?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>David Share (1995) states that phonemic awareness and the ability
to process sounds in words is the sine quo non (essential condition)
for learning to read. We in the adult literacy field must
provide that essential condition.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>On the comprehension/reading issue: Comprehension is what
reading is all about! Without comprehension there's no point in
reading. Decoding, i.e., getting the words off the page, is
merely the first step. Fluency, getting the words automatically
and a well-developed vocabulary contribute to comprehension.
Each piece is a necessary part of the whole. Any one piece by
itself is not enough.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>John, I read your Learning to Read article. Your
description is accurate. However, Shaywitz and others have found
that as many girls as boys have reading problems. Girls,
however, are quieter about it and don't become the behavior problems
so they are not noticed as often.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>We tried computer-assisted teaching in our Literacy Center and
found that adults wanted to meet with a real person rather than with a
computer. I think that computer learning can be more effective
in a school setting where computers supplement personal instruction.
Adults,however, are trying to fit 2 hours of literacy learning into a
week full of work and life demands.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Good tidings from Iowa!</div>
<div>Anne</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font size="-1" color="#000000">Share, D.L. (1995).
Phonological recoding and self-teaching: <i> sine qua non</i> of
reading acquisition. <u> Cognition, 55</u>, 151-218.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">-- <br>
Anne Murr, Coordinator</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">Adult Literacy
Center</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">School of
Education</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">Drake
University</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">3206 University
Ave.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000">Des Moines, IA
50311</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1"
color="#0000FF"><u>anne.murr@drake.edu</u></font><font face="Arial"
size="+1" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000"> Tel
515-271-3982 </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="+1" color="#000000"> Fax
515-271-4544</font><font color="#000000"></font></div>
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