Methods of teaching reading defended

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33219, 8 May 1973, Page 20

Methods of teaching reading defended

<By

MYRTLE SIMPSON)

Before I begin to discuss some of the points made in the recent newspaper articles and letters to the editor, I would like to suggest that parents and teachers read the article that appeared in the “Listener” of March 26-April 1.

i In this article, “The First! R Fracas,” Jack Shall crass,! I after pointing out that read-i ling is the basic educational’ skill and that, without it a i I child is severely handicapped, i reminded us that New Zeal- : and has long recognised this : -and has been a world leader in the writing and production of reading material. He refers! to the productions of the Department of Education and to the reading material published by several New Zealand publishing firms. He mentions especially the work of Professor Marie 1 Clay in recording and analysing in close detail what happens to children when they learn to read. He suggests that, through her recent book, “Reading, the Patterning of Complex Behaviour,” she has provided not only a valuable source of information for teachers but also a book which parents, observant of their children’s! behaviour, could enjoy read- 1 ing. Since other writers have answered most of the points made in the first article contributed by “Teacher,” I should nrefer to concentrate , upon her second article,!; “Delinquency and Illiteracy.” j I I write “she” since, as the ; author of the article gave no • cue as to identity I ant j forced to make an assump- , tion of some kind. Under the heading,, “Emotional True,” she admits | that her allusion to such j occurrences as “an old man, being robbed and mugged.” , “a taxi driver being brutally ( beaten,” and “a shopkeeper . assaulted in his own shop” L have been made to persuade < the public to throw out the < present system of teaching reading. She makes no ‘ attempt to give any definite information about behaviour " of this kind or' about the,: people responsible for it. ' Classroom seating j She goes on to discuss the If lorganisation of the Iclassroom under the heading,

:| “Wrong Seating.” I, too, have .[taught classes of 50 children ■jin lower and middle classes 11 of primary schools and was, i at one stage of my career a J sole teacher of of a country school where the roll number ;,was never lower than 20 and •lat one stage as high as 30. 11 I found that the system of ,[grouping to which “teacher” ,’objects so strenuously offered [ the only solution to my prob-

The recent articles in , “The Press” by “Teacher”, on instruction in reading, prompted several members of the teaching profession to submit rejoinders and comments. This article, by Miss Myrtle Simpson, was selected from them. Miss Simpson has been a senior inspector of schools, edited the latest series of infant , readers for the Department i of Education, and was the | author of a handbook, “Suggestions for Teaching Reading in Infant Classes.”

[that teachers are working according to a system taught them at Training College and laid down by the Department [of Education, I can only assume that she is referring [to the handbook. “The Teaching of Reading in Infant [Classes” of which I was the author, and which was published by the Department of Education. I feel therefore [that I must make some reference to the methods of teaching suggested in this handbook. Perhaps I can best do this [by referring to the reports ;of teachers and advisers to [infant departments who used [the readers with groups of children. Teachers were most helpful in reporting their findings as they worked with the readers and used the handbook. These are some of the techniques they used as they worked with groups of [children. Discussion leading to the use of context and illustration. —An infant adviser noticed that average and slower readers, when they had gained confidence through discussion, worked out words for themselves. They studied the illustrations, talked about the stories, and even suggested what might happen next. Each day after the discussion of the story and the pictures the children begged to be allowed to read the stories for themselves. She writes. “They are beginning to use context and to remember the basic words such as “when.” “where,” “away,” and even to suggest what might happen next. They are even able to distinguish between endings such as “playing” and! “played.” They are noticing similarities in the beginnings of words, e.g. “gr” and “br” in “grocer,” “breakfast” and ( “bread,” and they compare! them with known words such [ as “green'” and “brown.” Phonetic Analysis

[lems. By providing a variety! of worth-while occupations! ‘and preparing carefully the programme of work for each; group, 1 found it possible to! stimulate interest and activ-! ity and to give valuable ex-j [perience which could be used ; later in lessons closely, related to the teaching of basic subjects such as reading and written expression. 1 should like to emphasise though, that while group ac-j tivity was in progress, I was | able to concentrate with!' another group upon the! I teaching in a more direct | way, of such subjects as J reading and written expres-j‘ sion. While working with ; such groups I found that the [ experience gained during j their more informal group i‘ activities enriched the teach-[ ( ing and stimulated children’s .i participation during the actual reading period. When “Teacher” suggests }

She goes on to describe how phonetic analysis, a more mechanical aid, can help [children towards independence and this fact is clearly recognised in the handbook; [that accompanies the readers. She tells how. because, [they recognised “little” and “like,” they were able to| [puzzle out "lunch” which; they had just read as “dinner.” In the sentence “Helen and Mark cleaned the windows and doors,” the illustration helped, but without having been encouraged to notice! how words began, they would have had no idea whether to; read “windows” or “doors”! first. At the infant stage this; work with phonics would not go so far as teaching them to [use the rules of syllabifica-; tion, though they would [probably come to recognise [ familiar syllables within . words. However it would [provide them with a solid! 1 foundation upon which at a later stage such teaching 1 could be based. Indeed L .often wonder how many of the adults who complain that ' “phonics” are not taught in ' schools today could them- 1 selves reneat the rules of 1 isyllabification, or work out ’ ;the nronunciation of an un-'i familiar word by this method, i Surely this survey of teaching methods used in our schools provides enough evidence to refute the claims of 1 ;the correspondent who sug- ! gests the following method j of using phonics as an aid 1 to learning to read:— “After learning single ‘ [sounds children will learn to ' slide sounds together to make ( words. They will write them ? down as they sing them and t learn painlessly to spell. » They will learn to recognise l words which have rules. Thus f they will have started along 1 the paths of reading books." I