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Should Students Learn to Read before They Read to Learn? a Historical Perspective.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Guenther, Joseph W. |
| Copyright Year | 2005 |
| Abstract | _ This article examines the roots of whole language from 1897 to 1982 along with criticism and support for it along the way. It then discusses whole language in theory and practice, and presents support for teaching phonemic awareness and phonetic analysis, systematically, in the early grades. The premise of this paper is that one must learn to read before s/he can read to learn, contrary to what many whole-language supporters suggest. Most of the whole-language concepts are seen as workable and sound, even desirable, except for its virtual exclusion of the direct instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics in the early grades. _ The major premises of whole language are really impossible to argue with. Surround a child with interesting stories and opportunities for language. Make all communications meaningful ones, and give students reasons for communicating. The universe is full of interesting things. Give the students the opportunities to learn these things and provide them with the means to do so. So what's the problem? The problem is that in a whole-language classroom, students are encouraged to read to learn about interesting things in authentic, real world texts taken from real life. But many of them don't know how to read. The dichotomy is between learning to read and reading to learn. Students must learn to read before they can read to learn. This issue didn't begin with the reading wars of recent years, or with Rudolph Flesch (1952) and Why Johnny Can't Read, or with Russell Stouffer's (1961) “Breaking the basal lockstep.” There has been an ebb and flow since at least 1897 between providing students with interesting experiences to read and write about, and providing them with the mechanics to do so. Every time a new name for the ideas of whole language appeared, the popularity increased, and the activities and experiences of the technique took over, at the expense of the mechanics of learning to read. Let's take a look at Flora Cooke (1900, 1901) in 1897. She took her class to a farm, wrote a summary of the experience at the board with the help of the students, getting all the students' ideas on the board first, and then editing it as dramatically as possible. The |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/guenther/article.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
