Rayner et al 2001

Rayner et al 2001

a. Whole-word (look-say) instruction

The whole word approach to reading instruction in reading instruction teaches the early learner words as units rather than phonemes. The word as seen as a unit and in this type of instruction the child is shown flashcards with a word on it, the teacher pronounces it and then asks the child to read it. Usually the teacher begins to with a small set of words and gradually expands the amount of words the child will read. This method attempts to deal with the irregularities in the english language and its pronunciation of irregular words by teaching the words as whole units.The advocates of whole word instruction say this encourages reading for meaning in the young reader.

b. Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction uses the aspects of the alphabetic system. Letters are added followed by diagraphs and blends. As the young reader learns simple words they also begin to develop a sight vocabulary. The reader is learning sounds of individual letters and combinations of letters. The main concept of phonics instructions is it is explicitly teaching children both the alphabetic principle and specific letter-phoneme correspondences. One additional benefit of the phonics approach is it encourages the child to analyze words which will assist the child when they are faced with unknown words. It has been said that this type of instruction is boring for the young reader however; once basic skills are mastered the child can very likely read new words independently

c. Meaning emphasis (whole language) Instruction;

This type of instruction focuses on language experiences. The emphasis is the memorization of whole words. Meaning emphasis has within it whole language instruction and psycholinguistic approach based on work of Goodman and Smith. Goodman suggests readers are making the best possible guess when they are reading using semantic, syntactic and graphophonic cueing systems. The graphophonic cues represent general knowledge of spelling sound relationships, syntactic cures represent knowledge of syntactic patterns and the markers that cue these patterns and the semantic cues represent knowledge of word meanings and topic. This type if instruction relies on the child’s experience with language. Goodman and Smith reject the teaching of phonics and do not believe a child should be corrected when they make errors in their reading.

d. Prescriptive vs. responsive (balanced) teaching;

Prescriptive teaching directly teaches letter sound correspondences  with a prescribed set of activities. There are a variety of programs discussed in this monograph. Each has a specific idea of whole group versus small group instruction and types of assessment to be used. There is usually a time to review previously taught letter sounds,introduction of new letter sounds, practice of blending sounds into words, practice reading decodable text, teacher read alouds and language arts instruction. Responsive teaching uses a scaffolding approach to meet the reader’s needs. The teacher assists the child as they read and provides positive feedback on their reading errors. A running record is kept of reading miscues to inform the next day’s lessons. Responsive teaching can be highly effective when knowledgeable teachers work with individual children. This type of instruction does not work in whole group instruction. The use of leveled text is used during guided reading. The child also has a time of word study in which they are analyzing graphophonic connections.

e. What is your take on the best method to teach reading?

I feel responsive teaching seems to describe what is going on in my classroom. It is essential to meet each student at their instructional level in order to not frustrate them and turn them off to reading. During our language arts block of time students are in guided reading, independent reading and word study groups. I also feel read aloud is very important in developing exposure to rich “book” language.

f. How would you characterize the reading instruction in your school? Why?

I think for the most part our school takes a more responsive approach to reading instruction. The ASU reading program has had a huge impact on the way we are teaching reading. We are for the most part getting away from boxed programs and providing more individual instruction rather than whole group instruction. There has been a greater interest in word study as well this is just one more way to differentiate instruction to meet the learner where they are and take them as far as we can in 180 days.